CHAPTER 139: CHAPTER 139: "HIS MISERY IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR HURTING ME

Jasper played every emotional card, yet an invisible pressure emanated from him.

Vera lifted her eyelids, picked up a paper cup, took a sip unhurriedly, her posture as straight as bamboo, with a hint of a smile at the corner of her lips:

"Mr. Crowe, didn’t Ian ever tell you?" she said mockingly, "I’m not so stupid as to mindlessly forge signatures. I used to sign many of his documents when he was sick, tired, or just playing around with me."

She stared directly at Jasper’s suddenly changed expression, "Those signatures have been forensically compared before. My imitation is impeccable."

Only Noah recognized at first glance that they weren’t signed by Ian himself.

The air grew stagnant.

Vera’s gaze was sharp as she scoffed, "So, are you insisting on using ’The Glimmer Garden’ as leverage?" She leaned slightly forward, "Why not first check whether the signature on the land project transfer document in the west of the city qualifies as ’forgery’?"

She pushed against the table’s edge to stand up, looking down from above:

"As for why he didn’t sue me... maybe, as you said, out of some pitiful affection, but more likely it’s because... he knows better than anyone that he wouldn’t win the case."

Her tone grew even colder, "Bringing up a non-existent leverage to negotiate with me? Is this your sincerity?"

Jasper exhaled sharply, gritted his teeth, a sarcastic smile on his lips, "That son of a bitch, Ian, dare to have you sign that project—" As he spoke, he tapped the table, indicating for Vera to pause.

"Vera, it’s my misunderstanding. I didn’t mean to threaten you, but you see, how spoiled you’ve been by him over the years?"

"A hundred days of kindness as a couple for one day of marriage. Just pity him, sign it, and comfort him, give him some relief!"

Vera’s eyes fell on the release document, "I don’t want to. I won’t lie to him or comfort him. Whether he lives or dies has nothing to do with me!"

"Mr. Crowe, coming to me is like giving a drug addict a hit of cocaine; it treats the symptoms, not the cause."

Jasper was stunned, his brows furrowed tightly, raising his chin to look at Vera, "And the root? His dad? Dead for twenty years! On your wedding anniversary, he’s excited to take you skiing in Valdania... what a damn life!"

Vera looked out the window, dazzled by the sunlight, the blue sky and white clouds, chirping birds on the branches, her tone calm, "I know how miserable his childhood was and how he started from scratch.

"I once pitied him and thought, as he said, that he hated his father’s infidelity, that we were kindred spirits, saving each other... but what did he do behind my back?"

"His suffering is not an excuse for harming me."

"I’ve also had my misery, but I always struggled to break free. What about him?"

Jasper was momentarily stupefied, eventually putting down his long legs with a helpless sigh, and stood up, "You have a point, Ms. Sheridan!"

Vera looked calm, "Excuse me."

Jasper watched her back, "If you encounter any difficulties in Veridia, you can always come to me, to the Crowe Family!"

Vera’s footsteps never paused, and not until her figure was about to disappear from the doorframe did a faint "thank you" drift back.

Jasper bit on the cigarette butt, his brow furrowing slightly.

Attorney Rivers gathered the release agreement from the table, stood beside Jasper, and adjusted his glasses, "Mr. Crowe, what should be done now?"

Jasper took a couple of drags on his cigarette, smoke billowing from his lips and nostrils, "I really... Ian, that bastard..." His finger pads rubbed fiercely at the throbbing veins in his temple, gritting his teeth in anger, "This crazy character! It’s both his making and breaking!"

If Ian didn’t have this obsessive character, maybe he wouldn’t be so successful in business!

But when he goes crazy, he can destroy everything!

He’s truly a double-edged sword!

...

Jasper flew to Ardendale again the next day.

Ian was still the same as before.

The iron door clanged open, Jasper stepped inside, hands clasped behind his back, a "release agreement" held between his fingers.

"Meditating here like a monk?" he strolled to Ian’s side, his tone purposely mocking, "Or maybe I should grease some wheels and send you directly to Mount Pentacle? Your ordination name... should just be called pathetic."

Ian remained unmoved.

In just a few days, the blue-gray prison uniform he wore seemed even more loose.

His spine was emaciated, shoulder blades pressing against the fabric, cutting sharper outlines.

He slightly tilted his chin up, deep-set eyes firmly locked onto the small iron window high above.

Outside, an oblivious bird was chirping joyfully, singing merrily at him.

Just like the one he used to keep in a gilded cage in his office.

Jasper suddenly raised his hand, yanking Ian’s bristly crew cut with considerable force, "With this demeanor of yours, how do you plan to win your wife back when you get out?"

"You’re lucky Vera had a soft heart to sign the release agreement, otherwise I’d just tear it up!" Saying so, he made a motion to rip the paper in his hand.

Ian trembled, turned his head, his dark eyes locked onto the agreement in Jasper’s hand, palm open, reaching out.

"Give it to me."

The voice wasn’t loud, a bit hoarse, yet carried an unyielding force.

Jasper slapped those sheets of paper into his palm, "Initially, with that incident involving Justin, a three to four-year sentence was unavoidable."

"Now with Vera’s release." He nodded towards the agreement with his chin, "If handled well, grit your teeth and tough it out, it’s only a matter of a year and a half! You must pull yourself together, appeal if you must, behave accordingly, don’t just lie here half-dead!"

He paused, leaning slightly forward, his gaze fixing on Ian’s eyes, which finally showed some focus, his voice lowering.

"When Vera signed the agreement... she didn’t say much. Just said she knows you had a tough past, a troubled childhood, how a young master of a noble family started from scratch, enduring many hardships."

"She said, at the time... she truly felt sorry for you and believed in that nonsense about kindred spirits and mutual salvation."

"But the things you did behind her back..." Jasper shook his head, clicking his tongue, "her heart is utterly broken. But she still signed the paper in the end!"

Ian bowed his head, gaze firmly tied to those two words at the bottom right corner of the agreement: Vera Sheridan.

Sunlight streamed through the high window, stingily casting a beam just where the signature lay.

Ian stared at those words, his emaciated Adam’s apple violently moved, his lips twitching slightly.

Jasper watched him bow his head in silence, seemingly without doubt, quietly exhaled in relief, and forcefully patted his shoulder, which was so thin it almost hurt.

"The path isn’t completely shut! First, get yourself together and get out of this hellhole! As for the future... who knows? Her signing that paper means there’s still a sliver of opening! Whether you can pry it open depends on how you live your life after you get out!"

"Besides, for now, the Grant Family won’t accept her immediately, you’ve still got a shot!"

Ian lifted his eyelids, his deeply sunken eyes showing heavy contemplation, after a moment, he asked, "Is everything settled with her in Veridia?"

Jasper, "Settled! She’s going through a good rehab, seems... looks alright."

Ian’s eyelids squinted slightly, his tone grew colder, "What about Noah’s side... what was the result?"

Jasper’s eyes flickered for a moment, thinking, he should have already reunited with your ex-wife by now!

Noah just got released today.