"Mr. Douglas, we've found her." Liam, fresh off a phone call, turned to Ethan with excitement. "Felix confessed!"
Ethan snorted, the sarcasm biting. "Who?"
"It's Harper Brown, the heiress of the Brown family," Liam said, equally astonished. Harper had been dealing with depression and had a suicide attempt six years ago.
"It's coming back to me. Among the hotel guests that night, Harper's name was there. But she was on a different floor, so I didn't think much of it. Felix planned to meet another woman, but when he saw the heiress wander into the wrong room, he seized the opportunity."
Liam slapped his forehead, annoyed he hadn't made the connection earlier. "Miss Harper's suicide attempt was after that gala six years ago."
Ethan furrowed his brow. "Turn around. We're heading to the Brown estate."
...
Daniel looked at Jasmine with distaste, as if he couldn't believe she had turned into what she was now.
"I never really knew you," he realized, regretting his past blindness in thinking Jasmine was pure and kind-hearted. "Using even children in your schemes. What, now that you realize you can't have me, you're trying to seduce my brother because of his status in the Douglas family?"
Jasmine bit her lip and shook her head in denial.
Shielding Justin behind her, Jasmine's eyes welled up as she pleaded. "Daniel... I didn't."
"Look at yourself, Jasmine. How low will you stoop for money and status? Would you stoop to any man?" Daniel grasped her chin and pulled her in front of a mirror.
Terrified, Jasmine closed her eyes. Those years in prison... the thing she feared most was her reflection.
Once upon a time, she had been the treasured jewel of the Wilson family.
But when she was thrown in prison, she didn't fit in—especially since she was too pale, her skin so delicate it seemed it could bruise at the slightest touch. The other inmates would harass her during showers, hit her... force her to stare at her own bedraggled reflection in the mirror.
Terrified, she would plead and cry, but to no avail.
No one would come to her rescue.
She was abandoned by the whole world.
"Jasmine, you're really something," Daniel spat out, disgust evident in his tone, even as he snatched at her clothes in front of the child.
"Daniel... please, not in front of the kid, I'm begging you..." Jasmine was trembling all over, fear chilling her fingers to the bone.
She had a congenital heart condition and had nearly died once already in prison because she was bullied by those around her. And now, it felt like death was creeping close once again.
She struggled helplessly, fighting back while clutching Justin desperately to shield him from the sights and sounds. "Don't be scared, Justin; don't be scared," she whispered.
"Disgusting..." Daniel recoiled, revulsion etched into his every move. "What do you think I'd do to you? Just look at yourself in the mirror, Jasmine. You reek of prison; you’re no different from a beggar on the street. What man would desire you?"
Jasmine stiffened; she clutched Justin tighter and covered his ears with all her might.
Her son was innocent, untainted by the sordidness of the manner he came into this world.
While watching Jasmine crumble before him, Daniel couldn't fathom why he lost control of his emotions.
There were things he didn't want to say, but he couldn't help the hate that boiled up within him. Hating her for the wrong she'd done to him years ago, hating her for having another man's child.
Six years earlier, he had pressured Jasmine to terminate the pregnancy, but she insisted on bringing the child into the world.
She told him she had no family left, and that child was her hope to keep on living.
"Mom..." Justin, his voice filled with emotion, clung to her, his tiny, pudgy hands reaching up to wipe away Jasmine's tears. "Mom, Uncle said Justin's a big boy, so I’ve gotta protect you, Mom."
Defeated, Jasmine collapsed onto the floor, holding Justin as she cried.
In that moment, all the indignities she'd endured over the years seemed worth it.
Her son was her only hope.
Over the years in prison, she thought of ending it all countless times, but every visit from Richard with Justin in tow rekindled her will to live.