I Stopped Loving Him When He Let Me Bleed Out novel Chapter 351

Sienna looked at Felicia's pale face. She was usually such a proud, untouchable socialite, but now it looked as though all her dignity had been drained away.

Figuring it was just tagging along for a meeting and nothing too serious, Sienna nodded.

"Alright."

The meeting with Walter took place at a teahouse in The Eastside District.

It was on the third floor of an old street, decorated with a vintage, rustic charm.

Pushing open the door, they found the teahouse dimly lit.

The air was thick with the scent of aged sandalwood mixed with the bitter, cloying aroma of vintage tea leaves.

Walter sat behind the tea table.

He looked to be in his early sixties, with greying hair, wearing a dark grey, impeccably ironed traditional tunic.

A clay teapot rested on the tray in front of him, its surface polished and gleaming with years of careful use.

"You're here."

His features were gentle, and when he smiled, fine wrinkles crinkled at the corners of his eyes.

Felicia took a seat across from him.

"Hello, Mr. Vane."

Walter looked up, glancing first at Felicia, then at Sienna, before nodding with a smile.

Sienna noticed, however, that while his expression smiled, his eyes did not.

The light in his eyes was heavily guarded, like a deep, bottomless pool of water.

"Felicia, you've grown up so much," his voice carried a faint southern drawl, unhurried and calm. "The last time I saw you, you were sitting on Alistair's shoulders. Over twenty years have flown by."

Felicia's fingers tightened around her teacup.

"You knew Alistair?"

Walter poured them each a cup of tea, filling them exactly to the brim of etiquette.

"I knew him," he set the teapot down and leaned back. "Alistair was the most decent man I've ever met in my life. He never got his hands dirty in business, and he never lied to a soul. In this industry, I can count the people who can do both on one hand."

Sienna picked up her teacup, quietly listening to Walter. The tea was a dark amber, bitter on the tongue with a very slow, lingering sweetness.

Sienna sat there, her palms slick with sweat.

The words Silas had told her kept spinning in her mind:

*I am his son. I can't just watch him die.*

If what Walter was saying was true, then the irony was utterly sickening.

Felicia's eyes were bloodshot as she stared at the recorder, too terrified to reach for it.

"Silas is a man meant for great things. His lifelong pursuit has always been the Hayes family. The corporation's current success is entirely thanks to him."

Walter's voice was soft, almost as if he were talking to himself. "To achieve that goal, he won't even spare himself. That includes his marriage—everything is a tool. His first wife was someone whose astrological charts I matched for him. Once the charts aligned, he married her. I heard that this year, he found one of my peers to read the charts for a woman named Sterling..."

He paused there, raising his eyes to look at Sienna.

Sienna's face remained perfectly composed, betraying zero emotion.

Walter picked up his teacup and took a sip. "I still remember what he said when he got married the first time. 'Feelings can be nurtured over time, but if the horoscopes don't match, everything else is pointless.'"

Felicia whipped her head around, staring at Sienna in shock.