Chapter 327 – After the One-Night Stand with a Heartless Billionaire

William told Jennie that he was a graduate student at the university and that he was here for classes. He was, however, only there to hook up with girls. He was interested in Jennie because he already knew she was a rich girl from the Wright family. For her, he even broke up with his fiancee, who was already pregnant before he met Jennie.

Jennie elaborated, “James was an exchange student abroad at the time and had recently returned home. By the time he knew what had happened, it was already too late. As a result, he didn’t have time to stop me and prevent me from making this mistake.”

On their way home, James offered Jennie two options, and the first one was to get an abortion. He promised her to keep this from her parents for her, and let her stay in his apartment. And, he said he would teach William a lesson.

‘Twas hesitant to do so because I still thought William was a good man. I had the impression that, despite being a liar, he genuinely loved me. James thought I was stupid. Then he said he wanted to put William to the test. If he passed that test, he promised me that he would put in a good word for me to my parents.”

Later on, James told William that Jennie was only the Wrights’ adopted daughter, so she would not inherit the family fortune in the future. However, his parents would give her some money when she got married.

Frowning, Jennie continued, “I thought it wasn’t a tough test and that William wouldn’t think it was a big deal at the time. I waited a long time trying to get him to meet my parents with me. But he vanished three months later.”

At the time that Jennie heard the news that William married the principal’s daughter and moved to another country, Jennie was already four months pregnant. And it was too late for her to get an abortion. Heartbroken, Jennie didn’t want to keep the baby at all.

“I went to numerous hospitals. They all said that if no one signed for me, they would not operate on me. I was desperate, so I went to a clinic in an alley. However, James barged in and halted me. I told him that my life was doomed. People were not always as open-minded back then as they are now, and my reputation would be ruined if I had an illegitimate child. To my surprise, James hugged me tightly and said he was going to marry me.”

That night, James went home with her hand in hand and told his parents they were going to get married. Peter and his wife were taken aback and outraged. They had always regarded Jennie as their daughter and believed it was incestuous.

“My father refused to say yes no matter what. My mother led me into my bedroom and asked me what was going on. I was so humiliated that I couldn’t stop crying. Then James told them I was carrying his child, and that he had had a crush on me for years.”

Peter had been a soldier before inheriting his family’s hotel business, when he was young. As a result, he got the majesty and strength of a soldier. He couldn’t accept this, so he whipped James mercilessly all night. James was severely injured and had to spend a month in bed recovering. Later, the two of them married in a hasty ceremony.

“To avoid gossip, James told everyone he was taking me to trip around the world. So we spent a year and a half abroad before returning with the baby. He explained to people that the child grew faster than his peers because he had the best living conditions.”

Anna clenched her fists, unable to imagine what would happen later.

Jennie continued to talk about the past and looked very sorrowful. She said, “Every time I saw Wayne the first few years after he was born, I remembered that horrible past. I felt terrible about James, so I kept traveling overseas and rarely returned home. As a result, Wayne and I had never been close for all those years.”

Jennie was away from home since she did not want to interfere with James’ love life. When he met the proper person, she planned to divorce him. But James had done nothing for over a decade and didn’t appear interested in dating other ladies.

Anna couldn’t help but comment, “Don’t you see it that James loved you deeply? Don’t you know how much he loved you?”

Jennie gave a self-mocking laugh and said, “Of course, I can see that, I’m not stupid. Whenever he was around me, I could feel that he loved me very much. No matter how busy he was, he would pick me up at the airport and cook my favorite food every time I returned home. Even though Wayne and I were not familiar, James would teach him to call me ‘mom’.”

Anna asked in disbelief, “Why?”

“at first, the whole situation made me feel really humiliated. I thought James was the most wonderful man on the planet. He was an attractive and talented man born into a wealthy family. Meanwhile, I was just a Woman who got pregnant because I was a total i***t, and I was not good enough for him.”

Jennie dried her tears and appeared to be terribly sorry.

Anna was overcome with sadness after hearing the whole story. She didn’t dare to ask any more questions, so she sat quietly. At that time, Jennie had reached the last page of the photo album, which included a photograph of her and James together. They were standing on the top of a hill, holding hands. Both were cheerfully smiling, and James was looking at her tenderly.

Anna was taken aback when she noticed the time in the lower right comer of the shot. She remembered that James had died in an accident not long after.

Jennie touched the photographs and sobbed, “We shot this photo in a beautiful valley at the time. We were planning to take Wayne and Peter there once Ryan was born and take a family picture together.”

However, they didn’t make it.

Anna remained silent for a moment before recalling what Jennie had said before. “Do you suspect that William killed James?” she asked.

