CHAPTER 109: CHAPTER 109: HE JUST CAN’T MARRY HER

Renee Winslow, after continuously traveling by plane, being anesthetized, and experiencing intense emotional stress, finally reached a breaking point. After dealing with Jack Yates, her vision went black, and she truly fainted.

Jack Yates, his face darkening with fright, quickly picked up the unconscious Renee Winslow and strode into the emergency room, calling for the most authoritative doctor to be arranged.

The doctor arrived quickly with an entire medical team.

After the examination, Renee Winslow had no major issues, just weak health and a bit of low blood sugar. She needed some nutritional injections to recuperate and couldn’t fly again for a while, needing some time to recover.

Jack Yates sat by the bedside, holding Renee Winslow’s hand, kissed it, then pressed it to his face, his gaze heavy as he looked at her.

Half an hour later, Renee Winslow awoke. The moment she saw Jack Yates sitting beside her, she was so frightened that she immediately closed her eyes.

She felt Jack Yates still holding her hand, wanting to pull it back, but she dared not.

Jack Yates, seeing that she had indeed opened her eyes but then closed them again, squeezed her hand gently.

Renee Winslow could only open her eyes, turning her face to look at him and weakly called out, "Third Brother."

Jack Yates released her hand, leaned down, touched her porcelain-white little face, and softly asked, "Still feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"

Renee Winslow replied, "Dizzy, and my whole body is weak."

Jack Yates took out a piece of chocolate, peeled off the wrapper, and fed it to her.

As Renee Winslow was eating the chocolate, her tongue inadvertently licked his finger.

Jack Yates curved his lips and laughed in a low voice, "Is it sweet?"

Renee Winslow replied vaguely, still with chocolate in her mouth, "Sweet."

Jack Yates asked her again, "What else do you want to eat?"

Renee Winslow said, "I want hotpot, the spicy kind, is that okay?"

Jack Yates: "..."

Renee Winslow saw that he didn’t agree immediately and thought he wouldn’t consent, so she pouted a bit and said, "Then forget it..."

Jack Yates: "Okay." His large hand gently caressed her face, speaking in an unprecedentedly gentle tone, "But the hotpot here isn’t authentic. Once you recover, I’ll take you to have authentic hotpot in Veridia when you’re back home."

Renee Winslow’s eyes lit up, and she looked at him joyfully, "Really?"

Jack Yates smiled slightly, his long fingers tapping her forehead, "It’s just a hotpot meal, you think I’d lie to you?"

Harvey Lancaster came in just as he was about to report.

Jack Yates glanced at him, "Talk outside."

The two stepped out of the emergency room, and instinctively, Jack Yates reached into his pocket for cigarettes. His fingers just touched the cigarette packet before he pulled his hand back out.

Thinking Jack Yates was out of cigarettes, Harvey Lancaster perceptively took a cigarette from his pocket and respectfully offered it, "Third Brother, have a smoke."

Jack Yates impatiently said, "Who needs a smoke? Talk business."

Harvey Lancaster reported, "We’ve already sent them to the hospital."

Jack Yates’ expression was indifferent, "Then just leave them be."

Harvey Lancaster asked, "Shouldn’t they be sent back to the country?"

Jack Yates said, "No need, let him wander around for a few more days."

Since Renee Winslow hadn’t recovered yet, he couldn’t return to the country, nor could he let Caleb Yates return first, lest that kid says something reckless in front of Old Mr. Yates.

The phone rang, and Jack Yates answered it, "Hello."

On the other end was Old Mr. Yates’ voice, "Be home by tomorrow night at the latest. I don’t care how busy you are with business, you must be home tomorrow night."

Jack Yates replied, "I’m in the middle of negotiations, I can’t return for now."

Old Mr. Yates chuckled, "Then I’ll just start roaming around Starkwood Group’s headquarters from tomorrow, and maybe give the employees a six-month vacation too."

Jack Yates chuckled lightly, "Don’t make trouble. At your age, it’s better to enjoy your retirement and not stir up anything unnecessary."

Old Mr. Yates said, "Grandson, I’m not joking. I’ve already sent people to investigate. If you’re not back by tomorrow, we’ll halt business for an internal review and an investigation by the relevant departments. When you come back, the investigation will end."

Jack Yates bit hard on his back teeth, but could only suppress his anger, "How about a week?"

Old Mr. Yates said, "Three days."

Jack Yates said, "Five days, not a day less."

Old Mr. Yates compromised, "Fine, five days. If you’re not back by then, grandson, don’t blame your grandfather for being ruthless."

Jack Yates angrily retorted, "I really am your grandson!"

-

Renee Winslow stayed in Constantium for five days, in the most luxurious hotel here, the penthouse presidential suite, with a private garden and a screening room. Even if she didn’t go out all day, staying in the room wouldn’t feel boring.

In addition to the garden and screening room, there was also a very large study filled with books, most of which were in English. The only Chinese book was "The Art of War."

During the days they stayed here, Jack Yates wasn’t always at the hotel; he spent most of his time busy outside.

Five days later, Renee Winslow finally boarded the flight returning home.

As soon as the plane landed, Jack Yates received a call from his grandfather, Old Mr. Yates.

Old Mr. Yates’ voice, though husky, was full of energy, "Are you back yet?"

Jack: "Just got off the plane, I’ll be there in an hour."

After hanging up, Jack asked the driver to take Renee Winslow back to Thatcher Manor and called Butler Pierce to make sure he kept Renee safe.

Renee grabbed his hand, looking at him worriedly: "What’s going on?" Thinking of the matters abroad, she cautiously asked, "Is it something overseas?"

