Recently, Wynn Shaw received a text alert:
「Your account ending in 8456: A withdrawal of 50,000,000 dollars was made at 19:27.
Type: Overseas Transfer.
Recipient: Summer Sullivan.
Note: “To make up for it.” Current Balance: 5.70 dollars.」
Wynn stood rooted to the spot.
A few days ago, her company had a project with a funding gap.
She had wanted to use this card, but Jaden Lancaster had told her earnestly,
“Wynn, this is our wedding card.
We’ve been saving up since we first fell in love.
The amount isn’t huge, but it’s special.
We can’t touch it for any reason other than getting married.”
He was genuinely planning for their marriage.
So why would Jaden use this money without her permission?
And what did the note “To make up for it” sent to Summer Sullivan mean?
Summer Sullivan was just a recent partner at the Lancaster Group, a single mother with a child.
They shouldn’t have had any contact outside of work.
To prove her love, she had broken free from her family’s constraints.
She had resolutely given up her status as a wealthy heiress from Kaelus.
After graduating from university in Eldoria, she lived as an ordinary girl, staying by a then-penniless Jaden Lancaster’s side to build a life from scratch.
She had gambled her youth on him, all because she wanted a future together.
She didn’t want him to postpone their marriage over some secret he couldn’t talk about.
Ignoring his warning before his business trip to “not call,” she dialed his number eleven times before he finally picked up.
“Jaden, did you transfer the fifty million from our account to Summer Sullivan?!
We agreed not to touch the wedding fund!
Why did you use that money?!”
The other end of the line was noisy, like he was at a tourist spot.
Jaden paused for a long time before speaking, as if he had just remembered something.
“Wynn, we have to postpone the wedding.
Summer knows a top-tier overseas client and needs the capital for cash flow.
The project’s return on investment is very high.
This was the best option.”
Wynn grew frantic.
“But you said that money was our wedding savings and we couldn’t touch it!
What client?
I’ll go talk to them.”
Jaden, already exhausted from a recent argument with Summer Sullivan, spoke with a suddenly heavy tone.
“Enough.
Are you trying to make a scene?
What connections do you have?
You don’t have the status to negotiate in high-society circles.
What are you without the platform the Lancaster Group provides?
For the sake of the company’s growth, it’s my prerogative to decide who gets the money.
We’re not even married yet.
Why are you meddling so much?”
Every single word completely invalidated her years of devotion and looked down on her family background.
Wynn could hardly believe what she was hearing.
Just then, a woman’s voice came through the phone, very close, as if she intentionally wanted Wynn to hear.
“Jaden, Chase wants ice cream.
I can’t get away, can you go buy some…?”
Jaden seemed to cover the mouthpiece and hurriedly tried to placate her.
“I’ve had too much to drink today and I’m tired.
Don’t take what I said to heart.
The client is still waiting for me to discuss the project.
Get some rest.
Don’t be unreasonable.
Try to be more understanding.”
With that, he hung up directly.
Wynn’s heart went completely cold.
‘After all these years, she was finally seeing Jaden Lancaster’s true face: a sophisticated egoist who used business logic to justify his emotional betrayals!’
‘The Lancaster Group had been on the verge of bankruptcy several times, and she had used her design copyrights to pay off his debts.
For years, she had worked day and night for the company’s growth, juggling both design and finance.
She’d even been hospitalized for exhaustion several times.
He took all her sacrifices for granted, and now, because she worked behind the scenes, he was disgusted by her lack of connections?’
‘Meanwhile, Summer Sullivan only had to give a short speech at the company to earn his lavish praise.’
As if possessed, Wynn walked into Jaden’s room—for years, he had insisted on sleeping separately under the pretext of “not disturbing each other’s work.”
She opened his spare laptop.
Thankfully, the password was still her birthday.
He had once told her, ‘Wynn, I will never have any secrets from you.’
She hesitated for a moment, but the computer had already automatically logged into Jaden’s WhatsApp.
The contact list was clean, but the pinned contact wasn’t a client group.
It was a contact saved as “Love Summer”.
