Skip to content
Novel Catalog
Chapter_56
Jasper stood motionless under the umbrella, the rain steadily soaking his clothes as he processed the weight of Liana’s desperate plea. Her emotional outburst, her clinging touch—it all felt like a farce to him now. The guilt and confusion he’d once carried had evaporated, replaced with a calm resolve. She had crossed a line, and he wasn’t the man he used to be, willing to bend to her every whim.
When he finally lifted her from the ground, holding the umbrella over her as a faint show of care, his patience was running thin. Liana’s sudden shift from frailty to strength, throwing herself into his embrace as if nothing had changed, irritated him. How many times would she use this act?
“Jasper …” Her voice trembled with a mix of vulnerability and calculated desperation as she threw herself into his arms. She clung to him, wrapping her arms around him like a lifeline.
He could feel her desperation, her panic, but he couldn’t help but feel more irritated. No longer would he fall for her manipulation.
“You have a weak body,” he said softly but firmly. “Staying in the rain like this will make you sick.”
Liana’s eyes flickered with hope, but it was fleeting. She raised her face, her skin pale and streaked with tears, and locked eyes with him. “Jasper … do you no longer love me?” Her voice was laced with fear and confusion, her usual calculated demeanor faltering. “I know I made mistakes. Please, I’ll apologize to Alice. I’ll beg her for forgiveness, if that’s what it takes.”
Jasper’s lips tightened, and his gaze grew colder. “There’s no need,” he replied, his voice almost indifferent. “I’m no longer angry with you. You’ve seen me now, so you can rest assured. Go home, be with your family. I’ll find you once things settle down.”
He had delivered his response with finality, but Liana wasn’t ready to let go just yet.
“Jasper, please… save my brother,” she cried out in desperation, a new wave of urgency flooding her voice. “My brother is about to be sentenced! No one is willing to defend him because of the Taylor family’s power. We’re being pushed to the edge! You have to help us! My family is almost bankrupt. Everything will fall apart if he’s convicted!”
Jasper’s face remained unyielding, his expression distant. He didn’t flinch at her pleading, at her lowering herself to beg. It was a performance he had grown too weary of. “Your brother’s actions brought this upon himself,” he stated flatly. “I suggest he confesses and seeks a lighter sentence. The Gardner family needs to take responsibility for their actions.”
Liana recoiled, as if the truth of his words had physically struck her. The tears in her eyes failed to soften his stance.
Jasper, the man who had once been at her beck and call, was now resolute and distant. He remembered how he had once treated the Gardner family with leniency, how he had tried to save Liana from the consequences of their actions. But now, with everything he had witnessed, with the weight of his regrets, he knew it was over. His compassion, when it came to her, had limits.
“The Gardner family is rotten to the core, Liana,” he continued. “No amount of money or favors will fix that. Even if I gave you another billion, it wouldn’t solve anything unless you clean up your own house.”
The words hit her harder than he intended. Liana opened her mouth, but no words came out. She had no response. He had broken her illusion of control over him. There would be no more softening him with her tears.
In the end, it was him who turned away, his cold gaze sweeping over her one last time before he forced her into the car. He didn’t even spare a glance as the driver locked the doors, the final barrier between him and Liana’s desperate pleas.
As he watched the car pull away, a deep sense of relief washed over him. He had done it. He had finally put a stop to this cycle, this endless emotional tug-of-war.
But even as the relief settled, there was something gnawing at his insides. Alice.
Her disappointed gaze flashed in his mind, the sting of her rejection still fresh. His heart twisted. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but it was clear that he had failed her. The guilt weighed heavy, no matter how hard he tried to push it away.
As he stood in the rain, holding the black umbrella, Jasper felt the lingering ache of the past pulling him in two directions. There was a part of him that would always long for what could have been, but another part, the part that was growing colder by the day, knew that the road forward would be paved with more sacrifices.
And then, he thought of the Gardner family’s ruin. The arrest of Liana’s brother had already set in motion a chain of events that would tear their family apart. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner were far more concerned with their own survival than the fate of their daughter. And Liana, desperate and defeated, could offer no answers.
With everything collapsing around her, there was nothing left for Liana to do but return home and face the consequences of her family’s actions. The last thread of control she once held had snapped, and all her manipulation had failed her.
Jasper’s thoughts lingered on that as the rain continued to pour, his face impassive, his heart conflicted.