Chapter 16
Across the garden, Charles stood there watching Irene from afar. His dark eyes were filled with longing, as if trying to etch her silhouette into his heart.
But Irene simply looked back at him with cool indifference. All the love and pain she’d once felt for him had faded into nothingness.
Without a word, she closed the window, shutting out the face she never wanted to see again.
A short while later, a housekeeper came hurrying in. “Miss Aldridge, there’s a Mr. Whitmore asking to see you at the gate.” Irene’s voice was calm and detached. “Tell him I’m not seeing anyone. Ask him to leave.”
The housekeeper obeyed, and Charles’s name was never brought up again.
Irene pushed the man entirely out of her thoughts.
It wasn’t until evening, as rain pattered softly outside, that Noah, now in better spirits after his nap, ran to the window, his usual energy returning.
He pressed against the glass and gasped, “Irene! There’s someone kneeling outside the gate!”
His voice was soft and curious, tinged with confusion.
Only then did Irene suddenly remember what she’d forgotten. She rushed to the window and followed Noah’s little finger.
Sure enough, Charles was kneeling alone in the heavy rain. His figure looked utterly desolate.
This again–Charles’s go–to trick, Playing the pitiful card.
Back then, whenever he did this, her heart would break for him. She’d rush into his arms without a second thought. But now, it just feit laughable.
“If he wants to kneel, let him.” Irene’s voice was cold and flat. “If he passes out, he doesn’t die out there.
15
She never thought she’d become someone who could say such cruel words.
That night, Irene didn’t sleep well.
have
someone take him to the hospital, Just make sure
She kept dreaming–scenes from her past with Charles flashing through her mind.
She dreamed of the kidnapping. How they’d both risked their lives for each other. Back then, they were so in love, it felt like the whole world had disappeared.
She also remembered him saying he‘
he’d give up the Whitmores for her–that he’d rather have her than the whole family fortune. But when it came down to choosing between her and the Whitmores… He still chose them.
Funny how fate plays out, isn’t it?
The next morning, while Irene was quietly having her breakfast, a housekeeper walked in. “Miss Aldridge, that Mr. Whitmore from yesterday has been taken to the hospital.”
Irene thought she’d feel some kind of twisted satisfaction. But Instead, she just stirred her bowl of creamy soup and gave a quiet, Indifferent response
“Got it,” she said. Her voice was steady, emotionless–like she’d just heard a piece of meaningless news.
Still, after a moment’s thought, she reached for her phone to call back home. Right then, a call from her father came through.
you going to tell me Charles came loolding for you?”
“Aren’t
“I was just about to,” Irene didn’t deny it. She answered flatly, “I was going to ask if the Whitmores could come and take him away.”
Edward sighed on the other end. “The Whitmores can’t reach him. That’s why they came to me.”
“That woman
Elise Monroe–she’s taken the Whitmore boy. She’s threatening Charles, forcing him to come back and see her.”
Irene’s brows knitted slightly. She hadn’t expected Elise to go completely off the rails.
To use her own child just t
just to drag Charles back? That was insane.
“I understand, Dad,” Irene said quietly. “I’ll let Charles know,”
After hanging up, her expression turned complicated.
In the end, she went to the hospital herself. Not wanting to leave Noah alone, she brought him along too
Charles was still groggy when he woke up, disoriented and pale.
The first thing he saw was the woman he had longed for day and night. His heart surged with joy.
But Irene was just standing there by the bed, gaze cool, expression calm. The eyes that once overflowed with love
distant.
were now cold and
MobeRa