She clicked on the profile picture.
The woman under the Orianne Tower was clearly Summer Sullivan!
‘It was obviously her private account!’
‘Wynn felt like she was going insane.’
Suppressing a wave of dizziness, she tremblingly clicked the other woman’s social media.
The latest post, from an hour ago, was a selfie and a screenshot of a chat log:
「I was too willful a few days ago and had a fight with my darling.
He had no choice but to express his love with a necklace and fifty million, so I’ll dutifully hold onto it for him~ Turns out, some things people spend their whole lives chasing, I can get so easily.
I’ve thought it through.
This time, I’m determined to stay by your side.」
That necklace was the very one she had seen on Jaden’s computer last month, the one he claimed he was helping a client choose.
In the chat screenshot, a message from Jaden Lancaster’s profile read:
「Summer, I’m sorry.
I wasn’t strong enough back then, and I let the Sullivan Family tear us apart.
I didn’t know you were pregnant at the time.
I’m capable now, and I can’t bear to let you suffer anymore.
Just give me a little time.
I’ll sort things out with Wynn Shaw as soon as possible and give us a proper future together.」
Wynn’s eyes stung fiercely.
‘He couldn’t bear to let *her* suffer?
Then what did that make her, the one who had been through hell and back with him?’
‘Was it all a lie?
The man who had risked his life to save her from a river?
The penniless Jaden who had sworn to be with her forever?
The kindred spirit who, like her, refused to be controlled by family and fate?’
An earlier Moments post from three days ago was a photo of Summer Sullivan with a three-year-old boy, captioned: “When you’re done with your work, my son and I will be waiting for you in Orianne.”
It was posted on the same day Jaden left for his business trip.
‘They even had a child together!’
When Summer Sullivan first visited the company, Jaden had immediately arranged a long-term partnership.
To show her gratitude, Wynn had even enthusiastically helped look after her son, Chase Sullivan.
‘Looking back now, she felt like a complete joke.’
She scrolled down, post after post.
Recent gifts, romantic gestures, sweet daily moments…
the screen was filled with Jaden’s affection for Summer.
In contrast, Jaden had repeatedly criticized her for being unfeminine and old-fashioned.
All her hard work for the Lancaster Group, which had ruined her health, had only earned her his words:
“A strong woman can handle a little hardship.
It’s nothing.”
Every time she wanted to dress up or asked him to buy her jewelry or clothes as an anniversary gift, he would always say:
“I don’t want other men to see how beautiful you are.
We should put this money into our wedding account instead.”
‘It was just an excuse for not wanting to spend any effort on her.’
Wynn’s breathing grew ragged, and she felt like she was about to faint.
“Stick with a man through his struggles, and he’ll be the first to abandon you once he succeeds.” She was now experiencing those words firsthand.
‘Perhaps he didn’t even wait until he succeeded.
He had betrayed her midway.’
Half of the Lancaster Group’s success was built on her blood, sweat, and tears.
She refused to accept this.
And she would never hand it all over without a fight.
The Jaden of the past was handsome and upright, gentle yet resolute.
In his impoverished world, his only asset was an ambitious and devoted heart.
Even so, she had been willing to lose herself in his clear, restrained eyes, which shone as brightly as stars.
But now that asset was gone.
Naturally, there was no reason for her to hold on any longer.
After she calmed down, she dialed a number she hadn’t contacted in a long time.
“Mom, you once said…
if I gave up Jaden Lancaster and accepted the family’s arrangement, you would let me come home.
Does that offer still stand?”
“Wynn?”
The moment she heard her mother’s voice, all her pent-up grief came rushing out.
She choked back a sob.
“Mom…
I regret it.”
‘She had let her parents down.’
There was a long silence on the other end.
Her mother, ever the pragmatist, seemed to have expected this and slowly replied:
“Your grandfather arranged this marriage back then.
Since you’ve made your decision, you’ll be engaged to Vincent Preston next month.
Find some time to have a meal with the Preston Family and apologize.
You’re an adult now; you should understand this isn’t child’s play.”