His Secret Child, Her Revenge: Remarrying Up novel Chapter 88

Chapter 88 A Good Reputation

Chapter 88 A Good Reputation

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A warm smile touched Ethan’s deep eyes. He knew the Jasmine he had come to know was exceptionally sharp-intelligent, clear-headed, and incredibly organized.

“Yes.”

“And you bought it back then solely to help me out of my financial trouble, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, knowing I would attend the charity auction, you donated the necklace to be bid on. You did that because you guessed that, knowing my personality, I would find a way to get Silas to buy it.”

“Yes.”

“You had Zack bid on purpose because you had Silas completely figured out. You knew he wouldn’t want to lose to you, so you intentionally drove the price up.”

The corner of Ethan’s mouth twitched upward. “The children needed the funding, and Mr. Vance has deep pockets. Why not make him pay a little extra? It gave him a good reputation, anyway.”

Jasmine looked straight into his deep, bottomless eyes. “And the host’s speech? Was that your doing too?”

“Yes.”

It really was a case of the hidden predator waiting in the shadows. It lined up exactly with everything Jasmine had deduced.

She was thoroughly impressed. “What about the missing security footage from Celestial Garden? Was that you too?”

“Yes, I breached their network. But you’re quite impressive yourself, recovering the data so quickly.”

Jasmine’s heart skipped a beat. “You saw the footage beforehand and realized Hugh was the one who beat Chloe. You were worried the Vance family would go after the Thornes, so you deleted the files, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

Every single piece of the puzzle had been put in place for her sake. But what did he stand to gain from any of this?

Suddenly, Jasmine felt a sudden wave of hesitation, almost afraid to ask more. “Don’t tell me Mr. Crawford’s perfectly timed appearance was your doing, too.”

Ethan gave a casual smile. “Mr. Crawford and I go way back, from his time serving in another region. didn’t expect him to be transferred here to Rivercrest.”

Jasmine sat frozen for a long moment. “You…”

She was almost tempted to call him an old fox. He was like a master chess player, with everyone else acting as mere pawns in his hands. It was clear Silas had absolutely no idea how deep and unfathomable his rival

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11:27 Mon, Jun 8

Chapter 88 A Good Reputation

truly was, given how much he looked down on Ethan.

A sudden nervousness crept over Jasmine. “One last question.”

“Go ahead,” Ethan said.

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Jasmine hesitated for a few seconds. “Everything you’ve done offers absolutely no benefit to you. Instead, it serves entirely to help me. So… why go to such lengths for my sake?”

Ethan looked up at her, his smile carrying a deeply comforting warmth. “What makes you think I have nothing to gain from this?”

The look in his eyes was entirely pure and genuine, completely devoid of any hidden or complicated motives.

“You can look at it as a matter of self-interest if you’d like,” Ethan continued. “I need you as my business partner. I need you to resolve your personal matters as quickly as possible so that we can stand together and fight our battles side by side in the open.”

Jasmine frowned slightly. “Still, I feel like I owe you far too much.”

“You have to realize that once you join Yunqi, the returns I’ll get from your contributions will far outweigh whatever I’ve done for you today.”

“That might be true, but—”

“We could be spending this time on a much more meaningful conversation,” Ethan cut in gently.

“We

Jasmine pressed her lips together. She had been about to suggest returning the necklace to him, but it looked like she would just have to owe him these favors for the time being.

Fair enough. She would find a way to repay him down the line.

Suddenly, another thought crossed her mind. Even though she knew Ethan must have handled it, she couldn’t resist teasing him. “Aren’t you worried the owner of Celestial Garden will look into this, find out you breached their system to wipe the footage, and ruin your spotless reputation, Mr. Brooks?”

Ethan offered a knowing smile. “Why would I look into my own actions?”

It took Jasmine only a second to catch on, leaving her caught between a laugh and a sigh. “So after all that, you’re the owner of Celestial Garden.”

“Caleb owns a share too,” Ethan explained. “The original owner was a friend of ours who was moving abroad and wanted to sell the hotel to us. I didn’t want to take it on at first since hospitality isn’t my area of interest, but he was terrified that the business he’d poured his heart into would be ruined by a stranger. He practically begged us to take it off his hands. I told Caleb we could just buy it for fun, and he agreed. My main focus was still in Portshire at the time, and Caleb was always traveling, so we’ve just left it to management to run.”

Jasmine rubbed the bridge of her nose, a faint wave of self-pity washing over her.

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