Chapter 4

4: 4

4

I looked up. A little way off, Meryl was standing there, giving me a smile.

I pulled my eyes back to the group in front of me.

"Give it back."

The noise drew Jackson and my father over.

My father spoke first.

"What's going on here?"

Meryl jumped in before I could answer.

"Dad, my friends are just playing around with my sister."

My father waved a hand.

"They're all Meryl's friends, right? You young people have fun."

I pointed at the necklace.

"Dad, that was Mom's necklace when she was alive. Don't you remember?"

He cut me off, irritated.

"Enough, enough. Why bring up your mother? She's been dead more than ten years now."

Then he turned and walked away.

I let my eyes move over the group in front of me and made myself speak through my teeth.

"Fine. I'll play with you."

The woman holding up the necklace suddenly laughed.

"Oh, I've changed my mind. This necklace seems to mean a lot to you… so go ahead and take it off, and I'll give it to you."

Jackson looked a little startled.

I gave him and the rest of them a scornful look, reached up, and undid my buttons. One, two, three…

My fingers reached the fourth, baring the underwear beneath and a wide stretch of skin.

Jackson's voice cracked out.

"Enough!"

He rushed over, dragged me into the lounge next door, and the moment the door shut he pinned me against the wall.

"Sophia Pruitt! Are you really this cheap? Someone tells you to strip and you just strip?"

I laughed, but my voice stayed calm.

"Jackson, isn't this what you wanted?"

"You threw me into a place like that so I'd rot all the way through. You finally got your wish."

Jackson froze where he stood, as if something were slipping out of his grip.

I went back to my corner, and before I'd even steadied myself, someone groped me from behind.

I turned. It was one of the rich boys who used to chase after me.

He leaned close to my ear and smiled.

"Miss Pruitt, you turned me down before. But I just heard your sister say you're nothing but a slut now. So how about it, in the mood to have some fun with us?"

His hand moved up to my face.

The sickening feel of it crawled over me.

I dropped straight to the floor and screamed.

"Ahh—"

The man jerked back a step.

"The hell! Fine, no means no, what are you throwing a fit for?"

The few others beside him backed off too.

"She's sick in the head."

I crouched on the floor, shaking all over and unable to stop.

The party broke up in a hurry. A doctor came and gave me a sedative, and slowly everything went quiet.

I lay on the bed, wrung out, the ceiling light glaring into my eyes.

The phone by the bed buzzed once.

A message from Meryl.

"Sis, guess where I am right now?"

Before I could reply, the call came through.

Meryl was laughing on the other end.

"Sis, I've got a surprise ready for you. Over here, over here—it's not all dug up yet, dig it out cleaner."

Something turned uneasy in me.

"What are you doing?"

Meryl laughed harder.

"You don't know yet, do you, Sis? Jackson made a deal with the James family's foundation. We're developing a big stretch of land, putting up a mall. Your mother's grave? I had them dig it out."

A photo landed on my phone.

My mother's grave had been torn up every which way, nothing left of what it used to be.

I gripped the phone, my voice trembling.

"Meryl, why are you doing this? What is it you actually want?"

Her voice went cold all at once.

"No reason. I just can't stand you."

I hung up, curled up on the bed, clenched my fist, and hit my own chest, once and again.

"Why? Why?"

I got up and went to the window, pushed it open. The night wind blew in, cold.

All I wanted was somewhere quiet to be, and this world wouldn't leave me even one corner.

Mom, I miss you so much.

Under the same night sky, in the most luxurious five-star hotel in the city, Jackson was hosting a pair of honored guests from New York.

Byron James sat on the sofa, his wife Lorna Sawyer beside him, gentle and poised, a charity foundation file resting by her hand.

Lorna glanced around the room and suddenly asked,

"How come Sophia didn't come?"

Jackson paused, his tone cold.

"What would she come for? To make a fool of herself?"

Lorna set down her glass, her voice rising a little.

"What kind of thing is that to say? Back when the natural disaster hit Ashford County, Sophia went in on foot with the search-and-rescue team ahead of everyone, and afterward she donated money and helped a lot of people. People in Ashford still remember her to this day."

Byron threw back a full glass of liquor, his voice a little hoarse.

"My daughter happened to be traveling in Ashford at the time, and it was Sophia who dug her out of the rubble. If not for Sophia, my girl would be gone. Sophia saved the people of Ashford, and she saved my daughter. Setting up this foundation later was my way of passing that kindness on."

Jackson's grip tightened on his glass.

The Sophia Pruitt in his mind was proud, willful, even cold and selfish.

Back when his family went bankrupt, he'd swallowed his pride and begged her for help, and she hadn't said a single word.

It was timid, quiet Meryl who'd taken out the money and pulled the Gilberts back from the edge.

Byron looked at him and added one more thing.

"When your family was in trouble before, Sophia quietly wired you five million to help you through it. You didn't know?"

The glass in Jackson's hand dropped to the floor.

Crash.

His phone started buzzing wildly.

A bad feeling rose in him, and he answered.

The voice on the other end was very soft, as if she'd finally set everything down.

"Goodbye, Jackson."

A huge explosion went off.