Chapter 13

She was unrecognizable. If that attendant had not called her ‘Jane’, he would not have thought it was her at all.

The lighting in the room was too dim, so he could only vaguely see her. Even so, Sean could not help but admit that she had changed beyond even his expectations.

“Where were you released?” Sean asked casually.

Jane immediately panicked, all the blood draining from her face. She raised her head abruptly and looked at the man pleadingly… ‘I’m begging you, don’t say it. Don’t tell all these people that I had been to jail, I’m begging you!’ — He could clearly read those words in her eyes!

Sean raised a brow. Before anyone else knew what was happening, he pointed a finger at the bottle Susie was holding and gave Jane a cold smile. “I know what you’re trying to say. Sure. I’ll fulfill your wish, but only if you drain that bottle of wine completely.”

Jane looked at the bottle of vodka Susie was holding, her face pale as death.

It was Bols Vodka, one of the more well-known brands of vodka around. It had about 40% alcohol. Jane stared at the bottle of vodka, white as a sheet, and opened her mouth to try and say something.

The man on the couch was like a hunter playing with the toy he was trampling on. His black eyes were fixed on Jane tauntingly. “My patience has a limit.”

That familiar voice made Jane turn even paler.

“I… I can’t drink.”

As soon as she said that lie, Jane felt her scalp go numb. That look could definitely kill, or at least it was nearly burning her. Out of his sight, she quietly clenched her hand into a fist… Like a death row prisoner awaiting her sentence, she held her breath in agony in anticipation of the final verdict.

“Mr. Stewart, p-please spare me.” Jane could throw away her dignity if it meant surviving. She fell to her knees and pleaded, “I’m begging you, have mercy for me just this once. I’ll do anything as long as I don’t have to drink alcohol.” She wanted to live, because she had to live if she wanted to repay her debts.

That was right, she had a huge debt to pay. However, her debtor was not Rosaline Summers.

Hidden in the dim lighting, the man’s profile was dyed by a flash of surprise, but it was gone in an instant. After that, Sean said expressionlessly, “It’s just a bottle of wine, but you’re groveling on the floor just because you don’t want to drink it? Jane Dunn, what happened to your famous pride? What about that dignity you held on until the very end?”

Dignity?

Jane’s face was pressed against the floor, colored with a hint of cynicism and bitterness.

What was dignity? Was it edible? Would it allow her to live?

She knelt not because she wanted to avoid that bottle of vodka, but because—she wanted to live!

She closed her eyes painfully, because the moment she did, she would see a face filled with humiliation in her mind. There was only ever one exception, and yet that girl had died in that dark and damp prison! Because of Jane! All because of her!

Such a young life, barely twenty years of age, in the prime of her youth. Yet she had withered and died in such a place, just like that.

It was all because of her, all because of Jane!

That was Jane’s sin, her debt, something she could never atone for!

She did not owe Rosaline Summers anything, but she owed that girl who bravely stood out to protect her in prison, the girl who had ended up dying a meaningless death!

Jane’s body could not stop shaking. It felt as though she could see that girl’s bloody body lying in her arms again, calling Jane’s name as she told Jane all about her hometown and her dreams in the sweetest voice Jane had ever heard… all as she lay dying.