My First Love Died, Now My Step Uncle Wants Me-Chapter 116: The Money for Sleeping

Caleb Rhodes’s heart sank. That sharp, pulling pain began to spread from the depths of his heart once more.

He was silent for a long time. Stroking Nina Wynn’s hair, he said in a deep voice, "I didn’t know it was your hand..."

This Valorian Crown Prince, who had never uttered a single soft word in his life, fell silent again for a long while before speaking the first conciliatory words he had ever said. "It’s my fault!"

Nina Wynn let out a soft laugh, her downcast eyes sweeping over her gauze-wrapped hand.

Blood was still seeping through it.

That heart-piercing, bone-chilling pain was perhaps not the worst she had ever experienced in her life. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

But it made her feel that she had finally seen someone for who he truly was.

A man full of lies. A man who said he would give her everything, give her his affection, give her a future.

This was the man who had just been intimate with her, holding her so closely.

He had kissed her again and again, held her so tightly that his body trembled with excitement. His grip was so strong that she’d thought he wanted to fuse her into his very bones.

Back then, she’d thought he must have some feelings for her. She never expected that only moments later, she would be thrown back into the abyss.

Her life had always been cheap, but he shouldn’t have been the one to act as her executioner. And he certainly shouldn’t have indulged the woman he loved in delivering the final blow.

As for that stomp, it was Rosalind Lowell who did it, but it was Caleb Rhodes who allowed it.

’Just because his beloved showed up, did that give them the right to take out their anger on her and trample all over her?’

He was even more despicable than Rosalind Lowell!

’What am I to them?’

’A lowly pet? He can break my finger when he’s unhappy, and when his beloved arrives, she can stomp on it with all her might?’

’If Caleb Rhodes hadn’t authorized it, would anyone else have dared?’

’So why is he pretending to be a good person now?’

A bone-chilling coldness flashed in her eyes, but it vanished in a second.

She shook her head and chuckled softly. "It’s nothing, Uncle. It doesn’t hurt."

Caleb Rhodes looked at her lowered eyelashes and the faint smile on her lips, finding the sight incredibly jarring.

’Doesn’t hurt?’

’How could it not hurt?’

When they were intimate, if he used a little too much force, she would beg for mercy in pain.

Now, she was saying a broken finger didn’t hurt at all.

’Is she trying to punish me this way?’

Caleb Rhodes’s hand slowly clenched into a fist, the veins on it faintly visible.

A moment later, it relaxed again.

He looked at the bangs gently swaying on her forehead. His eyes were dark and his voice was cold. "It’s my fault. You can have whatever you want as compensation."

’Compensation?’

Nina Wynn smiled, the dimples at the corners of her lips faintly visible. "What will you compensate me with, Uncle?"

Looking at her like this, Caleb Rhodes felt as if she were drifting away from him.

A surge of turmoil roiled in his chest. A powerful rage was suppressed there, unable to be released, yet impossible to push down.

He looked at her and said in a low voice, "What do you want?"

’She can have anything she wants,’ he thought, ’except for one thing. She can’t have any thoughts of leaving.’

Nina Wynn sighed softly, looked at Caleb Rhodes, and said gently, "Uncle, I already said it doesn’t hurt. You don’t have to be like this. I don’t want any compensation. It wasn’t your fault."

Caleb Rhodes stared at her grimly, his gaze sharp, as if scrutinizing the truth in her words.

He was already tall and incredibly imposing. When he looked down at someone like this, he exuded a powerful, intimidating aura of authority.

Normally, Nina Wynn would have been afraid. She wouldn’t have dared to tell a single lie in front of him.

Of course, she was still afraid now.

Her fear of Caleb Rhodes seemed like a memory etched into her very DNA, a colossal shadow cast by his repeated acts of forceful seizure.

But her fear now felt different.

’The worst he can do is kill me,’ she thought. ’What more is there?’

Thinking of this, her heart didn’t feel so heavy anymore. It began to float upward, just like when Evan Chapman had just died, when she felt that nothing mattered anymore.

This feeling of not caring about anything wasn’t so bad, actually.

She lifted her head, looked at Caleb Rhodes, and met his eyes directly. "If you insist on compensating me, Uncle, then give me money."

Caleb Rhodes stared at her.

The same dark pupils, the same timid gaze, the same soft voice. And yet, he felt something was different.

His voice was cold and deep, betraying no emotion. "What does Nina want to buy?"

He didn’t want to give her money.

To him, any amount of money was just a number, but for Nina Wynn, he felt it was unsafe. Too much of it would lead to trouble.

The little thing dared to run around even without money. If she had money, he was sure she would find a way to disappear without a trace.

Nina Wynn seemed to sense Caleb Rhodes’s reluctance to give her money. She chuckled softly and said, "I want to buy some trinkets. Some things I don’t want to tell you and Miss Zimmerman about. I can have a little privacy of my own, right?"

The answer was practically flawless.

Caleb Rhodes’s gaze softened slightly. He stroked her hair. "How much does Nina want?"

Nina Wynn looked at him and said softly, "Five million."

Hugh Chapman’s surgery would cost between three and five million.

After all the years of beatings in the Rhodes Family, plus the price for sleeping with him, plus one finger... she felt five million wasn’t too much.

’It’s a bargain, really!’

An almost imperceptible frown creased Caleb Rhodes’s brow. He looked into her eyes and said lightly, "What does Nina need so much money for?"

Five million. With that, she could escape from here to any country in the world.

She could even change her name and live out her life in some unknown place!

Nina Wynn lowered her eyelids, hiding the coldness in her gaze.

’Is that a lot?’

A single one of Crystal Rhodes’s cars costs more than that!

The few handbags she casually buys cost more than that!

A random piece of furniture in his house costs more than that.

’So in his eyes, I’m worthless too!’

’But no matter how worthless, I must be worth *something*.’

She lowered her voice and said softly, "One million. Is that okay?"

’That’s already very cheap. I hope he doesn’t try to haggle anymore.’

Caleb Rhodes was silent for a moment, then turned to Warner Zimmerman. "Open a card for Nina. Deposit five hundred thousand into it."

Although five hundred thousand was a small amount, he didn’t intend to let her control it completely. Each transaction would be capped at ten thousand. Anything over that would have to be reported to him!

Warner Zimmerman glanced up at Nina Wynn, his face still expressionless. "Yes, Third Lord Master!"

Nina Wynn hung her head and said nothing more.

’One million was already so low, and he cut it down to five hundred thousand!’

’He’s so rich, why is he so stingy and harsh with me?!’

’In his eyes, am I really so lowly, so humble, so worthless?’

’I heard that compensation for a work-related disability is around three or four hundred thousand. Is he compensating me according to workplace injury standards?’

’What a true capitalist, haggling with me over such a small amount. No wonder he’s so rich—it’s all from exploitation!’

After a moment’s thought, she decided to let it go. ’A workplace injury it is, then.’

’In his eyes, that’s probably all I’m worth!’

She raised her head, looking very happy, and gave him a soft smile. "Thank you, Uncle."