lan only tilted his head slightly, but his chilling gaze swept over her in the dim light, his brow furrowed with annoyance at being disturbed.

"What is it?"

Vanessa's voice was tinged with self-mockery. "I stood by you for ten years, gave your mother blood for ten years, and in the end, you won't even give me a proper look? I just want to know, what makes her so much better than me?"

lan finally turned to face her, his gaze like a blade forged from cold iron. "You're not worthy of being compared to her."

Vanessa let out a pained, cold laugh. "How cruel! But I don't care for your love anymore. Without you, lan, there are still people who will love and cherish me. I'll live a wonderful life."

lan didn't bother to respond, treating her words as if they were air.

Vanessa smiled sadly. "Aren't you curious why I'm with Walden Wells?"

"That's your choice. It has nothing to do with me," lan said, his voice devoid of emotion.

Vanessa stared, her eyes searching his profile, desperate for a sign of worry or ire. She met only with a profound, chilling stillness. His gaze, beneath those thick lashes, held the flat calm of a windless pond.

Vanessa took a deep breath and, through gritted teeth, said word by word, "lan, one day, you will pay the price for your attitude today."

lan indifferently averted his gaze, then turned his head back to her. "Are you done?"

Vanessa froze for a few seconds, then his completely indifferent attitude thoroughly enraged her. She clutched her gown and took a step forward. "Ian, do you even have a heart? Ten years! Even raising a dog for that long would create some affection, and I'm a person! How can you be like this—"

From her angle, Vanessa saw a figure in white approaching the terrace—it was Eleanor.

A calculating glint flashed in her eyes. Just as Eleanor was about to step onto the terrace, she quickly reached out to wrap her arms around lan's waist.

lan sharply sidestepped, and at the same moment, he saw Eleanor step onto the terrace Vanessa's embrace met empty air and she stumbled against the railing. fo FindNovel.net

Vanessa reached out, but lan's hand came up in a cold, blocking motion. "Vanessa,"

he said, his tone flat, "have some self-respect."

This scene was witnessed by Eleanor, who had just arrived. She paused, not

realizing there were people on the terrace.

Vanessa immediately put on a

wronged expression. "lan, werente

we just having a nice chat?

are

you acting all proper just because Eleanor is here

lan's handsome face darkened, his voice as cold as ice. "Vanessa, that's enough."

Elara was also taken aback. She stared, frozen, at the man with such a powerful presence.

But Vanessa just smirked and walked toward Eleanor. "Eleanor, we're just old flames catching up. Don't get the wrong idea!"

Eleanor gave Vanessa a cool glance. "I have no wrong ideas to get."

Vanessa's smile froze. It seemed her carefully orchestrated drama was nothing to Eleanor now.

Her calm spectatorship also meant that lan was nothing to her either.

Ha! That at least made her feel a little better. She turned and left without a backward glance.

"Ellie, who is this?" Elara asked, sizing up lan. Her intuition told her that Eleanor

knew him and that this man was clearly no ordinary person.

"My ex-husband," Eleanor introduced him calmly.

It dawned on Elara.

Elara spent most of the year teaching up north, so she was completely out of the loop on business stuff. lan's white hair had totally throw her off she took another look. So that's who he was

the richest guy in the country, and Eleanor's ex-husband.