"Why?" he asked, his eyes narrowed.

Because it was the only shred of dignity she had left. Although her dignity had been trampled on before and she was only beginning to piece together the broken fragments now, still… She did not want to be trampled on again.

"Because you're not the family that I want. For me, the current version of you can be the creditor that I'm indebted to, or you can be a boss lording over me, or you can just be a stranger, but you can never be my family!"

The word "family" had always been special to her, and it had always been something that she achingly yearned for ever since she was a child. That was precisely why she would never let the sacredness of this word be trampled on!

He scrutinized her with a piercing gaze. His eyes were filled with a coldness that cut through her like a blade. She endured every excruciating second of his stare and refused to avoid his eye contact, almost as if silently telling him that he would never become her family.

Jackson w