On the Ruins of His Regret I Soar novel Chapter 165

Rebecca forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “My situation,” she told Jessica, “isn’t that different from yours right now.”

Jessica frowned.

“Come have a drink with me,” Rebecca said. “Good thing I have a condo they don’t know about. Otherwise, I’d be sleeping under a bridge tonight.”

Rebecca took Jessica to a spacious high-rise apartment. “Make yourself at home.”

She went to the liquor cabinet and pulled out two bottles of wine. After drawing the curtains and plunging the living room into a dim twilight, the two of them looked like mice hiding from the sun. Rebecca, holding two wine glasses, sat down on the carpet and opened a bottle.

She poured a glass for Jessica first. “Cheers.”

Jessica stared at the glass, then, as if making a momentous decision, she picked it up and drained it in one go. The alcohol burned her throat, and she coughed until tears streamed from her eyes.

Rebecca downed three glasses in quick succession before letting out a sudden laugh. “Jessica, do you know why I always had to beat you, why I always had to be number one?”

Jessica shook her head.

“Because your parents only had you,” Rebecca said. “Mine did too. But my mother isn’t like yours. The only time my parents were happy, the only time they loved me, was when I came in first. That was the only time I felt like I mattered. I never wanted to compete with you, Jessica. I was so tired.”

Jessica looked at her, stunned.

Rebecca shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I could carry that burden. I could carry anything, as long as my parents loved me. But… but they don’t love me anymore.” She looked at Jessica, her eyes wide with desperation. “Why? Why don’t they love me anymore? I tried so hard. Why did they just stop?”

Rebecca collapsed into Jessica’s arms, sobbing and drunk. “My father’s illegitimate children… a son and a daughter… are twenty years old. Only five years younger than me. And my mother, to protect her own position, is willing to formally adopt the son. She wants me to give up my position as CEO of the Jones Group…”

Jessica froze. Now she understood. It was her own mother’s betrayal that was the final straw that had broken Rebecca. In this world, there really were mothers who didn’t love their children.

Jessica’s heart ached for her.

Rebecca shook her head again. “I don’t care about the CEO position. They can have it. I worked myself to the bone for that title, day and night. I’ve had enough. I don’t want the inheritance. I don’t want my parents. I don’t want any of it. It’s all meaningless…”