Chapter 1
On her 26th birthday, Jasmine Maddox gave herself an unusual gift–she filed papers to officially cut all ties with her family.
When the clerk asked why, she only said three things-“My parents are gone, and I have no relatives. Two months ago, the hospital diagnosed me with late–stage pancreatic cancer. The doctor said I won’t live past the end of this month.”
Ten minutes later, the process was finished. As she stepped out of the office, the giant screen in the central square was playing the engagement banquet of the Hudson and Walsh families.
Passersby stopped to watch, full of envy and admiration.
“The CEO of the Hudson Group and the heiress of the Walsh Group- what a perfect match! Look at those flowers. They must have been flown in from Europe. And that diamond ring must be worth millions. Mr. Hudson is spoiling her to death.”
“I heard Zachary Hudson came from nothing. Before he met Nicole Walsh, he had a girlfriend who dumped him for being poor. She must regret that decision now.”
Lowering her eyes, Jasmine hid the storm inside her and whispered to herself, “No. I never regretted it.”
Without lingering, she walked over to the e–bike parked on the street.
Before cutting ties, she had already scheduled a sea burial for herself. With the endless horizon where the sky meets the waves, listening to the sound of the ocean, it felt almost like being 18 again, walking hand in hand with Zachary along the beach.
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She knew she could never go back, never see him again. So even though the cost of a sea burial wasn’t cheap, she had already put down a deposit.
She was still short on the balance, so she signed up as a delivery rider and planned to work until she saved enough.
But her health was failing, and after just a few orders, her vision blurred. Coming out of an alley, she crashed straight into a Rolls–Royce.
The loud bang echoed.
Thrown to the ground with her bike, she felt pain spread through her body before her heart froze in shock.
A tall man in a tailored suit stepped out of the Rolls–Royce. His polished leather shoes hit the ground in steady steps, each one weighing heavily on her chest.
“Jasmine, it’s been a long time.”
She lifted her gaze, lips parting as if to speak. A thousand words rose in her chest, yet not a single one made it out. All she could do was silently and tremblingly repeat Zachary’s name over and over in her heart.
Zachary looked down at her, the eyes that once brimmed with tenderness now holding nothing but an icy emptiness, as though every trace of feeling had been erased.
His voice carried no warmth either.
“This car is worth 8 million dollars, and repairs will cost another 800,000. How will you pay?”
Jasmine hadn’t even gathered her thoughts about seeing him again when his words detonated in her mind like a bomb. “I… I’m sorry… I don’t have that kind of money.”
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He sized her up, and after a long pause, he said, “You have no money? Stay by my side and work until you’ve paid it back then.”
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Without another word, he opened the back door and shoved her inside.
The moment Jasmine got into the car, she realized there was already a woman with elegant makeup inside. In the rearview mirror, she glimpsed Nicole sitting in the front seat, Nicole’s face tight with annoyance.
Nicole’s eyes flickered when she saw Jasmine, though she quickly masked it with annoyance. “Zachary, we’re supposed to be going out. Why did you bring your ex–girlfriend? Are you still hung up on her?” She gave him a playful shove.
Zachary caught her hand before she could fuss further, leaned down, and kissed her lips softly. “Behave. She hit my car. I’m just making her work off the debt. I don’t need old flames. Especially not a gold digger like her.”
Jasmine’s chest tightened as she watched them kiss.
That was how he used to comfort her every time she was upset. He would kiss her and whisper her name.
Her father had died when she was very young, and her mother later remarried a drunken stepfather. At home, life was a constant state of fear -when he wasn’t drinking, he was trying to grope her.
At school, Jasmine kept to herself, too afraid to talk to anyone, which only made her an easy target for rejection and exclusion from her classmates.
But in her sophomore year of high school, she met her salvation–Zachary Hudson.
He was the undisputed heartthrob of the school–top of the class, admired
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by teachers and students alike. Women who liked him were countless, and even Nicole, the prettiest girl in school, had once confessed her feelings to him.
But he didn’t accept a single one of them. Instead, he fell for Jasmine–the invisible girl.
