Living with Jaylin, he tormented me every night.
He said, “Rachel, as long as you obediently stay my secret lover and satisfy my physical needs, I can ensure that the banks lend to the Bennetts and help them get through this crisis.”
I bit my lip and asked the question that had been weighing on my mind, “The four major banks united to press the Bennetts for debt, causing them to fall into this financial crisis. You’re the mastermind behind it, aren’t you?”
Jaylin didn’t deny it. “Your father forced mine to a dead end back then. His methods were far more despicable than mine.”
“You reap what you sow.”
Suddenly, I realized that Jaylin’s revenge on the Bennetts was just beginning.
What awaited the Bennetts was Jaylin’s relentless retaliation.
“You treat the Bennetts like mice to be toyed with. How shameless!”
Jaylin’s sharp eyes were filled with disdain. “The most shameless people, aren’t they the Bennetts? Taking down the Bennetts would be too easy-it wouldn’t be any fun.”
“Watching hope fade little by little is what’s truly despairing.”
From then on, I carefully tried to please him.
I became his gentle companion in bed and his personal secretary. I arranged all his schedules, ironed every suit, and maintained each of his watches.
Jaylin took me with him on every business trip, keeping me by his side at all times.
He occupied all my time, leaving me no room to think about anything else.
When he was dealing with paperwork, he would suddenly wrap his arms around my waist and pull me onto his lap.
The car, the office, even the bathroom-those were all his battlegrounds.
In his spare moments after work, he liked me to stay quietly by his side.
Sometimes, when I was asleep, he would sneak kisses. His diary was filled with page after page of thoughts about me.
He was trying hard to suppress his emotions, to cut off the love he still felt for me.
Loving the daughter of his enemy-this love made him feel humiliated.
Whenever Jaylin recalled the past, he became agitated and restless.
“Rachel, don’t you think our relationship is filthy? Aren’t you ashamed of being someone’s mistress?”
Wasn’t it him who forced me to be his mistress?
What right did he have to stand on moral high ground and accuse me?
Jaylin grabbed my chin roughly, his eyes full of contempt. “Your father sent you to seduce me, and you obediently came. You seduced me like a good little girl.”
“For the sake of profit, he didn’t hesitate to sacrifice his own daughter. He’s the kind of scum capable of doing the filthiest things!”
“I hate people like you-spineless, with no temper, who don’t know how to fight back!”
The more he spoke, the angrier he became, and he threw me onto the bed.
His kisses were forceful, nearly violent.
Afterward, he apologized. “Rae, if only you weren’t his daughter… how much better things would be.”
But fate had intertwined us, and neither of us could speak the truth from our hearts.
I thought that if I slowly atoned, Jaylin would one day let go of his grudges and forgive.
But between us lay the weight of a life. There would never be a day when we could reconcile.
On the anniversary of his mother’s death, I went out to buy offerings and returned late.
He thought I had run away and, in a fit of madness, locked me up.
“Rachel, I won’t give you another chance to escape!”
On his cold, indifferent face was a panic I had never seen before.
I quickly explained, “Jay, I wanted to go with you to visit Mrs. Reynolds, so I went out to buy some offerings.”
I held up the bag of items I’d bought, proof that I wasn’t lying.
Jaylin’s eyes were bloodshot, his voice trembling slightly. “You stay put at home and don’t go anywhere!”
His palm had been cut by broken shards, and blood was seeping from the wound.
The room was a mess, with everything in disarray.
I couldn’t hide the pain in my eyes. “Jay, you’re hurt. Let me take care of your wound, okay?”
Jaylin didn’t appreciate it. “Don’t pretend to care. Weren’t you planning to run?”
I straightened my back and met his gaze. “Imprisonment is illegal-you can’t do this!”
He threatened, “If you dare walk out of this room, I’ll break your legs!”