The Real Childhood Sweetheart

Zane Cole was the man whose status in New York was rising the fastest right now. His reputation was practically catching up to her brother's and Cameron Quinn's. It looked like this love rival would not be easy to handle.

Ruby Sterling glanced around, wanting to see where exactly Julian Sterling had hidden himself.

After looking all around and still not finding Julian Sterling, and seeing that everyone's attention was on Zane Cole—even Claire Bennett was looking in his direction—Ruby Sterling finally took out her phone and sent Julian Sterling a message.

"Bro! Where are you hiding? This is bad! That Zane Cole is Claire Bennett's real childhood sweetheart!"

After the message was sent, there was no reply for a long time, but Ruby Sterling knew Julian Sterling would definitely see it.

At this moment, inside the estate's surveillance room.

Julian Sterling was watching everything outside through the monitors when his phone buzzed. It was a message from Ruby Sterling.

After opening it, Julian Sterling's expression turned cold and dark!

Just now, after learning that Zane Cole had come to the birthday banquet, he had invited him to talk and asked him to make an exception and treat his grandfather's health condition, but Zane Cole had refused his request.

He never could have imagined that Zane Cole and Claire Bennett had this kind of connection!

It seemed Wes Mercer's investigation hadn't been complete after all. He had actually missed something that important, leaving him completely unprepared!

Old Mr. Sterling had also assumed at first that Zane Cole had been invited by Hazel Lewis.

That instantly made his impression of Hazel Lewis even better. He felt she must have known he wanted to seek out Zane Cole but had no connections at all, so she had stepped in to help.

Although he didn't know what method Hazel Lewis had used, what she had done had solved one of his greatest worries.

A woman so perceptive, careful, and outstanding would surely be able to assist Julian Sterling in the future and properly serve as the mistress of the Sterling family.

Old Mr. Sterling somewhat smugly showed off to Old Mrs. Sterling, saying, "I won't be seeing the doctor that woman invited. With the head of the Cole family invited by Hazel, what do anyone else count for!"

Seeing Old Mr. Sterling's self-satisfied look, Old Mrs. Sterling couldn't help sighing.

In the end, she said nothing.

Zane Cole's medical skills really were impressive. It was not a bad thing for him to treat Old Mr. Sterling. It was enough for her to know that Claire Bennett had meant well.

When Hazel Lewis saw Old Mr. Sterling's satisfied expression, she immediately relaxed completely.

She and Daniel Lewis walked toward Old Mr. Sterling together and said with a smile, "I know you've always wanted to invite someone from the Cole family to come treat you. I went to great lengths to invite the head of the Cole family here. For the sake of your health, you really shouldn't throw a temper tantrum anymore, or Old Mrs. Sterling will worry."

Her words of persuasion sounded sincere and heartfelt, so naturally Old Mr. Sterling did not argue.

He said repeatedly, "Good, good, good! Since it's the doctor Hazel invited, of course I'll see him."

Seeing Old Mr. Sterling being so obedient, the expression on Hazel Lewis's face became even more smug.

She turned to look at Claire Bennett somewhat proudly, with a trace of apology on her face, and said, "Miss Bennett, I'm very sorry for stealing your credit. It's just that the head of the Cole family isn't very easy to invite. I suppose all your hard work was for nothing."

Daniel Lewis was also full of self-satisfaction, glowing with pride as he said, "Hazel put in a tremendous amount of effort to invite the head of the Cole family here, so as for those other low-grade doctors, it's better not to let the old man suffer through that! If his illness isn't cured and other problems crop up, that would really be more trouble than it's worth."

Looking at the two of them pretending to apologize while actually showing off by trampling all over her, Claire Bennett's eyes turned cold.

She cast Zane Cole a flat glance and had already marked him down in her mental little ledger, planning to collect the debt from him with interest next time.

When Zane Cole heard the baffling words from this woman he didn't know, he hadn't quite reacted at first.

But once Claire Bennett's gaze landed on him, he completely panicked.

Ever since childhood, whenever Claire Bennett looked at him like that, he had never ended up well afterward. Seeing her like this now made him feel extremely flustered.

Zane Cole hurried over to Claire Bennett and anxiously explained, "Claire, don't misunderstand me. I don't know this woman, and she definitely wasn't the one who invited me here. Please don't be mad, okay?"

The moment his words fell, the scene went completely silent.

Wh-what... what did that mean? What had Zane Cole just said?

No one had expected that the head of the Cole family, who just moments ago had looked unfathomable and incomparably noble, would actually run over and apologize to Claire Bennett!

And most importantly, he seemed to have said that Hazel Lewis was not the one who had invited him here!!

Daniel Lewis and Hazel Lewis both had their expressions freeze at the same time, unable to process what was happening before their eyes.

At last, Daniel Lewis forced a stiff smile and spoke up to remind him, "Head of the Cole family, what are you doing? Why are you apologizing to that woman in public?"

"Pfft!" Ruby Sterling suddenly burst out laughing.

Everyone's attention was drawn to her. Ruby Sterling suddenly clutched her stomach and laughed so hard she nearly couldn't straighten up.

It took her quite a while to recover before she said in broken intervals, "Oh my God, this is killing me! The head of the Cole family... he... he wasn't brought here by Hazel Lewis at all. Claire was the one who brought him. The doctor Claire mentioned earlier was him! I can't believe two people actually rushed out and falsely claimed the credit. This is absolutely a gigantic joke..."

When Hazel Lewis heard that, her face went deathly pale in an instant.