Jack patted her head: "Don’t worry, go back and get some good sleep, take care of your health, and I’ll take you to Northsea Bay in a few days."

Renee cautiously asked: "Is it because of me?"

Jack: "Don’t talk nonsense, it has nothing to do with you, it’s some business matters."

Renee didn’t ask further and turned to sit in the car.

-

Jack returned to the old Yates Family estate, and as soon as he entered the main courtyard, he was escorted by Old Mr. Yates’ bodyguards to the backyard of the main building.

The backyard was brightly lit by all the street lamps.

All the Yates Family servants had returned to their quarters, leaving only family members in the backyard: Old Mr. Yates, Russell Yates, Chloe Bell, and Caleb Yates, who was kneeling on the ground with his upper body bare.

Old Mr. Yates was wearing a white jacket with a black cloth shoes on his feet. He sat leisurely in a rocking chair, holding a purple clay teapot in his hand, smiling at Caleb Yates: "Take off your clothes and come over to kneel."

Jack took off his suit jacket, hung it on a nearby rack, and quickly unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his well-built chest. He walked over to Old Mr. Yates, rolled up the legs of his trousers, knelt on the ground, and then took off his shirt, holding it in his hand to put on after the punishment.

Old Mr. Yates nodded to the bodyguard, indicating with his chin: "Bring out the whip, thirty lashes each, start."

The bodyguard was about to fetch the whip when Old Mr. Yates added: "An uncle is a senior, as a senior, lacking in elder manners, doing such nonsense, add twenty lashes."

The bodyguard didn’t move, knowing Old Mr. Yates wasn’t finished speaking.

Sure enough, Old Mr. Yates continued: "As a nephew, not acting like a junior, sending someone to assassinate his uncle, add twenty lashes!"

Upon hearing that Caleb Yates actually sent someone to assassinate Jack, Chloe Bell was immediately displeased and exclaimed: "What, Caleb Yates actually sent someone to assassinate Jack?"

Russell Yates tugged at Chloe Bell’s arm: "Let it go, Dad will handle it."

Chloe Bell angrily glared at Russell Yates: "What do you mean, let it go? Your grandson almost killed my son!"

Old Mr. Yates: "Everyone shut up!"

The bodyguard went to the storage room to fetch the long-unused leather whip, washed it in water, and dried it with a cloth.

With a crack——

A lash hit Jack’s back, immediately leaving a blood-red mark across his firm muscles.

Jack didn’t utter a sound, slightly bowed his head, and rested his hands on his thighs.

After fifty lashes, Jack’s entire back was a mass of blood-red, with fresh blood flowing down his spine, seeping into the waistband of his black trousers.

Jack stood up, directly put on his black shirt, and calmly buttoned it up.

He looked toward Old Mr. Yates: "Can I leave now?"

Old Mr. Yates took a sip of tea, leisurely said: "Felix, Grandpa gives you two years, just right, that girl will graduate college in two years too."

Jack squinted his eyes: "What do you mean?"

Old Mr. Yates chuckled: "You’re 29 this year, you’ll be 31 in two years, meaning you must marry at 31. Even if you don’t marry Miss Hawthorne, you can’t marry this current female student. You can marry anyone but her. A girl who enchanted both uncle and nephew isn’t a good girl."

Jack turned his head back to look at Old Mr. Yates, tilted his head and smirked: "Grandpa, as long as I think she’s good, that’s enough."

With that, he knelt down again, his expression proud: "If you’re not satisfied, hit me until you are. Anyway, I’m not marrying any other woman."

Old Mr. Yates put down his teacup, snatched the whip from the bodyguard, raised his hand, and swung it, striking Jack across the neck with a thumb-thick red welt.

Chloe Bell watched, biting her lip tightly, wishing she could rush up and snatch the whip from Old Mr. Yates’ hand.

Russell Yates stepped forward: "Dad, you’re getting older, don’t risk your health over such trivial matters. Give me the whip, I’ll do the beating."

Jack chuckled coldly and retorted: "You’ll do the beating? What right do you have to hit me? Back then, despite Grandma’s opposition, you forcibly married a sycophantic maid, birthed a trouble-making waste, then found a B-movie actress, and had a promiscuous brat. Now you’re lecturing me, isn’t that laughable?"

Russell Yates shook with rage, swung the whip, aiming for Jack’s face.

Jack tilted his head, and the whip landed on the side of his neck, grazing his jaw and lip, splitting his lip, blood flowing freely.

"Stop!" Chloe Bell screamed through tears, stumbling forward to embrace Jack.

Russell Yates roared: "Out of the way, or I’ll hit you too!"

Old Mr. Yates waved his hand: "Leave, everyone leave."

Jack stood up, licked the blood from the corner of his mouth with his tongue, a sinister smile playing across his lips: "Since Secretary Yates has so much energy, go educate your eldest grandson thoroughly. He dared to hire an assassin to kill his uncle, if not punished, he might become uncontrollable."

Back at Thatcher Manor, Jack didn’t go upstairs, going straight to the first-floor guest bathroom instead.

Renee Winslow hadn’t slept yet, hearing the commotion downstairs, she slipped on a silk robe and ran softly down the steps.

"Jack." she called out, but there was no response.

Just as she was about to head back upstairs, she heard water running, walked to the guest bathroom door, and knocked: "Jack, is that you?"

Actually, she didn’t need to ask; who else besides Jack would dare take a shower there so late?

The door opened, and a strong arm pulled her inside.

Before Renee could react, the man pressed her against the door and kissed her.