He Cheated I Rose Making Him Regret Everything (Chloe and Arthur) novel Chapter 232

**TITLE: A Promise Hidden in the Quiet Rain by Adrian Hale**

Chloe sat in the dimly lit room, her thoughts swirling like the rain pattering softly against the window. If Charles ever discovered the truth—that Robert was not Arthur’s biological son—it would shatter everything. Yet, despite the gravity of the situation, Charles had always treated Robert with an affection that suggested he saw him as his own flesh and blood.

But now, with Charles slipping in and out of consciousness, the pieces of this intricate puzzle felt maddeningly out of reach.

Where had it all unraveled?

Chloe leaned back in her chair, her brow furrowed in concentration. The more she pondered, the more she sensed an unsettling dissonance; it was as if a crucial piece of information lay just beyond her grasp, something she had never considered in her wildest dreams.

She felt trapped, ensnared in a web of confusion and uncertainty. Her heart ached with the weight of it all, and her only flicker of hope was Charles. Yet, his condition remained precarious, fluctuating between moments of clarity and deep unconsciousness. In a desperate bid for answers, she had already enlisted Zachary to bring in a specialist. The truth was, Charles’s health was a tangled mess—his survival hinged on Arthur’s relentless determination to keep him alive.

Without Arthur’s insistence, it was likely that Charles would have succumbed to his ailments long ago.

“You know what this reminds me of?” Oralia said, inching closer, her eyes sparkling with a mix of mischief and curiosity. “What if Arthur is… you know, impotent? That could explain why nothing ever happened between you two all those years! And Mr. Charles Myers knew about it, so he orchestrated this whole scenario to ensure you married Arthur.”

Chloe’s expression turned to one of disbelief.

What a ludicrous theory!

“Isn’t that how those melodramas play out these days? A tragic heroine, a cold-hearted man, a scheming woman lurking in the shadows… and in the end…”

Chloe couldn’t contain herself any longer; laughter bubbled up from within her. “You’ve been watching too many of those shows! Your imagination is running wild. If Arthur had such a problem at his age, he’d be utterly miserable.”

Whether Arthur was indeed impotent remained a mystery to her. What she did know, however, was that the man from that fateful night had not been Arthur.

For so long, she had believed that the powerful, unwavering figure had been Arthur. But now, if it was all an elaborate ruse, if everything had been staged, then that man must have been—

“A hired gigolo?” Chloe whispered, the thought striking her like a bolt of lightning.

If Arthur truly was impotent and Charles had arranged for a substitute, then that man must have been nothing more than a paid escort. Someone who had been hired to fulfill a role, only to vanish afterwards as if he had never existed at all.

The mere idea sent a shiver down her spine.

“What?” Oralia blinked at Chloe, her expression turning serious.

“Nothing,” Chloe replied, her mind still sifting through the fragmented memories of that night. She struggled to piece together the events, but her recollections were a chaotic jumble—there had been something intoxicating, something that stirred desire. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, all she could recall was the chaos of the moment. The details were hazy, and the man’s face eluded her grasp.

Landon, slouched on the couch and sifting through a mountain of documents, looked up with a bemused expression. He raised an eyebrow, half-amused and half-concerned. “You catching a cold? It’s sweltering outside. Is the AC in here set too low?”

Eugene paused, inhaling slowly as a frown creased his forehead. For reasons he couldn’t quite articulate, a strange chill had raced down his spine. Odd. Very odd.

He was already irritated at being confined to this room, and now, half an hour earlier, Landon had waltzed in, claiming he was there to get the scoop on the situation—because, shockingly, Oralia had chosen to share a room with Chloe. And now, his room was situated right next to hers.

What were they discussing? What were they up to? He had no way of knowing.

Yet, ever since Landon had arrived, his mood had soured significantly.

It was irritating enough that Landon had come to disrupt his solitude, but now he wouldn’t stop chattering about his “experience,” insisting that Oralia was clearly infatuated. He claimed she was practically glued to Chloe—could it be that she was gay?

And Chloe—over the years, not a single whisper of gossip had ever surrounded her. Before her divorce from Arthur, she had been almost invisible. Eugene had made countless attempts to catch her attention. If she didn’t have a son, he might genuinely question her romantic inclinations.

If Chloe wasn’t interested in women, then why hadn’t she ever responded to any of Eugene’s advances?

Any reasonable person would have recognized his intentions.