Jennie clinched her hands and widened her eyes. Tears ran down her cheeks like a river. She said, “Yes. Later on, William got divorced and came back here to see me. I didn’t want to see him, so I rushed to a nearby mountain to hide from him. He then followed me there. If James hadn’t arrived in time, I would have died with him. Later, William ran away. James drove down the mountain to catch up with him. On the way, the brakes of his car had a glitch, and he collided with a guardrail and tumbled off. After the investigation, the police said the accident was intentional, and I know that William must have had something to do with it.”

“Did you talk to the police about this?”

“Yes, I did. However, because I lacked evidence no one believed me. At the time, William had run away, and I had no idea where he was. There was nothing I could do after that.”.

Anna was aware of what happened after that since Wayne had told her. He saw a man come to the house asking to meet Jennie when he was 13. They moved to the corner to chat later, and Wayne followed them. He overheard them talking about she was pregnant. At that time, Wayne was too young to comprehend what they were saying, Then his father died, and the police arrived at his home to ask him questions. It wasn’t until then that he realized what had happened.

Afterwards, Wayne went to the hospital where Jennie had gone and confirmed that she was pregnant. He was so enraged that he kicked Jennie out of the house during James’ funeral.

When Anna learned about all of this, she didn’t know what to say anymore. She used to believe that Jennie was in pain but wasn’t as miserable as Wayne. Wayne grew up without a mother to look after him and later lost his father. Therefore, she used to be on Wayne’s side firmly and felt that Jennie was the villain. And after knowing the whole story, Anna was heartbroken because Jennie’s life had been so tough.

After a while, Anna came back to her senses and asked, “So, William is threatening you with what happened back then, right?”

Jennie nodded and said, “Anna, I know you’re a good girl, and I appreciate you thinking of me. But I don’t want anyone else to find out about it. I was often away from Wayne while he was a child, and James always took care of him. So, they formed a deep bond. He would be devastated if he discovered James was not his biological father. My father is old now, and he would not be able to take such a huge blow.”

Anna frowned and asked, “You think a lot for them, but why don’t you worry about yourself? Think about Ryan, he’s in danger. Wouldn’t you want to go to them for help if we were in trouble? Ryan is your and James’ child, you know.”.

In fact, Ryan was actually the only child of the Wrights. Anna believed that Jennie and James considered Wayne their child the same way Ryan was. James was a decent gentleman, or he would not have raised Wayne.

Jennie pursed her lips, and then something seemed to hit her. She clasped Anna’s hand in hers and exclaimed, “That’s right, I’ve got an idea! Anna, will you help me? Can you go to an antique store for me?”

“Antique store? “

Jennie went to the closet, opened the drawer, took out a wooden box, and said, “Yes.”

When she opened it, Anna saw a slew of jade bracelets inside the box.

“My mother gave them to me. I was going to give them to you or Ryan’s future wife. I’m going to give you one and then let you sell the other. This bracelet was worth more than three million dollars decades ago and should be worth four million today.”

Anna carefully took the beautiful bracelet and asked, “Are you serious about selling them? Your mother gave them to you! They’re so precious.”

Although Jennie was hesitant, she pretended not to care about it and replied, “It’s okay. I’m doing this to help Ryan, so she would understand.”

“anna, I was hoping you could find Mr. York at the Charleston Antique Shop in Birmingham. Then I’d like you to present him with one of the bracelets. He’ll buy it as soon as he sees it, believe me.” Jennie appeared to be sure of it.

“Is he a friend of yours?” Anna asked.

Jennie shook her head and said, “No. He’s James* friend, and I’ve only met him a few times. I wore this bracelet at my wedding. He spotted them during the wedding and told me I could sell them to him later if I didn’t want them.”

Jennie was heartbroken simply thinking about it as she never expected to sell them one day.

Anna didn’t know how to say no, so she took the bracelets. After that, she rushed back to Birmingham that night because it was an emergency. Anna couldn’t wait any longer because three days had already passed.

She arrived in Birmingham shortly after sunrise. And she spent a long time searching the house before discovering a safe deposit box in the garage. Taking a deep breath, Anna opened it

The safe’s door opened, allowing sunlight to illuminate everything inside. There was a necklace there, as well as some cash and evidence of ownership. Anna took out the necklace and held it for a long time in her hand. In the sunlight, the lovely green gem gleamed beside a few diamonds.

Anna considered the necklace to be more valuable than the bracelet

Jennie had given her. The necklace had been the sole clue that had led her ‘ s to Wayne, and she had always treated it as a hot potato, refusing to take it out.

Anna had hoped to tell Wayne the truth before their wedding, but she had to take it away first.

Charleston Antiques was among a row of Victorian buildings in the suburbs. Before being transformed into an antique auction house, it was the largest pawn shop in the entire city.

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