Just as Silas Sutton and the others stepped out of the building, his grandmother’s elderly voice rang out from behind.
“My dear grandson!
Why are you heading out as soon as you get back?”
Silas turned around and saw a young woman walking arm-in-arm with his grandmother, who had just finished her morning exercise.
They were approaching from the corridor on the other side of the garden.
The woman was dressed in the latest seasonal Chanel suit and carried a limited-edition Hermès handbag.
From head to toe, she radiated an aura of being meticulously styled and exorbitantly expensive.
With exquisite makeup and an excellent figure, she was leaning in to listen to Old Mrs.
Sutton.
Her smile was so textbook-perfect that it looked as if she had just stepped out of an etiquette class.
Old Mrs.
Sutton was in her seventies, but thanks to her consistent exercise routine, she remained hale and hearty.
Today, she looked exceptionally radiant.
She walked up to Silas, though her eyes kept darting toward the woman beside her with a look of proud satisfaction.
“Come, come, my dear grandson, let me introduce you,” she said.
“This is the daughter of the Shelby family, Celia Shelby.
You got back so late last night that you didn’t get to meet her.
Celia heard you were back and came over bright and early especially to see you.”
“Did she really come especially to see me?” Silas wondered, raising an eyebrow.
He didn’t know anyone named Celia Shelby.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was a blind date deliberately arranged by his grandmother.
Celia stepped forward right on cue and extended her hand, her voice sickeningly sweet.
“Hello, Silas.
I’ve heard Old Mrs.
Sutton mention you often, and I finally get to meet you today.”
Her gaze first landed on Silas’s handsome, mature face, lingering for a moment as a flash of appreciation crossed her eyes.
But as her gaze slid down to the old, dark brown jacket he was wearing—complete with a tear on the left sleeve—that appreciation instantly froze.
It morphed into a flicker of shock and barely repressed disgust.
Her nude-lipstick-coated lips twitched slightly, though she managed to keep the smile plastered on her face.
Taking in every shift in her expression, Silas didn’t reach out to shake her extended hand.
Instead, he simply nodded at his grandmother and said flatly, “Grandmother, I have urgent business to attend to.
Please take good care of Miss Shelby.”
With that, he turned, pulled open the car door, and swiftly got in.
Sean Crane gave a polite, perfunctory nod to Old Mrs.
Sutton and Celia, while Ryan Rhodes simply pretended not to see them.
Both men quickly followed Silas into the vehicle.
With a low rumble from its engine, the black sedan drove out of the wrought-iron gates without a moment’s hesitation, leaving behind only a faint trail of exhaust.
Celia’s hand remained frozen in midair for several seconds before she awkwardly withdrew it.
As she watched the retreating car, she could no longer maintain her smile, and her meticulously drawn eyebrows knitted together.
“Hmph!
That boy,” Old Mrs.
Sutton said awkwardly.
She hurriedly linked arms with Celia in an affectionate manner to smooth things over.
“Oh, Celia, please don’t mind him.
Silas just got out…
There’s a mountain of work waiting for him at the company.
He’s terribly busy, and he can be quite impatient.”
Then, she patted the back of Celia’s hand and lowered her voice, comforting her with a tone that felt like a shared secret and a solemn promise.
“Don’t you worry, I know what I’m doing.
You’re such a wonderful girl.
Your family background, your looks, your upbringing—which of them isn’t top-notch?
The position of Mrs.
Sutton will definitely be yours in the future.
Once he’s past this busy period, I’ll make sure he spends some quality time with you.”
Her son and daughter-in-law had been businesspeople who tragically passed away in a car accident.
After that, she had raised her grandson, Silas, all by herself while managing the family business.
When he came of age, she handed the reins over to him.
However, he had been rebellious and gone astray, preferring to run with the criminal underworld and constantly getting into bloody street fights.
Although he had expanded the business far beyond its original scope, he would come home bruised and bleeding every other day, eventually winding up in prison.
During the years he spent behind bars, his so-called “shady friends” had taken care of her and helped manage his business affairs.
She had lived in constant anxiety, always hoping her grandson would mature, settle down, and start a family so she could finally answer to her late son and daughter-in-law.
It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that Sean Crane suddenly informed her that Silas had reorganized his assets into the Cosmos Group, turning himself into its prominent and powerful CEO.
No one was happier than her, his only grandmother, to see him finally make something of himself.
But in the blink of an eye, he was already thirty years old.
As his status soared, many prominent families had begun putting out feelers to inquire about the Cosmos Group CEO’s marital status even while he was still incarcerated.
