He Does Not Deserve My Devotion-Chapter 29: What Did I Do Wrong?

It all happened so fast that Nina Walsh had no time to react. She was still mid-sentence when the check was suddenly torn to pieces, fluttering to the ground like snowflakes.

The person who tore her check had vanished without a trace; she hadn’t even seen their face.

Nina Walsh squatted down in a daze and began to pick up the scraps of paper. The moment her fingers brushed against the ground, the last thread of hope in her heart snapped. Tears streamed down her face as if flooding from within, impossible to stop.

"Nina, don’t pick them up. Come on, I’ll get you out of here."

Michelle Quinn ran over and started pulling Nina Walsh away. She couldn’t let those debt collectors see Nina.

Sitting on the ground, Nina Walsh was crying her heart out. "Shelly, what did I do wrong? I finally managed to scrape the money together... who would just tear it up? Why is everyone working against me?"

Michelle Quinn hugged Nina Walsh and pulled her up from the ground, whispering in her ear, "Lemon, you’re exhausted. Come home with me and rest, okay? You’re pregnant. You can’t get hurt, and you can’t let anything happen to the baby."

At the mention of the ’baby,’ Nina Walsh seemed to regain some of her senses. She stood up, and Michelle Quinn immediately helped her forward. But after just a few steps, Nina stopped again, her eyes staring blankly at a car parked on the roadside ahead.

Jay Keane got out of the car, his expression stern as he produced a check.

"Miss Walsh, here is six million."

It was a sudden, hopeful turn of events. Michelle Quinn’s heart leaped with joy, but Nina Walsh was seething with rage. "He was the one who had my check torn up, wasn’t he?"

"Who wants his damn money? Get lost!" Nina Walsh roared.

Seeing her refusal, Jay Keane put the check away and returned to the car two hundred meters away, his face impassive.

"Mr. Sinclair, Miss Walsh somehow managed to get three million from Julian Sinclair."

Aiden Sinclair withdrew his check. "Drive. Back to the family estate."

...

Meanwhile, Nina Walsh’s tears suddenly stopped. Her heart felt as if it had been plunged into a cellar of ice, leaving her utterly numb, inside and out.

"Nina, snap out of it! We have to go, now!"

Michelle Quinn practically dragged Nina Walsh away. Any later and it would be too late. The debt collectors had already spotted Nina and were rushing out of Maelie.

Looking utterly soulless, Nina Walsh forced a bitter smile.

"I confess. I’m the one who put poison in the aromatherapy."

"Lemon? What are you talking about?" Michelle Quinn cut her off, stunned.

Nina Walsh pulled her hand free, turned, and walked toward the group of debt collectors, muttering,

"I’m willing to kneel and apologize."

...

The scorching sun hung high in the sky, and the entrance to Crestfall Hospital was as bustling as ever.

One of the debt collectors pointed to a window and ordered, "Ms. Jacobs doesn’t want to see you. Kneel here, facing southeast. Do it for two full hours, and the three million debt will be written off."

With a pained thud, Nina Walsh fell to her knees. The impact of her kneecaps on the concrete felt as if they had shattered.

Nina Walsh stared down at her own shadow on the pavement, feeling no pain, oblivious to the curious stares of passersby.

"Nina..."

Not far away, Michelle Quinn’s heart ached as she watched. To her fury, some men were restraining her, preventing her from going to Nina’s side.

"You’re going too far! You’re all just power-tripping scum!" Michelle Quinn screamed.

Upstairs in her hospital room, Clara Jacobs couldn’t hear the curses, but she could clearly see Nina Walsh kneeling beneath her window.

The sight of such a humiliation instantly soothed her long-suppressed frustration and swept away any lingering doubts she had about Aiden Sinclair.

’Aiden Sinclair doesn’t love Nina Walsh. If he did, how could he ever let her suffer such a disgrace?’

’But this isn’t enough,’ she thought. ’I want this woman’s reputation utterly destroyed. I want her to never again dare to show her face near Aiden Sinclair.’

Clara Jacobs sat up and casually pulled the IV needle from the back of her hand—it hadn’t even been properly inserted into a vein. She took her phone out of a drawer and called a familiar contact from the paparazzi.

"Buy a top trending spot for the woman kneeling at the hospital entrance. The nastier the story, the better. Money is no object."

...

At the hospital entrance, Nina Walsh had already been kneeling for an hour.

The midday October sun was still scorching hot. She was drenched in sweat, her clothes and hair clinging to her skin.

The crowd of onlookers was growing. They all held up their phones, swarming around Nina Walsh and relentlessly filming short videos.

"Hey, everyone, come and see! This is the homewrecker everyone’s talking about online! She seduced another woman’s fiancé, got caught by the fiancée herself, and still refused to admit it. She’s only kneeling and begging for forgiveness now that she has no other choice."

A man shoved his phone right in Nina Walsh’s face. "Come on, my friends, get a good look! This is the face of a mistress. So tell me, everyone, you think this woman’s a total slut or not?"

Nina Walsh’s ears were ringing. She tried to open her eyes, but the figures in front of her swayed and wobbled before they all flipped upside down.

Nina Walsh closed her eyes. When she opened them again, there was only darkness. Her body crumpled to the ground like a falling leaf.

"Lemon!"

"Let go of me! If anything happens to her, I swear I’ll risk everything to put you butchers in prison!"

Michelle Quinn violently threw off the hands restraining her and broke into a run toward Nina Walsh.

Just then, a figure burst out from a corner, beating her to it, and scooped up the woman on the ground before charging toward the hospital.