Chapter 4
The woman was wearing the uniform of a maid from the Whitmore estate, and not far away, a little boy had turned the living room into a complete mess.
As soon as Irene walked in, Elise stood up from beside Charles and gave her a graceful, gentle smile. “You’re home, ma’am. I was sent from the estate to take care of Alden.”
Irene bit down hard on her lip, struggling to breathe.
ཇལ འ༴ རྒྱུ རྒྱུ འོད ན ཇི
How could he? How dare Charles bring them into this house?
Noticing the shift in her expression, Charles quickly stepped forward to explain. “Baby, I sent you a message this afternoon. Maybe you didn’t see it. Aiden is a child my mother brought back from an orphanage. She said it felt like fate.”
All the pain Irene had bottled up had already burst in that empty conference room. Now all that remained was pure, burning fury.
They really thought she was that easy to fool?
“You did this on purpose, didn’t you? Just to tear my heart to pieces?” Her voice trembled from barely restrained rage.
Charles’s brows furrowed, clearly not expecting such a reaction.
He panicked and fried to calm her down. “Baby, please don’t be mad.
“You know the Whitmores need an heir. And I’ve seen how much it still hurts you to think of the baby we lost. That’s why I agreed to my mom’s request.”
“If you don’t like it, I’ll have him sent away right now.
Everyone knew Charles loved Irene deeply. His one and only rule had always been: Irene came first.
Even now, he’d send away his own son if she asked him to.
But that kind of twisted devotion only made Irene feel sick
Just as she was about to confront him, Alden scrunched up his little face and burst into tears.
“You’re a bad woman! Dad, why are you with this bad woman? Don’t you love me anymore?”
Hie voice pierced through the room like a siren. Charles rubbed his temples, utterly exhausted, and snapped, “Aiden! Who taught you to say such nonsense?!”
He turned to the maids. “What are you all standing around for? Take him to his room-
-now!!!
The maids scrambled to calm the wailing boy and led him away in a flurry of footsteps.
Elise looked flustered as well and immediately began apologizing “Mr. Whitmore, it’s my fault. Please don’t blame Aiden…”
As she spoke, she cast a tender, vulnerable glance at Charles–her eyes brimming with just enough hurt to make him ache with pity. Charles sighed, his voice softening “I’m not blaming him. He’s just a kid. He doesn’t know any better. Go take care of him.”
Irene watched everything in silence, her heart growing colder by the second.
She shook off Charles’s hand and went upstairs without a word, slamming the door in his face as he followed.
Charles stood outside, feeling suffocated, but still kept his tone gentle. “Baby, it’s my fault. I’ll send the boy away first thing in the morning”
“It you don’t want me around tonight, that’s okay. Just get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Irene slid to the floor, leaning against the cold door. She heard his footsteps fading away, but the pain in her chest was already numb. Send him away? What was the point? Blood ties like that never disappeared. In the end, It was her who didn’t belong. Chapter 4
She said nothing. Just locked the door.
Alone, she sat in the silence. As the last echo of his steps vanished, she sank to the floor completely, too exhausted to hold on.
She felt drained–utterly and entirely drained.
She didn’t know how long she stayed there before the notification tone on her phone chimed. She reached for it numbly. It was a friend request from an unfamiliar account.
From Elise.
Mrs. Whitmore, if you shut your husband out, don’t blame him for showing up at my place.]
Irene’s pupils contracted. She bolted from the bedroom and looked down the hallway–light was leaking from the crack beneath the study door.
It was slightly ajar. Inside, she heard the woman’s flirtatious voice. “Charles, that hurts…”
Charles grunted, his tone laced with annoyance. “Then why the hell did you lure me over? You can’t even behave after having a kid?”
Irene froze. Her blood ran cold.
She hadn’t expected him to be this shameless. This cager.
Inside, Elise’s voice was breathy and low. “I just thought… after what Mrs. Whitmore did to upset you, I could cheer you up a little.” “Cut the crap. If you want Aiden to stay a Whitmore, stay the hell out of Irene’s way.”
Irene couldn’t listen anymore. She didn’t even remember how she made it back to her room.
she rushed to the bathroom and threw up, dry heaving over the sink until her stomach cramped in pain.
When she finally looked up, the mirror showed a woman who looked utterly wrecked.
Tears had long dried. She was Irene Aldridge—the heiress of the Aldridge family. A woman born proud. She should’ve never ended up like this.
She didn’t know how long she stayed in that bathroom. Only when the first light of dawn crept through the curtains did she finally lie back down.
This time, she was the one letting him go.
Clue
