Chapter 75 Ashes and Regret Chapter 75 Ashes and Regret Sharon's voice rang with sharp accusation. +20 Free Coins And though Jensen had already laid his heart bare to himself-already admitted he had once, briefly, been moved -he couldn't bring himself to admit it to her face. "You should leave." His voice was cold, final. He turned to go, but as he passed Hansel, he said quietly, "Go to Finance. Have them give Sharon two hundred thousand. Compensation for the slap." "Yes, Mr. Luke." Hansel nodded, entirely unbothered. A slap for two hundred grand? He wasn't complaining.
In fact, his mood even improved. He turned to Sharon, tone cool and detached. "Ms. Summers, you have five minutes to dress. I'll wait outside." "Get out!" Sharon shrieked, feeling utterly humiliated. Slept with and discarded, disrespected by Jensen's assistant-she felt like a fool. Hansel didn't bother responding. He simply walked out and closed the door behind him. Jensen entered the guest bathroom and scrubbed himself down with a fury bordering on self-loathing. He felt filthy. Even if he had legally married Sharon, he'd never betrayed Natalie in body-until last night.
And all because, in a moment of weakness, he thought Sharon would die soon. He figured after she passed, he'd still belong to Natalie. But now he had touched Sharon. Whether or not it was of his own will-it had happened. No excuse would wash that away. He wanted to scrape off his own skin just to feel clean again. 1/3 1:05 pm £ Chapter 75 Ashes and Regret The suffocating frustration and helplessness made his chest tighten. Natalie... would you hate me for this? His whisper dissolved into the sound of water. No answer came. +20 Free Coins When Jensen emerged, Sharon was gone.
He tore the sheets off the bed, everything she had touched, and dragged it all outside to burn. Then he disinfected the entire villa with alcohol and sprayed it down with freshener until the air itself stung. And still-it felt dirty. What now? He dropped to the floor, knees against the cold tiles, eyes hollow with grief. The pain was back. That bone-deep ache, that maddening itch-it consumed him. Desperate, he slammed his head against the wall, again and again, as if the physical pain could drown the agony in his heart. He needed to see Natalie. Even just once. Just to know she was out there.
But there was no news. Nothing. Not even her ashes remained. Meanwhile, Hansel escorted Sharon back to the Summers estate. The once-proud family had crumbled. Mr. Summers was out begging like a dog, and Mrs. Summers had been bedridden ever since, sick from anger and exhaustion-and without anyone to tend to her. In her lonely hours, she found herself thinking more and more about Natalie. Back when Sharon wasn't home, Natalie had been the daughter anyone would envy. Obedient, graceful, intelligent-she absorbed every lesson on the first try. Especially her poise and manners. Whenever Mrs.
Summers brought her out, the social circles would praise her endlessly. And when Mrs. Summers fell ill, despite the house being full of servants, Natalie stayed at her bedside through every night, afraid that any slip-up would worsen her condition. 2/3 1:05 pm Chapter 75 Ashes and Regret How could a child like that... not be her real daughter? +20 Free Coins Mrs. Summers had poured everything into Sharon these past years. Groomed her, spoiled her, defended her. She'd turned a blind eye to the kindness and patience of Natalie in order to focus solely on Sharon. Now, Mrs.
Summers regretted it all. So what if Natalie wasn't born to her? If she were here today-even with the Summers family bankrupt-she'd be the one racking her brain for a way to save them. Not like Sharon, who only cared about herself. Mrs. Summers murmured Natalie's name again and again, eyes wet with remorse. Sharon, still furious from everything at Grand Pavilion, stormed into the house only to hear her mother muttering Natalie's name. Her face twisted. "Now you remember Natalie?" she snapped. "Where was all this love when I was beating her bloody with a whip?
You didn't stop me then-why cry about her now?" Her voice shook with rage. "You forget-it was you who lost me as a baby. You let me suffer for eighteen years. You think you get to judge me now? After all I've done for you?" Fuming, Sharon began smashing things in her mother's room. Mrs. Summers, already on the brink from days of stress and illness, struggled to breathe. As Sharon raged, she suddenly gasped-and collapsed, Eyes rolling back, she passed out cold. 3/3 :06 pm