The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

"Mom, what are you talking about?" Cecilia Sinclair didn’t believe a word of it. She knew perfectly well how good Sarah had been to her, giving her clothes, bags, and shoes—all sorts of things.

She even took her to get their nails done, manicures with real diamonds.

Every time she argued with her brother, Sarah would take her side and scold him with her.

Sarah had the family background, the looks, and the ability... Well, her ability wasn’t on par with Leila Jennings’s, but so what?

Why did a girl need to be that exceptional anyway? It would just make men feel like she was overshadowing them.

Mrs. Sinclair was furious. "What am I talking about? I think you’ve been brainwashed by Sarah Lynch! Your brother lost the bid this time because someone found out about the large transactions between him and Sarah! They’re saying he bribed her. Otherwise, with your brother’s intelligence, how could he possibly not have won the bid?"

"That Sarah Lynch is a jinx on our family! A walking disaster! I’m so mad, I could just die..." The more Mrs. Sinclair thought about it, the angrier she got, and she furiously gulped down a mouthful of cold tea.

"The more I think about it now, the more it doesn’t add up. After your brother got his promotion and raise, the first thing he wanted to do was get us a new house and buy you a large apartment for your dowry. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped bringing money and things home..."

Cecilia frowned. "Wasn’t that because of Leila Jennings?"

Mrs. Sinclair immediately shot back, "Your brother had already been married to Leila for over half a year at that point!" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Cecilia was still unconvinced. She pouted. "How is that possible? Mom, who did you hear this from? It wasn’t Leila Jennings, was it? Spouting nonsense to you, trying to stir up trouble? I’m not falling for her tricks."

"You foolish girl." Mrs. Sinclair raised her hand and jabbed her daughter’s forehead hard, seething, "The hard evidence was thrown right in my face! Why else do you think I fainted from anger that day?"

"Your brother was giving Sarah Lynch three million a month! Three million!" Her three outstretched fingers were trembling. "Since she came back to the country, what has she eaten, worn, or lived in that wasn’t paid for with your brother’s money? Your brother has gotten poorer and poorer over the years, and our family has gotten poorer and poorer, all because Sarah Lynch wheedled every last cent out of him!"

"Without money, how could you have studied abroad? How could you have held a damn art exhibition?!"

"That bitch! A jinx!"

Mrs. Sinclair was so furious she was becoming incoherent, lashing out at everyone and everything.

"I’m telling you, Cecilia Sinclair, if you’re seen with her again, I’ll break your legs!"

Seeing her mother speak with such conviction, Cecilia was stunned, then stunned again, before she finally roared, "That’s impossible!"

"How is it impossible!" Mrs. Sinclair retorted loudly. "Look at what Leila Jennings has eaten and worn all these years. Has any of it been better than what we have? She doesn’t have a damn dime! Your brother’s money was never in her hands. Now look at Sarah Lynch’s face, her clothes—she looks just like a kept woman!"

"Kept by your brother, of all people! By my own son! I could just die from anger!"

’She used my son’s money to curry favor with us? Used your brother’s money to get on your good side? I’ve never seen such a shameless woman!’ Mrs. Sinclair swore to herself that she would get that money back for her son, even if it meant working with Leila Jennings!

At least in her years with the Sinclair family, Leila had always done real work instead of just spouting pretty words.

’So much regret!’

’No wonder her husband didn’t dare tell their son about the divorce, and told her not to mention it either. He’d even been trying to pull some strings these past few days, seeing if there was any way to salvage things and stop the divorce.’

’If only Leila were still with the Sinclair family. She was a respected research expert, famous and wealthy. More importantly, she knew how to live a grounded life, served her in-laws, looked after her sister-in-law, and took even better care of her husband.’

It was all ruined.

Now it was all ruined.

"Our whole family was blinded by Sarah Lynch. I think your brother was tricked by her too. To think he’d hand over his entire fortune—how could he be so stupid!"

"Mom, is what you’re saying really true?" Cecilia was actually mostly convinced by now, a spark of anger in her eyes. She clenched her fist. "I’m going to go ask Sarah and get a clear answer! If she took all my brother’s money, I’m not letting her get away with it!"

This time, Mrs. Sinclair didn’t stop her.

She pulled out the note Leila Jennings had left and dialed the number on it.

"Hello, who is this?" Leila Jennings looked at the unfamiliar number. She had a pretty good idea who it was but asked anyway.

"It’s me."

The moment she heard Mrs. Sinclair’s voice, Leila knew she had come around and wanted to team up to gather evidence and recover the money Sean Sinclair had spent on Sarah Lynch over the years.

With so much at stake, she didn’t mind giving a portion of it to Mrs. Sinclair.

"I’m busy tonight. I’ll contact you tomorrow, and we can talk in person."

"Okay! Be quick about it!"

Hearing Mrs. Sinclair’s urgency, Leila curled her lip into a slight smile and hung up the phone.

Cherry Cole was standing on the deck and turned her head to ask, "Who was that?"

"Sean Sinclair’s mother."

"Oh, your wicked ex-mother-in-law." Cherry had heard plenty from Miss Moss, so she naturally adopted the same phrasing.

"What’d she want? Don’t tell me she’s lost her mind again and called just to yell at you?"

"To discuss a partnership." Leila leaned forward slightly against the railing. A cold wind blew over, but thankfully she was dressed warmly. "She also wants to get the money back from Sarah Lynch."

Cherry clapped her hands. "That’s perfect! With his own mother on our side, getting evidence from Sean Sinclair’s phone should be a piece of cake, right? Did the lawyer tell you what kind of evidence you need to collect?"

Leila said, "Logan Bell told me."

"Preston Bell? Oh, this just got interesting." Cherry smiled. "Even if Sarah Lynch has a great lawyer like Julian Grant, he’s no match for Preston Bell. Besides, this isn’t even Counselor Grant’s area of expertise."

Just as they were speaking, they spotted a familiar figure passing on the deck one level below.

Cherry said, "Julian Grant? Sarah Lynch?"

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

Sarah Lynch looked heartbroken. She was standing on the deck in a dress, letting the cold wind blow against her, looking as if she might collapse at any moment.

"What’s wrong with her? Don’t tell me Sean Sinclair dumped her?" Cherry wore an expression of pure schadenfreude.

Julian Grant took off his black overcoat and draped it over Sarah Lynch.

Sarah Lynch turned, her eyes filled with sorrow as she looked up.

From a distance, it looked as though she was nestled in Julian Grant’s embrace.

"BLEGH..." Cherry pretended to gag. "Does Julian Grant not know Sarah Lynch is someone’s mistress? What on earth does he see in her? Maybe he should get his eyes checked. If Mr. Grant and the family found out, they’d probably break his legs."

"Even though Mr. Grant went into business, the rest of the Grant family didn’t. The Grants place a high value on a clean family background and good character."

Leila Jennings’s gaze fell on Julian Grant and Sarah Lynch. She raised her phone and snapped a picture.

"Huh? What are you taking a picture for?"

"To give Sean Sinclair something to worry about, so he won’t have time to bother me." Lately, her phone had been flooded with countless calls and texts from unknown numbers. She couldn’t even block them all fast enough.

The key thing was, Sean Sinclair just said he wanted to see her and nothing more. He was maintaining his boundaries perfectly, making it impossible to pin any blame on him.

As she sent the picture, Cherry asked her, "Why don’t you just cancel this SIM card? You already have a new one, and you haven’t even set it to block unknown callers."