Chapter 148


    After the most horrible day of his life, Jacob didn’t sleep for long and woke up early the next day. He had


    always been a fighter, and he didn’t let the El Man disaster defeat him. His family expressed their


    sympathies, which was the only positive thing that had happened in the past twenty four hours.


    He began working hard to make things right, but the main actress of the El Man movie came forward and


    publicly stated that Jacob harassed him both mentally and physically. This led to a chain of confessions


    from other female actresses from Jacob’s previous films. This whole issue not only made Jacob’s life


    difficult, it made Selena’s life difficult to the point she couldn’t even attend her shoots. There were some


    audio leaks of Jacob flirting with the actresses, so whether he actually slept with them or not, Selena


    didn’t even want to talk about it with him.


    After that, nobody in the Sterling vi was talking with Jacob.Selena didn’t even let Kathy go near Jacob


    anymore. However, what hurt Jacob more than the movie failure and more than his wife’s change of


    attitude was that his own daughters avoided him.


    The loss of money felt littlepared to the loss of respect in his daughters’ eyes. Jacob had paid half


    the people that had financed him for his movies, but there were still half left. Mike was also among them,


    and they regrly visited the vi and made rude remarks. Mike frankly stated that he wouldn’t even let


    the movies release until Jacob paid all the money.


    As a result, Jacob couldn’t even sleep properly. He began drinking and spending more time with Terry


    and Langdon, telling them his worries, instead of working extra-time on his movies. Moreover, they made


    him gamble and lose even more money. Jacob’s wealth dropped by millions with every passing day. He


    had to secretly sell his illegal properties, too, to get past every new hurdle that popped up.


    Terry, Langdon, and David together made sure to put constant pressure on Jacob, Selena, Shawn, and


    Reba.


    She, Reba’swyer, had already taken an advance payment of 3 million dors for the defamation


    and fraud case Reba filed against herpany and its CEO. Reba was left with only 32 million


    dors after that.


    Shawn, on the other hand, had already sold every asset he had except for the house Elizabeth bought.


    He would have also sold that, but he felt it was necessary since he predicted that the time for selling the


    vi was nearing.


    Jacob was a prideful man. He could have asked Selena or his daughter for money, but he chose not to.


    Whether Selena would have paid for him or not was an entirely different topic in itself though.


    Jacob put all hopes on his two movies. In order to release his films, he had decided to auction the vi.


    He was confident that he could buy a better ce once his films were to be box office hits. Nobody


    other than Veronica objected to selling the vi, and Jacob told Veronica to just buy the vi in the


    auction if she liked the vi so much.


    Because a lot of things were at stake, Shawn put pressure on Elizabeth, so she had been trying to find a


    job so he wouldn’t sell all her costly belongings she bought over the years.


    George and his parents were still feeding off of the wealth of the Sterlings.


    Veronica, on the other hand, left the vi and began staying at her friend’s house and dated a different


    man every day as she grew desperate to find the right man fast.


    While Jacob, Selena, and their children were busy with their rapidly changing lives, Benjamin’s life got so


    boring and repetitive the past couple of weeks. He would go to work in the morning, then stay at Pure


    Waters at night and try to talk to Reba over the phone. She had asked him to give her some time as


    she needed to focus on her career, so there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t even give her missed


    calls, not wanting to disturb her. Since Mina was still guarding Reba, he didn’t worry about Reba’s


    safety. If there was any entertainment, it waspeting with Damian during the pizza delivery that gave


    Benjamin some mental relief. Their friendship grew from calling each other with their first names to


    calling each other as brothers. On one evening, Damian tagged along with Benjamin because he was


    invited for a drink. Sasha also came along because Benjamin invited her, too.


