CHAPTER 87: CHAPTER 87: I WON’T BEG A WOMAN WHO DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ME TO STAY

Just as Zinnia Lawrence thought Jenson was about to pin her down on the sofa and devour her, leaving her no escape, her vision suddenly went black.

It was Jenson who had thrown his shirt over her head. By the time Zinnia pulled it off, he was already at the bathroom door, his voice cold.

"Think about what you need to explain later!"

He entered the bathroom, and the pattering sound of water followed. Zinnia jumped up and rushed toward the door, but she couldn’t figure out what the man had done to it. Despite fiddling with it for a long time, she couldn’t get it open.

When Jenson came out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe, Zinnia was sitting on the sofa, dispirited, having already given up the struggle. He was drying his wet hair as he walked over. His bathrobe was tied loosely, and fresh from his shower, the man exuded a dangerous and predatory aura.

Zinnia didn’t dare to look at him for too long. Lowering her head, she scooted to the side. Just as she had settled, something landed on her lap. It was a hairdryer.

Zinnia turned her head to look at him. Jenson was leaning lazily against the back of the sofa as he ordered, "Come over and dry my hair."

"Can’t you dry it yourself?"

He could be so lazy sometimes.

He made it a point to exercise for an hour every single day, yet after a shower, he was usually too lazy to dry his hair, simply giving it a careless wipe. In the past, Zinnia had always worried that he would catch a cold or develop chronic headaches when he got older. Since she was eight or nine, she would follow him around with a hairdryer, persistently urging him to dry his hair. When he found it too troublesome and refused to cooperate, she would press him down on the sofa and take over the task for him.

Sometimes, even when he was asleep, she would kneel by the head of the bed and dry his hair. The buzzing sound wouldn’t wake him; instead, it would lull him into a deeper sleep. The sudden memory left Zinnia with a storm of complicated feelings.

She sat still. Jenson opened his eyes and looked at her.

"You’re the one who got it wet. Aren’t you going to take responsibility?"

His words were inevitably suggestive, leaving Zinnia speechless.

The man spoke leisurely again. "Or would you rather serve me in bed?"

"..."

Fine, drying his hair is much better than having breakup sex.

Zinnia stood up, plugged in the hairdryer, and moved to the back of the sofa to help him. As the warm breeze brushed through his hair, Zinnia reached out to ruffle the damp strands, but her fingertips paused.

It was cold. He had been in the shower for quite a while, yet he had used cold water.

She instinctively frowned. But she wasn’t some naive girl anymore. She knew exactly why he’d taken a cold shower. His talk about breakup sex was clearly just a threat to scare her. He never actually intended to hurt or force her.

She couldn’t tell if she was relieved or if her heart was sinking. A sour, heavy feeling began to swell inside her. At this moment, Zinnia found herself paradoxically wishing that Jenson would be a little harsher with her.

"Have you thought about how you’re going to explain yourself?"

The man lying there suddenly spoke, snapping Zinnia back to reality. She focused on her task, carefully drying his hair. "What do I need to explain?"

Jenson’s eyes flew open. Zinnia kept her head down, but their gazes met. His deep eyes seemed to have been steeped in cold water—they were clear, sharp, and soul-piercing. Zinnia’s breath hitched, and she averted her gaze.

"You’re not hiding anything from me?" Jenson sneered.

Zinnia’s eyelashes fluttered. "What do you mean?"

She didn’t know which matter he was referring to. It seemed she was hiding quite a lot from him.

Seeing her obstinance, Jenson chuckled. "At Lise’s, were you really just a translator? Was a ruined part-time job really enough to make you go to such great lengths to force-feed Crystal Sutton sleeping pills?"

Zinnia’s heart skipped a beat. So that was what he had found strange. She realized that Jenson most likely knew about her dance audition.

No wonder he allowed her to slap Crystal a few times. If he knew that Crystal had truly committed such a huge blunder and ruined her future, he would probably have protected her to the very end.

Zinnia continued drying his hair. "You already know, don’t you?"

Jenson stared at her. "When did you start planning to go abroad?"

Zinnia’s grip on the hairdryer tightened. "When I asked for the divorce."

"Ha. Hiding it from me until now. Were you afraid I’d stop you? You’re really something else!"

Jenson’s eyes were filled with shadows, as heavy and dark as a dense forest where no light could enter.

So, she had made the decision long ago. When she first mentioned divorce, she had already burned her bridges. His refusals and attempts to make her stay all this time must have looked like a complete joke. He truly hadn’t realized that the sweet, gentle girl he once knew could be even more decisive and clean-cut than him when it came to being ruthless.

Zinnia finished drying his hair and switched off the hairdryer. As she turned to place it on the low cabinet beside them, her wrist was suddenly seized by the man.

BANG.

The hairdryer crashed to the floor. In a single motion, Zinnia was flipped over the high back of the sofa as the man leaned forward, pulling her down on top of him.

Her chest heaved, her heart still pounding from the shock. "Jenson, what are you doing!?"

The man’s bathrobe had fallen open, and his entire body was still cold. Lying against him felt like lying on an ice sculpture, and Zinnia shivered. Jenson pinned her by the small of her back, his eyes boring into hers from inches away.

"When are you planning to leave?"

"In a month." Zinnia bit her lip gently, staring at him with a hint of worry. "You promised! As long as I pay back what I owe the Forrest Family, you’ll divorce me and let me go. You can’t go back on your word!"

Jenson sneered. He suddenly pinched her chin, roughly turning her head from side to side. His movements were coarse, and Zinnia’s stiff neck felt like it was about to cramp.

"Let go! What are you doing?"

"I’m trying to see if it’s your skin that’s thick, or if you just think you’re some peerless beauty!" he spat, flinging her face away. "Zinnia, I won’t repeatedly try to hold on to a woman who is dead set on leaving me and has no place for me in her heart!"

Zinnia pressed her lips together and squirmed. "Then why don’t you let me go?"

Jenson’s large hand on her waist didn’t move as he stared at her intently. "Are you still hiding other things from me?"

He felt that something was still off. Was her aggressive behavior tonight really just because Crystal Sutton had ruined her audition?

Zinnia’s heart tightened. She was afraid that if he kept pressing, she wouldn’t be able to hide the truth about the baby.

Fortunately, at that moment, Jenson’s phone began to ring insistently. It was Timothy Cohen. Zinnia quickly grabbed the phone and handed it to him. "You should answer your call."

Jenson released her. As she scrambled to sit up, he answered the phone, and Timothy’s report came through the speaker.

"Boss, I brought Miss Sutton back, but she’s been making a scene. You might want to come over and take a look..."

Crystal’s wails could also be heard through the phone at just the right moment. Jenson loosened his grip. This was the first time Zinnia had ever been so grateful to Crystal Sutton for getting her out of a tight spot.

Zinnia contacted Yara Fairchild as soon as she left the hotel, but her calls wouldn’t go through. She returned to the apartment they shared, but Yara Fairchild still hadn’t come back. Just as Zinnia was starting to worry, she received a call from the police station.

Zinnia rushed to the station, where she found Yara Fairchild being held.