Bait for a Gentleman novel Chapter 142

His warm palm enveloped her clenched fist. "The current known information points to that, which is exactly why Zachary hasn't dared to break off the engagement with you. If his actions were the cause of a breakdown in your relationship, he'd be deemed the guilty party and lose his inheritance rights to the Sutton Group. That includes all his shares. This was Waldo's way of compensating you."

So that was it.

The title of "Mrs. Sutton" sure was valuable.

Audrina pulled her lips into a tight smile. She had lovingly called Waldo her grandpa for three years, and Waldo had genuinely cared for her in return.

But if the underlying tone of that affection was guilt, then the person being loved was merely a tool for him to appease his conscience. It was less about him loving her, and more about him loving a redemption that could bring him peace of mind.

The Sutton family had ultimately bailed out Monroe Industries, saving the company.

But her father could never come back.

To her, this was no different from paying a massive fortune to buy her father's life.

She didn't care for this astronomical compensation.

"Thank you." Audrina placed the documents back into the folder and pushed it across the coffee table, refusing to look at it again.

She didn't allow herself to wallow in disappointment for long and quickly organized her thoughts.

Her reasoning became clearer. "If Zachary was only guilty of concealing what he knew, Waldo wouldn't have risked half of the Sutton Group to make amends. Mr. Hawthorne, I'll have to trouble you to keep digging into this."

Sebastian gave a low sound of agreement. "That confession is just the tip of the iceberg. I'll continue investigating the rest."

The living room fell quiet once more.

The city lights outside floated in the dark, separated by the glass like the noise of another world.

Audrina hugged her knees, eyes downcast, curled up in the corner of the sofa.

Sebastian got up, grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen, and handed it to her.

Then he sat down beside her. The cushions dipped, and her body involuntarily tilted a half-inch closer to his.

The man stared at her for a long moment. Seeing that she only kept her head down to drink, he simply took the glass from her hands, set it on the coffee table, and pulled her into his arms.

"Don't you have anything you want to say to me?"

Audrina nestled comfortably against his arm, her voice muffled. "Like what?"

"How does it feel to know the truth?"

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