Chapter 407
Chapter 497
Jarrett hung up immediately.
“Who was that?”
Lana leaned in, curiosity bright in her eyes.
‘Just a telemarketer.”
But as soon as the words left his lips, his phone rang again-Marina, once
more.
Jarrett’s expression darkened, his gaze turning cold.
‘Was it a scam call? Those are everywhere these days-you really need to be careful.”
He shot Lana a sidelong glance.
Her innocent eyes were as clear and honest as a mountain spring,
mpossible to hide anything in.
Jarrett offered her a small, reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
With that, he switched his phone off entirely.
After leaving the hotel, Jarrett took Lana to a charming little bistro with candlelit tables and soft music. Throughout dinner, Lana’s shy but radiant smile never faded from her face.
When the meal was over, Jarrett drove Lana home before returning to his
own apartment.
Riverside Lodge was the place Joker-living under Jarrett’s name—called
home in Aldenville.
He’d barely reached the building when he spotted Marina waiting in the darkness.
She was dressed head to toe in black, her face caked with so much pale
Chapter 497
makeup that it looked almost ghostly in the streetlights.
As soon as she saw Joker, Marina’s eyes-wide and wild-burned with
resentment.
Joker only grinned, giving her a look that told her to follow him upstairs.
They entered his apartment one after the other, and before he could say a word, Marina suddenly collapsed to her knees at his feet.
“Joker, please… help me… Jonathan doesn’t love me anymore… He’s abandoned me. What am I supposed to do?”
She was completely unhinged, on the verge of a breakdown.
Joker could see the hatred in her eyes-hatred for him-yet here she was, begging him for help.
He folded his arms across his chest, letting out a sharp, cold laugh. “Why should I care if Jonathan loves you or not? You couldn’t even do what you promised me, and now you’ve got the nerve to come crawling back?”
He grabbed her chin with a vicious hand, making her wince in pain.
“I… I’m finished…” Marina’s words came out weak and broken, tears streaming down her face.
“But I can’t let Jonathan end up with Niamh… never…”
Even if Jonathan no longer cared about her, she couldn’t stand the idea of him crawling back to Niamh.
Niamh! What did she have, anyway? Just some housewife who knew her way around a casserole dish.
Joker watched her in silence for a long, heavy moment, eyes lowered as if weighing every inch of her desperation.
It was clear that, in Marina’s mind, every misfortune she’d suffered had somehow become Niamh’s fault.
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Chapter 497
At last, Joker gave a sudden, harsh laugh.
“Jealousy really does make a woman ugly.”
Marina flinched, her whole body shuddering.
“Ugly-and pathetic.”
With another cold chuckle, Joker stretched out his foot toward her.
“My shoes are filthy. Lick them clean, and maybe I’ll think of something.”
Marina jerked her head up, eyes wide with disbelief at such a twisted demand.
But Joker’s gaze was utterly calm, even cruel.
“What’s wrong? You could strip naked for Keen, but licking my shoes is too much for you?”
Her face flushed a deep, furious red, torn between humiliation and terror.
“Those films you made-quite the performance. You put in more effort than ever before…”
He pressed the filthy sole of his shoe against her lips, grinding it until her mouth was smeared with mud and her lips began to bleed.
“Alright, I’ll give you a way out-just because we go way back. But you’ll do exactly as I say. If you’re lucky, not only will Jonathan leave Niamh, but he just might make you his wife.”
“Really?!”
Even with her mouth full of dirt, hope flickered back to life in Marina’s
eyes.