    While Damian and Sasha danced in the crowd, Benjamin just watched them from his couch, and only he


    knew what he was thinking. Shadow came over and sat on the couch before picking up a handful of


    roasted nuts. “They are auctioning the vi tomorrow. Do you want me to… buy it?” Benjamin thought for


    a second and shook his head. “Do you… want to buy it?” asked Shadow. Benjamin shook his head


    again. “What if she doesn’t stay with you after leaving the vi, my lord?” Benjamin’s heart skipped a


    beat. He nced at Shadow. “You don’t know that.”


    “I said ‘what if?…”


    Benjamin sucked in a deep breath and audibly exhaled. “I want her to choose me even when I don’t have


    a big building under my name. Hopefully, she will.” His eyes looked around casually, and he noticed a


    familiar face in the crowd. It was Jane, dancing with her girlfriend. Jane also coincidentally looked at him,


    with her semi-drunk gaze. She seemed more surprised than he was. She whispered something to her


    friend before walking over to his spot.


    “How are you doing?” she asked in a bit of a pitiful tone. In her mind, she was thinking that Benjamin was


    devastated just like her after he came to know that Reba was having an affair with Donovan. She


    couldn’t evenpare her love with Donovan to Benjamin’s love wit Reba. He practically worshiped


    her like she was some sort of a divine being, and yet he was betrayed.


    “I’m fine,” Benjamin gestured to her to sit down. She sat next to him and grabbed a wine bottle. “Are you


    still in a rtionship with Donovan?” “Huh? Of course, not!” she barked. “What do I look like to you?”


    “Whoa, I was just asking.” “Hmph,” she snorted and then noticed that Benjamin still had his wedding ring.


    “Wait, why do you still wear that ring?”


    “What do you mean?” Benjamin frowned. He took her question in a different way. Was she suggesting


    that he should reconsider his rtionship with Reba now that the Sterling family had lost a lot of their


    wealth and were also selling away their vi? Was that what she meant?


    “What do I mean?” Jane snapped. “Yeah, hic, I mean, you became a ve of the Sterlings for her for


    how long? A year? But what did she do in return for you? I don’t know, but I bet she didn’t even take pity


    on you. I tried changing her mind, but clearly, she ended up changing someone else’s mind. To think she


    was my best friend for so many years…” just thinking about Reba’s betrayal stirred her intestines.


    Benjamin looked clueless. He couldn’t tell why Jane seemed to be mad at Reba, but he thought they


    might have quarreled about something recently. “She’s your best friend. You shouldn’t be talking behind


    her back like this.”


    “She WAS my best friend,” Jane had eight big gulps of wine and burped a little. “I didn’t leave my room


    for four days because of what she did, and then I thought… why should I suffer and


    rot when she’s the one who should be suffering and rotting. I wanted to make her pay, but God is there.


    He’s making the entire Sterling family pay.’


    Benjamin was a bit bewildered. Was Jane scolding Reba for telling the truth about Donovan? For


    causing her to break up with her boyfriend? It felt bizarre, to say the least. “You should stop,” he advised.


    “I think the wine is getting to your head.” “Let it get to wherever it wants,” Jane blurted. “I just hope I can


    do something that can make Reba cry as much as I did.”


    Benjamin didn’t like what he was hearing. “I think you should go home.” He tried to snatch the bottle out


    of her hand, but she didn’t let him.


    N?velDrama.Org content rights.


    “This is my second home,” Jane sipped some more wine. “You have no idea how many guys I …” She


    suddenly remembered that she and Reba used toe to this ce in the past, and this boiled her


    blood. The acids in her stomach burned. “What’s the point in bragging about how many boyfriends


    you’ve had?” Benjamin’s voice reached her ears. “To tell everyone just how unsessful you were in


    making a working rtionship?” as he kept talking, she turned to look at him. “I think you should take a


    step back and understand why your rtionships are failing.” He swiftly snatched the bottle from her


    hand and giggled as he achieved what he was after, but then Jane’s hands firmly grabbed his face.


    Before he understood what was happening, she buried her face into his face with her whole momentum


    behind it, firmly pressing her lips into his lips.