Chapter 114
Linda’s face stiffened, hands clenched tightly, digging into her palms. Nash saw her unable to speak, his brows furrowing tightly, and asked sharply, “Is it that hard to answer?” At that moment, Nina hurriedly rushed back from outside, just in time to hear Nash’s sharp question from inside. She arrived late and then released her hold on the door handle.
Linda hesitated for a long while, coupled with Nash’s pressing demeanor, her inner pressure suddenly surged. She lifted her gaze to the cold and indifferent man before her. This man was not easy to deal with and quite dangerous; one wrong step and she could fall into irretrievable ruin.
Timidly, she said, “That hotel… There are… many wealthy people. I need money. If I could meet a wealthy man, I wouldn’t have to work so hard.”
Nash furrowed his brows even deeper, his gaze toward her changing. Her words amounted to nothing more than selling herself for money. Indeed, in today’s society, there were many such people, exchanging their bodies for material comforts.
Nina opened the door and entered the room, her expression blank, holding a tray.
Nash glanced over, and Nina gracefully placed the coffee in front of him. “Mr. York, your coffee.” She then placed another cup beside Linda.
“Thank you,” Linda said politely, lifting her head.
Nash didn’t want to ask more questions, but he couldn’t easily trust someone just like that, especially with a file laid out in front of him. He flipped it open and took a glance.
There were several sets of photos. The figure in the surveillance footage looked exactly like Linda, heading toward the presidential suite, then hastily leaving with disheveled clothes. It all matched up perfectly. However, he saw Linda’s background information. Her family members, her mother and two younger brothers, with her mother currently ill and her younger brothers needing money for school. The heavy burden of the family rested solely on Linda’s shoulders.
At only twenty years old, coming from a poor family, she had dropped out of school early to work. Previously, she worked in the county near her hometown to take care of her mother. The burden at home was too heavy, so she came to the big city to find the quickest way to make money. Coincidentally, on her first day out, she met him.
Nash placed the file on the table and looked at Linda. “You need money?”
Linda confessed, “Yes, I need money.”
“Since you’re looking for wealthy people, why not ask me for it? Don’t you think it’s contradictory?” Nash asked coldly.
Linda’s eyes reddened, feeling ashamed and finding it difficult to speak. “Because… because you were my first man, and I… I didn’t know what to do, I was at a loss… scared, didn’t dare to face it, so I ran away!”
This was indeed a reaction that an inexperienced girl might have. Although there was so much evidence before him, Nash still scrutinized Linda, feeling uncertain in his heart, unable to believe that she was the
one.
Nash’s gaze turned back to Nina, mocking coldly, “Nina, you did well, you found her so quickly!”
Nina felt a chill down her spine under his gaze. “I…”
Before she could say anything, Nash stood up. “Since you’re so thoughtful, you’ll take care of her arrangements. You shouldn’t have any issues with that, right?”
With things at this point, Nina had no choice but to reluctantly agree. “Okay, Mr. York.”
Nash left the lounge without saying another word. Nina looked at Linda, who was still in tears. She said, “He’s gone.”
Nina thought Linda was pretending, but Linda’s defenses had long collapsed.
She cried out, “If only I hadn’t come here. If I hadn’t gone to the hotel that night, none of this would have happened.”