Chapter 24. ‘I Want You to Apologize to Me’
Jacintha was stunned, but she quickly realized Raphael’s intentions. She had been Sharon’s stand-in for two years, and the reason she was doing this was because she looked like Sharon. Now, Raphael wanted to exploit this to take Sharon out of the storm and protect her career.
But what about Jacintha? After being pushed into taking the blame for Sharon, whether she would be cursed by Sharon’s fans, Raphael didn’t care at all.
Jacintha lay face down on the ground, laughing bitterly, “Raphael, you are truly ruthless to me! I’ve been Sharon’s stand-in for two years, hasn’t that been enough? For Sharon’s sake, you ruined my face, making me lose the chance to attend an important audition. Of course, it was a deal, I took your money and willingly slashed my face twice. But now our deal is over! You yourself said it’s over and told me not to show up in front of you again. Yet after all this, you want me to take Sharon’s place and bear her disgrace? On what basis are you doing this to me? I owe neither you nor her anything. You always criticize me, accuse me of harming Sharon, but why don’t you investigate clearly before criticizing me? You are the president of a large corporation, yet you couldn’t even find the real culprit who hurt Sharon? Or is it that you simply don’t want to investigate and are deliberately blaming me?”
Jacintha spoke in a rush, venting all the frustration and anger she had been holding inside. After finishing, she immediately closed her eyes with a determined expression, as if she had made up her mind not to care anymore, ready to accept any decision from Raphael.
Raphael's face darkened as he silently stared at her, his blue eyes growing deeper, making it impossible for anyone to guess what he was thinking. The whole office fell silent, with only the soft sound of Jacintha's shallow breathing remaining.
At that moment, Raphael's phone rang, the gentle chime of a piano suddenly felt particularly abrupt.
Raphael answered the call. The voice of a subordinate came through: "Mr. Wulfhart, we have completed the investigation. The person who secretly took photos of you and Miss Rosenthal and posted them online turns out to be one of her antis. This person enjoys photography and accidentally encountered you and Miss Rosenthal while out taking night photos last night, so they snapped a picture and posted it online."
Raphael was slightly surprised, then lowered his head to look at Jacintha, who was lying beneath his feet, and asked, "Does this have anything to do with Jacintha?"
The subordinate replied, "We couldn’t find any connection to Ms. Wilson."
Immediately, Raphael's mood became incredibly complicated...
Seeing Jacintha being knocked onto the floor in such a humiliating manner, Raphael felt a strange sensation in his heart, something like guilt, but also like unease. In short, this feeling was far from pleasant for him.
He snorted, grabbed Jacintha from the floor, and threw her onto the sofa. “Consider yourself lucky this time. If I truly find out you’re involved in the secret filming of Sharon, this face of yours will surely be ruined.”
Jacintha touched her right cheek, where there were two marks, and calmly said, “I haven’t done anything wrong. Even if you investigate me a hundred times, a thousand times, you won’t find any wrongdoing in me.”
Raphael frowned slightly. He didn’t like the calm attitude Jacintha had at that moment, as if she were being merciful and magnanimous.
In his eyes, Jacintha was the type of person who craved money. If threatened, she would definitely accept money to make peace, not remain calm like this. No matter how he looked at it, he felt she was lying.
Raphael walked to the desk, took a check out of the drawer, wrote an amount, and tossed it onto the table, saying to Jacintha, “Take the check and quickly post a correction.”
Jacintha, who was bending down to fix her wrinkled clothes, looked up upon hearing this, glanced at Raphael, and then sat still on the sofa.
Raphael’s face was cold as he shouted, “Come here! Don’t make me say it again!”
Only then did Jacintha walk over and stand in front of Raphael. “I didn’t harm you or Sharon, I don’t need your money, and I certainly can’t help Sharon bear the shame of her actions.”
Raphael sat comfortably in the office chair, his face showing contempt. “If you think one hundred thousand isn’t enough, then I’ll give you five hundred thousand.”
“It’s not about the money.”
“Then what do you want?”
Jacintha gently pressed her lips together and whispered something.
Raphael didn’t hear clearly and felt irritated. “Say it louder!”
Jacintha took a deep breath, looked Raphael directly in the eyes, and spoke clearly, “I want you to apologize to me.”
Raphael's face became solemn, his aura chilling, and his gaze sharp. He stared intently at Jacintha: "Take back what you just said, and I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it."
Jacintha shook her head. "You misunderstood me, and I did nothing wrong, so you need to apologize to me."
Raphael suddenly stood up from his chair, walked around the desk, and approached Jacintha. His tall figure created a powerful sense of oppression, making Jacintha instinctively step back.
Raphael scoffed. "You want me to apologize? Don’t even dream of it. Take the money, post a correction on social media, got it?"
Jacintha remained silent. In truth, she knew Raphael would never apologize. Raphael always saw himself as superior, getting whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. In front of others, he always appeared polite and refined, but before Jacintha, he had never shown her any respect.
Don’t even mention an apology; he wouldn’t even say, "I misunderstood you." In front of Jacintha, Raphael was always the winner.
Jacintha didn’t expect a proud man like him to apologize to her. She only felt wronged and just wanted an explanation from him.
Unfortunately, he didn’t even offer her that explanation.
Seeing Jacintha silent, Raphael coldly threatened, "If you don’t understand, I don’t mind calling your smart little sister Mira to come here and see you."
"No!" Jacintha immediately became agitated.
She knew that no matter how much she resisted this time, Raphael would force her to take the blame for Sharon.
If that was the case, she had to make the most of it and gain some benefit from this scapegoating.