Chapter 16
In the bedroom, the bedside lamp cast a soft, warm yellow glow.
It fell across the bed and onto Valeria’s face. Her skin was fair and smooth, carrying a gentle luster. Her expression was tender as she softly patted the little girl’s back.
In her sleep, Selena murmured, “Mommy.”
“Hey, Mommy’s here.”
In these seven years, the thing Valeria regretted the least was having Selena. She felt that this was the most wonderful gift the universe had given her.
Of course, it had also taken some things.
Valeria undid her clothes, lowering her head to look at her flat, fair stomach. The C-section scar was already very faint. There was just a thin, light pink line. She had pale skin, so even after seven years, the scar was still obvious.
Whenever the night grew quiet and deep, she wondered if her child might have survived had she gone to the hospital a bit earlier.
Or if she hadn’t argued with Jennifer, hadn’t been pushed and injured her abdomen, hadn’t hemorrhaged so badly-would the baby have been saved?
Her aunt, Jennifer Bowen, had always used Jane’s name to blackmail Alexander and Wendy. She sent her sister to work at Grant Group before sending her abroad to “polish up” her credentials.
During that time, Jane had no idea. To her knowledge, the video of Gabriella rummaging through her desk had already been deleted.
Jane never knew how Jennifer got hold of that video.
And for the past four years, Jennifer had secretly used it to threaten Alexander and Wendy.
Jane always thought that matter had ended long ago, but she never expected that all these years, Thomas and Jennifer had been using it, treating Alexander and his wife like a cash cow.
Jane, once the victim, had turned into an accomplice, bleeding others like a vampire. She confronted Jennifer about it.
However, Jennifer jabbed a finger at her nose, yelling, “How dare you criticize me? Didn’t use that whole thing to threaten Sebastian Grant to date a fat pig like you?
you
“And he dumped you, didn’t he? Thomas and I raised you all these years. It’s time for you to pay us back. Thomas, say something!”
Jennifer shoved Valeria, causing her to stumble and hit the edge of a table.
Thomas claimed, “Jane, we had no other choice. That money is nothing but pocket change for a big family like the Grant family…”
No one knew she was pregnant. To outsiders, she was just getting fatter.
Thomas and Jennifer didn’t care at all. They only focused on squeezing every bit they could out of the Grant family like leeches.
It was winter. She wore a heavy down jacket, dragging her exhausted body out of Thomas and Jennifer’s house. In the end, she finally collapsed on the roadside, where a kind stranger called an ambulance.
The doctor who performed her C-section was Taylor’s mother, Scarlett Walker.
By then, Jane had already lost consciousness. She had been carrying twins, but that night, she lost one of them.
When she woke up alone in the hospital bed, she looked at a photo Scarlett had taken of the baby boy just after birth, and her eyes turned red from crying.
That night, Jane called Sebastian, who was far away in Amaran.
The call connected, but no one said a word. In the end, she hung up after a few seconds.
She hated how Thomas’ family used Gabriella’s matter to blackmail Alexander and Wendy, like maggots crawling out of the slums, like desperate bloodsuckers. Jane was embarrassed.
She also hated herself because Jennifer was right-she had threatened Sebastian, too.
Jane thought that she had reaped what she had sown by losing the child.
Outside the window, it had started to rain at some point.
A flash of lightning split the night sky, illuminating the room.
Valeria gently touched the scar on her stomach, snapping out of her memories. She stepped down from the bed and went to the window to close the gap.
At the end of August, Selena was about to start first grade. Her preschool had a direct
admission route to Salmade Primary School. Valeria took Selena for a checkup at the hospital and picked up some medication.
That day, they happened to run into Sebastian and briefly crossed paths at the hospital
entrance.
Valeria had an appointment with Shawn, and Sebastian was in the next room.
It was just a distant glance, not even an eye contact, because she quickly walked into Shawn’s
office.
