The Bride They Replaced Came Back Richer Chapter 06

The Bride They Replaced Came Back Richer Chapter 06

Twenty years ago, I had signed an agreement like that with my mother.

Twenty years later, I signed another one with my son.

My smile turned bitter.

I took the agreement and stood.

“Then, congratulations on your marriage.”

After saying that, I ignored Oliver’s gaze.

I left the scene without looking back.

It was raining outside.

My executive assistant wanted to drive me home.

I refused.

“Give me an umbrella. I want to walk alone.”

Only one other person stood on the rain-soaked path.

He stopped in front of me.

“Claire.”

Julian Hayes stood beneath the umbrella.

“Let’s talk.”

Inside the café, we sat facing the floor-to-ceiling window.

“It’s been twenty years, and neither of us ever married.”

Julian gave a soft laugh.

“We’ve both spent twenty years holding on to things we should’ve let go.”

My voice was calm.

“And the person you couldn’t let go of was my sister.”

He silently admitted it.

Then he smiled again.

“But twenty years have passed. Some things should have ended a long time ago.”

“Claire, let’s make a life together.”

I looked at him in surprise.

I didn’t understand how he had suddenly led the conversation there.

After all, Julian had hated me for twenty years.

He had always believed that my supposed trap had made him miss out on Serena.

“Don’t you hate me, Mr. Hayes?”

“Twenty years dulls even the strongest feelings.”

Julian looked at me.

“And besides, you and I have a son. You’ve raised him for twenty years. I shouldn’t keep being absent as his father, should I?”

I looked at his smile.

Then I suddenly laughed out loud.

“Mr. Hayes, how many times do I have to say it?”

“Oliver Whitaker is not your son.”

He froze.

“But… that was the only time we were ever together…”

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“But that was twenty years ago.”

“Mr. Hayes, surely you didn’t stay celibate for twenty years?”

Julian’s breath caught.

His Adam’s apple moved.

“But the child’s father abandoned you, didn’t he?”

“Not exactly.”

I looked out at the rain.

“To be accurate, I abandoned him.”

My phone buzzed.

The number from twenty years ago sent me another message.

“I’m in Fairwick. Want to have dinner?”

For twenty years, he had asked me that question about a dozen times a year.

I thought for a moment.

For the first time, I replied.

“Okay.”

Julian’s gaze swept across my phone screen.

His breath stopped sharply.

“It’s him?”

“He’s Oliver’s father?”

Two months later, I received a message.

My mother was ill.

She had asked for me by name.

When I arrived at the hospital, she was hooked up to tubes and monitors.

When she saw me, her eyes grew wet.

Her illness had come suddenly.

No one knew what would happen next.

Aside from the day she gave birth to me, this was probably the second time she had ever held on to me this tightly.

“I know I wronged you.”

“I gave more of my love to Serena.”

I looked at her.

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

“But Cece… when I was pregnant with Serena, your father brought his mistress into our home and tore everything apart.”

“I had to deal with them and the division of assets at the same time.”

“During that period, both my body and mind were in terrible shape.”

“Serena was affected before she was even born. That was why she was born sick. You know that child has always had fragile health.”

“Every time I saw her sick, it gutted me.”

“I owed Serena, so…”

She choked slightly.

“I wasn’t targeting you on purpose.”

My eyes reddened.

“But Mother.”

“The person who owed Serena was never me.”

“Why was I the one who had to pay for it?”

Her body stiffened.

The monitors spiked.

After a sigh, she closed her eyes, and one tear fell.

“Yes. It was my fault.”

“So can you forgive me?”