Five Years Wasted Now They Beg Her Back novel Chapter 319

Damien was silent.

After a long while, he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a black, slightly worn, old-fashioned voice recorder.

It was an ancient piece of tech from over a decade ago.

“I didn’t want to bring this out,” Damien said in a low voice. “Because for you, this might be another form of cruelty.”

Grace was taken aback. “What is this?”

“This is the last phone call your uncle made to my father, half an hour before he jumped.”

Damien pressed the play button.

After a crackle of static, the despairing yet resigned voice of a middle-aged man filled the room.

“Chairman Clarke… I was the one who misjudged people, who was too eager for quick success… I don’t blame the Clarke family for the acquisition. Business is war, and I accept my defeat completely.”

Grace sat up.

That was her uncle’s voice!

“I have sinned, and my death would be no great loss. But Chairman Clarke, I have one thing to ask of you… I’m a good judge of character, and though you are ruthless, you are a man of honor. My niece, Grace… she’s not treated well by the Hart family. After I’m gone, I beg you… to look after her in secret…”

“I’ve never begged anyone for anything in my life. I’ll give you my life in exchange for giving this child a chance…”

The recording stopped abruptly.

“This… this is fake… It can’t be…” Grace shook her head frantically, tears streaming down her face like broken pearls.

“It’s real.”

Damien looked at her, his eyes full of pity. “My father may be all business, but he never goes back on his word. Did you think the full-ride scholarship you had for three years in high school was really from the school? That was a special fund set up by the Clarke family. You were the only recipient.”

“Your university advisor wasn’t taking graduate students. Why do you think he suddenly made an exception for you? My father personally paid him a visit and donated a new laboratory building.”

“I was afraid that if you knew all this, you’d see it as charity. You have so much pride. You suffered so much with the Hart family. If you found out that even your achievements were paved by the Clarkes, you would have collapsed.”

“If it weren’t for this… if you weren’t trying to leave, I would have taken this secret to my grave.”

Grace cried so hard her body trembled. The wound on her shoulder split open, and blood seeped through the gauze, staining it red.

She felt like a joke.

She had hated for so long, run so far.

And for what?

The ones who truly harmed her were her so-called family, the Harts, and the man she had loved with all her heart, Ethan.

And the ones who had been silently protecting her were the Clarkes.

“Grace, please don’t cry…” Damien panicked and frantically pressed the call button for the nurse. “Your wound has reopened! Doctor! Doctor!”