At this moment, Serenity sat at the dining table, observing the three dishes and one soup served. The dishes and soup were still steaming, but their presentation was rather ordinary. It didn't quite resemble the work of a gourmet chef."I made this myself. Give it a try," Jackson said, almost as if he had sensed her curiosity.She was mildly surprised. He could... make soup and cook?"Back then, you cooked for me in the rented apartment. Now, I'm cooking for you. Is that not a good thing? If it doesn't taste good, I'll do better next time," he said with a smile.He acted as if there had been no breakup between them and the painful memories never existed.It was as though they had returned to the warmest times in their relationship.Serenity felt a bit uncomfortable and averted her gaze, not wanting to meet his eyes. His eyes were as alluring as always, stirring ripples in her otherwise calm heart."What about the servants? Why haven't I seen any other servants here?" she t
"It's an old residence that belonged to the Valor family in the past," Jackson said, not hiding the truth. "However, very few people know about this place. Throughout its history, the Valor family hasn't publicized it much."She furrowed her brow instinctively. Was he implying that it would be difficult for anyone to find her here?"Also, you're not the only one who has been kept here," he continued.She blinked, uncertain about what he meant."Once upon a time, another woman used to be imprisoned here. The house was purchased with the sole purpose of keeping that woman here," Jackson narrated as if he were telling her a story.Serenity was suddenly taken aback, feeling an unexpected chill creeping over her. Another woman had been imprisoned here?!"It was about 70 years ago, I believe. One of the Valor family's ancestors fell in love with a woman. However, the woman had a fiancé. They were deeply in love, swearing eternal commitment to each other. So, my ancestor abducted he
"Yes, we broke up," he murmured softly, "and breaking up with you is the biggest regret of my life. So, I won't allow myself to regret it any further."He intended to make her fall in love with him again and love him so deeply that she couldn't leave him!***In the evening, Serenity sat on the couch in her room. She gazed at the torn, purple floral dress she held in her hands. The dress was ripped from the neckline to one of the sleeves. Even with mending, it would be difficult to restore its original condition.As she looked at this dress that had once been so perfect but was now in this state, Serenity felt a sense of discomfort. After all, this dress had been a gift from "Luke".Even though Lucas didn't know that the little girl from his past was her, and even though he had given her the dress unintentionally, it seemed like a series of coincidences was causing all those childhood promises to be fulfilled one by one.She bit her lip and got up. Walking to a nearby cabinet, sh
Serenity looked down and silently continued her work on mending the purple dress in her hands, paying no heed to Jackson.The faint smile on his lips gradually faded. "Stop," he said.But she continued as if she hadn't heard him, her hands focused on the task.His eyes narrowed further, and the feeling of jealousy grew even stronger. It seemed as if she only had the existence of this dress in her eyes. Or perhaps, Lucas' presence in the dress."I told you to stop!" he suddenly snapped, grabbing the purple dress from her hands.Serenity let out a small cry as the needle pierced her other fingertip. A bright red drop of blood oozed from the pricked finger and dripped onto the dark floor.It hadn't been a light prick. Her blood flowed more quickly from the wound. A fair amount of blood had oozed from her fingertip in a matter of moments.Seeing this, Jackson quickly discarded the dress and crouched down, cradling Serenity's injured hand. He brought her finger to his lips, gen
"Jackson, do I have to conform to your desires, without having my own thoughts, my own concerns, and without ever making you angry?" Serenity asked. "You keep saying you love me, but have you ever respected me?"Jackson stopped his movements, and he looked up at her. It seemed that all emotions had receded from his eyes, leaving behind only a deep, cold emptiness. After a considerable pause, he finally responded, "Are you asking me to respect you?"His voice was chilly and resonated with desolation throughout the room.She smiled bitterly. "Never mind. That was foolish of me to say. If you truly respected me, you wouldn't have kept me locked up here.""I can respect you, fulfill your every desire, do whatever you ask of me... As long as you can love me and stop thinking about or missing other men," he murmured.For him, saying such words already meant he was in a subservient position.However, Serenity responded indifferently, "Your respect for me seems to come with the conditi
Her fear... was it because of him?He had just wanted to scare her, to teach her a lesson, and to demonstrate his kindness toward her. He wanted her to see what she would face if he lost respect for her.However, his chest hurt when he saw her in such a state. It was almost like he had committed self-harm. He reached over and gently wiped the tears from her face. “It’s okay. I won’t force you. Not now, and never in the future.” She stared at him dumbfoundedly, as if she couldn’t believe he was capable of saying such words.To be honest, she had never expected that she would lose control of her emotions and cry this hard. She had managed to convince herself that even if she was about to be raped, it wasn’t a big deal. She would just treat it as a blank chapter in her life. But… when she was placed in a situation where she had lost every semblance of control, images of her time in prison flashed through her mind. No matter how much she fought it off, she could never move on from
Looking at his son’s right hand that was still wrapped in gauze, Mr. Gomez told his son, “Breaking your hand over a woman, what a joke!” “So long as I can find her, so what if I break my other arm?” asked Lucas. “You!” Mr. Gomez was immediately angered by his response. At that point, Mrs. Gomez stepped forward to comfort her husband. She then turned to Lucas and reminded him, “That’s enough, don’t anger him anymore. Since Jackson has made it clear that she’s different from any other woman, why are you so adamant about going after her?” Although the Valor family was influential in Solaria, the Gomez family wasn’t any weaker either. Mrs. Gomez wasn’t afraid of a confrontation with them. However, she thought Serenity was just another woman. She wasn’t even the girl that her son had been obsessed with since he was a boy. In other words, there were so many people who could replace her. The one thing that the entertainment industry could never run out of was young attractive women!
It wasn’t like it had never crossed her mind. Maybe she could leave this place if she could pretend to love him. However, how long could she keep up this act? Unless she wanted to keep up the act for the rest of her life, if Jackson were to find out in the future that she had deceived him, it would only worsen her situation in the future.More importantly, she didn’t feel like lying or deceiving Jackson to get what she wanted. This mansion was huge and decorated with structures that reminded her of rich families in the movies she watched. There were plenty of lotus flower motifs in the architecture as well. For instance, the lotus flower reliefs on the pillars and beams of the house, or the carved motifs on the antique furniture, not to mention the lotus pond in the garden. The blooming season for lotus flowers had already passed, yet the flowers in the pond were still blossoming as if it was the peak of its season. The owner of this mansion had to be a big fan of lotus flo