Chapter 213: I Just Like Jane Lancaster

Beverly Lynch frowned. "What do you mean, worried about Jane Lancaster?"

Yvonne Jennings said, "Jane Lancaster tricked Jean Hughes into confessing to inciting murder and live-streamed the whole thing. Jean Hughes found out about the stream, so I’m guessing Jane is as good as dead..."

Before she could even finish her sentence, two people had vanished from the restaurant.

Yvonne Jennings was utterly dumbfounded. ’What just happened?’

’I was still waiting for Beverly Lynch to drop Willow Summers so I could be her number one best friend. How come they ran off hand in hand before I even finished my report?’

——

"You idiot! You fool! If you needed help saving someone, why would you go to Pauline Shaw? You should have come to me!" Beverly Lynch swore angrily from inside the car.

Willow Summers was stunned. "Mandy, don’t you hate Jane Lancaster?"

"Yes, I hate her! I hate her more than anyone!" Beverly Lynch said, flustered and exasperated. "I hate that she takes Pauline Shaw’s side and not mine, I hate that she teaches Pauline Shaw but not me, I hate how she’s so gentle, generous, upright, brave, and resilient... What I hate most is that she’s always sacrificing herself to save others!"

Yet the voice in her heart grew louder and clearer.

Beverly Lynch turned her head away, looking flustered and blushing slightly. "The truth is... I like her the most!"

The person she liked most in the entire world was Jane Lancaster.

She had liked and admired her since childhood, wanting to be her friend, wanting to be inseparable from her every day.

She liked her so much that she was jealous of Pauline Shaw, and even of Caleb Lowell.

——

The car drove on as silence fell inside, the only sound being the tires splashing through puddles on the road.

Beverly Lynch was on the phone, using all her connections to finally track down Jane Lancaster’s location.

Willow Summers was also on the phone. The online trending topics were being suppressed, a clear sign the Hughes family had stepped in.

She couldn’t let the story get buried. She had to blow the situation up to force the authorities to launch an investigation into Jean Hughes.

Fortunately, she had PR contacts. Willow Summers, normally stingy when it came to PR spending, spared no expense this time, wiring over a million in fees without so much as blinking.

But while things grew quiet in the car, another place was buzzing with activity.

[What the hell is going on? Why did Beverly Lynch say she likes Jane Lancaster?]

[I just started stanning Beverly Lynch, please don’t do this! My girl, you’re not a key character, so your mamas can vote to change your fate for you!]

[Strongly demand Jane Lancaster gets written off! It’s disgusting. A villainess is suddenly acting all righteous? Don’t tell me they’re trying to redeem her. I can’t accept this!]

[Let’s vote! I’m willing to spend 100 Star Power to make Jane Lancaster die right now!]

[Get real. It’s useless even if you go bankrupt. No one can kill a Child of Fortune.]

[Luna Morgan has almost no protagonist aura left. This isn’t satisfying at all.]

[Can the Priests please do something about this? Luna Morgan is supposed to be the kind-hearted female lead everyone chose, so why is Jane Lancaster always the one saving people?]

[Wait, Jane Lancaster isn’t really that malicious, is she? She’s not, like, unforgivably evil. There’s no need to hate her this much.]

[I agree. Willow Summers and Beverly Lynch aren’t that detestable, either. They aren’t using each other; in fact, they’re stepping up in a crisis. To be honest, that’s way better than the "righteous" second female lead, Pauline Shaw.]

[To the posters above, you’re not Jane Lancaster fans, are you? It’s because of people like you secretly giving her Star Power that the plot is now a complete mess!]

[Well, I’m going to say it: Jane Lancaster hasn’t done a single thing wrong! I love Jane Lancaster! And I’m going to vote for her with my Star Power! If you can’t stand it, come fight me!]

[But Jane Lancaster can be killed by people in this little world! Where’s Jasper Sterling? Please, hurry up and save her!]

...

——

The sky was grim, dark with wind and rain.

Jasper Sterling opened the car door and glanced up at the dark, cloud-choked sky in the distance.

A moment later, he turned with a smile and yanked the old man, who was still slowly climbing out, from the car.

The downpour instantly soaked the old man to the bone.

Jasper Sterling was also drenched, yet he maintained a decorous smile as he politely made an inviting gesture.

"My apologies, President Hughes, for making you come all this way. But saving a life is of the utmost importance. You don’t want your son to commit an unforgivable crime, do you?"

Theodore Hughes looked at the smiling young man before him and felt an involuntary shiver.

’If something happens to the person inside...,’ he was certain that the young man before him would make him, his son, and the entire Hughes family pay the most terrible price.

When he sensed Jasper Sterling reaching for his collar again, this President Hughes, who had claimed to have bad legs, experienced a miraculous recovery and scrambled nimbly up the hospital steps.

Jasper Sterling moved even faster, striding inside with purpose.

Hospital security guards tried to approach, but were blocked by his bodyguards.

More bodyguards rushed in, a dense, dark mass of them.

Seeing the commotion, passersby and medical staff alike scattered to the sides in fear.

The elevator ascended. Jean Hughes was on the 28th floor, the top floor of the hospital. Theodore Hughes watched the numbers climb, feeling as if the entire day had been a dream.

Early that morning, just as he was getting up and preparing to go to the company, an uninvited guest had arrived at his home.

When Theodore Hughes learned Jasper Sterling was there about his son, he cunningly chose not to see him.

He had received a tip-off beforehand that Jean Hughes’s dog-fighting business in Stratton had apparently been secretly filmed, and he suspected Jasper Sterling was behind it.

’But his opponent was too young, after all. He thinks he has some leverage over me, but he doesn’t realize I can just drop a small business like that. I have plenty of ways to find a scapegoat.’

’That was nothing. As long as the Lancaster Family and the Hughes Family were joined by marriage, outsiders would have no reason to interfere.’

’Once the young man hit a wall, he’d probably retreat in defeat.’

He had his butler entertain Jasper Sterling while he slipped out the back door and left in a car, intending to head to the office.

While he was still on the road, he received several calls. They were all from old partners he had worked with for years, and they were all suddenly calling to break their contracts.

Theodore Hughes was utterly baffled. Why was this happening all of a sudden?

He was still racking his brain, wondering which of his competitors had ganged up on him to pull such a mutually destructive move.

He soon found out it was the young man he had underestimated: Jasper Sterling.

Theodore Hughes’s car was forced to a stop on the side of the road. Several other cars had suddenly appeared, boxing him in and leaving no room for argument.

When he saw the person get out of the car in front of him, Theodore Hughes was both shocked and furious. ’This young man is far too audacious and reckless! Absolutely lawless!’

’Poaching his partners like this, regardless of the cost, would certainly cripple the Hughes family, but wouldn’t the Sterling Group also suffer a terrible blow?’

’And bringing so many bodyguards to openly abduct a titan of industry... it was thuggish behavior, plain and simple!’

Jasper Sterling knew the old fox was playing games, so he simply "invited" the man to the airport.

He had brought more than enough men, easily outnumbering the Hughes family’s bodyguards, so he had no trouble "inviting" the ever-so-important President Hughes.

At the time, President Hughes had loudly berated him for knowingly breaking the law, warning him not to commit a foolish act that would have him rotting in prison.

Now, Jasper Sterling was filled with immense regret. ’My methods back then were far too gentle.’

’Back then, I thought I still had time. I never expected Jane Lancaster to go all in.’

’I’ll rot in jail if I have to. As long as she’s safe, I’m willing to do anything.’

’Besides, I’m not a good person anyway. I’m the major villain who should’ve been written off long ago. It’s not surprising for someone like me to do something without any principles, is it?’