She Was the Treasure All Along novel Chapter 995

He was out with another woman, and he was lying straight to her face.

Helena felt absolutely no desire to confront him or scream. A cold, heavy numbness washed over her. She calmly tapped the red button to end the call, handed her queue ticket to a grateful couple standing nearby, and walked away.

Once she was out of the alley, her phone started vibrating in her pocket.

Swain called her four, five times in a row. She ignored every single one.

She flipped her phone to silent, shoved it deep into her coat pocket, and wandered the neon-lit streets aimlessly for ten minutes. Then, the phone vibrated again.

It wasn't Swain. It was a number she didn't recognize, but the area code matched Swain's hometown. As she swiped to answer, she already knew exactly who was on the other end.

"Is this Helena?" Carl's voice was stripped of the warm, folksy tone he had used when they first met. It was replaced by a cold, calculated resolve. "This is Swain's father."

Helena stopped walking. "Hello, Mr. Carter."

"I'll get straight to the point," Carl said, his voice flat. "You're a good girl, but our Swain is naive, and frankly, you come with way too much baggage. You two aren't a match. We've already found him someone much better suited for him. Great family, stable career, sweet personality. His mother and I want you to let him go. Stop clinging to him. We will never accept you."

Helena stood on the curb, the biting wind whipping through the alley, tearing at the loose strands of her hair.

Her knuckles turned white as she gripped her phone, squeezing it until her hand ached. "...You set him up on a blind date?"

"Parents do what's best for their children. Swain is young, he doesn't know what's good for him and what isn't. Helena, be reasonable. Do us all a favor and go find a man whose family is willing to put up with yours."

Helena stood in silence for three agonizing seconds. Then, she answered cleanly. "Okay."

Carl clearly hadn't expected her to capitulate so easily. He faltered for a second. "Then—"

"I'll make it crystal clear to him. Don't worry about it, Mr. Carter."

She ended the call, dropped the phone back into her pocket, and kept walking. She walked until the sun vanished entirely and the streetlights flickered to life. Eventually, she found herself outside a dive bar with a flickering yellow neon sign and pushed her way inside.

Helena sat huddled in a dark booth in the corner, her third glass of whiskey sitting on the sticky table.

She hadn't eaten anything all day. Her empty stomach cramped violently as the cheap alcohol burned its way down, but she didn't care.

*You come with way too much baggage.*

Carl's words echoed in her skull. She picked up the glass, drained it in one gulp, and flagged down the bartender for another.

She lost track of time.

By the time she slapped a few crumpled bills on the counter and stood up, the room tilted violently. She had to grip the edge of the bar just to keep from falling over.

Flanking him were two massive, armed security details, radiating sheer, lethal intent.

The two street thugs weren't idiots. One look at the custom-tailored suit and the armed guards was enough to tell them they were dealing with someone who could make them disappear. They turned to run, but Morris's guards moved like lightning. Within seconds, the two men were slammed face-first into the concrete and neutralized.

Helena clutched her chest, her heart hammering against her ribs. She stared at the man standing perfectly still in the backlighting. "Why are you here?"

It looked like a miraculous coincidence. In reality, Morris had been tracking her every move.

Nothing she did escaped his surveillance, including her desperate attempt to drink away her heartbreak.

A sickening wave of jealousy had been burning a hole in his chest all night, but on the outside, he was a picture of elegant restraint. He slipped off his tailored suit jacket and draped it over her shivering shoulders. "Just passing by."

He looked down at her, his voice smooth. "Can you walk?"

Helena didn't answer. The adrenaline was fading, and the alcohol was crashing back over her in a suffocating wave. She swayed on her feet and shook her head.

Morris reached out, his long fingers wrapping gently around her elbow. He pulled her slightly off-balance, drawing her into his orbit. "Get in the car. I'll take you home."

She resisted, trying to pry her arm away, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I don't want to go back there."

Morris paused. His throat went bone dry. "Then come back to my place."