Ignored When Chasing: Why Cry After I Got Engaged-Chapter 142: When Did You Know?

"Selina Nathan... heh heh..." Damian Hawthorne chuckled softly, his gaze as deep as still water. "You’ve been by my side for so long using Cecilia Nathan’s identity. What’s your real goal?"

Cecilia’s heart clenched, and she gave a bitter smile. "I don’t have a goal, Damian. I never wanted to get anything from you. From the very beginning, all I ever wanted was to be by your side. That’s it."

"Fine. Then come back to me now."

Damian Hawthorne’s words left Cecilia speechless.

Damian Hawthorne grabbed Cecilia’s hand and led her toward the stairwell.

Miles Sinclair started to follow, but his phone suddenly rang. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the caller ID.

"Hello..."

Miles Sinclair’s tone was indifferent, but a hint of malice glinted in his eyes, making him seem like a completely different person from his usual gentle self.

"Miles, my baby... I’m going to lose it..." The woman on the phone sounded terrified, her voice thick with tears, each word teetering on the edge of a breakdown.

"Wait for me. I’ll be right there." Miles Sinclair hung up and hurried off in the other direction.

...

Just as they left the hotel, Cecilia’s phone vibrated. She took it out and saw a message from Chloe Sutton.

"Cecilia, what’s this about Damian Hawthorne marrying some woman named May Rhodes? This news has been blowing up online for days, but I just saw it. Did you know about this?"

Seeing Chloe Sutton’s message, Cecilia stopped short and pulled her hand out of Damian Hawthorne’s grasp.

The message was another reminder that Damian Hawthorne was getting married.

From his past pursuit of Serena Hughes to the later affair with Sharon Quincy, Cecilia realized she had never truly been able to see through Damian Hawthorne.

"Damian Hawthorne, what’s the deal with you and that May Rhodes?"

She refused to believe that Damian Hawthorne would actually fall for May Rhodes’s one-sided story.

Damian Hawthorne lowered his gaze. A light danced in his brown eyes, and the line of his jaw was as smooth as a character from a manga.

"What do you think?" Damian Hawthorne retorted with a wicked grin.

Cecilia’s heart skipped a beat.

Back then, the situation with Serena Hughes was a case of mistaken identity, and Sharon Quincy was just someone he was deliberately toying with. So what about May Rhodes?

The memory of him exposing her identity as Selina Nathan on the spot made Cecilia nervous.

’All those things I thought I’d fooled Damian Hawthorne with... did I really fool him at all?’

’How could I have forgotten? The man in front of me isn’t some ordinary person; he’s the mastermind in charge of the Hawthorne Family.’

Even when he was blind, he hadn’t allowed the Hawthorne Family to be chipped away. After his sight returned, he acted ruthlessly, stabilizing the family with an iron fist and elevating it to its current position. His methods and audacity had shocked the entire business world.

Back then, rumors were circulating that the Hawthorne Family was poised to become the next Nathans of Aethelgard.

Even her father, Linden Nathan, had said that Damian Hawthorne was more formidable than he had been in his youth.

A business prodigy like him was a rarity in all of Veridia, and he was not even thirty years old.

"Your thing with May Rhodes... it’s fake?"

It was the only answer Cecilia could think of.

...

「Hawthorne Tower.」

In Damian Hawthorne’s office, Justin Bell had a junior assistant bring in some fruit, which he placed gingerly on the coffee table.

Damian Hawthorne’s office was massive, occupying an entire floor, complete with a reception area, a kitchen, and a lounge.

Hugo Grant sat on the sofa, his expression calm and unruffled as he watched Damian Hawthorne’s cold smile.

"When did you find out?"

Hugo Grant looked up, his eyes narrowing slightly as he smiled gently. "Not long ago."

"Not long ago..." Damian Hawthorne crossed his arms, his eyes filled with scorn. "No wonder your mom wanted her for a daughter-in-law."

Hugo Grant’s brow furrowed. "My mom doesn’t know her identity. She likes Cecilia for her personality."

"Too bad it’s a case of unrequited love!" Damian Hawthorne said with a mocking smile.

"And what about you? Aren’t you about to marry May Rhodes? Don’t tell me you’re planning on having multiple wives in this day and age."

"That May Rhodes is a fake." Damian Hawthorne’s words silenced the room.

"Luna never shows up. I suspect she’s been deliberately avoiding me from the start. Since this May Rhodes appeared by my side, I decided to play along."

Damian Hawthorne toyed with the teacup in his hand, a wry smile playing on his lips. His brown eyes swirled like dark vortexes, utterly inscrutable.

"My ’engagement’ to May Rhodes is out in the open now. If Luna still doesn’t show up, I’ll let her go, and let myself go too."

Hearing Damian Hawthorne’s indifferent words, Hugo Grant lowered his gaze, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. A profound look crossed his gentle face.

"Give up on May Rhodes, and then what? Are you going to pursue Cecilia?" Hugo Grant’s long, thick lashes cast a shadow as he looked down, seemingly lost in thought.

"Wouldn’t that be a good thing? Aren’t you always telling me to treat Cecilia well? Now I’m taking your advice and planning to do just that. You should be congratulating me." Damian Hawthorne’s lips curved into a roguish, wicked smile.

"Are you only after her because she’s the sole heiress of the Nathan Family? Damian, she likes Miles Sinclair. We should respect Cecilia’s choice."

"Who says she’s chosen Miles Sinclair?" Damian Hawthorne’s thin lips barely moved, his voice as deep as a cello’s hum. "If she really liked him, why would she have pursued me?"

It was a fact that Cecilia had pursued him.

It was also a fact that she was carrying his child.

He hadn’t cherished her before, but there was still time.

"As long as she isn’t married to someone else, I still have a chance."

Damian Hawthorne narrowed his eyes, spinning the teacup in his hand. A smirk played on his lips, his face full of amusement.

A sliver of worry appeared in Hugo Grant’s heart.

He knew that Damian Hawthorne had feelings for Cecilia, but Damian’s current attitude felt wrong somehow.

It was as if Damian wasn’t just pursuing Cecilia, but also a certain truth.

"Hugo Grant, you said... Cecilia used the Nathan Family’s resources to hide her identity. Do you think... she might be hiding other things from me too?"

Damian Hawthorne’s words struck Hugo Grant’s heart like a heavy hammer.

Meeting Damian Hawthorne’s probing gaze, Hugo Grant’s fingers tightened, quickly forming a fist.

"Damian, you don’t have to assume the worst of her..."

"Why are you so nervous?" Damian Hawthorne’s brown eyes narrowed, his sharp, cold gaze fixed on him. "Hugo Grant, don’t tell me you know something and have been hiding it from me along with her."

"Hugo Grant, sometimes I really can’t figure you out." Damian Hawthorne’s tone was light, as if he were discussing something trivial. "I used to think you were like a glass of water, but after tossing a stone in, I discovered that beneath the surface is a bottomless abyss."

He and Hugo Grant had been like brothers since childhood, yet Hugo was always helping Cecilia.

’Thinking about it carefully, I realize there’s a lot about Hugo Grant I can’t see through.’

’For all the time Cecilia was chasing me, Hugo never showed any interest in her.’

’But the moment she left me, Hugo immediately started pursuing her.’

’When exactly did Hugo start liking Cecilia?’

’Which one is the real him?’