Chapter 263

"However, you'd better take everything I've said to heart," he said.

Grace was shocked. What did he mean? Take it to heart…? He would marry her if she was willing. Did he understand the implications?

Her mind raced until they reached the car. Once at the Reed Residence, she followed Jason out, but he stopped abruptly before entering the house.

"By the way," he said, "it's not that I've never known hunger. There were times I was so hungry I thought I would die."

He recounted his father's death and cremation when he was young. He remained in their small, shabby house, clutching his father's ashes, famished, nearly succumbing to starvation. A neighbor's timely intervention saved him.

Grace was stunned, his light tone jarring against the gravity of his words. She recalled the childhood stories he'd told her as Jay. His mother had left, his father had died in the snow. Before joining the Reed family, he'd endured a difficult life.

Unconsciously, she folded her hands, a familiar urge to pat his head and comfort him surfacing, before she remembered: he wasn't Jay. He was Jason, someone she shouldn't touch.

Meanwhile, at the Cummins family house, Evelyn was complaining to her parents about her grievances at the filming site.

"Why should I kneel before Sis in front of so many people? She knows Jason and didn't tell us! She did it on purpose! She wanted to humiliate me!" Evelyn sobbed.

"What? She knows Jason?" Tony Cummins was startled. "Which Jason? It can't be Jason from Reed Group."

Few in Emerald City didn't know Jason.

Seeing her father's excited expression, Evelyn knew his thoughts. "Dad, even if Sis knows Jason, do you think he's serious about her? Don't forget she ran over and killed his fiancée. Who knows his motives?"

"That's right!" Melinda Riley interjected. "It's probably wealthy-person revenge. He's showering her with attention before discarding her. Like in those TV dramas."

Their words were a cold bucket of water, extinguishing Tony Cummins' enthusiasm. They were right. His daughter, a former sanitation worker with a prison record, and Jason? Unlikely.

"Besides," Evelyn continued, "Sis was deliberately friendly to Brian. He misunderstood, thinking I had something against her. What kind of older sister does that? Other sisters are happy for their siblings' success, but mine holds me back!"

Tony Cummins frowned.

Evelyn pressed on. "If Brian breaks up with me because of Sis, I don't know what I'll do. I love him, Dad."