Who Exactly Are You

After a pause, Willow Lane added, "But I already told everyone in the group chat just now that we're all going out this weekend, and I'll bring you along so everyone can meet you."

The moment Wes Mercer heard that, his expression turned grave.

It looked like there was no turning back on this road of pretending to be Mr. Sterling. If he didn't tell Willow Lane and clear things up now, it would probably cause even more misunderstandings in the future, and maybe make things even harder to fix by then.

Actually, there was another reason Wes Mercer had decided to tell the truth now.

He wanted to see whether Willow Lane would still stay with him after finding out he wasn't Mr. Sterling.

Because Willow Lane's attitude toward him had been far too strange, making it hard for him not to suspect that what she valued was his status.

After taking a deep breath, Wes Mercer asked in a heavy tone, "Willow, if I'm not as good as you imagine, would you look down on me?"

Willow Lane froze for a moment. She looked Wes Mercer up and down, suspicion showing in her eyes.

She had no idea why Wes Mercer was saying these things to her.

What did that mean?

Was he testing her? Could it be that Mr. Sterling driving this car today was also part of testing her?

What kind of status did Mr. Sterling have!

A man like him, standing at the very top of the pyramid, definitely couldn't be careless when choosing his future other half. Setting up a few tests was only normal.

With that thought in mind, Willow Lane flashed a toothy smile and said carelessly, "No matter what you're like, I would never look down on you."

Wes Mercer hadn't expected Willow Lane to be so kind. She actually didn't look down on him.

In that case, he could finally feel at ease telling Willow Lane the truth about his identity!

The anxiety in Wes Mercer's heart instantly settled, and he continued seriously, "Willow, there's something very important I need to tell you. No matter what, you absolutely can't get mad after you hear it."

"Mm, go ahead."

Willow Lane kept smiling faintly. She thought what Wes Mercer wanted to say was probably that he had been testing her.

How could she possibly get angry?

Maybe Mr. Sterling had already decided on her and wanted to take her home to meet his parents.

Willow Lane had already planned in her heart how she would respond to Wes Mercer, but then he said, "Actually... you've misunderstood this whole time. I'm not Mr. Sterling."

As soon as the words fell, Willow Lane's smile froze on her face.

She sat there stunned for a long while before forcing a stiff smile and saying, "What are you talking about? That joke isn't funny at all."

Wes Mercer's expression was serious and solemn as he confirmed again, "I'm telling the truth. I'm not Mr. Sterling. I know you misunderstood me for Mr. Sterling, and I wanted to explain it clearly so this misunderstanding wouldn't keep going. You said just now you wouldn't blame me, right?"

After saying that, Wes Mercer reached out and hugged Willow Lane, saying emotionally, "Willow, I never thought you'd be such a good woman."

It felt like Willow Lane's head had just been struck hard by lightning, frying her inside and out.

Not Mr. Sterling... he wasn't Mr. Sterling?

That one sentence echoed over and over in her mind.

At last, Willow Lane suddenly snapped back to herself. She thrust out both hands and shoved Wes Mercer away hard.

"You lied to me!" Willow Lane completely dropped her earlier gentle and virtuous act. Looking at Wes Mercer with a face full of disgust, she shouted in twisted fury, "You've been lying to me this whole time! Who exactly are you?"

Wes Mercer was stunned by the shove.

Hadn't Willow Lane just said she wouldn't look down on him?

Looking at the extreme disgust in Willow Lane's eyes, he didn't know whether the woman in front of him was the real her, or whether the gentle and considerate woman from before had been the real one.

Wes Mercer could understand Willow Lane's anger after finding out she'd been deceived. In a low, placating tone, he coaxed her, "Willow, I know it was wrong of me to deceive you, but at the beginning I really didn't think that far ahead. Back then I couldn't make this public yet. Can you forgive me?"

Willow Lane had still been holding on to a sliver of hope that maybe this was just a joke, but Wes Mercer had just told her it wasn't.

Her pupils contracted, and her face turned dark with rage. Unable to hold back, she started making a scene. "Forgive you? Easy for you to say! Why should I forgive you!"

In order to prove in front of everyone that she really was with Mr. Sterling, Willow Lane had even been planning to bleed money by treating Nia's employees to a weekend meal, and she'd already said everything she needed to say.

Now if everyone found out she'd been tricked and wasn't with Mr. Sterling at all,

how was she ever supposed to hold her head up at Nia again?

Thinking about how, in order to please this so-called Mr. Sterling, she had lowered herself and fawned over him every day, even swallowing her anger in silence whenever she got upset,

and now finding out it had all been a scam—how could she possibly accept that!

If she hadn't been afraid Mr. Sterling would dislike her for being too forward, she probably would have already thrown herself at him by now.

The more Willow Lane thought about it, the uglier her expression became. She glared viciously at Wes Mercer and demanded, "Who exactly are you? Why were you pretending to be Mr. Sterling and deceiving people?"