On the soft bed, Megan lay exhausted.
Her cheeks were flushed, her breath unsteady, a look of deep satisfaction resting in her eyes.
She gazed at Jason Carter, eyes warm and enchanting.
Megan had chosen Jason primarily to enter the wealthy world — but only now did she discover that even without the idea of becoming wealthy, simply being with him brought her joy she had never imagined.This man was simply too perfect.
Megan: Favorability +2.
Jason stretched lazily and smiled, "Good thing I didn't buy an apartment."
Megan blinked and laughed softly, her voice carrying a hint of teasing gentleness."Why do you say that, Junior?"
Jason smirked."The way you were screaming just now — if we were in an apartment, the whole building would've heard. A villa is much better. No neighbors to disturb."
Megan's face instantly reddened.She shot him a charming, flustered glare.
Jason brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear."Senior, you still haven't answered what you think of the villa."
Megan, still leaning lazily against him, traced circles lightly across his chest with her fingertip."A villa worth over fifteen million… is there really anything I could even say? If you like it, then I like it."
Jason looked into her eyes."It's for you, Senior. So of course you have to like it."
Megan froze.
She slowly sat up, expression serious, her heart pounding."Jason… are you serious?"
"Of course," Jason answered easily."From now on, you are the mistress here. No other woman enters this villa without your permission — except my mother."
Megan stared at him, stunned.
She had known Jason gave Holly Larson a mansion in Bayshore, and she hoped she might one day receive something similar…but she never imagined it would happen this quickly.
She didn't answer with words — she simply threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply, pouring all her emotion into the kiss.
Megan: Favorability +2.
The Next Morning
Jason faintly heard a soft electronic chime in his mind:
"Opportunity detected near Quinn.Please assist Quinn in seizing this opportunity.If captured, the declining Quinn Family can rise again."
He was half asleep, brain slow to react —then suddenly, he sat up straight.
He opened the system panel.
It had been weeks since the Opportunity function was unlocked.It had been available for several girls — Quinn, Holly, Mia, and Megan —but this was the first time an opportunity actually triggered.
Jason's eyes sharpened with interest.
After the incident with Quinn and Ivan, Jason had long since lost emotional interest in her.He was no longer the kind of man who would suffer for others.He didn't need to "help" Quinn at all.
The system said that in the original fate trajectory, Quinn would miss this opportunity —which meant he could take it instead.
He glanced at Megan sleeping soundly beside him.He didn't wake her.
He quietly got dressed, washed up, and called Olivia:
"Prepare the car. We're heading out."
He left the villa silently — the morning sunlight spilling across Silvercrest Lake.
Half an hour later, Jason Carter arrived at a private Heritage & Collectors Club in Fengridge District, where the system-detected opportunity was located.
To avoid affecting how the opportunity naturally unfolded, Jason deliberately kept a low profile, coming only in his Maybach S680, without announcing his name.
Olivia had already prepared a very ordinary, credible background for him — a mid-tier private investor with an interest in antique collectibles.That was enough to pass the club's identity check.
The interior of the club was styled in warm mahogany and soft amber light — quiet, refined, steeped in old-money acoustics.Vintage jazz played softly beneath the murmur of cultured conversation.
Groups of collectors and heirs gathered around low tables, sipping tea and whiskey, talking about hand-polished agate bracelets, vintage prayer beads, and antique jade thumb rings.They were waiting for the private Wenwan auction to begin.
Jason and Olivia took seats in a quiet corner, intentionally drawing no attention.
Across the room, Quinn sat beside her father, aunt, and her cousin Shelly.She wasn't interested in collectible culture; she had just come to keep them company.
But she couldn't focus.Her thoughts were knotted around Jason and how distant he had become recently.The coldness.The quiet avoidance.The slow withdrawal.
And the Depression in her chest had only deepened.
Then her eyes drifted — and froze.
Across the room, leaning back casually in the corner, was Jason Carter.
Her heartbeat skipped.
For a moment — she even felt relief.An irrational surge of maybe this is fate.She almost called out to him.
But then — she remembered how cold he had been lately.
Her fingers clenched in her lap.
She didn't dare.
Shelly, her cousin, noticed her reaction.Her lips curved knowingly.
"…Babe, that's him, right? The one you're hung up on?"
Quinn's face flushed instantly.She shook her head, but the movement was weak — and her eyes were already dimmed.
Shelly's friend Alice followed her gaze — and recognized Jason — her expression changing.
"Is something wrong between you two?" Shelly asked gently.
Quinn lowered her head. "We haven't… spoken well recently."
Shelly tapped her fingers lightly on the table, then said,
"Then tell me what happened. I'll tell you what's really going on."
Quinn hesitated — but Shelly had always been good at reading relationships.She didn't date frivolously; she simply had clarity, discernment, and the ability to keep control.
So Quinn told the full story.
The old crush / first love Ivan returning.Quinn agreeing to meet him once.Jason finding out afterward.Her attempt to explain.The shift in Jason's attitude.The distance.
When she finished, Shelly fell silent.
Then she exhaled a slow, steady breath.
"…Quinn, you made a fatal move."
Quinn's heart nearly stopped.Even Alice froze.
Shelly continued:
"A man you used to have feelings for — now reappearing — and you went to meet him alone. Even if nothing happened, the meaning is extremely heavy."
"It's not about what you did. It's about what it implies."
Her tone was calm, but sharp enough to strike bone.
"Even ordinary boyfriends would be hurt by that. Some would fight. Some would break up. But Jason Carter—"
She tilted her head toward Jason, who was quietly drinking tea, posture elegant and composed.
"That is a man with ridiculous wealth, a flawless face, absurd charisma, and more women pursuing him than he could count if he had a hundred hands."
"He doesn't need to argue."
"He doesn't need to chase you for clarification."
"He just needs to feel even slightly disappointed."
"And then…"
Shelly snapped her fingers softly.
"…he simply stops reaching out.Stops prioritizing you.Stops caring."
"He becomes colder, and colder, and colder—until one day, you realize you're standing outside a world you used to be allowed to enter."
Her words fell like steady, inevitable hammer strikes.
Quinn's face drained of color.
Her breathing trembled.
Only now did she fully understand—
What she lost.
How deeply she had misstepped.
And how far away Jason now felt.
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