The Night I Left, He Turned Grey

Collecting her thoughts, Leila Jennings said, "I don’t really remember. You haven’t been home for dinner lately, and you haven’t asked me to bring you any."

That one sentence shut Sean Sinclair up.

Sean Sinclair knew it himself. Ever since Sarah Lynch had returned, he’d been driving her everywhere, and they always had dinner together.

Leila Jennings said, "President Sinclair is an extremely busy man—always working late or attending business engagements."

Working late and business engagements were the excuses he always used to fob her off.

"You go get it next time. I don’t trust anyone else." Sean Sinclair’s voice turned gentle. "Is your mentor’s wife feeling any better? Remember to come home. It’s the weekend tomorrow, you don’t have to work, do you?"

"I don’t."

"Perfect. I have a gift for you. Remember to come over this weekend." Sean Sinclair hung up as soon as he finished speaking.

Leila Jennings’s phone then received four text messages in succession: a yoga class, an infant care class, a child nutrition and health class, and a child psychology class.

One class on Saturday morning and one in the afternoon, plus another on Sunday afternoon and one more that evening.

For a moment, she felt like she was suffocating.

So this was his so-called gift.

’He wanted her to quit her job, stay home to get pregnant, and take all sorts of classes. From now on, she’d have to juggle multiple roles: the Sinclair family’s maid, Sean Sinclair’s chef, and their child’s nanny and nutritionist.’

’It was nothing short of imprisonment in the name of marriage.’

Leila Jennings paid the messages no mind and returned to the office. She overheard Caine planning to sell her gym membership, and Gwen suggested she post it on a second-hand marketplace.

"What kind of second-hand marketplace?" Leila Jennings walked over, asking for details.

Gwen told her to download an app, showed her how to use it, and then asked, "What are you trying to sell? Just list the details."

"Some classes." Leila Jennings focused on her phone and got to work.

Caine glanced over and saw the classes were all related to preparing for pregnancy and having children, and a hint of worry clouded her features.

"Are you planning on having a child with President Sinclair?" Her tone turned serious. "Jennings, maybe you should reconsider. Once a woman has a child, it’s truly impossible to get away."

Gwen nodded emphatically in agreement.

They could both see how President Sinclair neglected Jennings and cared for another woman.

She was already standing at the edge of an abyss; even if she wasn’t planning to climb out, she at least shouldn’t plunge any deeper.

"That’s his plan," Leila Jennings thought, ’Sean Sinclair intends to use a child to trap me for good.’

"But I’m not." She looked at the worried expressions on Caine and Gwen’s faces, then flashed her phone screen in front of them. "Which is why I’m planning to sell them."

The two of them let out a long sigh of relief.

’Good thing Jennings still has her head on straight,’ they thought.

Suddenly, Caine noticed the price she had listed and exclaimed in shock, "Zero-point-nine? These courses are worth tens of thousands, and you’re reselling them for just point nine?"

In the time it took to have that conversation, Leila Jennings’s private messages had already hit 99+.

Only then did Leila Jennings notice the courses cost tens of thousands. ’Sean Sinclair really is willing to spare no expense on me.’

"You two can head out. I’ll leave after I finish up here."

"Alright, see you next week."

Leila Jennings sat back at her desk and began replying to the messages one by one. Because the price was so low, many people were skeptical and suspected a scam. Yet, the offer was too tempting, so they kept asking if it was real.

Hiding behind her online anonymity, Leila Jennings was blunt: she didn’t want to have kids but didn’t want her husband to know, so she was trying to sell the classes online.

The reason for the low price was that she had requirements for the buyer.

The buyer had to have a similar height and build, couldn’t miss a single class, had to wear a mask, and must claim to be Mrs. Sinclair.

This filtered out most people at once, but new inquiries kept coming in.

An hour later, Leila Jennings found someone who met her requirements, and they added each other as contacts.

The other person asked for the card; these types of courses came with a special card that automatically registered class hours when swiped.

Leila Jennings had no choice but to send a message to Sean Sinclair.

Sean Sinclair replied with a voice message: "It’ll be delivered to the house tonight."

