Chapter 216

“Lucian, folks like you who are loaded may talk about pride, but for a poor sod like me, pride is priceless. If I’d known you had a thing for virgins, I would’ve kept myself pure and then spent a night with you. That way, you’d have had to marry me, right?”

Sometimes, the sharpest weapon wasn’t a blade, but words that cut like a knife.

As her words hung in the air, Lucian’s gaze turned colder, a vein on his forehead pulsing. He was afraid he’d hurt the woman before him if he didn’t control himself.

“I don’t want to see you with Jason again. If I do, I’ll make sure you disappear from Northfield.”

“Disappear how?”

The woman’s hair spread out on the man’s pillow, a smile playing on her lips, seemingly unafraid.

“Jason’s into me. You should go talk to him. What’s the point of talking to me? You guys are right; I’m a gold digger. I just want the dough, and I’m happy when a rich guy’s chasing me.”

Before Allison could finish, a hand was around her throat.

She gripped the man’s hand, her head thrown back, struggling to breathe. “I’ve had twenty–one tough years. If you plan on killing me, it’d be a relief, really. It’s a shame it would dirty your hands.”

Allison closed her eyes. Sometimes, death can be a relief. Living can be so tiring.

She wanted to visit her father and brother in heaven and see how they were doing.

She wanted to tell her father and brother how hard things had been for her and her mother these past few years.

She wanted to visit her grandmother and be by her side..

She wanted her grandmother’s embrace.

It was exhausting, running from school to the hospital with no money. Her mother’s condition was deteriorating; she could not afford surgery or hospital stays. She was moved from a room to a corridor, sleeping there day and night.

Her first time was with the man in front of her.

She had lost her child.

Her mother was in a mental institution, under Leah’s care.

Her eyes, once bright, were now dull and lifeless, as if they had lost their most beautiful color. Lucian’s pupils constricted sharply, and he released her abruptly. She breathed heavily, her voice hoarse. “Mr.

Lindbergh, I won’t leave Northfield. If you don’t want me to see Jason, then you better control your own brother.”

The man stared at her, motionless.

Allison wanted to leave, but the man was on top of her. She didn’t have the strength to resist him. But Allison knew what he hated.

“Mr. Lindbergh, shall we continue?” she invited him.

Her bathrobe had been mostly undone by Lucian, only tied at the waist. She slowly undid it, removing her bathrobe. “Mr. Lindbergh, it’s 8 a.m. now, we need to go to Pearl Island at 10. If you don’t plan to continue, I’ll leave. If you do, we still have two hours.”

Normally, given Lucian’s character, he would have told Allison to bugger off at her ‘warm invitation. But this time, his look changed. “Fine, have it your way.”

Allison was stunned. “What?”

She had thought she was intentionally teasing him.

Oh, bloody hell!