Zachary skipped class to buy her pads when she needed them, fought her stepfather to protect her, kissed her under the moonlight with ears burning red, and whispered, “Jas, I like you.”
Afraid she’d be bullied in college, he left two SAT questions blank and gave up top universities just to attend the same one as her.
For four years, Zachary treated her like she was his world. At graduation, he knelt before her with roses, eyes full of love, and asked her to marry him.
Yet she crushed the roses he gave her beneath her heel, not only rejecting him but also humiliating him in front of the entire school. She had never spoken such cruel words before, and the first time she did, it was to the person she loved most.
She told him he was poor, that she was young and pretty, and wouldn’t waste her best years on a life of hardship. She claimed she had already hooked up with a rich heir, that she had ignored his calls because she had been in his bed.
She said she was pregnant with Zachary’s child, but had lost it during rough sex with the heir.
Then, she threw a hospital report of her miscarriage in his face.
That day, he said only one sentence, each word bleeding with pain. “Jasmine, someone like you will never know happiness,”
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She had laughed, answering, “Who cares about happiness? Money is what matters.”
Then, she turned and left without looking back.
But where he couldn’t see, Jasmine collapsed on the ground, whispering his name through sobs that tore her apart.
Zachary was right–she was never meant to have happiness.
That night, she hadn’t answered his call, not because she was with a rich heir, but because her drunken stepfather had tied her to a bed and raped
her.
She really had miscarried, but it was because of her stepfather
When she woke, he threatened her. “I raised you all these years for this. Break up with your boyfriend and be mine, or I’ll kill him.”
At that moment, despair crushed her. She knew he meant every word.
She realized then that she had been born into the mud with no right to hope for a savior.
A man like Zachary deserved someone better. Letting him go was the only way to protect him.
The memories swirled like they were from a lifetime ago.
When she came to her senses, the car had already pulled up to a hotel.
At the entrance stood a massive birthday display, with a sketch portrait of Nicole.
Zachary helped Nicole out carefully, only sparing Jasmine a single cold order, “Tonight, your job is to drink in her place. 800 dollars per glass.”
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Jasmine stayed silent and simply trailed behind. It wasn’t until they stepped into the hall that she realized many of their old high school classmates were there tonight.
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Everyone raised their glasses to toast the birthday girl. Nicole smiled, responding graciously before glancing at Jasmine and speaking casually. “Let me introduce our new maid, Jasmine.”
All eyes turned, and recognition sparked shock and disdain.
“Wait–Jasmine?”
“Didn’t she dump Zachary back then just to chase after some rich heir and play the kept woman? So how is it that she’s ended up reduced to being a maid? What? Got tossed aside now that she’s past her prime?”
Hearing the jeers and taunts, Jasmine’s face went pale, but she didn’t fight back.
She only lowered her head, trying to hide the humiliation and fragility in her eyes.
Seeing her like this only emboldened them, just like in the old days when they bullied her.
Someone ordered dozens of bottles of liquor and forced glass after glass down her throat. Her stomach churned violently until she was vomiting blood in the bathroom.
Someone smashed a cake into her face, laughing at her disheveled appearance.
Another stuck out a foot, tripping her onto shattered glass, leaving her bleeding
Some even went as far as to force her to crawl under their legs like an animal.
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All night, she was degraded and tormented, reduced to nothing but a plaything for everyone’s amusement.
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Meanwhile, Zachary was across the room with Nicole, dancing with her, feeding her, and taking her pictures. He saw everything, yet he pretended not to see a thing.
By the end of the banquet, Jasmine was battered and broken, looking more like a vagrant from under a bridge than a guest at the party.
She staggered up from the floor. Her whole body was shaking from the pain, trembling like a leaf as she tried to make her way out. But after only a few steps, a wristband slipped from her wrist and clattered to the floor. Someone picked it up.
The moment they read the inscription, the atmosphere shifted.
“Holy shit! Isn’t this from Queensboro Prison? Number 3593965… Jasmine, you’ve been in jail?”
Lateefa Khanam is a spirited writer who finds freedom in horse riding. She cherishes her mare and the newborn foal, calling them her little happy family.
