Chapter 363

Wayne asked, “What about now?”

“I’ve seen enough now to know,” Sage responded.

Wayne laughed audibly, “You’re just like your father when he was young, smart, capable, with lots of
temper.”

“Huh? Really? I thought dad had a pretty good temper,” Sage said genuinely.

Braxton and Zane did what they did to Sawyer and yet he did nothing in return. If it were Sage, she
would not have tolerated it.

“That’s because of your mother.”

Wayne said, “Your father was a capable man, and so was your mother. When they’re together, your
mother managed to subdue him.”

Sage listened quietly. She liked hearing stories about her parents, Wayne’s version of her parents
versus Sage’s version of them was different because of their

different identities to either person. | Wayne mentioned her father anīd mother leaving the house and
starting their own business when Sage asked, “When father ran away from home to Salem City, was
that mother’s idea?”

“Yes, but not entirely,’ Wayne answered.

Wayne was reminded of the day when Sawyer ran away from home. He still felt the wound as if it was
fresh. That scene had been haunting him in his sleep for years now, and lately, he had been dreaming



about it more often.

Wayne thought it could be because Sawyer had been feeling bored down there and wanted his father
there with him.

11

WIN

Wayne then told Sage that the reason Sawyer cut ties with him was mainly that he could not bear the
bully and jealousy coming from Braxton and Zane.

Wayne’s eyes reddened as he took a deep breath. “Sawyer wasn’t my biological son, and he was an
orphan that I had adopted.”

.

Sage was stunned upon hearing that, even though she had known the truth, that was the first time she
had ever heard Wayne talk about her father’s real identity. She held her breath and listened closely.



“When I was young, I wasn’t much better than Braxton and Zane. The skill I have today was trained by
my father with a whip, I didn’t have any other talent back then other than this.

When my father passed, I was out there fighting by myself. And with the only skill I had, I managed to
make some friends, and I started going into the antique business because of them.

I was making tons and tons of money, and what do you do with that much money? I picked up all sorts
of bad habits, including gambling, drinking, and smoking. The whole package.”



Wayne leaned back on the sofa and thought of his past. “Before your great-grandpa passed, he
arranged a marriage for me. I didn’t like the woman because I thought she was too plain.

“When I was young, I liked the sultry type of women. I fooled around with one woman, and when she
got pregnant, I brought her home. That woman was your uncle’s mother, Sylvia…

“I only found out much later that the woman that was supposed to marry me was out looking for me
after learning that I had run away from the marriage. She was taken advantage of and got pregnant
with a baby.

“She became the laughingstock and eventually got kicked out by her parents and raised the child by
herself.

“I felt guilty about what had happened to her and decided to look for her. Since Sylvia was gone and
Braxton and Zane needed a mother to take care of them, I decided to marry her. I owed that to her at
least.

“What I didn’t expect was that Dorothy had passed from tuberculosis by the time I got there. Your father
was still a child, but he didn’t really act like a child. He dug a hole by himself and buried his mother
without a single drop of tear. When I told him I was going to bring him home, he looked at me with his
eyes wide open and asked are you my father?. I told him I am now. And all he said to me was…”

“Oh. If you feed me, I’ll do the same to you when you’re old, dig a hole and bury you when you die.”


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