Leila Jennings replied with a simple "Okay."

’Looks like I have to go back tonight,’ she thought.

Leila Jennings made a call. "Mr. Duncan, I have to go over to Sean Sinclair’s place tonight to get something. I’ll be back rather late, so don’t wait up for me. You two should get some rest."

Her mentor’s wife and Mr. Duncan were elderly and always went to bed early.

The man on the other end told her to call if she had any trouble, and he would personally come and get her.

She knew she might actually need the help, but she couldn’t bear to trouble an elderly man.

Leila Jennings could only think of Cherry Cole, so she sent her a message. Cherry Cole replied with an "OK" hand-sign emoji.

With everything arranged, Leila Jennings finally got up. The moment she stepped out of the office, she came face-to-face with Nathaniel Cole and Zachary.

Their conversation came to an abrupt halt.

Zachary asked, "Still working late, Jennings?"

"No, I was just handling a personal matter and lost track of time." Leila Jennings nodded at them and stepped aside to let them pass.

Nathaniel Cole gave her a brief glance before striding into the office.

Zachary followed close behind, continuing, "President Sinclair wires a large sum of money to an overseas account every month, but we can’t trace..."

Leila Jennings stopped in her tracks.

’Nathaniel Cole had been secretly monitoring Stellaxis Technologies’ movements lately, so it was to be expected that he was investigating Sean Sinclair. And as for that large sum of money they mentioned, she just so happened to know about it.’

Leila Jennings turned back.

She knocked.

The man’s profound gaze immediately locked onto her face.

"What is it?"

"I know where that money of Sean Sinclair’s is going," Leila Jennings said, looking at him. "But I have one condition."

"And why should I believe you?" Nathaniel Cole’s gaze was sharp. "You’re Sean Sinclair’s legal wife."

’Not for much longer,’ she thought.

Leila Jennings met his scrutinizing gaze head-on. "You’ll understand when you find out where that money is going. It’s going to Sarah Lynch. President Cole, you should know of her. Her maternal grandfather just had someone pass you a message two days ago to get me promoted."

"Who said your promotion was because of someone else?" After listening to her, Nathaniel Cole had more questions than answers. "Who is Sarah Lynch?" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He knew, but he couldn’t very well reveal to Leila Jennings that he had already investigated Sean Sinclair’s affair.

Leila Jennings looked slightly puzzled.

Zachary explained, "President Cole, Sarah Lynch is the one from the mall, the one the young miss pointed at and said had a total ’green tea’ vibe."

Leila Jennings was speechless.

Leila Jennings pressed her lips together, fighting back a smile.

Zachary continued, "She’s also Mr. Jacobs’s granddaughter. The year before last, when Mr. Neville celebrated his eightieth birthday at the Cole Residence, Mr. Jacobs was in attendance. The one with the surname Lynch was not on the list of invitees."

Zachary didn’t even refer to them as "the Lynch Family," but rather "the one with the surname Lynch."

Sarah Lynch’s family could only be considered upper-middle class. In the eyes of a top-tier, powerful family like the Coles, they were still just a grain of sand. Someone like Sean Sinclair barely qualified for the tycoon class; a more accurate term would simply be "a rich person."

Calling them "the Sinclair Family" was simply a gesture of acknowledgment for the value of Sean Sinclair, the new-money tech prodigy.

But in the eyes of the Cole Family, none of this was remotely impressive.

Leila Jennings asked, "So, my promotion wasn’t because Sarah Lynch had someone put in a word for me?"

Nathaniel Cole replied, "She doesn’t have that much pull."

Leila Jennings said, "I see."

’It didn’t matter who was responsible. When the time was right, she would leave, return to her research, and stop hiding.’

Returning to the topic at hand, Leila Jennings said, "Sean Sinclair gives Sarah Lynch three million a month for research funding. I’ve told you what I know. My condition is that when you get proof of the transactions, you make a copy for me."

Nathaniel Cole sized her up again. "What do you want that for?"

’To file for divorce?’

’To reclaim their joint marital assets from the other woman?’

Leila Jennings said, "It’s a gift for some people."

’A gift for Sean Sinclair’s parents and sister.’