She was more than happy to start pulling strings, hoping to find a worthy heiress from a prestigious family for him.
Hearing Old Mrs.
Sutton’s reassurance, Celia lowered her eyes.
When she looked up again, she had already plastered that obedient and gentle smile back on her face.
“Oh, Grandma, don’t say that.
Silas has to prioritize his career.
I completely understand.”
Her voice was soft as she walked back arm-in-arm with Old Mrs.
Sutton, the very picture of a sweet, understanding girl.
“I’m just happy I got to come over and chat with you today, Grandma.”
Though those were the words leaving her lips, her heart was a turbulent sea of contempt and calculation.
She had heard Old Mrs.
Sutton’s slip of the tongue loud and clear.
Silas had just gotten out of prison.
The so-called new money of Silverport, the esteemed CEO of the Cosmos Group, actually had a criminal record!
At the thought of this, a mixture of disgust and superiority welled up within her.
“What is he so arrogant about?” she thought indignantly.
“He dresses like a garbage collector without an ounce of taste.
He really is just a country bumpkin, a glorified nouveau riche!”
“He’s nothing but an empty shell,” she mused, curling her lip as she recalled his sharply contoured yet undeniably handsome face.
While the Shelby family might not boast the same meteoric rise as Cosmos, they were still a deeply rooted, prestigious family in Silverport.
If her father hadn’t repeatedly emphasized how crucial Cosmos’s resources were to their family’s future, and if the wealth and prestige of the title “Mrs.
Sutton” weren’t so alluring, why would she—the pampered eldest daughter of the Shelby family—ever stoop so low as to entertain such a vulgar, ill-mannered ex-convict?
She tilted her head, the sunlight catching her exorbitantly priced diamond earrings and refracting a dazzling glare.
As she listened to Old Mrs.
Sutton ramble on about the “funny stories” of Silas getting into fights as a child, her smile only grew sweeter and more endearing.
Sutton, and on the other was her absolute, all-encompassing disdain for the man’s background and lack of taste.
Ultimately, the weight of the profits tipped the scales.
“I must secure the position of Mrs.
Sutton,” she thought with absolute certainty.
“As for Silas…
he’s just a useful stepping stone.
Once I’ve established my footing, who would ever care about the ragged jacket he wears?”
With that in mind, she snuggled even closer to Old Mrs.
Sutton, her voice sweet enough to drip honey.
“Grandma, your garden is absolutely beautiful.
Especially that cluster of roses—they’re even better than the ones my dad hired someone from Varden to tend!
Could you teach me how you grow them?”
While Celia continued her sickeningly sweet chatter with Old Mrs.
Sutton, Kyle steered the Bentley smoothly out of the villa district and merged into the morning traffic.
Half an hour later, the car pulled up to the entrance of the Sunshine Orphanage.
Silas looked up at the familiar building.
The red brick walls and green window frames were just as he remembered them.
The old locust tree was still standing in the courtyard, though its leaves had turned yellow, rustling in the crisp autumn wind.
He took a deep breath and pushed the car door open.
A few children were playing in the yard.
Seeing a stranger enter, they all peered over with curiosity.
A little girl, about five or six years old, clutched a tattered ragdoll and stared timidly at Silas.
Silas crouched down and pulled a piece of candy from his pocket.
He habitually kept candy on him—a habit he had developed after meeting Sprout.
Back then, Sprout had been malnourished and prone to low blood sugar, which often made her dizzy, so he always carried sweets for her.
“Here you go,” he said, holding the candy out to the little girl.
She hesitated for a moment before taking it.
“Thank you, mister,” she mumbled softly.
“You’re welcome,” Silas smiled, standing back up.
A middle-aged woman walked out of the building.
It was Director Lane.
She had aged a bit, with white hair now dusting her temples, but her smile was as warm as ever.
“Excuse me, are you looking for—” Her words trailed off as her eyes suddenly widened.
“Oh?
It’s you!”
Silas was mildly surprised.
“Director Lane, you still remember me?”
“Of course I do!” Director Lane hurried over and grasped his hand.
“You’re the young man who used to volunteer here all the time!
It’s been a long time.
My, you look more mature, but your face hasn’t changed a bit.”
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Silas cut straight to the chase.
“Director Lane, I’m here to look for Sprout.”
“Sprout?
Ah, she’s no longer here.” Director Lane’s expression shifted slightly, displaying a mixture of relief and regret.
“She’s no longer here?” he thought.