Chapter 289: Chapter 289: A Call from Noah Sterling

Sherry Walsh’s first reaction was a look of utter speechlessness. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Instead of answering Jane Jenkins, she pulled out her phone, opened the voice recorder, and said, "You’re... Jane Jenkins, right? I’m just going to start a recording."

"A recording?"

Jane Jenkins frowned, her expression souring.

Sherry Walsh paid her no mind, holding up her phone and asking, "You just saw me wave to someone in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, and then you asked if I’d broken up with Noah Sterling to latch onto a new sugar daddy. Is that correct?"

"You... You..."

Jane Jenkins realized what was happening.

Her face paled, and for a moment, she was at a loss for words.

It would have been fine if Sherry Walsh had any other profession.

But she was a lawyer.

Litigation was her job.

"Your lack of denial implies I heard you correctly. So, I have to ask: was your statement based on some information you have, or was it merely a malicious assumption based on the situation?"

Sherry Walsh continued her questioning.

Her tone was serious, her enunciation crisp, and her voice strong.

With every word Sherry spoke, Jane Jenkins’s face grew another shade paler.

"Why the silence? I’m not covering your mouth. Could it be you’re ashamed of your own filthy mind for seeing the worst in everything?"

"Or perhaps you deeply regret projecting your own standards onto me and slandering my name without knowing any of the facts?"

"Or maybe you actually did hear something from someone else? If so, you can tell me who it was. Once I have this recording, I’ll go have a chat with them."

Sherry Walsh pressed her, one question after another.

Jane Jenkins was genuinely panicking. She just disliked Sherry Walsh and had made the comment offhandedly.

’I never expected this to happen!’

In her social circle, it wasn’t unusual to gossip like this in private.

’This is the first time I’ve ever had to deal with something like this!’

"Speak up," Sherry Walsh pressed. "Miss Jenkins, you may not be aware, but your silence is, in itself, a statement."

Jane Jenkins bit her lip hard, her hands clenched into tight fists as she struggled to suppress her emotions.

She knew her own situation better than anyone.

She was in no position to go head-to-head with Sherry Walsh.

It was a weekday.

There weren’t as many shoppers as on a weekend, but a few young people were around.

Seeing the commotion, they all gathered around out of curiosity.

As the crowd grew, Jane Jenkins finally broke her silence. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

With that, she turned and hurried away.

Sherry Walsh rolled her eyes dramatically before stopping the recording on her phone.

She hadn’t managed to record the initial comment, and even if there were security cameras nearby, they wouldn’t have captured the woman’s voice so clearly.

’Oh well.’

’At least after this, Jane Jenkins will be sure to steer clear of me.’

With that minor incident over, Sherry Walsh went to pick up some desserts for her colleagues.

The place her colleague had requested was a popular dessert shop that had gone viral online.

The owner made all the desserts fresh daily.

If you got there too late, they would be sold out, and you’d have to wait for the owner to bake a new batch.

When Sherry Walsh arrived at the shop, she saw the empty display case and asked, "Are you out of the chestnut tarts?"

"The owner is making more now," the clerk said, glancing through a small window to the kitchen. "It’ll be about another half hour."

Sherry Walsh checked the time. "I can wait, then."

At the beginning of the month, she had just wrapped up the second trial for a divorce case. The verdict had been mailed to the client’s home yesterday. The outcome was exactly what they had hoped for: the divorce was finalized, and her client won custody of the child as well as her rightful share of the assets.

So, she was planning on taking a few days off anyway.

Waiting half an hour for dessert was no big deal.

Half an hour later, the clerk emerged from the kitchen carrying a full tray of chestnut tarts.

There was no one else in the shop.

Sherry Walsh asked, "How many chestnut tarts did you make in total? Were any of them pre-ordered?"

"Sixteen in total, and no one has pre-ordered any yet," the clerk replied.

"I’ll take all of them. And please pack four of each of the other types as well."

Sherry Walsh planned to take them back to the firm to share with her colleagues.

As she watched the clerk boxing them up, she felt a pang of regret.

’I should have thought of this dessert shop sooner. Then I could have bought one for Leo Linden.’

Once everything was packed, Sherry Walsh remembered she hadn’t driven. She called an intern from the firm who had a car and asked for a ride.

Back at the firm.

Sherry Walsh kept two chestnut tarts and a strawberry pastry for herself, then passed the rest out.

While eating a chestnut tart, she remembered it had been a while since she’d visited her parents. She packed the two remaining unopened pastries into a paper bag and headed out.

Sherry Walsh didn’t mind living with her parents.

It was just that now that she was older, any conversation with them inevitably turned to either blind dates or getting married.

She had been living in her own small apartment for a long time, only going home for major holidays.

Last month, she’d used Noah Sterling as an excuse to placate her parents, which had bought her a brief period of peace.

When Sherry Walsh got home with the pastries, her mother was in her room taking an afternoon nap.

She tiptoed into the kitchen and grabbed a Coke she’d stashed in the fridge earlier.

She had just opened it and taken a sip when...

"Why are you drinking something so cold again!"

Mrs. Walsh walked in and immediately spotted her daughter drinking a Coke straight from the fridge. She couldn’t help but nag her.

"Mom, weren’t you napping? How are you awake already?"

Sherry Walsh quickly tried to change the subject.

"You were skulking around in the kitchen. I thought a burglar had gotten in, so of course I had to come and check."

Mrs. Walsh’s tone was full of mock disapproval, but her expression betrayed her doting love.

Sherry Walsh had been doted on by her family her entire life.

For years, the biggest point of contention in the family was that at her age, Sherry Walsh wasn’t just unmarried—she didn’t even have a boyfriend.

Previously, at Henry Lancaster’s wedding banquet, she had suddenly announced that Noah Sterling was her boyfriend.

Her parents were skeptical, but hopeful.

"Hehe, I brought you pastries! They’re delicious, and you usually have to wait in line to get them!"

Sherry Walsh handed the two pastries to her mother.

The two of them sat in the living room, catching up on each other’s lives.

Around four o’clock, Mrs. Walsh stood up. "What a coincidence, your dad’s coming home for dinner today, too. I’m going to go grocery shopping."

"I’ll go with you!" Sherry Walsh volunteered.

Dinner was at six-thirty.

The family of three sat at the dining table.

After a moment’s thought, Sherry Walsh got up and went to the fridge for another Coke.

She had just pulled the can from the fridge and was about to pop it open for a sip.

Just as she cracked open the can, her phone started to ring.

Her phone was on the dining table. She took a sip of her Coke as she walked over to it.

As she approached, she saw Mr. Walsh, who was sitting next to her empty chair, leaning over to look at her phone.

"Who’s calling?"

Sherry Walsh asked casually.

She didn’t have any secrets from her parents.

Mr. Walsh looked up and said a name: "Noah Sterling."