Obedience No More He's the One I Deserved novel Chapter 512

Chapter 512 Jackson

Dawn was frighteningly calm. “And what else?”

“And-”

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Sadie twisted her fingers together, her voice full of resignation. “And because she wouldn’t listen, he handed her over to his bodyguards!”

The air suddenly went still.

In the cramped living room, something seemed to be slowly swelling.

Dawn abruptly covered her mouth and ran toward the bathroom.

The nausea in her stomach churned violently; she vomited almost everything she’d eaten at lunch. By the time she reached up to flush, it felt like all her strength had been drained.

She had never heard of these things. Never even…

Never dared to imagine them.

So, that was how it was.

Dawn forced herself to stand, bracing one hand on the sink as she washed her hands. In the mirror was a face completely drained of color.

She stared at it and, for no reason at all, felt utterly unfamiliar with herself.

What was real?

What was fake?

Her mother’s death cut through her life in a way that made no sense at all.

No wonder Vincent had been so insistent on her uncovering the truth. No wonder her mother had appeared in her dreams so many times. No wonder…

Dawn tugged the corner of her mouth at her reflection, turned on the faucet below, scooped up a handful of cold water, and splashed it hard onto her face.

The fog in her mind seemed to clear a little. She turned and walked back out.

Sadie was startled by the sight of her. “Are you okay?”

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Chapter 512 Jackson

“I’m fine.”

Dawn’s voice was hoarse. “So who was that man?”

“I–I don’t know.”

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Sadie wasn’t lying. “I never saw what he looked like. When I asked your uncle, he told me not to ask so many questions.”

“Then how did you and Lucas know about this at all?”

“Because he came looking for us.”

At the time, they were no longer living in the country. They hadn’t expected someone to track them down over Vera.

“He said that if your uncle brought your mother to Candavia, then as long as he got what he wanted, your uncle wouldn’t have to worry about orders for the next three years. Of course, your uncle refused!”

Sadie’s voice rose for a moment, then fell. “That man probably had no other choice, so he used the worst possible method. By the time we heard what had happened, it was already too late.”

Vera suffered severe physical and psychological damage. For a long time, she couldn’t even leave the house.

Dawn said nothing.

She didn’t know what she was supposed to say.

She couldn’t imagine what kind of despair her mother must have endured to still hold herself together in front of her young daughter, maintaining a gentle, normal image.

Her throat was unbearably dry, her voice low and strained. “So that means Lucas knew who that man was, but felt you couldn’t afford to offend him, so he chose to stand by.”

Sadie nodded.

“But you can’t really blame us for this.”

Whether it could be blamed on them or not was beside the point. Dawn fixed a sharp gaze on the woman in front of her and said slowly, word by word, “I can roughly guess what you didn’t finish saying. Because even after what was done to her, my mother would rather die than give in. The man flew into a rage and decided to kill her, didn’t he?”

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Chapter 512 Jackson

Sadie froze for a moment, then nodded.

“Yes. That’s how it was.”

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“And did Uncle Lucas try to talk her out of it, saying she shouldn’t drag the whole family down with her?”

“That’s the truth.” Sadie blurted out. “Your uncle’s business was just getting started. If everything collapsed because of this, how many chances would we have left?”

“So you just stood by and watched her be killed!”

Dawn’s eyes were red as she shouted the words.

The sudden harshness made Sadie tremble involuntarily. She lowered her head and stammered, “You can’t put it like that… If your mother had really gone along with that man, she wouldn’t necessarily have suffered. But she insisted on going against him. What could we do?”

Even if they knew some of the inside story, so what? What could they actually stop?

If that fire hadn’t burned down the Porter residence, whether Vera and her husband could have been saved was one thing, but the Porters would definitely have been dragged down with them.

Dawn let out a heavy breath. After a long while, she asked softly, “That man… his last name wouldn’t happen to be Jackson, would it?”

When Dawn came downstairs, even her steps were unsteady.

Mason hurried over to support her. “Ms. West, what did she say?”

Dawn shook her head. “Let’s go.”

“I asked around the neighborhood just now. Sadie has been living here for nearly two months. The place is rented, and aside from her, no one else usually comes by.”

Mason’s words stirred no reaction in Dawn. None of it mattered anymore.

She got into the car and closed her eyes, her thoughts a tangled mess.

“Ms. West, where are we going now?”

“Back to Northville.”

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Chapter 512 Jackson

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Dawn drifted in and out of sleep and fell into another dream. When she was still very young, her mother had already stopped sleeping beside her.

On nights of thunder and lightning, it was always easy for her to wake up.

Dawn climbed out of bed. The nightlight beside her had run out of power, and the rumbling outside the window made her small body tremble uncontrollably.