Jane’s POV
When I, Jane Luxton, was delivered to the Payton Family’s elder master as a “fortune-bringing bride,” I never expected to meet the mocking gaze of my ex-boyfriend on the bed.
In the dimly lit bedroom, Simon Payton teased my most sensitive spots, his voice dripping with wicked amusement as the sound of my growing ragged breath entered his ears. “Stepmother,” he murmured against my ear, “Why don’t you stay with me instead? I promise I’m much more satisfying than that old man.”
Later, at the auction house, he bid on luxury goods worth tens of millions of dollars and gifted them to me. He treated me with endless tenderness, clung to me every night and whispered sweet nothings that made my heart flutter. These made me believe in the sweet fantasies of our life at that time.
This fantasy persisted until the day I was forced to withdraw from a major modeling audition at the peak of my career because I was pregnant. At that time, I stumbled across his group chat with his friends and read it.
[Does that fool Jane really believe Simon still loves her? When she ditched him for money back then because she hated the poor and preferred the rich, did she even think he was the lost heir of the wealthy Payton Family?]
[If it hadn’t been for that half-paralyzed old man needing a bride to reverse his bad luck, she would’ve never had the chance to see our Simon again. He only chose her because she was clean and not acting like a slut outside. If not, Simon could get any woman he wanted, right?]
[Do you think when she finds out she’s not only lost her career but Simon is going to get engaged to someone else, she’ll go crazy and jump into a river?]
As I read these, I felt like my blood turned into ice. What I thought was a rekindled act of love turned out to be nothing more than his well-orchestrated act of revenge and humiliation.
I turned my body around and packed my things. I would leave for good.
***
When Simon found out I was pregnant, he was overjoyed. He kept asking me over and over again as if he could not believe it.
I had never seen Simon so emotional like this.
Simon kissed my cheek tenderly and put his hand underneath my skirt with practiced ease and explored gently. His voice was low, husky and unbearably seductive when he spoke to me, “Baby, can we keep it? Let’s have a child, Jane. Our child. The one that carries both our bloodlines, okay?"
My body trembled under Simon's sudden touch and my mind went blank. At the height of my vulnerability and passion, I whispered my consent, "Okay."
After the passion passed, Simon helped me clean up, then left after saying he had some work to deal with.
I sat on the edge of the bed, my cheeks still pink in shy afterglow. Suddenly, my phone vibrated and a flood of notifications lit up the screen.
I took the phone and saw a group chat was busy again, the one filled with Simon and his friends chatting. Since no one had ever chatted before, I did not know when I had been added to this group.
Since I hardly ever chatted in the chat group, they probably ignored the fact that I was also a member of the group, which was why they mocked me so recklessly in the group.
[Does that stupid Jane still think Simon still loved her? She had dumped him because she liked the rich and hated the poor at that time and now, she thinks he’s fallen for her again? Please. Did she do this because know he’s the missing heir of the Payton Family?]
[She got lucky with that half-paralyzed old guy needing a wife to ward off bad luck. Otherwise, what right would she have to stand in front of Simon? He picked her because she was drama-free and clean. Not like he doesn’t have options since any woman he wanted, he'll get.]
[Imagine her face when she finds out the truth when she lost her career and Simon is getting engaged to someone else. Do you think she’ll go mad and jump into a river?]
One of his best friends tagged Simon directly. [Simon, why are you so quiet? Are you having a lovely time with Kelly?]
[Now that Jane is totally obsessed with you, when are you going to go public with the engagement and dump her?]
Then I saw the familiar avatar appear. It was Simon's. [It's no rush. When I have her completely hooked and she can't bear to leave me anymore, I’ll return every ounce of the pain she gave me a thousandfold.]
The phone fell from my hand as a sharp pain swept through my body. It started from the soles of my feet and before long traveled all over my body.
I finally realized Simon had never forgiven me. Every gentle touch, attention and gift was just a calculated move to get back at me for leaving him. It did not rekindle our love; instead, it was an act of revenge.
Back then, after my father had embezzled a fortune and fled the country, he left my mother and me with tens of millions of dollars of debt. My mother was so heartbroken that she jumped from a building and ended up in a vegetative state.
Debt collectors came knocking at our house every single day. At that time, Simon was training hard. He was hoping to qualify for the national track team.
Those same creditors had threatened me with Simon. They said if I did not repay the debt fast enough, they would ruin Simon's sports career.
I knew how much Simon loved athletics, so because I did not want him to suffer, I lied. I told him I had fallen for someone else.
The day we broke up, I stood above him as he knelt, heartbroken and I mocked him and called him a broke loser who could never give me what I wanted.
This devastated Simon and he snapped. After he drank too much, he accidentally fell into the river. As a result, his bones fractured all over his body. This incident ended his athletic career instantly.
However, he never realized that I was the one who, without hesitation, jumped into the river when I saw him fall and saved him.
To protect him from the wrath of my debtors, I immediately left him before he woke up. Then I disappeared for five years.
Until I was drugged and sent to Master Payton's bed because I couldn't pay the debt to one of my creditors, Simon saved me like a god from heaven.
It was only then I learned that Simon was actually the long-lost heir of the wealthy Payton Family.
When we met again, I thought he hated me. Instead, he was gentle to me and gifted me everything I asked for. I genuinely thought he still loved me.
Now, I realized Simon knew exactly how to break my heart. Since he did not stab me in the back when I was down but when I fell in love with him. Then he twisted the knife.
I closed my eyes as tears streamed freely down my cheeks.
After letting myself grieve, I picked up my phone and made a call. As soon as it connected, I said softly, "Chris, I want to go to The Gaul Nation with you. I want to start all over again.”
On the other end, a thrilled man’s voice sounded, “Wait, really? You’re not messing with me, are you? Did you really break up with that guy?”
I paused for a while and as a resolute gleam appeared in my eyes, I said, “Yes. It’s over. Once I leave, I’m not coming back.”
Before, I had refused Chris Roland’s offer to go abroad because my debts weren’t fully paid and because of Simon. However now... I was almost free of debts. I could take my mother somewhere safe, somewhere with proper treatment.
Simon was no longer the boy I once loved and was not worth having my heart anymore.
This time, it was really the end for us.
