Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

Seething with rage, he slapped her again. "That’s right, I’m hitting you!"

Saphira Sutton’s eyes filled with disbelief.

"You..."

Toby Dalton stared coldly at her face. After a moment, he walked inside, yanking off his tie as he went and slamming it onto the floor.

Saphira Sutton stepped forward. "Toby, what’s wrong with you?"

His voice was laced with a chilling coldness as he turned to look at her. "You faked your death to get away from here. Why come back?"

"I heard a woman who looks exactly like me appeared at your birthday party, so..."

"Get out. Go far, far away, and never appear before me again."

Saphira Sutton sneered. "Is this how you show your love for me? You can’t forget me, so you’d rather find a replacement than see the real thing? Heh. Toby Dalton, you’re pathetic."

"That’s right, I’m pathetic. Now get out. I don’t want to see that face of yours."

’I can’t help but mistake that face for someone else’s!’

The feeling was a mix of love and hate that was driving him mad.

Saphira Sutton never imagined he would say such a thing. Her heart filled with resentment, but even more so with shock and indignation.

’Who was it that swore he’d love me until the day he died?’

’He’d constantly restricted her freedom, suffocating her until she felt so repulsed she had to fake her own death to escape him.’

’And now, he actually... ’

"I had no intention of staying, so don’t worry. I didn’t love you before, I don’t love you now, and I will never love you!" Saphira Sutton turned and walked toward the door.

Toby Dalton didn’t chase after her. He walked slowly forward, his figure vanishing into the night.

Once on the plane, Quentin Grant and Nora Ainsworth finally felt a sense of relief. Nora took a few steps forward and looked at Faye Sinclair’s gaunt, sallow face. Her eyes instantly reddened.

"Mom!" she cried, throwing her arms around Faye Sinclair.

"Nina!" Faye Sinclair’s eyes also blurred with tears. She hugged her daughter tightly, a powerful sob caught in her throat. "I’ve missed you for over twenty years. For so many years, my greatest wish was to see you again in my lifetime. I can’t believe that wish has finally come true."

Nora Ainsworth nodded. "Yes, from now on, we’ll never be separated again, okay?"

"Okay."

Nora Ainsworth let her go and reached out to wipe away her tears. "Mom, about Dad..."

At the mention of Luna Ainsworth, the light in Faye Sinclair’s eyes instantly vanished. She shook her head. "Don’t ever mention that man to me again."

Nora Ainsworth could see her mother’s aversion and didn’t press the issue. "Okay, we won’t talk about him. Sierra’s waiting for you at home, and so are your two grandsons."

Faye Sinclair’s eyes lit up. "Nina, you’re married?"

Nora Ainsworth shook her head. "No. I said I would wait until you came back to get married."

"Good."

Nora Ainsworth pulled Quentin Grant over to her mother. "Mom, this is Quentin Grant. He’s the father of your grandsons."

Faye Sinclair instinctively asked, "Are you from the Grant Family?"

"Yes, Mom."

"You’re all grown up. I remember holding you when you were just a little boy. Time really does fly. I know Nina is in good hands with you. I can rest easy."

The plane landed at Alveria Airport between two and three in the morning.

They took a car back to their upscale apartment complex.

Hearing the commotion, Sierra Ainsworth and the two boys ran downstairs. Upon seeing the mother she hadn’t seen in so many years, Sierra also burst into uncontrollable tears.

The mother and her two daughters huddled together, crying their hearts out.

Standing to the side, even Ethan Ellsworth’s eyes grew misty. Seeing the reunion, he quietly left and went home.

After they had cried, Faye Sinclair looked at the twins standing nearby and smiled. "Are these Nina’s children?"

"Grandma!" the two boys shouted in unison.

Faye Sinclair knelt. "Oh, my dear boys."

Nora Ainsworth took the fresh clothes a housekeeper had prepared and said to Faye Sinclair, "Mom, why don’t you go upstairs and take a nice hot bath? You can change into some clean clothes."

"Okay."

The mother and her two daughters went into the bathroom together.

Despite the long years of separation, there was no distance between the mother and her daughters. They talked for a long, long time, and Nora learned how her mother had survived all these years. From Faye’s own lips, she finally heard the story of the old grievances between her, Claire Sinclair, and Luna Ainsworth.

It turned out that when they were young, both Faye and Claire Sinclair were quite beautiful. They met Luna Ainsworth at around the same time, and as the three of them began to spend more time together, Luna fell for Faye. Even though Claire looked identical to her older sister, Luna was drawn to Faye’s gentle temperament, and the two began a relationship.

When Claire found out about this, she began to ignore Faye, and their sisterly bond was shattered.

Later, tragedy struck their parents. Their father died in a mining accident, and their mother, in her grief, hanged herself. The once-happy family was destroyed in an instant.

After that, Claire ran away from home.

Faye searched for her, but she vanished without a trace.

「Several years passed.」

Faye married Luna Ainsworth.

She moved with him to Valeria to build their business.

Their business grew larger and larger, and they had Nora Ainsworth.

