Chapter 246: The Room Card Under the Wine Glass

Jane Lancaster came out of the restroom and looked up to see a person standing in the hallway.

The man, dressed in a black suit, was standing in a corner, clearly waiting for her.

’It really is him. Couldn’t even wait to track me down, huh?’

Jane understood what was happening but ignored him, walking past without a glance.

A flash of anger crossed Gordon Dawson’s eyes. "Stop!"

He had specifically avoided Pauline Shaw to give Jane one last chance, but now it seemed she was just deliberately toying with him.

Jane Lancaster stopped. "The banquet is almost over. Aren’t you leaving?"

"Did you get together with Jasper Sterling?" Gordon Dawson asked through gritted teeth.

That had to be the only reason she would suddenly change her mind.

He refused to believe her previous admiration had been fake, and even less that she hadn’t been moved by him.

Jane Lancaster turned back. "Yes. He likes me, and us together is a true powerhouse alliance. So don’t come looking for me anymore."

Gordon Dawson: "Aren’t you afraid Jasper Sterling is just using you to get to Caleb Lowell..."

Jane Lancaster laughed contemptuously. "Are you wagging your tail and begging me right now?"

Gordon Dawson stopped short, his gaze turning sinister as he looked at her.

"Since you’re so eager to be my dog, I suppose I could..." Before Jane Lancaster could finish, he had already turned and walked away.

Jane Lancaster sighed.

"Oh, Sys. You see? I tried to seduce him, but he wasn’t willing. He firmly rejected me, leaving me with egg on my face. Pauline Shaw should be making her entrance right about now. Where is she? It seems she didn’t show up? What a real shame!"

Sys: ’...’

’You call *that* seduction? Why do you think Gordon Dawson left? He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from hitting a woman!’

——

It was late at night. Shawn Sutton wanted to find his friend so they could leave, but he couldn’t find him anywhere.

He made a call, but it just rang and rang until it disconnected. No one answered.

The manor was far from the city, so you couldn’t even hail a cab. If he didn’t leave soon, where would he sleep tonight?

Anxious, he kept his head down, dialing his friend’s number over and over. It wasn’t until the ninth call that someone finally picked up.

"What do you want? Are you trying to hound me to death? Don’t you know when to stop?" the person on the other end complained angrily the moment the call connected.

"..." Shawn Sutton bit back his anger. "Where are you? We should go."

"What? You’re leaving?" The voice on the other end chuckled. "I thought you were planning to stay the night. Haven’t you hooked a rich patron yet? That doesn’t seem like you, with your skills."

Shawn Sutton’s face was devoid of expression. "We had an agreement when we came. You brought me here, so you were responsible for taking me home. Did you eat your own words?"

"What’s with your tone?" the person on the other end said, annoyed. "I called for you when I was leaving. You didn’t respond, so we left. Who’s to blame for that?"

Great. Shawn Sutton instantly clenched his fists. He would remember this bastard.

"First of all, I’m certain you didn’t call for me. Second, you’re a bastard!" He spoke rapidly, cutting the other person off several times. "I used to think you were just ugly on the outside, but I didn’t realize you were even uglier on the inside. Did you corner the market on all the world’s ugliness? Someone like you trying to sell yourself for a good price? You think you can? No one would even take you for free. It’s not like people have a fetish for ugliness."

The person on the other end was about to lose their mind. "Shawn Sutton!"

"Don’t call me daddy, you worthless trash!" Shawn Sutton said, then hung up and blocked the number in one smooth motion.

That’s how you win an argument: overwhelm them with sheer force of will and don’t give them a chance to curse back.

This way, the other guy would be the one stewing in anger all night.

But that brought up a new problem. He’d had the satisfaction of yelling at him, but what now?

Shawn Sutton turned to look out at the vast darkness beyond the manor. He gritted his teeth. If worst came to worst, he could just walk slowly down the mountain road.

"Sir, this wine is from a lady," a voice said from beside him.

Shawn Sutton looked up at the waiter in front of him. His gaze fell on the room key card tucked under the wine glass, and his pupils contracted.

His heart started pounding. He asked in a hoarse voice, "Which lady?"

The waiter pointed to the second floor and said with a smile, "Why don’t you drink the wine first?"

Shawn Sutton’s mind was in turmoil. He picked up the glass, downed it in one go, and asked urgently, "Quick, tell me, is it..."

Just thinking of her brought an unconscious smile to his lips. He was so happy. It turned out she wasn’t completely indifferent to him after all.

The waiter gave a meaningful smile and pressed the key card into his hand. "Enjoy your evening. Miss Lancaster is waiting for you."

With that, he took his tray and left quickly.

He didn’t notice that the man he left behind looked as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head, snapping him back to reality.

’It’s not Beverly Lynch?’ ’That’s right, she didn’t even attend the banquet tonight.’

Shawn Sutton clutched the key card, hesitating.

If someone had told him before *that day* that Jane Lancaster wanted to hook up with him, he might have indulged in some unrealistic fantasies. But after that day, he had completely given up the idea.

Jane Lancaster genuinely looked down on him. Her comment about him being "greasy and pretentious" had been serious.

He had previously built up a persona in front of Beverly Lynch as a sharp-tongued expert at spotting manipulative women, and that was, of course, because he had a brain.

’Is this key card really from Jane Lancaster? Or rather, did she personally authorize it to be given to me?’

He smelled a conspiracy. What was worse, he felt his body growing hotter and hotter, and his head was starting to feel groggy...

’Holy shit! There really was something wrong with that wine!’

His steps were unsteady, and he stumbled sideways, only to be caught by a waiter.

The waiter picked up the key card that had fallen to the floor. "Sir, let me escort you back to your room."

The guest mumbled a few words, but his voice was too soft for the waiter to understand.

It was a wine tasting event, so the air was thick with the smell of alcohol. The guest’s flushed face and unsteady gait were perfectly consistent with the symptoms of being drunk.

But since he had a key card, it was simple enough. The waiter just had to take him back to his room.

——

Jane Lancaster drank quite a bit of wine that evening.

Since it was a tasting event, the host had prepared a wide variety of wines, all of them fine vintages soon to be released on the market.

Two of the wines were targeted at the high-end market. Their taste was superb, and it was obvious that once they were launched, the wealthy would be scrambling to buy them, making them nearly impossible to find.

Many wine lovers couldn’t help but overindulge, and some were already showing faint signs of intoxication.

Jane Lancaster’s cheeks were flushed as if she were already drunk, but the moment the wine touched her lips, she sensed something was wrong.

Something had been added to it.

She smiled silently and downed the wine in one gulp.

——

In a corner, a pair of sinister eyes stared unblinkingly at Jane Lancaster. Seeing her drink the entire glass of wine, the observer broke into a satisfied smile.

Pauline Shaw saw the look in his eyes, and her own eyelid twitched. "Young, there was something wrong with that wine, wasn’t there?"

Gordon Dawson: "Of course not. You’re overthinking things."

Seeing her stare at him, he sighed. "I can’t hide it from you. I just switched it for something with a higher alcohol content. Didn’t you say she can hold her liquor? I just wanted to add a bit of a catalyst."

Pauline Shaw frowned. "But..."

"Look at her. See? She’s perfectly fine, isn’t she?" Gordon Dawson gestured for her to look. "Does she look drunk to you when she walks?"