Chapter 114 Familiar Strangers
Right then, there came a loud knocking sound at the door from outside. Jack shouted loudly. “Miss Lane! What’s going on? Miss Lane, are you in there?”
lan’s body stiffened abruptly. He wasn’t expecting anyone to be around to disrupt his plans. Erin was pinned down by the heavily intoxicated lan and couldn’t move. lan restrained her hands above her head with one hand, and his other hand tightly covered her mouth.
A trace of rationality returned to him, but the intense evil thoughts still filled his mind. He didn’t make any further moves. Nervously, he pressed down on Erin in silence, hoping that the nosy Jack would leave on his own.
“Miss Lane, if you don’t make a sound, I’m breaking the door and coming in!” Jack stood outside the door, his palms all sweaty. Ever since lan entered Erin’s apartment, he’d been watching the surveillance screen in his own apartment, waiting for lan to come out so he could finally go to sleep with peace of mind.
lan was one of the key targets under his surveillance according to the information he’d gathered.
Since Jack hadn’t seen lan coming out of Erin’s place, he stealthily got out of his unit and eavesdropped outside Erin’s apartment door. He couldn’t hear anything before due to the soundproofing of the door. It was only then that he faintly heard Erin’s cry for help. Although it was very brief, his ears caught her cry for help!
Hearing Jack say he would break down the door, lan’s heart raced. He looked into Erin’s eyes and saw the anger and pain within them. That one look brought him back to his senses instantly.
lan whispered, “Erin, I’m going to release you now. Tell this man to leave quickly. We shouldn’t let strangers interfere in our affairs.”
Erin glared back at him coldly. He scrambled up in a somewhat disheveled manner and walked briskly toward the balcony, seemingly unwilling to have any contact with the man outside the door.
Getting up, Erin quickly adjusted her clothes and ignored lan. At that moment, Jack, who was still outside her door, had just confirmed once again there was no sound coming from within and got ready to break her door. Erin hurriedly walked over and opened the door.
Jack froze in place in a posture that suggested that he was about to barge at the door. He anxiously asked, “Miss Lane? You … Is anything wrong?”
Erin shook her head. “I’m fine, Jack. Thank you for your concern.”
She didn’t want to casually tell a stranger about what had just happened, so her reply was short and concise, without giving away much.
Jack nodded but still seemed somewhat worried. “Well… I’ll be going then. Do you really not need any help, Miss Lane?”
“No, thank you.” Erin’s expression was a tad unnatural, as she still had a lot of anger pent up inside.
At this point. Jack felt that he had no valid reason to keep lingering around. He said, “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me, okay?”
Erin nodded, smiled, and watched as he left.
After Jack returned to his own unit, she didn’t close the door and immediately went into the kitchen. One minute later, Erin went to the
balcony and spoke coldly to lan’s back, “You can leave now.”
lan turned around and glanced at her while smoking. He sighed and discarded the cigarette butt into the artificial lake below. He turned
around and took a step forward, apologizing to Erin, “I–I don’t know what got into me just now. I’m really sorry.”
Faced with her ex–husband, who had repeatedly tried to force himself on her, Erin no longer held any hope that he would be a decent.
person.
Calmly, she replied, “lan, this is the last time I’m letting you off the hook. If I didn’t cherish our past relationship, I would have told the police about you forcing yourself on me. Today, I’m making it clear to you once and for all that you don’t need to meddle in my family’s affairs. If my family members call you, you can ignore their calls. You no longer have any obligation or responsibility to stay in contact with. my family.”
“Erin.
Erin continued, “Listen to me till the end. Don’t come looking for me anymore, and even if you do, I won’t see you. Our relationship is over, and no matter what, we can’t go back to the past. And that’s because I don’t love you anymore.”
Hearing her say that she no longer loved him, lan felt the pain that came from his heart breaking into pleces for the very first time. He’d wanted Erin to become his woman with all his heart because he still loved her. Now that Erin clearly drew a line between them and told him she wanted nothing to do with him, immense regret surged within him, and tears brimmed at the corners of his eyes.
“Erin, are you really doing this? Won’t you give me a chance? Are you just going to let go of those four years we spent together? Ian’s voice was filled with bitterness and indignation.
Erin looked into his eyes and stated seriously, “lan, if I hurt you because I refused to have a physical relationship with you before marriage. I apologize. But that cannot be the reason for your infidelity. You didn’t even give me a chance to change for you. If you’d told me your true thoughts earlier, perhaps I wouldn’t have held on to that no–sex rule so stubbornly.”
Her sudden calmness made him uneasy, and he suddenly felt a sense of panic. It was as if Erin was both near and far away at the same time. In a state of panic, lan walked up to her and tried to touch her cheek. However, the icy gaze that Erin gave him pierced through his heart like he’d been stabbed by a cold knife.
His hand that was suspended in the air trembled awkwardly, and he ultimately withdrew it helplessly.
Erin held tightly onto a pair of scissors hidden behind her back. She came prepared. If lan repeated what he did earlier again, she wouldn’t hesitate to plunge the scissors into his body!
lan stood still like a statue, overwhelmed and hopeless. He didn’t know if he could still salvage Erin’s heart. Perhaps, since the moment he betrayed Erin, their love, and their marriage by being unfaithful he’d already lost her completely…
lan wanted to say something. His lips twitched slightly, but he remained silent.
Before leaving Erin’s apartment, he asked her one last question, “Can we still be friends in the future?”
Erin’s answer was a simple and direct “No.”
lan let out a weak and pallid laugh as he left. That laughter didn’t sit well in Erin’s heart either.
If they had divorced amicably because they no longer loved each other, and if he hadn’t hurt her so much, maybe they could still be
friends. Unfortunately, some people were destined to become strangers.
Ultimately, they became familiar strangers.
The next morning, Erin woke up in the bedroom of her apartment.
Although she had lost sleep again last night because of lan and had only slept for four hours, there were important matters waiting for her
to attend to.
The first thing she did was call her father, Steven, to confirm the need for eighty million dollars in funds. She needed to know if she could find a way to borrow the money and if it would really help Steven overcome this crisis.
Fortunately, Steven assured her and guaranteed that if they could secure eighty million dollars, it would resolve all the existing issues. However, from where could she get a loan of eighty million dollars?
