"The truth is, your mother never had deep feelings for your father. She saw Skyler''s entanglement with his first love but couldn''t be bothered to intervene. Their marriage was based on mutual interests, not love. Logically, as long as things didn''t get too ugly, they could have just turned a blind eye. But Skyler was too brazen, too


    outrageous.


    "Ste, do you have any idea how dangerous it was when Nora gave birth to Jonathan? Skyler''s mistress pushed her, causing her to go into prematurebor. While she was giving birth, Skyler was by his mistress''s side,forting her. Nora barely survived, and yet that woman had the audacity toe to her and gloat. Nora had just given birth, her body was weak, and Skyler actually used her of bullying that woman."


    Old Mrs. Cameron let out a coldugh. "At the time, Nora didn''t confront them directly. But after she recovered, she decided to cut the father out of the picture and raise the child on her own."


    Ste raised an eyebrow. "Cut him out of the picture?"


    Old Mrs. Cameron nodded. "Nora told Old Mr. Williams that Skyler was so lost in his affairs he was practically useless. She said she would raise her son as the next heir to the Williams family and asked Old Mr. Williams to hold on for a little longer. Once Jonathan was old enough, he would take his ce."


    "And what did Old Mr. Williams say?" Ste asked.


    "He was very fond of your mother, so he agreed. Nora then took the opportunity to deal with that woman, and your father along with her. She taught them both a harsh lesson. The whole affair was a huge scandal, and Nora even considered divorce. Sometime after that, for whatever reason, Skyler finally realized his mistake, cut ties with his first love for good, and started focusing on his family. He spent years trying to make it up to Nora. For the sake of their child, she eventually forgave him and agreed to start over.


    "As for Aurora''s mother, the ''Fisherwoman,'' I imagine you know more about that than I do, Ste."


    And she did. Once Ste was an adult, Nora had told her everything about the Fisherwoman and Skyler She didn''t want her own daughter to be the only one in the dark, left piece together the past. She didn''t want Ste to be deceived, to be tricked into calling an illegitimate chile sister with all her heart only to be betrayed. The only thing she hadn''t mentioned was Skyler''s first love, likely because she considered it the past and had moved on.


    What Nora had never anticipated was the suffering Ste would endure at the hands of the Williams family. When Skyler had insisted on bringing Aurora home to raise, Nora had assumed he valued blood ties. She thought Jonathan and his brothers, being her own sons, would naturally treat their own sister well. But once again, she had misced her faith in love and human nature.


    After finishing her story, Old Mrs. Cameron suggested Ste take her time looking around Nora''s room, then left, giving her space to think.


    Once she was gone, Ste asked, "Joshua, how much of what she just said do you think was true, and how much was false?"


    "Nine parts true, one part false," Joshua replied. "The Camerons want to win you over to their side, which means they need your trust.


    Feeding you false information would a foolish and easily exposed


    move. The Cameron Group still exists, which proves they have some cunning. They aren''t that stupid."


    Hearing this, Ste couldn''t help but steal another nce at Joshua. His intellect was so sharp it was almost unnerving. How could someone like him, so close to perfect in every way, even exist?