“You spent months making fun of her for being poor.”
“So did you,” Jasmine reminded her.
Natasha’s face tightened.
Jasmine did not rescue her from the discomfort.
Natasha had knowingly participated in the humiliation.
She had entered Jasmine’s home, used her things, mocked her clothes and openly carried on with her husband.
Discovering that Jasmine was wealthy did not erase any of that.
It merely exposed what Natasha’s respect had been based on.
Natasha left without saying goodbye.
Sebastian started after her.
Then he stopped.
He looked at the black folder again.
For the first time all evening, Jasmine saw the calculation begin in him too.
She hated how predictable it was.
His anger softened.
His shoulders dropped.
“Jasmine.”
She already knew what was coming.
“We can fix this.”
Ten years earlier, those words might have broken her.
Now they almost bored her.
“What exactly do you want to fix?” she asked.
He stepped closer.
“Us.”
“Why?”
“Because I love you.”
Jasmine looked at the attorney.
Even he lowered his eyes.
Then she looked back at Sebastian.
“You told me I was broken.”
“I was frustrated.”
“You said you deserved better.”
“I didn’t mean it.”
“You brought another woman into our home.”
Sebastian ran a hand through his hair.
“I made mistakes.”
“You told me she could give you what I couldn’t.”
He flinched.
Jasmine had spent years imagining the perfect speech for this moment.
She had pictured herself making Sebastian understand exactly how deeply he had hurt her.
Standing there, she realized she no longer needed him to understand.
That was the real change.
“I believed losing the baby was the worst thing that could happen to me,” Jasmine said quietly.
“Then I came home and learned the people around me could look at my grief and use it as another weapon.
I stayed much longer than I should have.
That belongs to me.
But what you chose to do while I stayed belongs to you.”
Sebastian’s eyes dropped.
Patricia began crying.
Jasmine did not know whether the tears came from remorse or fear of losing access to the daughter-in-law she had just learned was a billionaire.
She no longer needed to determine which.
Her attorney closed the inheritance folder.
The money had done something Jasmine’s grandfather hoped it would never need to do.
It had revealed character simply by remaining invisible.
Sebastian had spent years assuming financial power belonged to him because he earned more than his wife.
Patricia treated Jasmine like a servant because she thought Jasmine lacked status.
