Chapter 6

Over the next few days, Nadine barely visited Silas. Even when she did, a few phone calls from Jason were enough to send her rushing off to his side.

Silas, meanwhile, simply occupied himself with his phone. He no longer let any of it get to him.

When he was finally discharged, Nadine came to pick him up, with Jason accompanying her.

Before Silas could say anything, Nadine took the initiative to explain herself.

"There's an annual dinner tonight. Jason still hasn't fully recovered, and I don't feel comfortable leaving him home alone, so I'm bringing him along with us."

Silas knew there was no point in refusing. He would be leaving this place tomorrow anyway, so he figured that there was no reason to argue over such a trivial matter.

Without saying a single word, he got into the car.

As soon as they arrived at the banquet hall, people began flocking to Nadine.

Silas disliked these kinds of occasions and hated crowded places, so he slipped away to a quiet corner. He looked through the property listings the real estate agent had sent him, picked out a house he liked, and transferred the deposit.

"Looks like you finally know your place. You've realized that you're the one who's no longer wanted, haven't you? Too bad you've figured it out too late."

Silas recognized the familiar, grating voice without even turning around.

It was Jason.

Silas locked his phone and stood up, intending to leave. The last thing he wanted now was to deal with Jason.

"Your mind's back to normal, isn't it?"

Silas froze.

"I know you've recovered," Jason continued. "You know everything now, which is why you've been trying to compete with me. But what's the point? Just look at who Nadine cares about. It's still me."

He walked up to Silas, a smug smile plastered across his face.

"Even if you deliberately pretended to be an idiot, she still didn't care about you. So tell me, Silas, what do you have left to fight me with?"

"Do I even need to fight you?"

Silas glanced at him, his gaze filled with disdain.

Jason's smile froze.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I couldn't care less," Silas shot back. "Nadine's just a woman. You're the one who's so desperate for a woman, and I'm not."

He shot Jason a dismissive look and turned to leave.

"You!" Jason was livid. "You think I don't know you're saying all this on purpose? If you really didn't care, why did you call Nadine when you had an allergic reaction that day? Weren't you just trying to make her feel sorry for you?

"I actually thought you were genuinely stupid. I didn't realize you were this good at playing mind games."

Silas thought this was going nowhere. He had no intention of staying to argue.

But the next second, Jason grabbed his hand.

Silas frowned. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Jason hissed. "If you won't leave on your own, I'll make Nadine kick you out herself and put an end to whatever tricks you've got up your sleeve!"

"Let go of me!"

Silas struggled to pull free, but Jason's grip was so strong that he couldn't break loose.

As Silas struggled with all his might, Jason suddenly released him. Silas stumbled backward, only to discover that a staircase lay directly behind him. Before he could react, he tumbled down the stairs.

Pain shot through his whole body.

Yet at that very moment, Jason deliberately threw himself down the stairs as well, gritting his teeth as he fell. His agonized scream soon echoed through the stairwell. His arm was sliced open in the fall, and blood ran down.

"It hurts…"

The guests around them erupted into uproar, cries of shock and alarm filling the banquet hall.

Nadine pushed through the crowd and rushed over almost immediately. She dropped to the floor and gathered Jason in her arms, her voice thick with panic and concern.

"Jason! Jason, are you alright? Someone call an ambulance! Hurry!

Jason's face had gone pale from the pain.

"Silas tried to kill me," he choked out, clutching Nadine's arm. "What do I do? I don't want to die…"

His voice broke, trembling with despair.

"You won't die. I'll take you to the hospital right now. You'll be alright."

Nadine had someone carry Jason and hurried out through the crowd. As she rushed past Silas, she even stepped on his hand, yet she didn't even notice.

From the beginning to the end, she never once spared him a glance.

Silas lay sprawled on the floor, watching them disappear into the distance. A bitter smile tugged at his lips.

Jason was right about one thing. What could he possibly do to compete with Jason?

He never stood a chance against Jason.