The True Heiress Reborn And Slays (Alicia Delaney) novel Chapter 596

Chapter 596 Unrequited Feelings

Chapter 596 Unrequited Feelings

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Riley had always possessed an intuitive knack for reading people, and as she observed the way Teresa’s gaze lingered on Sebastian, she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more simmering beneath those gentle eyes. The look held a depth that stretched a little too long and lingered a little too intimately to be dismissed as merely familial affection.

While Riley was quietly assessing her, Teresa was engaged in her own silent scrutiny of Riley. When the moonlight illuminated Riley’s cool, refined features, a brief flash of alarm darted through Teresa’s eyes. Yet, she masked it with practiced ease, quickly plastering on a sweet, benign smile. Her voice was soft and calculated as she posed her question, “Is this… your girlfriend?”

“No.”

Sebastian didn’t let her finish the sentence. He cut in sharply, his tone low and laced with gravity as he delivered the correction.

“This is my wife, Riley.”

The moment the word “wife” hung in the air between them, the carefully curated warmth evaporated from Teresa’s face. She failed to conceal the jolt of shock that rippled across her features, and the color seemed to drain from her cheeks.

She clenched her palms into tight fists, forcing herself to maintain her composure. A flustered, tight–lipped smile accompanied her stammered explanation. “Ah… I’m terribly sorry, that was rude of me. I only just touched down–I rushed back immediately after landing from overseas. My mother mentioned that Grandpa was holed up in the conference hall with the council of elders, so I was on my way there. I certainly didn’t expect to run into you here.”

Sebastian offered another noncommittal hum, clearly indifferent to her travel itinerary or her excuses. He tightened his grip on Riley’s hand, steering her toward a quieter, more secluded path that branched off to the side.

Riley allowed him to guide her, falling into step beside him. As they brushed past Teresa, she offered nothing more than a polite, curt nod–a mere acknowledgement of basic etiquette.

After they had put a significant distance between themselves and the rockery, Riley cast a glance back over her shoulder.

Just as she suspected, Teresa remained rooted to the spot beside the rockery, motionless.

The night breeze toyed with her hair, and her eyes were heavy with unvoiced melancholy, fixed intently on their retreating silhouettes.

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Chapter 596 Unrequited Feelings

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Riley recognized that expression all too well; she had seen it played out countless times at the exclusive galas and high–society functions in Nexopolis and Havenbrook. Those self–assured daughters of the elite often wore that exact mask of unrequited longing whenever they found themselves in the presence of Sebastian’s striking looks and formidable status.

Riley turned her gaze away, a faint, knowing smile playing on her lips.

She cleared her throat softly and ventured, “So, why doesn’t that Ms. Whitman carry the Torres surname?”

Sebastian kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, his stride steady as he answered. “She took her grandmother’s maiden name.”

He paused, as if sensing that the explanation was insufficient, and slowed his pace by half a beat. His voice dropped an octave as he added, “Wilson… has two wives.”

Riley arched a brow, a sign of her immediate understanding. She was well–versed in the labyrinthine histories of wealthy dynasties, and stories of complicated domestic arrangements were nothing new.

As it turned out, decades ago, Wilson had been subject to the rigid arrangements of the family elders, marrying his first wife in the traditional, conventional manner expected of their station.

Later, seeking to expand the Torres Group’s international reach, he had relocated to Yvoria on his own. Once established there, he had taken a companion–a lover who would become Teresa’s biological grandmother.

The Torres family of that era was steeped in strict tradition. The situation had sparked absolute chaos within the household, a scandal that had nearly shaken the foundations of the

estate.

However, after the dust settled from the ensuing conflicts, a pragmatic compromise was brokered between vested interests and reality: the two wives would live separate lives–one in Yvoria, the other in the States–existing without interfering with one another.

Despite the arrangement, the wife in Yvoria had never been formally acknowledged by the Torres family elders during her lifetime and had never held a legitimate title within the clan. Consequently, the children born of that line carried their mother’s surname.

Although the times had changed and Wilson had amended his private will to grant that branch equal inheritance rights, within the ancestral home–where archaic protocols reigned supreme -they were still viewed as illegitimate and were barred from being entered into the official family registry.

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Chapter 596 Unrequited Feelings

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Having absorbed that slice of family drama, Riley’s curiosity was sated.

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Yet, as her mind drifted back to the longing look Teresa had cast at Sebastian, she deliberately gave his large hand a squeeze. She tilted her head, asking in a low, teasing voice, “So… as the subject of all that attention, did you know she harbored feelings for you?”

Sebastian came to an abrupt halt.

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