On a July night, the rain poured relentlessly, and the thunder rumbled in the distance.
A Bentley Mulsanne slowly drove through the downpour.
Suddenly, a figure rushed out madly, blocking the car's path. "Stop!"
In the next second, the tires screeched, water splashed, and the loud noise of brakes accompanied by friction filled the air—"Screech!"
Unfortunately, it was too late. Elena was knocked to the ground, her forehead scraped open, blood flowing down into her eyes, which was quickly washed away by the rain.
The car window rolled down, and the driver cursed angrily, "Are you trying to die?"
When he saw her face clearly, the driver's complexion turned pale.
He quickly turned to the backseat, his voice trembling with nervousness, "Sir, it's... it's Miss Elena!"
"Uncle!" Elena, disregarding everything, grabbed her suitcase and struggled to get up from the ground. She clung to the car window and urgently said, "Please inform Mr. Lucian for me, I need to see him urgently..."
"No."
The cold words came from the backseat, and in the next instant, the sound of rain drowned them out.
Elena had no time to distinguish the voice. Her eyes turned red with desperation, and she began frantically knocking on the window, "Mr. Lucian!"
"Please, help me! My brother has leukemia. The doctor says if we can't find a matching bone marrow for him, he won't survive for more than a month."
"Mr. Lucian, your bone marrow is the only thing that can save my brother. Please, my brother is still so young. I beg you, have mercy and save him."
The rain grew heavier, and the thunder roared.
Elena's body had already been soaked through by the rain, her eyes almost unable to open due to the water.
She had spoken too quickly, and the cold rainwater had rushed into her mouth, choking her lungs. The pain was intense.
"Cough! Cough!!"
She bent over, supporting herself on the car, coughing violently and painfully as if her lungs were about to be expelled. She kept knocking on the window, "Mr. Lucian, Mr. Lucian, please!"
"Miss Elena..." The driver relayed the message, "My boss says he's a businessman, not a philanthropist."
"I know! I know!" Tears streamed down her face with her cough, mixing with the rainwater. "Cough... so, I brought money!"
Elena hastily opened her suitcase, revealing stacks of pink RMB notes inside.
"This is five million. I know Mr. Lucian isn't lacking in money, but this is all I can offer. Please... Ah!"
Before she could finish, the back door of the car suddenly opened.
Unprepared, she staggered a few steps and almost fell backward. In the flash of a moment, a large hand reached out, grabbed her clothing, and pulled her forward with great force.
She felt dizzy and disoriented, and then most of her body collapsed into the leather seat, a faint, cold, and refreshing fragrance immediately invading her senses...
Realizing something, she looked up in surprise, only to meet a pair of familiar, cold, and indifferent eyes before she could even call his name.
And with that glance, the world seemed to fall into a heavy, suffocating silence.
In that moment, countless emotions surged within her—shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, and a heart-wrenching pain. "Lucian... Lucian..."
Shouting his name felt like she had used up all her strength.
"Miss Elena..."
His thin lips curled up slightly, and his cold voice was filled with endless mockery and sarcasm, "You came to beg me with my money, asking for help, in South City, no one knows how to do business better than you."
His words hit her like a thunderclap, heavy and overwhelming.
She felt pain, sharp and intense.
Five years had passed, and she thought the scar had long healed, that she had become strong enough, but when she saw him again, she realized how self-deceiving she had been.
Lucian, with just one glance, made her crumble.
Pain, excruciating pain.
"It's not... not like this..."
The pouring rain made it hard for Elena to keep her eyes open.
A bolt of lightning cracked across the sky.
The deafening thunder snapped her back to her senses. She remembered the real reason she came to find him.
She had come to beg Lucian for bone marrow to save her brother.
Not to explain what happened five years ago, and certainly not to use this hard-earned opportunity to wallow in pain and sorrow.
She needed Lucian's bone marrow. Sean was still lying in the hospital, waiting for her to find a match to save him.
Her love and pride were nothing compared to her brother's life.
"Not like this? Then how?"
His tone turned cold, and even the mole at the corner of his eye seemed to gleam with a chilling light. "Don't tell me the five million in your hand wasn't the money you demanded from me after you climbed into my bed?"
"Lucian!" Elena clutched his wrist, suppressing the pain in her chest, her lips trembling as she spoke, "The past was all my fault. You can punish me however you want, but my brother is innocent..."
"My brother is still under eighteen. He's been lying in the hospital for three years. If he doesn't get the bone marrow, he won't survive another month. I can't just watch him die..."
Lucian curled his lips into a sneer, "Elena, whether your brother lives or dies, what does it have to do with me? Why should I give my bone marrow to save him? Just because I gave you five million?"
"To put it bluntly, I'd rather he die."
Elena's eyes widened as she shouted, "Lucian!"
"Is this how you beg for help?"
"I was wrong, I was wrong!"
Elena closed her eyes in pain, "Lucian, I'll kneel and beg you right now. Please, just for the sake of us once being neighbors, don't hold it against me, and save my brother!"
What was dignity?
She didn't care about it, she didn't want it. All she wanted was for Sean to survive.
When she bent her knees, Lucian's cold, narrow eyes narrowed sharply. A rush of anger surged within him, and the next second, he forcefully pushed her out of the car.
Elena was thrown violently out, her body crashing onto the rain-soaked asphalt. Her knees and elbows scraped against the rough ground, drawing blood.
Ignoring the pain, she pushed herself up with her hands, "Lucian..."
The car door slammed shut.
At the same time, the Bentley's window opened a crack, and a suitcase was thrown out, hitting her with a thud.
The papers flew in the air, accompanied by the man's disdainful voice, "Dirty..."
The banknotes were scattered in the rain.
With the roar of the engine, the Bentley Mulsanne sped off.
Click—