When she came out of Shawn’s office, she saw a well-dressed woman carrying a lunchbox walking into Sebastian’s office.
Valeria recognized her at a glance. It was Yelena, the class belle from high school.
As expected, there was never a shortage of admirers around Sebastian.
“Can I call you Seb? This is lunch that I prepared. My family runs a restaurant chain, and our five-star chef made this. You’ve been busy all day. You haven’t eaten, right?”
Seeing Sebastian focused on his computer and ignoring her, Yelena stepped forward.
“Thank you for helping my dad with his treatment. He’s doing much better now.”
“Yelena, did you book an appointment with me just to chat?” Sebastian’s tone carried a cold edge. When he looked up, a sharp, chilling light spread through his dark eyes.
“You’re taking up appointment slots and delaying patients who are in need. If it happens again, the Slate City Medical Center system will blacklist you for three months.”
“Uh… I…” Yelena didn’t expect Sebastian to disregard their relationship as former classmates so bluntly. “Sebastian, I just… I just wanted to bring you lunch to thank you.”
Sebastian stood up and glanced at his watch. Yelena was his last appointment for the morning,
and glanced at his watch. Yelena was his las and it was already time to get off work.
“Yelena, I’m not interested in you. Don’t waste your time coming here again.”
His rejection was straightforward.
When he looked at her, it was with the distant indifference reserved for a stranger.
After saying that, he left the room.
When Yelena left, her face was flushed with embarrassment.
At the nurse station, several nurses whispered.
“This isn’t the first one to book an appointment just to try and pursue Dr. Grant.”
“I’m really curious what Dr. Grant’s type is.’
“Stop it. You’re not thinking about giving it a shot, too, are you?”
“Of course not. Just watching from afar is enough. He’s untouchable.”
Valeria happened to be coming out of Shawn’s office with Selena.
After picking up their medicine from the pharmacy on the third floor, she held Selena’s hand and stepped onto the escalator.
Selena hated this type of escalator. She had a bit of sensory processing disorder, and each time, she carefully watched the steps come out, standing up cautiously, holding tightly onto
Valeria’s hand.
“Mommy, you have to hold my hand tightly, okay?”
“Okay, I’m doing so now.”
They stepped onto the
scalator together. Valeria stood beside her daughter, holding Selena’s hand with one hand and gently resting her other hand on the girl’s shoulder.
Suddenly, she smelled a faint, cold scent of men’s cologne. It was light, almost like a pair of wings spreading behind her, wrapping around her.
The
person once closest to her was
nding behind her.
Valeria could almost feel his gaze falling on her neck, faint and burning.
In a place like a hospital, that clean, crisp scent was unforgettable.
Valeria didn’t know if it was because she knew him too well, or whether this man still hadn’t changed his preference in seven years. Back then, he had liked this kind of cologne.
She calmly looked straight ahead as the escalator slowly descended.
She increased the grip on Selena’s hand while her other hand, which had moved to the
handrail, started to sweat.
Maybe it was because she was nervous, so when she stepped off the escalator, her heel got caught in a gap. She stumbled forward.
A hand from behind quickly supported her waist.
Through the thin summer dress, the warmth of the man’s palm seared her skin. Sebastian could also feel her body tense up in fright.
After just a few seconds, Valeria regained her balance.
Only then did Sebastian let go.
“Thank you,” Selena answered, shaking Valeria’s hand. “Mommy, are you okay?”
From the corner of her eye, Valeria saw that the man was wearing a grayish-blue shirt, tailored perfectly to his straight posture, looking sharp and put-together.
Again, she tightened her grip on her daughter’s hand.
Just as she was about to leave, a long leg in black dress pants blocked her path. In her ear came the man’s low, mocking voice. “Your daughter is more polite than you.”
Valeria froze, her clear eyes looking at him.
The man narrowed his long, slanted eyes. “What am I? A big, bad wolf that’s here to eat the two of you?”
Every time she saw Sebastian, she would always hide.
