Chapter 173 The Past of Angel's Haven Orphanage
Jacob looked at Catherine in front of him, his lips twitching slightly.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I really haven't seen you before. As for Oliver, I barely had any contact with him either."
Timothy got angry seeing Jacob acting so stubborn.
Jacob had been in Ironclad Jail for so long, and even Timothy couldn't be sure he could get what he wanted out of him every time.
The problem was, Jacob knew enough secrets—so many that Timothy couldn't bring himself to just shoot him dead.
Timothy strode forward and grabbed Jacob from the bed.
"Are you going to talk or not? Don't think keeping you alive till now means I'm doing you a favor!"
Jacob coughed violently twice and gave a pale smile.
"Timothy, I really don't know what she's talking about. What do you want me to say?"
Catherine said coolly, "Ethan is on his way here. Looks like he's planning a prison break."
Jacob's eyes widened instantly!
That idiot Ethan! Why would he try to break into a prison!
Timothy dropped Jacob, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
"This is the first time I've heard of someone trying to break out of Ironclad Jail. Interesting!"
Alexander chuckled, "Timothy, I remember there were quite a few people who tried prison breaks before, right?"
Timothy turned to look at him and snorted coldly, "Shut up!"
He wanted to show off in front of Catherine, and here was Alexander calling him out on it.
Timothy sneered at Jacob.
"You know what happened to those who tried prison breaks before? My chair is made from those people's heads!"
Timothy's chair was studded with countless gems—all the worldly possessions of those who had tried to break in!
Catherine said flatly, "It's ugly. You have terrible taste."
If anyone else had said Timothy's stuff was bad, they'd probably be ground into powder to fill his chair, but when Catherine said it, Timothy immediately beamed with joy.
"Your grandmother said I have bad taste too. You're right, absolutely right."
Catherine's gaze fell on Jacob.
Her eyes were clear and cold, carrying an endless chill that somehow made even someone like Jacob, who lived on the edge of danger, feel uneasy.
Catherine lifted her chin, looking at Jacob.
"You don't want to die."
No one facing death would still be reading books in their cell. Jacob's glasses only had one temple left, and the lens was half missing. Someone still reading under these conditions wasn't someone who wanted to die.
Jacob smiled lightly, "Miss, nobody wants to die, but I'm already in Ironclad Jail. I never expected to get out alive."
"True. I saw that Ethan really values Matthew, so when I had him come for the prison break, I told him to bring Matthew along too. The three of you can die together—a family should be complete."
Jacob's fists on his knees clenched instantly.
"What exactly do you want? Ethan and Matthew are innocent! They don't know anything about what you're asking!"
Catherine snapped her fingers.
"Simple. You tell me who told you to switch me, and whose child was the one you switched me with?"
Catherine raised her wrist to check the time.
"Oh, and to make sure your two family members aren't too stupid to find your cell, I shared the coordinates with them. Want to guess whether you'll see them alive or as corpses?"
Jacob looked at Catherine in disbelief!
The only reason he'd stayed calm was because he believed Ethan couldn't find his location.
"Are you a devil? Why are you doing this!"
Catherine shrugged, "Right now their lives are in your hands, not mine."
Jacob fell silent for a moment, wiped his glasses, and put them back on in silence.
He closed his eyes, his voice trembling slightly.
"I can't tell you the specifics. If I do, I'll die too. Actually, I feel safe enough in Ironclad Jail. That's why I let myself get caught on purpose when I made the deal with Eli."
For Jacob, even Ironclad Jail was safer than being outside!
Catherine looked at Jacob seriously, "Your illness—I can cure it."
Jacob turned to look at Catherine, his brow furrowing.
"I can cure Matthew's illness, and yours too. Tell me the truth, and I'll let you live."
The temptation was just too great!
Timothy looked at Catherine with some surprise, "Catherine, Jacob isn't faking his illness?"
Catherine ignored Timothy, her gaze fixed on Jacob.
"If I'm not mistaken, you have a serious blood disease. Your eyeballs are protruding with greenish tumors, your lymph nodes are swollen, you have bruises on your arms, and you stay in bed because of joint pain. Am I right?"
Jacob had acute leukemia!
Timothy exclaimed in shock, "What? I didn't notice that at all!"
He'd thought Jacob just got beaten up too much and stayed in bed every day to recover. Coughing up blood and bruises—which prisoner in Ironclad Jail didn't have those?
Catherine gave him a light glance.
"That's because your IQ is too low."
"You're right, I didn't think that far. Good thing you figured it out!"
Alexander found it amusing to see Timothy being so accommodating.
Only Catherine could make the formidable Timothy lower himself like this!
Catherine looked at Jacob, "Acute leukemia won't let you live much longer anyway. If you want to die, you don't need to wait. It'll be soon."
She stood up and yawned.
"If you won't talk, I'll go greet your family members."
Seeing Catherine about to leave just like that, Jacob couldn't hold out anymore and called out, "Wait!"
"I can tell you part of it. You're smart—even if I don't say the rest, you can figure it out."
Catherine turned back and sat down in the chair again.
"My illness—can you really cure it? And what about Ethan and the others..."
"Don't worry. If what you tell me satisfies me, I'll let you live!"
Jacob licked his dry, cracked lips.
"I really don't know you, but since you mentioned Oliver, you must be that child from the Windsor family. Back then, I received an order saying someone from the Windsor family would come to my hospital to give birth, and I was to send her to Angel's Haven Orphanage."
"I set a fire at Vinehill Hospital and burned a lot of equipment. On the day Aurora gave birth, I gave the Windsor family's child to Celeste.
Celeste didn't know the child's identity, but her child wasn't Oliver's child. I promised to keep her secret and gave her two hundred thousand dollars."
Jacob fell into his memories.
"As for the child Aurora took away, it was an orphan adopted by Angel's Haven Orphanage. I don't know her identity either. That child was also a few days older than the Windsor family's daughter. Newborn babies all look similar, so they didn't notice anything wrong."
"Years ago, the Windsor family came with the Windsor family's daughter for a paternity test, and I gave them false results."
Jacob sighed.
"As for Oliver, when he came to see me, he just asked what happened back then. He'd probably discovered you weren't his child by then, so I told him the hospital had mixed up the babies."
Catherine looked at Jacob, her lips curving slightly.
"You're lying."
"If you didn't know that child's identity, and there were so many children at the orphanage, why did you pick her specifically? I don't believe there are any coincidences in your story!"