Even in Darkness She Chose to Rise (Tatiana and Jasper) novel Chapter 4

Chapter 4 You Make Me Sick

Jasper’s expression shifted. “I’m going right now.”

+8 Pearls Hanging up, he turned to Bianca. “You go look around. I’ll be back soon. If you need anything, find the secretary.”

With that, he strode out quickly.

“Jasper!” Bianca stamped her foot, almost losing the fragile facade on her face.

Where was he rushing off to?

To see that bitch Tatiana?

No. Impossible. Jasper hated Tatiana.

And soon, she would become Mrs. Jackson. Tatiana would be nothing.

When Jasper learned the location was a hospital, his brows knit together. “She’s here?”

One of his men answered carefully, “Yes, sir. Ms. Steele’s condition… doesn’t look good.”

Jasper halted, his eyes turning cold. “From this moment, you’re reassigned. Ten years. Don’t come back.”

The man stiffened but didn’t dare argue. “Yes, sir.”

After the boss left, another whispered, “You forgot the thing he hates most is people speaking up for Ms. Steele? Watch yourself.”

Inside the hospital room, Tatiana had just woken from another fainting spell. The kind–hearted college girl who had lent her a phone sat nearby.

“You’re awake? Thank God. You threw up so much blood earlier, then passed out. You didn’t have any emergency contact info, so I brought you here myself.”

“Th–thank you.

“Don’t mention it. But, um…” The student looked awkward before continuing.

“I know they say do good deeds without expecting anything, but I’m a student. Things got urgent, so I used my tuition money to pay your hospital fees. I also covered your past Could you please pay me back?”

debt.

Tatiana froze, guilt washing over her. “I–I’m so, sorry. How… how much? I’ll, repay you.”

Relief spread across the girl’s face. “Not much, not much. Just sixty–eight hundred. You can

transfer it to me.”

Sixty–eight hundred…..

Tatiana’s breath caught. To her, it was like a mountain.

Once, her allowance had been so large she could buy every luxury she wanted without a second thought.

Now she didn’t even have money to save her life.

“You… you have money, right?”

Tatiana didn’t. But she knew she couldn’t leave the debt unpaid.

“Give me two days. Please? I’ll, I’ll repay you.”

She’d find a way. Even if she had to sell her blood.

The girl looked like she might cry. “I can’t wait. My tuition’s due tomorrow. I need it now.”

Before Tatiana could answer, her gaze slid to the doorway. She froze, body stiffening.

Jasper stood there, silent. No one knew how long he had been watching.

Her voice faltered. “Jas… Mr., Mr. Jackson.”

He strode in, cyes icy, his tone mocking. “Tatiana, you hide better than a rat. Did you forget what I said?”

He had promised to send her back to the reformatory.

Her face went ashen, sweat beading on her forehead. “N–no, I didn’t hide. I fainted, then woke up, couldn’t find you, no phone, no…”

Her broken, stammering words only irritated him.

Who was she trying to fool?

She hadn’t stuttered before. Now she acted like some beaten victim.

He cut her off sharply. “Enough. I don’t want to hear your nonsense. Send her back to the reformatory.”

The order was directed at his men.

Two of them stepped forward, dragging her from the bed.

Tatiana thrashed desperately. “No! I won’t go! Don’t take me! Please!”

Terror carved into her bones gave her a sudden burst of strength. She shoved one man away, crashing into the IV stand. The metal pole toppled, the sharp end falling toward Jasper.

He reacted quickly, stepping back. Even so, the edge sliced a line across his neck, a thin stream of blood seeping out.

The men gasped. “Boss!”

Tatiana’s face turned deathly white. She nearly collapsed. “I–I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t

mean to…”

Her panic overwhelmed her mind. She dropped, banging her head against the floor over and over. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry…

It was pure conditioning – an instinct beaten into her.

Jasper touched his neck, feeling the sting, blood on his fingers.

He was rarely injured.

The rage boiling in him twisted into something else. Disgust.

“Get up.”

She scrambled to her feet, but her knee buckled. She nearly fell again.

Seeing her shrinking, trembling form only heightened his irritation. “Take her away.”

The college girl couldn’t stay quiet any longer. Outraged, she shouted, “Wait! How can you treat

this? She’s sick! Look at her–why are you being so cruel?”

her lit

Jasper’s gaze slid toward her, sharp enough to cut. “Sick?”

The girl faltered under his stare, frightened by the cold beauty of his face. “Y–yes. She’s very sick!”

A slow smile curved his lips. “What kind of sickness? Heart disease? Stomach problems? Or maybe depression? Bipolar disorder?”

Each word made Tatiana shudder, despair filling her eyes.

The girl blinked. “What?”

“How much did she pay you?”

“Huh?”

“Not bad acting.”

The girl finally understood. “You think she hired me to play along? Of course not! She’s really sick! The doctor said—”

Jasper picked up the medical file lying nearby and flipped through it carelessly. He snorted. “This time it’s lung cancer? Nice touch. Looks convincing.”

Whether the girl was a paid extra or the file was forged, everything looked rehearsed.

Better tricks, same rotten core.

Tatiana swayed, swallowing down the metallic taste rising in her throat. Her voice trembled. “I’m not lying. I really… I’m sick…”

“Forget the time you pretended to have stomach problems by taking emetics? Or the time you slit your wrists to lure me back? Or when you staged a car crash, slamming into a guardrail just to land yourself in the hospital? Tatiana, you make me sick.”

Each word was a blade, cutting deep.

And she couldn’t refute them.

She had done all those things.

In the years she had loved him madly, she had lost her mind, doing anything to catch hist

attention.

Cornering him. Following him. Faking illness. Attempting suicide. She had tried it all.

Even the people in their circle had mocked her as a rabid dog.

Of course he hated her.

But now, she didn’t dare love him anymore. She didn’t want his love. She knew she had been wrong. And still, he wouldn’t let her go.

Jasper tore the file to pieces. “Enough of these games. Time to go back.”

Back?

Back to Somerton Reformatory.

The last flicker of light in her eyes went out. She stopped resisting.

He thought she was only guilty after being exposed.

His men dragged her toward the door.

At the threshold, she gathered what little courage she had and whispered, “Can you… give me some money?”

Jasper froze. The air around him seemed to drop.

“Just a little. Just… a little. Please?”