I’ll Marry His Rival and Burn His Empire to Ash Chapter 21

I’ll Marry His Rival and Burn His Empire to Ash Chapter 21

I said three days.

Ethan Blackwood didn’t need that long.

On the first day, the mortgage rights to the Devereaux family’s ancestral lands were acquired with extreme leverage by a newly established offshore company. Bank collection notices flew in like snow.

On the second day, the front page of the Charleston Post published an in-depth investigation into suspected financial fraud by the Devereaux family trust. The IRS called Jackson’s father directly at his hospital bed.

On the third day, all partner banks froze their credit lines simultaneously, cutting off the Devereaux family’s last source of cash flow.

On the morning of the fourth day, as the sun rose, the Devereaux name, which had been glorious in Charleston for a century, was officially bankrupt.

“Mrs. Blackwood… I mean, Miss Ava, she’s changed a lot,” the assistant said cautiously, looking around the devastated office.

Jackson sat behind the bare mahogany desk like a weathered statue. He shook his head, his voice terribly hoarse.

“No. It isn’t her fault.”

At last, he understood.

“I was wrong,” he whispered, as if confessing to himself. “I shouldn’t have done that while she was unconscious… especially when the accident happened because she saved me.”

The piercing sound of brakes and breaking glass felt like it had happened yesterday. Ava had shoved him out of the way, taking the hit herself. And while she was fighting for her life, he had brought another woman home.

“I always thought her coldness meant she didn’t care. It turns out… she had already decided to leave.” He gave a self-mocking tug at the corner of his mouth. “I really am hopelessly stupid.”

“Sir?”

“You can go,” Jackson said, standing. “There’s somewhere I need to be.”

The assistant looked troubled. “Sir, there’s one more thing. Savannah-Claire… she’s been making a scene at the police station, saying we framed her. And… she also said…”

The assistant took a deep breath.

“She said the child is your bargaining chip, your only heir. But sir, I have to tell you… that child is not yours.”

The air fell deathly silent.

The assistant didn’t dare look up.

But the expected rage never came. He only heard a calm sigh, almost one of relief.

“I know.”

The assistant snapped his head up, shocked.

Jackson looked out the window, his gaze empty. “After I sent her to the police station, I started to have my doubts. She had told too many lies. I had to know what, exactly, I had been fighting for.”

He turned his head, the smile on his face more painful than tears.

“I had a paternity test done. The result came back yesterday.”

He paused, then said each word as if tasting the final, bitter fruit of his absurdity.

“The child I ruined my marriage for, the child I hurt Ava for, the child I buried my entire family for… was never mine to begin with.”