Chapter 7
I could feel the pressure tightening around my neck.
The air around me was growing thinner by the second.
Just when I thought I might die here today, a sudden commotion erupted at the entrance.
A team of bodyguards burst in, storming straight toward us. Before anyone could react, one of them kicked Jackson square in the chest, sending him flying.
He hit the ground hard.
I even heard the sickening crack of bone.
Jackson trembled from the pain, unable to say a word before he passed out cold.
Jessie froze in shock. The Krueger family might’ve been a prominent Family, but she’d never seen anything like this. She stood there like a statue, watching as someone gently helped me up and escorted me out of the auction hall.
The crowd at the entrance parted to make way.
I never looked back.
Outside the auction room, Jordan Fletcher’s car was already waiting.
The bodyguards walked me to the car, made sure I was inside safely, then shut the door and headed to the vehicle behind.
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Jordan put down his phone and looked up at me, taking in my disheveled, pitiful state. He let out a barely audible sigh.
“You are just like your mother.”
Tears streamed down my face. A wave of emotion I couldn’t hold back surged forward.
My poor mother had been forced to sell her body just to support me. It wasn’t until she met my adoptive father that she finally found a tiny, stable corner of the world to call her own.
To everyone else, I was just the daughter of a whore.
Anyone could throw that past in my face to hurt me. But no one knew that the man sitting across from me–this elegant, poised man with a natural air of nobility–was my biological father.
When he saw my tears, his expression softened.
“I know I failed your mother,” he said. “But back then, I wasn’t in control of my life either. The Fletcher family kept me under strict watch–I had no freedom. I didn’t even know my family had done such awful things to her… They left her with no choice but to make that decision.
“But Nicole, whether you believe me or not, I regret it. I do. And I truly want to make things right.”
I quietly looked away, turning my gaze to the window.
My expression was blank, eyes cold and lifeless. Deep down, I felt nothing but numbness.
Both my mother and I had placed our trust in a man’s promises.
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And in the end, this was what we got.
I calmly accepted all of Jordan’s support.
That’s when I learned he and his wife had been married for years but never had children.
I made a grand public return to the Fletcher family. They invited high- profile figures from every corner of society to the ceremony, including Jackson, who had recently been discharged from the hospital.
The moment Jackson stepped into the venue with Jessie and spotted me, he let go of her and headed straight in my direction.
He grabbed my arm and dragged me into a quiet corner.
“What are you doing here?
“Nicole, don’t tell me the reason you had money at the auction was because you became that old Fletcher guy’s mistress? Have you no shame? You’re nothing but a whore!”
As soon as he said it, he tried to pull me away, not even sparing Jessie a glance.
I yanked my arm out of his grip and gave a cold, mocking glance in Jessie’s direction before sneering, “Jackson, who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do?”
Jackson’s brows furrowed deeply.
“What’s that supposed to mean? We haven’t even divorced yet—you’re \still my wife!”
I replied coolly, “Oh, so now you remember I’m your wife? Funny, because I thought you had amnesia. Parading around with your
Chapter 7
mistress, hurting me for her–did it ever cross your mind then that I was still your wife?”
Jackson swallowed his anger and lowered his voice. “Stop making a scene. I was just mad because you embarrassed me in public. It wasn’t entirely for Jessie’s sake. Honestly, if you’d just backed down that day, I never would’ve let those photos leak. Not a single one.”
ME
Chapter 8
