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Chapter_19
Alyssa’s mind was clouded, the alcohol swirling in her veins, distorting her thoughts. Her head was heavy, her vision blurred, and in her haze, she mistook the familiar presence of Jasper for someone else. Her chest tightened as the sorrow she had been holding in finally erupted.
“Why doesn’t Jasper like me? Why…?” She choked on her words, her voice breaking as tears began to spill from her eyes.
Jasper’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name. His lips pressed into a thin line as he stood frozen, listening to her cry out in pain. There was a sharpness in her words, an ache that cut through the air and dug deep into his chest.
“I tried so hard. I really did,” she continued, her voice shaky, each word filled with a desperate plea for answers. “But the harder I tried, the more he… he disliked me. Why is that? Tell me!”
Before he could react, Alyssa suddenly turned, her arms wrapped around his waist as she sobbed heavily against his chest. Her tears soaked through his shirt, mixing with the traces of makeup she had left behind, and her raw pain seemed to seep into him, drowning them both.
Jasper stood still, his chest tightening as her warmth burned through his clothing and into his heart. He was suffocating under the weight of her grief, but his mind refused to let go of the cold walls he had built around himself. He struggled to speak.
“Do you really love Jasper?” he asked, his voice low and guarded, as if probing for something he didn’t want to know.
Alyssa lifted her tear-streaked face, her lips trembling as they parted to answer, but no words came. Jasper’s breath hitched as his gaze fell on her. The temptation to pull her into him was overwhelming, the distance between them becoming unbearable. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t give in, not when their past was already tainted with so much regret.
The moment stretched painfully as the tension in the air thickened, but before either could say another word, the restroom door was violently kicked open with a loud bang.
“Jasper! How can you be so shameless?!” Silas’s voice thundered through the room, his eyes blazing with fury. He strode toward them, his face twisted in rage, and pulled Alyssa from Jasper’s grasp, cradling her protectively as if she were fragile.
Jasper’s expression darkened, his muscles tightening as Silas’s actions seemed to intensify the growing discomfort in his chest. He had always thought of Silas as a composed man, someone with grace under pressure, but now there was a fire in his eyes—an anger that clearly showed just how deeply Silas cared for his ex-wife.
Jasper’s throat tightened. “Mr. Jonah, she has a low alcohol tolerance. She’s been vomiting heavily. If you really care about her, you shouldn’t have brought her here.”
Silas was about to snap back when he heard Jasper address him by his full name. He paused for a moment before deciding to play along, adopting the role of Jonah with a mocking smirk. “I’ll accompany my woman wherever she wants to go. If she wants to have fun, I’ll have fun with her. And you? You and Alice are divorced. Don’t stick your nose into her business. Go back to Ms. Gardner.”
Jasper’s eyes flashed with anger. Ms. Gardner?
He moved quickly to block their path. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Silas turned to face him, his jaw set in defiance. “Do you really love her?”
Jasper’s eyes narrowed, his voice cold. “Of course.”
“Can you marry her?” Jasper’s words came out low and dangerous, cutting through the thick air between them.
Silas faltered, the question catching him off guard. He opened his mouth to retort, but no words came.
Jasper pressed on, his gaze growing colder. “Alice doesn’t have the power or the background to play these emotional games. If you can’t marry her, if all you want is to treat her like a lover, then don’t drag her down. Let her go back to a normal life. She deserves that much.”
Silas’s expression twisted with contempt as he advanced on Jasper. “Hahaha! You’re shameless, Jasper. When you divorced Alice for Liana, did you ever consider her situation? No, you didn’t. You turned her into a divorcée at a young age. You used her to marry your true love, and now you stand here lecturing me about dragging her down? You should’ve thought about that before you cheated!”
Jasper staggered back, his breath catching in his throat. The words hit him like a punch to the gut, his entire body seizing as he struggled to regain his composure.
Silas shoved him away, his voice trembling with anger. “Get out of my sight, you cheater.”
Jasper stood there, unable to speak, his body rigid with unspoken regret. The sting of Silas’s accusations burned deep into his chest, and the weight of his past decisions felt heavier than ever.
“Where’s your ex-wife? Did she leave?” Landon’s voice broke through the suffocating silence. He leaned against the railing, sipping his drink as he observed the desolate look on Jasper’s face.
Jasper barely registered his presence, his mind still reeling from the confrontation. He muttered, his voice hoarse, as he grabbed his whiskey glass and downed it in one motion. The burning sensation in his throat did nothing to quell the turmoil churning inside him.
“If it weren’t for you,” he muttered, his words thick with bitterness, “I would have definitely beaten Dylan to a pulp tonight. Drugs are bad enough, but he dared to make advances on my crush. He was asking for death.”
Landon chuckled, but there was no humor in his eyes. “You don’t have to be considerate. Liana and her brother are separate individuals.” A realization suddenly seemed to dawn on Jasper, his brows furrowing in confusion. “Crush? What do you mean?”
Landon raised an eyebrow, a devilish grin curling at his lips. “I thought I might as well take Alice since you don’t want her anymore. Since you gave up on her, I’ll gladly step in. She’s going to become like your sister-in-law. I wonder how you’ll feel about that.”
Jasper’s eyes darkened, his lips curling into a cold, sinister smile. “The divorce isn’t even finalized yet, and you’re already eager to claim her as yours?”
Landon’s smile widened, unbothered. “Well, you’ve already signed the divorce agreement. It’s just a matter of time.”
Jasper clenched his fists, the tension in the air thickening with every word. “I don’t know about anything else,” he said, his voice dangerously low, “but your death is not far off.”