Yelena Hughes barely slept the whole night, only managing to close her eyes at dawn. Southcross City was rainy as usual, and it was black and damp outside the window.
The shrill ringtone of her phone blared, jolting Yelena awake. She lifted her eyes and saw Jasper Yale standing at the bedside, his finger swiping across the screen.
Yelena scrambled up, half rolling, half crawling. Seeing he was about to speak, she hooked onto the man’s wrist with one hand and quickly reached out to snatch the phone with the other.
She didn’t notice her pinky nail had scratched Jasper’s face, leaving a red mark.
He turned his head sideways, his expression dark and unpredictable.
Yelena hurriedly hung up the call.
But only three seconds passed before the ringtone wailed again, like a death knell.
She pulled the thin comforter close, covering herself, and brought the phone up to her ear. "Hello, Mom."
"What’s going on with you? You didn’t co ho all night—where were you?"
Yelena tossed out a quick lie, "I was out, had sothing to deal with."
"Your sister is in this state, and you still have the nerve to sleep out? What kind of big sister are you?"
Jasper watched her lower her lashes, not arguing. "Got it, I’ll head back soon."
The blanket covering her was yanked off by Jasper.
His palm reached out, grabbed her ankle, and dragged her over in one swift motion.
Her bones were delicate; Jasper’s hand wrapped easily around her ankle, and her left leg was inevitably lifted. Yelena quickly put on a smile. "Is your face okay?"
"What, you planning to ruin my looks?" Just now she’d nearly pounced on him and bitten him.
"Like I’d dare."
Jasper’s grip tightened. Yelena’s pose was anything but proper. She glanced at the ti on her phone. "It’s getting late."
He hauled her to the bed’s edge before letting go. Then the man strode to the sofa and picked up a box of dication from it.
Yelena grabbed her clothes, slipping them on. Jasper walked over, handed her the dicine.
She reached out to take it, and he dropped his hand low. "Co again soti."
Yelena’s expression stiffened slightly, but Jasper shoved the box into her hand.
Leaving The Summit Gardens, she went straight to the hospital by cab.
The house was still a total ss, and the blood on the floor had dried.
Mrs. Hughes tidied up while muttering, "Who knows if this dicine keeps working? If only surgery were possible."
Anne Hughes lay in bed, clutching Yelena’s hand. "Sis, did I spend a ton of money again?"
"No."
"Definitely did."
Yelena put the dicine in the drawer. Anne raised one arm over her eyes. "Sis, you know who I saw at the restaurant that day?"
"Who?"
Anne’s voice hitched, "A guy I secretly like. He’s the class president from the next room. He saw during the whole attack, and his girlfriend said... I’m disgusting."
Yelena was gutted, hugging her tightly.
If only she’d agreed to Jasper Yale sooner, would any of this have happened?
Sotis, fighting back only makes things ssier.
In the days after Yelena ca ho, Jasper Yale didn’t contact her once.
But she kept replaying what Jasper’d said—if he really started counting on his fingers, what would she do?
She couldn’t let it co to the last day and have him demand five rounds in one night, could she?
He could handle it; she sure couldn’t.
Yelena ssaged Jasper, "Want to co over?"
He didn’t reply all afternoon. It was nearly the end of the work day when Yelena finally got a text. "Okay."
Jasper was decent enough to send a car for her. The driver brought her straight to the restaurant.
A waiter led her into a private room, with a giant folding screen set up as a divider.
She waited for a bit but then heard a voice. "Why are you just standing there like an idiot?"
Yelena walked around the screen and saw Jasper sitting on the couch. "Been here long?"
Jasper patted the seat next to him, motioning her over.
He’d had a business lunch at noon and probably drank a lot.
Right now, Young Master Yale reeked of alcohol—and sex—like he was ready to devour soone.
Yelena went over, and Jasper patted his thigh again.
She flushed bright red, anxiously glancing around. "There’s caras. You’re not seriously thinking about doing it here...?"
Jasper frowned. "Can’t a woman show so restraint? Is banging all you ever think about?"
"..."
Yelena was just about to sit down when the private room door was abruptly shoved open.
She looked up to see—Justin Sutton.
Justin sat in a wheelchair, glaring viciously at her. Yelena glanced at his leg but said nothing.
"Yelena Hughes, you’ve got so nerve—blocking my calls, deleting from WhatsApp, and then running off to cozy up to another guy?"
"Don’t be nasty. There’s no ssy unfinished business between us."
If it weren’t for his injury, Justin would’ve lunged at her.
He mocked, gesturing toward his cast. "You want to know why I didn’t show up that night? My family didn’t want with you—they locked in to stop leaving. I jumped off a damn balcony for you!"
Yelena didn’t bat an eye, not even remotely moved.
"Yet you didn’t turn up at the hospital."
She was chillingly calm, like a little monster. Jasper listened to every word, realizing that for all her frail looks, she was icy inside.
Justin couldn’t take that. "I had a private investigator following you—aren’t you here today to et your side piece?"
"You had soone tailing ?"
"Hell, yeah. So spill it. Who’s that bastard?"
Justin had a nasty temper and would curse anyone out.
Yelena smiled lightly. "You know him."
"..." Justin slamd his fist on the wheelchair. "Soone I know? You dare do this right under my nose..."
"It’s Young Master Yale—you’re the one who played matchmaker, actually."
Yelena broke out in a cold sweat after saying that, dreading Jasper would appear and scold her for overstepping.
Justin looked at her as if he’d seen a ghost. "Yale?"
"Yeah, we slept together. I started it. He saved my sister. He actually did it."
Justin looked furious, as if slapped hard in the face. "And I haven’t helped you?"
Gotta rip away every last shred of dignity, huh? "The night Young Master Yale gave you the ds, I was there. You hurt , Justin—we slept together that night."
Justin’s fists clenched. "You have no sha!"
"Yeah," Yelena tried to steady her trembling voice, "I’m all hard bone—who isn’t? Innocence, reputation—they won’t save anyone. I’d rather drag those into the mud if it ans my sister doesn’t die in the hospital!"
Justin tried to get up from his wheelchair, only to slump back with his cast, then began to laugh hysterically.
"Yelena Hughes, think you’ve climbed high now? Jasper’s just playing you. Maybe you got big tits, that’s all!"
Apparently that didn’t slice deep enough, so he kept going. "You think you can outmatch a living corpse? Jasper’s hiding so treasure in his heart—you didn’t know that, did you?"
Click—
A lighter flicked. The sll of smoke slipped out from behind the screen.
Justin instantly shut up.
Yelena didn’t want to waste breath. "Young Master Yale’s right here. Want to go say hi?"
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