Chapter 132

Jack looked at Sherry.

He hadn't expected that she would dare to break with her family for him.

"Will you make me regret this?"

Sherry didn't answer Jack.

Instead, she turned to face him with the question.

Jack froze slightly, clearly not expecting her to ask that.

He gazed into Sherry's clear, determined eyes—no hesitation there, only complete trust.

"No." Jack's voice was soft but firm and gentle.

Sherry looked at him, a smile slowly curving her lips.

She knew Jack was a man of his word.

"That's all I need to hear." Sherry said quietly, then turned her gaze back to the street outside the window. "Let's go. I'll take you somewhere."

With that, Sherry started the car again.

After driving for a while, Jack realized where she was taking him.

They were heading toward Clayton Military Academy.

Before long, the two arrived in front of Clayton Military Academy.

But Sherry didn't go in.

Instead, she turned at the corner and kept driving.

The car passed Clayton Military Academy, heading toward the distant mountains behind it.

Until finally, they reached the summit of a peak.

Only then did Sherry bring the car to a stop.

"Do you remember this place?"

Sherry asked Jack after parking.

Jack pushed open the car door, his feet touching the cool earth at the mountaintop.

He lifted his head, his gaze traveling past Sherry's shoulder toward the vast forest stretching below.

The mountain wind whipped fiercely, tossing Sherry's long hair and stirring up memories that had been locked away in Jack's mind.

Of course he remembered.

"How could I forget?" Jack walked to her side, his voice low and rough.

He turned to look at her face, so soft in the night, and said quietly, "This is where you confessed to me, all those years ago."

At his words, Sherry's body stiffened slightly.

She turned to look at Jack, complex emotions flickering in her eyes.

Yes, how could she forget?

That year, it had been right here.

Back then, she hadn't been the ruthless Director of Military Supply—just a girl whose heart and eyes were full of him.

"Jack."

Sherry turned, her gaze sincere as she looked at him.

"I won't ask you why you broke up with me back then and disappeared without a trace."

"I won't ask what you've been doing all these years."

"I'll only ask you one thing."

"Will you ever leave me again?"

The wind swept past, scattering that soft yet impossibly heavy question.

Sherry simply stood there, looking up at him, those beautiful eyes now reflecting only Jack's image.

She was offering him her softest, most vulnerable self—along with all the power and influence she now wielded in Imperial City—laying it all before him.

Jack didn't answer immediately.

"Sherry..."

"You probably don't know yet, but right now I'm..." Jack had barely begun when a finger suddenly pressed against his lips.

That finger was slender and cool, yet carried an undeniable resolve.

Sherry rose on her toes, looking straight into Jack's eyes.

"Shh..."

Her voice was soft enough to melt into the mountain wind, yet it carried unprecedented determination.

"Jack, I don't want to hear it."

Sherry looked at him, a thin mist gathering in her eyes, but her gaze burned bright.

"I don't want to hear about what you are now, or how dangerous your situation is, or how many secrets you're carrying."

"If I dared to break with my family for you, then I have nothing left to fear or worry about."

She tilted her head slightly, a proud and striking smile curving her lips.

"I'm not that little girl anymore—the one who could only cry and beg you not to leave. I'm the Director of Military Supply for Imperial City. I hold the power of life and death over countless people."

"So keep your misguided protective instincts to yourself."

Sherry turned back to him, her gaze burning as she said seriously:

"You only need to tell me one thing—do I still have a place in your heart? If I do, then even if there's a mountain of knives ahead, even if you have to become an enemy of all Imperial City, I'll fight my way through hell beside you."

"But if I don't..."

Sherry's voice caught for a moment, a flash of desolation crossing her eyes before being quickly replaced by resolve.

"If I don't, then just treat everything I said tonight as a dream. After today, we'll be strangers."

The mountain wind continued to howl.

Jack stood quietly, looking at this woman who had stripped away all pretense and pride for him.

Suddenly, he reached out and pulled Sherry tightly into his arms.

The embrace was so fierce it seemed he wanted to fuse her into his very bones.

"Yes."

Jack's chin rested on top of Sherry's head, his voice low and rough, yet carrying a certainty that could tear through any darkness.

"Sherry, in this lifetime, I won't let you leave me again."

Sherry leaned against his chest, listening to his steady, powerful heartbeat, her tense body finally beginning to relax.

She closed her eyes, letting tears fall silently.

She knew that the moment she refused to marry Tyler, she had already severed ties with her family. Without her family's support, her path forward would be difficult.

But in this moment, on this silent mountaintop, she had the whole world.

However, just as the two held each other tightly, Jack's previously gentle expression suddenly sharpened.

He caught something unusual in the howling mountain wind—a faint metallic scraping sound.

The distinctive sound of a suppressor.

Without hesitation, Jack grabbed Sherry's waist and threw them both into a roll toward the boulder behind the car.

Almost the instant they hit the ground, a bullet whizzed past where Jack had been standing, shattering the side mirror of Sherry's sports car.

"Assassin!"

Jack pressed Sherry beneath him protectively, his eyes instantly turning as cold and dangerous as an unsheathed blade.

Who was it?

He'd just arrived in Imperial City. Not many people knew his identity. Who would send an assassin after him?

Jack's first thought was Karina. He'd won over three billion dollars at her casino—she must know about his existence by now, must have investigated him.

Besides Karina, there was one other person: Tyler.

His presence had ruined Tyler's arranged marriage with Sherry.

Tyler might also have reason to send a killer after him.

But regardless of who it was, he needed to deal with the assassin in front of him first.

"Eight o'clock position. He's using a modified M1911 with a suppressor. Extended barrel, recoil suppressed to minimum, but the firing rate and angle gave away his position."

Sherry whispered to Jack.

Jack looked at her with some surprise.

Seeing his astonished expression, Sherry's lips curved slightly. "I told you—I'm not that little girl anymore."

Sherry lifted her chin slightly, a flash of cold pride in her eyes.

After all, like Jack, she was also a Clayton Military Academy graduate. And her grades had always been at the top of her class. Identifying positions by sound was no challenge for her.