Chapter 90
Chapter 90
The madness on Sarah's face froze, replaced by the humiliated fury of someone caught in a lie.
She abandoned all pretense, channeling every ounce of hatred into venom-laced accusations.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be like this!" she shrieked, her voice piercing like a night owl's cry. "It's all your fault! Michael only broke up with me because you manipulated him!"
She brazenly cast herself as the wronged victim, painting Jessica as the homewrecker who destroyed their relationship.
"You think I don't know? You used every trick in the book to seduce him." Her agitation mounted, spittle flying as she leaned closer—until finally she spat out two words from between clenched teeth: "Disgusting slut!"
A sharp crack echoed through the silent stairwell.
Jessica's palm struck Sarah's cheek with a clean, ringing force, snapping her head to the side. Five vivid finger marks bloomed instantly across her pale skin.
Sarah clutched her face, staring at Jessica in disbelief.
"Watch your mouth." Jessica lowered her hand, her gaze cold as an ice-forged blade. "Sarah, I'm not the doormat you used to push around. Let me hear one more filthy word from you, and a slap will be the least of your problems."
The lethal edge in her tone made Sarah flinch, but the burning pain on her cheek quickly reignited her hatred.
"How dare you hit me? You homewrecking bitch, who do you think you are!" She shrieked like a rabid dog, words tumbling out unchecked. "Jessica, don't think I'm stupid! That apartment Michael's paying for, everything he's bought you—it should've been mine! Everything you have now, you stole from me! How can you sleep at night, living off his guilt money? Doesn't karma scare you?"
This spectacular display of projection placed her squarely on the moral high ground, as if Jessica were the shameless thief who'd stolen what rightfully belonged to her.
Jessica nearly laughed at the absurdity. She regarded Sarah with icy contempt. "Guilty conscience? Sarah, has your brain completely rotted? I rented that apartment myself. Michael had nothing to do with it."
"Liar!" Sarah's eyes glittered with malicious triumph, as if she'd caught Jessica in a trap. "You think you can fool me? I've done my research! He renovated your entire place and bought you all new furniture! If you hadn't seduced him, why would he do all that for you?"
Jessica's heart sank. This lunatic had actually been stalking her. Truly beyond redemption.
She had no interest in prolonging this confrontation. "You keep throwing around the word 'seduce.' By that logic, is that how you landed him in the first place?"
Sarah's expression twisted. "Of course not! I'm nothing like you."
After all, with her looks, even if she'd tried to seduce him, Michael probably wouldn't have given her a second glance.
Jessica had zero interest in the origins of their relationship. She turned to leave.
Panic flashed across Sarah's face. She grabbed Jessica's arm. "Jessica, you have to help me."
"Help you? Why the hell would I do that?"
"Because you stole everything from me!" Sarah moved closer, lowering her voice to a threatening hiss. "Call Michael right now. Tell him to give me money—enough to live comfortably for the rest of my life. Otherwise, I'll expose how he dumped me! I'll make sure everyone knows what Sunrise City's rising star detective really is—a man who abandoned his girlfriend for his side piece! I'll ruin your reputation at Autumnleaf District Precinct too. You'll be destroyed!"
Faced with this hysterical blackmail, Jessica's expression grew eerily calm. She studied Sarah's face, twisted with jealousy and resentment, and the last traces of emotion drained from her eyes, leaving only profound exhaustion.
"Go ahead and expose it." Jessica's voice was flat, utterly devoid of inflection. "Actually, I'm curious how many years extortion and online defamation will get you."
Sarah's triumphant expression froze solid.
"What... what do you mean?"
"I mean," Jessica said, her gaze turning razor-sharp, "go ahead and make a scene. Make it as big as you want. I welcome you to try 'exposing' me through legal channels anytime."
This completely unexpected response shattered Sarah's entire strategy.
All her careful calculations crumbled to dust in the face of absolute rationality and the law.
A wave of humiliated rage surged through her. Every card she'd held was now worthless.
"Jessica!" Sarah's scream carried the desperate madness of someone with nothing left to lose. "You heartless bitch! I must've been blind to ever call you a friend! Let me tell you something—if I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!"
She locked eyes with Jessica, her gaze venomous as a coiled viper's, delivering her final curse with the most malicious words she could muster.
"I curse you to never find happiness! I curse you to spend your whole life with that man drowning in guilt and insecurity!"