While attending a banquet for the Grant Family back in Fravia, their child suddenly disappeared. The incident dealt an incredible blow to Faye.

They searched everywhere but couldn’t find her.

Faye spent her days in tears, her mental state becoming unstable.

She even became depressed and had suicidal thoughts.

Things only improved slightly after she had Sierra Ainsworth.

It was then that her long-lost sister suddenly called, catching Faye completely off guard. Claire claimed she had married a poor man and was living a difficult life. Seeing her as her own flesh and blood, Faye sent her money. Eventually, Claire said she wanted to come to Valeria.

Faye agreed. A few days after Claire’s arrival, it became obvious she was reveling in their luxurious lifestyle. The way she looked at Luna wasn’t right, either. Faye saw all of this, but true to her gentle nature, she kept her concerns to herself, telling no one.

Faye assumed her sister would only stay for a short time before leaving. But Claire didn’t leave. Instead, she began to brazenly bring up the past, even accusing Faye of stealing her man.

The two argued in private several times. Finally, they arranged to meet for a serious talk. Faye went to the meeting place, never imagining that Claire would actually move against her.

Claire drugged her unconscious, tied her up, and had someone take her to an abandoned village on a mountainside. Her foot was shackled with a thick iron chain, restricting her to a very small area. She could fetch water and grow some vegetables, and the room was stocked with piles of flour.

And so she lived there, until Toby Dalton came and threw her into a cellar.

Then, she was rescued by Nora Ainsworth and Quentin Grant.

Hearing their mother’s story, both Nora and Sierra were sobbing uncontrollably. It wasn’t just a day, a month, or a year—it was many, many years. All that time, this woman had been tormented by dull, lonely days, one after another.

The cruelty of it all, forcing her to live like that for so many years, had worn down her spirit.

Faye Sinclair managed a small smile. "You two, don’t cry. The fact that I’m still alive is a blessing. From now on, I’m going to live a good life. Just seeing you two makes me happy."

Sierra Ainsworth nodded and began to undress. But when she took off her pants, Faye, the very person who had just told them not to cry, burst into tears. "Sierra, what happened to your leg?"

Sierra told her the whole story.

Faye was so furious she almost fainted. She couldn’t believe her own sister was so utterly devoid of humanity.

"Mom, I’ve already gotten my revenge. I took her leg, too."

At this, Faye nodded. She knelt, her hand touching Sierra’s ankle, her heart aching with pain for her daughter.

"I hate her so much."

"I hate her too. And that daughter of hers... neither of them are good people."

Sierra snorted. "Sis, Mom, just you wait. Quentin will take care of that mother-daughter pair. It’s only a matter of when."

"Yes. There’s no rush. We’ll take our time," Nora said.

Nora Ainsworth spoke up. "You’ve all told your stories, so now I’ll tell you mine, especially about the adoptive mother who raised me, Joel Chaucer."

"Nina, please. I really want to know."

"I learned from her that I was a baby girl taken from the Grant Family. She told me when she was dying of cancer. Her doctor had told her she’d never given birth, which is why she felt she had to tell me the truth. She said I had a Jade Pendant around my neck, and I later found out it was a matching pair to Sierra’s..."

Nora slowly and carefully told them every detail of the past that she knew.

"Nora, let’s go visit your mother’s grave together tomorrow," Faye said.

Nora looked at Faye. "Mom, you... you don’t hate her?"

"She’s already passed on. What good would it do to hate her now? Besides, she raised you, didn’t she? And in the end, she told you the truth. She must have loved you, too. After all, you spent so many years together..."

Nora Ainsworth nodded. "Okay."

Faye Sinclair smiled faintly.

After her bath, Nora looked at her mother again and saw a graceful air about her. She was truly a gentle soul.

Exhausted, Nora went to her room to sleep, leaving Sierra and Faye to share a room.

Nora pushed her door open and then closed it behind her. She shuffled to the bed in her slippers and flopped onto it, her eyelids already too heavy to keep open. "Finally... I can get some real sleep... Back there... I never dared to sleep too soundly... I was so afraid something would happen..."

Quentin Grant was sitting there, stroking her long hair. "Nora, your hair is still wet. Let me dry it for you before you sleep, okay?"

"Mmm..."

He stood, got a hairdryer, and plugged it in. Then, he gently separated her strands, drying them section by section. "Nora, I feel the same way you do. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this happy."

"Me too, Quentin... But this isn’t over... Toby Dalton won’t let this go... He’ll come after you."

"I know. He’ll hate me even more now. But the more you go through, the stronger you become. I’m not afraid."

Nora thought for a moment, her eyes fluttering open again. "I’m not afraid of him challenging you head-on. I’m afraid he’ll use underhanded tactics to hurt you."

"Dirty tricks, you mean?" Quentin mused. "Whatever’s coming will come. We can’t stop it. There’s no use being afraid or worried. All we can do is be prepared and stay vigilant."

"Oh, and you need to look carefully into Saphira Sutton’s background. There’s something off about her."

Quentin Grant set down the hairdryer. "I’ll look into it tomorrow. Tonight, I have something more important to do."