Chapter 29: Chapter 29: An Elegant Aura Refined by Time
Cecilia Croft locked all the doors and lay back down on the bed.
Perhaps because Jude Sheridan had left, she slept especially soundly this time.
「The next day.」
Cecilia Croft made herself breakfast. She ate while scrolling through the latest financial news from Karthus on her phone.
A call came in from an unsaved number.
Cecilia Croft’s hand holding the phone tightened slightly.
Even though it wasn’t saved, she knew the number well.
She frowned, staring at the string of digits for a long time. Just as the ringing was about to stop, she swiped to answer.
A voice she hadn’t heard in nearly seven years sounded through the phone, both familiar and strangely foreign.
"Cecilia, it’s Dad. I’m passing through Silvercrest on a business trip and heard you’re getting married, so I wanted to come see you. Are you free right now? Can you come meet me?"
Cecilia Croft’s brow furrowed, a flicker of emotion showing in her otherwise cool eyes.
"The address."
The person on the other end promptly gave her an address.
Cecilia Croft glanced down at the time. She still had two hours before her meeting with Sebastian Hawthorne.
After ending the call, she lost her appetite for breakfast. She quickly tidied up and headed out.
The address Titus Croft had given her was a rather high-end hotel in Silvercrest.
She entered the hotel, gave Titus Croft’s name, and was led by a waiter into the restaurant.
The man sitting at the table was dressed in casual attire, but it was clearly from a very particular, high-end brand.
He seemed unchanged after all these years. His hair was still thick and dark, and he had acquired a refined air that only comes with age.
A gold bank card lay on the table in front of him.
Seeing her approach, he gestured for her to sit in the chair opposite him.
"Sit."
She sat down silently, and he pushed the bank card across the table toward her.
"This is the dowry your father prepared for you."
’Is something this good actually happening?’
Cecilia Croft lowered her gaze, glancing at it indifferently before pushing the card back to him.
When her mother left the Croft family, she didn’t take a single cent. Naturally, Cecilia didn’t need his money either.
"What did you want to see me about?" she asked directly.
Titus Croft gave a silent smile.
"Cecilia, you’re still so much like your mother."
Cecilia Croft didn’t reply.
Titus Croft sighed lightly.
"Since you asked, I might as well be direct about why I came to see you."
’Of course.’
Cecilia Croft wasn’t surprised at all.
Titus Croft continued, "When your grandfather passed away, he gave you fifteen percent of the Croft Group’s shares. You’ve been away from the Croft family for so many years; those shares are useless in your hands. You might as well give them to me."
Cecilia Croft looked up at him.
"I’ve already entrusted those shares entirely to my sister’s management."
Titus Croft smiled, his expression gentle and fatherly.
"You only entrusted her to manage them, you didn’t transfer them to her. In all these years, she’s disregarded your sisterly bond and never given you a single dividend. The shares are useless under your name."
He pushed the bank card toward Cecilia Croft again.
"You’ve just gotten married, and you’ll be thinking about having children soon. You’ll certainly have a lot of expenses. I am willing to pay to buy out the shares you hold in a lump sum. How about it?"
Cecilia Croft was unmoved.
"Wouldn’t they be just as useless in your hands?"
A crack appeared in Titus Croft’s benevolent expression, revealing his true feelings.
"And they’re useful in your sister’s hands? If your sister were actually competent, the Croft family wouldn’t have been going downhill all these years."
Cecilia Croft frowned, displeased by his words, and stood up to leave.
Titus Croft quickly grabbed her wrist. "Cecilia, you and your sister are both my children. I can’t bear to see your sister struggling to hold on. I just want to let your brother join the company to help her."
Cecilia Croft shook his hand off.
"Brother? Who are you referring to? Roger Abrams?"
Titus Croft frowned and corrected Cecilia Croft sternly, "He’s changed his surname. He’s called Roger Croft now."
Cecilia Croft scoffed. "Just changing his surname—can that change his genes? Can it change the fact that he’s the child of Joanna Sutton and some other man?"
She knew this was a sore spot for Titus Croft, so she deliberately twisted the knife.
Humiliated and enraged, Titus Croft shot up from his seat and slapped Cecilia Croft across the face.
For a moment, the air fell silent.
Cecilia Croft grabbed the coffee cup from the table and flung its contents at Titus Croft’s face.
Coffee splashed everywhere, blurring Titus Croft’s vision.
Cecilia Croft backed away to a safe distance.
"You’re such a pathetic fool. Back when you were young, Joanna Sutton didn’t want to be with you. It was only after her husband died and she couldn’t land anyone better that she came crawling back to you!"
"My mom has been divorced from you for so many years, so how come Joanna Sutton hasn’t given you a single child? She’s just using you as a tool, and you actually fell for it?"
"The only reason you have the nerve to show your face to me must be because you’ve nearly drained the trust fund Grandma left for you. And you think you can buy fifteen percent of the Croft Group’s shares from me with this paltry sum? You must be dreaming!"
Titus Croft wiped the coffee from his face. Hearing Cecilia Croft’s next round of attacks, his face turned livid.
"You unfilial daughter!"
He snatched the coffee cup from the table and hurled it violently at Cecilia Croft.
Cecilia Croft dodged, stumbling back into a wall of muscle.
The expected pain didn’t come. Stunned, Cecilia Croft looked up.
The cup had hit Sebastian Hawthorne, leaving a wet patch on his black shirt that vaguely outlined the firm, powerful muscles of his chest.
"You..." Cecilia Croft was mortified. ’It seems like every time something embarrassing happens, he’s always there to witness it.’
Sebastian Hawthorne didn’t look at her. His deep, inscrutable dark eyes landed on Titus Croft as he spoke casually.
"Uncle Croft, what’s all the fuss about?"
Titus Croft hadn’t expected to see Sebastian Hawthorne here. He hastily pulled out a few tissues and offered them, his furious expression instantly replaced by a fawning one.
"My apologies, Sebastian. This damn girl made me lose my head. I didn’t see you coming. It was completely unintentional, completely unintentional."
Sebastian Hawthorne didn’t take the tissues Titus Croft offered, replying coolly.
"It’s been years, but your temper is as fiery as ever, Uncle Croft. Nothing’s changed. I thought that after leaving the Croft family and striking out on your own, you might have changed a little."
He flicked at the coffee stain on his clothes.
"You were lucky today that it was me you hit. If it had been anyone else, I’m afraid a few words wouldn’t have been enough to smooth things over."
His voice was deep and smooth, betraying no emotion.
Even though Titus Croft was his elder, he could only manage a sycophantic smile in Sebastian Hawthorne’s presence.
"It’s all this damn girl’s fault for being so infuriating. I just lost control for a moment."
As he spoke, he didn’t forget to glare at Cecilia Croft, his refined air completely gone.
"Sebastian, you of all people should know how infuriating this brat can be."
