Chapter 211: Why the Nosebleed Again?
Sophie Shaw nodded emphatically.
"We’re not getting a divorce." The man looked down at her, a mix of anger and exasperation in his voice. "Remember, the next time someone comes to provoke you, you act like the lady of the house."
"I will."
"You really will?"
Sophie nodded again.
But Alaric Blackwood was still worried. He realized that all those years of oppression under the Kane Family had molded her personality.
She never fought or vied for anything, accustomed to enduring and escaping, using silence as a shield for everything.
He wanted to help her let her true nature out.
"Honey, you’re actually an amazing person."
So amazing that even Yuri had his eye on you.
That man never gave women a second glance, yet he’d set his sights on Sophie.
Even though he knew Yuri was approaching Sophie partly to deliberately piss him off, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that Yuri was genuinely interested in her.
"Don’t suppress yourself. You can tell me anything. What do you think you have a mouth for?"
Alaric’s expression was stern and serious, which made Sophie’s own expression turn solemn.
"I... I heard that you saved Shayla Zane at a bar, and when you ran into her abroad, you took very good care of her. Is that true?"
She finally voiced the question that had been weighing on her mind.
Hearing her words, Alaric secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
At least she was asking. She wasn’t bottling up her worries anymore.
"Yes."
He shifted to sit up against the headboard, and with a sweep of his long arm, he picked Sophie up sideways and placed her on his lap.
Holding her, he explained everything about him and Shayla Zane from beginning to end.
"About three years ago, I went to a newly opened bar and ran into Shayla Zane there. She was alone, had too much to drink, and was being harassed by a few drunks. I helped her out and listened to her story. Her boyfriend was an exchange student from Unisia who had broken up with her before going back home. She was heartbroken and miserable. As it happened, I was heartbroken at the time, too."
Sophie froze. "You were heartbroken? You’ve been in a relationship before?"
"No, but I had a crush on someone, so I understood how she felt."
A sour feeling immediately washed over Sophie. ’The person Alaric had a crush on... was it me? Or his childhood friend, Vianne Kane?’
She didn’t say anything, letting Alaric continue. "After saving Shayla that night, I just thought of it as a minor incident. I never expected to run into her again after I went abroad. Coincidentally, she lived in the apartment right below mine, so we became neighbors. She would share homemade baked goods and tips on good food nearby, and we got to know each other over time. Not long after, she found out she was pregnant and decided to have the baby. The child was her ex’s. She had actually gotten pregnant before she left the country, but she didn’t know it at the time."
"And then?"
"Then she gave birth to Daniel. Her ex had already started a new life and didn’t want to acknowledge Daniel. She started drinking heavily and even tried to strangle Daniel. She was extremely unstable emotionally."
"So you were the one who helped her through that time?"
Alaric nodded honestly. "She was a single woman in a foreign country. As a fellow countryman, I couldn’t just ignore her. But nothing that shouldn’t have happened between us ever did. I told you, my first time, my first kiss, and my first night were all for you."
Sophie let out a long breath, finally feeling a bit more at ease.
"Then what about all those rumors about you?"
"The part about hitting bars and flirting with girls is true, but I have my limits. If you don’t believe me, ask Evan Ford. Ask him if I’ve ever taken a woman to a hotel room."
Without a second thought, Sophie immediately reached for her phone to call Evan Ford.
Alaric made no move to stop her. He wanted his name cleared.
However, before the call connected, Sophie put her phone back down. She wanted to trust Alaric this one time, to not learn about the man in front of her from someone else’s mouth.
"Not going to ask?"
Sophie shook her head. "This time, I choose to believe you."
The tension in Alaric’s nerves completely dissipated. He felt like setting off fireworks and beating gongs and drums.
"It’s not easy getting you to cheer up."
He gave a helpless smile and pulled her tightly into his arms. Looking at Sophie’s slightly flushed face, he was just about to kiss her when he saw two trickles of blood run from her nose.
Sophie realized what was happening and quickly raised a hand to wipe it away, but he caught her wrist.
He reached over to the nightstand, pulled out a tissue, and helped her wipe away the nosebleed.
"Why is your nose bleeding again?"
"I don’t know. Maybe it’s the dry air."
The winters in the north were very dry, which could easily cause things like this.
Without another word, Alaric ordered two humidifiers on his phone.
Same-day delivery; they would arrive by evening.
Of the two humidifiers, one was placed in the living room and the other in the master bedroom on the second floor.
While Alaric was setting up the humidifiers, Sophie went into the bathroom and filled the tub with warm water.
She took off her clothes and slipped into the tub. A moment later, Alaric came in.
The man didn’t say a word. He stripped off his clothes, stepped into the tub with a long stride, and pulled her into his embrace.
SPLASH! A good amount of water overflowed from the tub.
"Why didn’t you call me for your bath?"
He held her tight, teasingly kissing her earlobe.
"As a full-service husband, I’d be more than happy to help my wife wash her back."
Sophie’s cheeks were flushed from the steam as she let Alaric hold her from behind, kissing her without restraint.
...
After an hour in the bathroom, Sophie’s bones felt like jelly, her legs weak.
Alaric wrapped her in a bath towel, scooped her up by the waist, and tossed her onto the large bed in the bedroom.
"Honey, let’s continue."
"Can’t you show a little restraint?"
"Restraint for what? Tomorrow’s Sunday. No work."
After getting married, Alaric’s favorite day was Friday, followed by the weekend.
Lawson had finished making dinner but didn’t dare go upstairs to disturb the couple when they didn’t come down.
Around nine o’clock, Alaric carried Sophie downstairs.
He didn’t bother Lawson, personally reheating dinner and bringing two servings to the dining table.
Sophie, completely worn out by him, propped her chin on one hand and ate her dinner listlessly, occasionally glancing at Alaric, who had a great appetite. "By the way, have you contacted Garland? Is there any news about him?"
Sophie’s question made Alaric suddenly remember that he hadn’t been able to get through to Jaden all day.
After dinner, he carried Sophie back to their room upstairs, picked up the phone from the nightstand, and dialed Jaden’s number again. It still wouldn’t go through.
He had no choice but to dial Stella Yarrow’s number.
"Has Jaden come home?"
Stella Yarrow’s sobbing, hysterical voice came through the receiver. "No, I can’t reach him."
"Have you called Officer Young?"
"Not yet. Mr. Blackwood, do you think something really happened to Jaden?"
Alaric wasn’t sure, but the fact that he was unreachable was definitely a bad sign.
"I’ll contact Officer Young."
"Mr. Blackwood, was Jaden taken by the masked man? I’m a little scared. Can you come over?"
Alaric hung up the phone directly.
He dialed Officer Young’s number. "Jaden’s missing..."
That night, the police urgently opened a case.
News of Jaden’s disappearance soon reached Nina Halloway’s ears.
Nina Halloway received a call from Officer Young and learned that Jaden had vanished after leaving Mrs. Ford’s birthday party the previous night.
She immediately thought of the masked man, and Leon Grant’s face flashed through her mind.
’It has to be him, right?’
She had always suspected him, and so did the police.
She glanced at the time on her phone—it was almost ten. The thought that Leon Grant lived in the same residential complex, very close by, made her climb out of bed. She threw on a thick coat, put on a hat and a mask, and quietly left her apartment.