Chapter 6 It’s Been A While, Aren’t You Going To Greet Me?

See, they were really turning on her now! She knew it, she should not have tried to help Susie! Jane regretted everything now. “Hey, I was asking you a question, cleaner lady.” Jane had no choice but to force a nod. That cocky voice laughed cheerily, addressing Susie with, “Did you hear that? Even a cleaner can read the room better than you. She knows better.” With that, he picked up the bottle and slammed it onto the table. “Drain it all, or call Alora Smith here.” Alora Smith was the interviewer who had accepted Jane into the club. The mention of Alora scared Susie a little. The Thompsons were poor, and Susie was working here at East Emperor because they paid well. If they actually summoned Alora, she could kiss her job goodbye. “Don’t call Alora!” Susie grabbed the bottle of wine from the crystal table. “I’ll drink it!” Her tears began to spill before she even started drinking. “Wait up.” A deep voice spoke slowly from the shadows. Jane’s back was turned against this dark corner, but her body began to shake violently and involuntarily the moment she heard that voice. Terror crept into her eyes, and her breathing grew labored. “Turn around,” the voice commanded in the darkness. Jane’s legs were as heavy as lead, and she did not move, constantly telling herself, ‘He’s not talking to me.’ “I’ll say it one more time. Turn around. Cleaner. Lady.” “Gasp…” Jane felt like she had been punched in the heart, but she knew she had to do as he said. Her teeth chattered, and she turned around stiffly, wrapped up in all those bulky clothes. The atmosphere was extremely odd. Everyone could tell that something was amiss now. The cocky young master pressed his fingers to his lips and blew a joyful whistle. “This will be fun.” One of the men on the couch barked, “Shut up, Ray. Don’t interrupt the show.” “Well, screw you, Elior White. You’re bad to the bone.” Jane’s eyes were overflowing with fear. She wanted to run away from here! She had spent three days in jail; that was 1,095 days in a living hell. After she crawled out of that bottomless abyss, she did not even dare to have any romantic hopes for Sean Stewart anymore. All she felt for this man now was a bone-deep terror and fear. Even if she had any other feelings of love or admiration for this man, she had long since buried them deep in her heart, where the sun would never reach. “Raise your head.” That slow voice ordered her, and Jane moved according to his every word like a puppet. It was dimly-lit in here, and that man was hiding in a dark corner. She did not dare to look around when she entered the room, so it was no wonder she did not see him. Sean Stewart was sitting on a couch in the corner like a king, his long and slender arms resting on the sides of the couch. He rested his chin on the backs of his hands, elegant and gentlemanly, but his eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses stared at her like those of a hungry wolf, ready to pounce and rip her to shreds at any time. Three years had not dulled any of his brilliance at all. Instead, the passage of time had only polished him, made him even more dazzling. That face was slightly obscured in the dim lighting, as though covered by a layer of golden light. He just sat there, emanating a mesmerizing aura. Even so… she did not dare to even look at him! She just desperately tried to bury her face in the thick clothes over her chest. “Pfft.” Sean snorted, cold amusement in his eyes as he spoke dangerously, “It’s been a while. What’s the matter? Aren’t you going to greet me?” Jane was deathly pale. “Mr. Stewart.” Jane tried her best to force down the terror in her chest. Her fingers dug deep into her thigh, and she forced herself to look calm on the surface. However, the man on the couch could easily see through her every move. Sean narrowed his eyes and appraised Jane… If he had not bumped into her here at East Emperor, he would almost have forgotten that she even existed. 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.