Chapter 442 In This Life, I Will Not Step Into the Moore Mansion
Sarah turned her face away.
She gently removed his hand from her arm, her voice especially soft in the night, "No, I don't like you, Oliver. You're overthinking this!"
Oliver wasn't upset.
As a mature man, he understood women's tendency to deny their true feelings. Rather shamelessly, he caressed her again, speaking with tenderness, "I'll handle this situation and come back in the morning."
Sarah didn't respond.
The matter must have been urgent, as Oliver grabbed his coat and left immediately.
When he went downstairs, his driver was already waiting.
Next to the gleaming Rolls-Royce stood a black car. In the pre-dawn hours, Nicholas sat inside, silently smoking a cigarette.
The pale smoke dispersed in the night breeze, blurring Nicholas's face.
He was no longer the quiet, pleasant person he once was.
Everything about him had changed.
Oliver slowed his pace.
After a moment, he approached Nicholas. The two men sized each other up through the car window. Oliver spoke softly, "Nicholas, you're only clinging to her because of your blood connection. Well, I have one too! She has my liver inside her, we raised Jacob together, and even Nicole, whom she cherishes, is our shared child."
Nicholas's eyes reddened.
He had witnessed their intimate moment in the kitchen with perfect clarity.
Sitting in his car, he had watched Oliver enter her home, had seen them kissing and caressing in that narrow kitchen.
He felt like a complete fool.
The night passed, and Oliver never came to pick up Nicole.
Sarah didn't call him.
She didn't send Nicole back either. Instead, she bought Nicole fresh clothes and toiletries at the mall. Claire brought over her little backpack.
Claire quietly informed Sarah that Oliver had left town and wouldn't return for about a week.
She added that she felt perfectly comfortable with Nicole staying there.
Nicole was both well-behaved and eager to please.
She loved carrying her doll around the house, changing her little dress twice daily. She would gather her discarded clothes in a small basin and play at washing them, creating white bubbles everywhere.
Eventually, Jacob took over washing those little dresses.
At night, Nicole preferred sleeping next to Jacob, curled up beside him with her small pillow, as obedient as a puppy. Jacob would sometimes wake and check on her.
Early one morning, Nicole woke from a pleasant dream.
Then she wet the bed!
The pale yellow liquid soaked through her underwear, ran down her delicate legs, and thoroughly drenched Jacob's clean sheets.
Jacob woke to the wetness.
Though only seven himself—still young enough to need looking after—he found Nicole lying face-down on the bed, her little bottom raised, her cow-patterned pajamas completely soaked.
Afraid Jacob would be angry, she looked utterly pitiful.
Jacob picked her up. The urine-soaked clothes weren't pleasant, but she looked so miserable that he simply patted her bottom once, resigned himself to the situation, and changed her into clean clothes, even wiping her bottom.
Unable to change the sheets himself, he carried her to the sofa where they fell back asleep.
In the early morning, Sarah entered to find Jacob holding Nicole. "Mom, Nicole wet the bed."
Nicole felt embarrassed.
She secretly turned away, raising her bottom to hide her shame.
Jacob left for school.
Sarah took Nicole to the art gallery, where the staff found her adorable and bought her numerous treats.
Nicole ate until she was full, completely content.
She loved being with Sarah and the staff members who all adored her.
In the afternoon, as the sunlight streamed in beautifully,
Sarah was teaching Nicole to paint when her secretary's voice came from the doorway, "Ms. Miller, there's a Mrs. Moore who wishes to see you. She says she's family."
Nicholas's wife...
Sarah paused momentarily, then said calmly, "Please show her in."
The sound of high heels approached.
Hestia made quite an entrance, bringing two female secretaries with her, clearly intending to establish her superior status. Sarah saw through this immediately. She handed her paintbrush to Nicole and said gently, "Keep painting, sweetheart. Mommy needs to discuss something."
Nicole nodded. "I'll be good."
Sarah couldn't help smiling.
She truly adored Nicole and kissed her on the cheek.
This display of maternal affection made Hestia's heart ache. She had assumed the woman who haunted Nicholas's thoughts must be having an affair with him, but Sarah showed no interest in Nicholas whatsoever. Instead, she gazed at Oliver's daughter with complete tenderness.
Hestia couldn't accept this.
She asked her secretaries to leave.
Once they were alone in the office, she said to Sarah, "Nicholas and I have a daughter too. She's three... a little younger than her."
Sarah walked to the coffee machine and began brewing.
Without asking Hestia's preference, she made a cup of Blue Mountain coffee. Over the soft whirring of the machine, she said quietly, "I wasn't here for your wedding to Nicholas. I suppose I owe you a gift."
She spoke with the air of an elder relative.
Hestia lost her composure and blurted out, "You know perfectly well that Nicholas has feelings for you. Why pretend otherwise?"
Sarah lowered her eyes and smiled faintly. "That's something you should discuss with him. I spent four years abroad—wasn't that enough?"
Nicholas's issues were being unfairly placed on her shoulders.
Coming from a privileged background and knowing Sarah wasn't Matthew's biological daughter, Hestia felt a sense of superiority. She brazenly proposed a deal: "Your two children can return to the Moore family, but you must live abroad. I can offer you a sum of money."
Sarah turned to face her.
Looking directly at Hestia, she asked plainly, "How much money are we talking about?"
Hestia thought her greedy.
She sat on the sofa, took out her checkbook, and wrote a figure. "Fifty million dollars. Is that enough for you?"
Sarah replied softly, "Not nearly. Try adding three more zeros."
Fifty billion dollars!
Hestia could hardly believe it. She stared at Sarah. "Don't push your luck. Do you believe I could have you removed from Evergreen City without spending a penny?"
Sarah smiled faintly. "I do believe that. Are you finished, Mrs. Moore? May I show you out?"
She poured the coffee down the drain.
As Hestia tried to speak again, a hand grabbed her arm. "Are you done making a scene? If so, come home with me."
It was Nicholas!
He hadn't slept all night and looked extremely haggard.
Seeing him, Hestia's lips curled into a cold smile. "You came because you were worried I might confront her? Are you concerned for her? Nicholas, you promised to come home for dinner last night, but you stayed out all night just to watch her. I have to come to her gallery just to see my own husband."
Her final words were nearly hysterical.
Nicole began crying in fear.
The couple's ugly confrontation forced the gallery to temporarily close.
Sarah held Nicole, trying to comfort her.
Looking at the couple, she spoke calmly, "Mrs. Moore, if your husband isn't coming home, that's between you and him. Please don't take it out here—you've scared my daughter."
"Furthermore, I have no connection to the Moore family anymore. I will never set foot in the Moore Mansion again as long as I live. Now, will you please leave?"
Her words were decisive, without a trace of attachment.
Nicholas's refined face turned deathly pale.
She had declared she would never return to the Moore Mansion in this lifetime.