Chapter 500: Chapter 500

Determined to stop the men from carrying the woman into the car, Jacob quickened his pace. “Hey! What are you guys doing?”

One of the foreigners instantly threw him a contemptuous glance. “It’s none of your d*mn business! Be smart and stay in your lane.”

Instead of fighting fire with fire, Jacob tamped down his anger and took out all the cash he had in his wallet.

“I know you guys are just looking for a good time!” he said as he handed over a thick wad of Anglandurn currency notes. “The money I have here is enough for you to party all week, and it’d be yours if you give me the woman. That’s not a bad trade, is it?”

Upon grabbing the money and realizing how much there was, the foreigner quickly shot a look at his friend, prompting the latter to push the woman into Jacob’s arms.

Jacob hastily caught her, only to be taken aback when he found out how cold to the touch her skin was.

When he looked back up again, the foreigners had already sped away in their car.

“What a bunch of sc*mbags! They won’t even let a poor, helpless woman off!” Jacob scolded.

That’s also why I love conducting business overseas. I feel no guilt in making money off these dregs of society!

As soon as his driver arrived, Jacob carried the woman into the car and gave the order to go to the hospital.

Having seen how grubby and disheveled the woman was, he had to admit he was disgusted.

Despite that, he covered her with his coat out of pity and decided to leave after ensuring she was given the necessary medical attention.

“Thank goodness I got a tidy sum from a successful contract negotiation. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bothered to rescue her!”

Jacob muttered to himself. “There’s just no way I can recoup this loss.”

After arriving at the hospital’s emergency department, one of the doctors immediately gave the woman a checkup. Upon peeling away the latter’s clothes, however, everyone was stunned to see the terrifying clusters of welts and bruises all over her body.

Naturally, the doctor’s first instinct was to turn and glance at Jacob.

“It wasn’t me!” Jacob hurriedly explained in Anglandurn as he put his hands up. “I saw her getting bullied and merely helped her out. Please don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not an abuser!”

Gosh... Domestic abuse is a grave offense in this country. If the doctor reported it to the police, I might end up in jail!

Now that Jacob knew the woman was in such a dire situation, he no longer dared to leave. After all, he couldn’t risk having the hospital go after him if something went wrong.

He ended up waiting outside the ward begrudgingly, only to feel his frustration building as smoking wasn’t allowed on the premises.

After about an hour, the doctor finally came out and approached Jacob. “Well, she needs to be hospitalized, so make sure to pay the bill later. By the way, she’s also pregnant. I’ll help her as much as I can and give her the best medicine.”

Needless to say, Jacob was stunned. “What the f*ck? I’m not even her boyfriend! Why should I pay for her?”

“In that case, get one of her friends here to pay the fees before you leave.”

“How the h*ll would I know who her friends are?”

“Take her away with you, then!” the doctor retorted before walking off in a huff.

For a moment, Jacob was rendered speechless.

The hospitals back home are so much better. Even if there’s no one to pay the bills, they’d still do their best to help the patients.

Foreign hospitals, on the contrary, are just heartless, money-grubbing establishments! Argh! At this point, I’m ready to up and leave. It’s not like I’m running a charity... Haven’t I done enough when I spent money to send the woman to the hospital? Why should I also pay for her treatment and hospital stay?

Despite his anger, Jacob sighed at the thought of the woman’s sorry plight and eventually withdrew money from the nearest ATM.

Thankfully, once he had paid and arranged for the woman’s hospitalization, the doctors wasted no time giving her the proper treatment.

Jacob, too, had decided against leaving and stayed in the ward.

When this woman wakes up, I’ll get her to call her friends over and pay me back for the hospital bill!

Unfortunately, the woman remained unconscious even after a long, arduous wait, so Jacob had no choice but to cancel his flight ticket for a refund the following morning.

Less than an hour later, his phone rang.

As soon as he answered it, a woman shouted from the other end, “Where the h*ll have you gone to fool around this time? Do you not want to come home?”

“Mom, must you always keep tabs on me?” Jacob grumbled. “Besides, I’m not fooling around! I’m on a business trip, and I’m too busy to go back.”

“Business? My foot! You only know how to eat, drink, and be merry!”

Jacob rubbed his temples and sighed. “Whatever. I’ll always be a useless fool to you, anyway.”

“All you need to do is carry on the family name,” said Jacob’s mother, Hazel bluntly. “Hurry back home now. I’ve already made the necessary arrangements. Once your future wife is pregnant, I’ll leave you be, and you can go wherever you like!”

“Give me a break, Mom! Why don’t you go on a trip if you’re bored? The women you’ve introduced to me are all so ugly...”

“Their families are filthy rich, though!” Hazel snapped. “What? Do you think you stand a chance with those who are both rich and beautiful?”

When Jacob didn’t reply, Hazel added, “Find a wife yourself if you hate my picks that much! Once you do that, I’ll get your father to invest in your company!”

“I—”

“Do me a favor and learn from Wyatt!” Hazel interrupted. “He may be playful, but he’s also a business whiz. Furthermore, I spoke to his mother a while back, and she said her daughter-in-law’s due date is in a few months. You, on the other hand, have achieved nothing! Even I feel ashamed to be your mother!”

Jacob’s eyes instantly widened. “Wait a minute... When did Wyatt get a wife? Why haven’t I heard anything?”

“Hmph! He’s probably enjoying his married life. Why would he bother telling you? Listen carefully. If I don’t see you back home, you can forget about setting up your company!”

“I’m your son, for goodness’ sake! Must you be so ruthless?” Jacob protested. “Hello? Mom, did you hear me?”

After being met with a bout of silence, Jacob looked at his phone.

What the h*ll? She hung up on me!

He pulled his hair in frustration, wishing he could take a cold shower to calm himself down. “Wyatt Lopez, that b*stard... Why didn’t he tell me he’s married? Does he know how much trouble he’s gotten me into? F*ck!”

The next second, Jacob heard a sound from the bed and quickly turned to look. To his delight, the woman was starting to stir and trying to open her eyes.

With that, he kept his phone and strode toward her.

“Well, d*mn. You’re finally awake after making me wait an entire night!” Jacob fumed. “What’s your friend’s number? I’ll call her over right now!”

Unfortunately, the woman seemed unaware of her surroundings, and her confusion quickly turned to fear. She glanced around, trying desperately to jog her memory, but the pain all over her body kept making her wince.

“W-Where am I?”

Irked by the woman’s accusatory tone, Jacob’s frown deepened. “Oh, come on. Are you faking amnesia? Some men almost dragged you off with them last night. I was the one who saved you and sent you to the hospital. On top of the twenty thousand I gave them to buy you from them, there’s also the bill I paid for your hospital stay and treatment... Everything adds up to more than thirty thousand, but I’ll round it down to thirty thousand!”

Upon hearing that, the woman heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. Just get your friend here to pay me back,” Jacob urged. “I’m in a hurry to head home.”

The woman began uttering some numbers but stopped after a while, much to Jacob’s annoyance.

“Hey, go on. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten something as simple as a phone number...”

When he noticed the woman staring at the chair instead of him, he waved a hand in front of her.

“Look at me, miss. I’m not that scary, am I? All right. How about this? Your friend only has to pay me twenty-five thousand, okay?”

Without blinking an eye, the woman spoke up again, her voice soft and hoarse. “I can’t see.”