Chapter 187: Aren’t You Afraid I’ll Kill Her?
Leah Sinclair stared at her, at a loss for words. "...You’re insane."
"Yes, I am sick! And it’s all Asher Keating’s fault! I love him so much, but what does he do? He rejects me, again and again!"
"Seven years ago, I drugged him, and he chose to knock himself out rather than sleep with me! I tried to seduce him in the hot spring, and he nearly drowned me! Then, three years ago, you were the one who got lucky! Why?! Why won’t he sleep with me?!"
As she spoke, Madeline Sterling descended into a frenzy. As if unable to control herself, she began to moan and writhe, shouting toward the door, "Asher, come quick!"
Leah Sinclair saw someone walk in, and her pupils constricted. In an instant, she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.
He had a face identical to Asher Keating’s.
"See? See how much I love him? To be with him, to make him sleep with me, I spent so much time and energy finding this man, just to have him surgically altered to look exactly like Asher Keating."
Madeline Sterling cackled, tilting the man’s chin up to gaze at him as if admiring a perfect work of art.
Leah stared at the man before her, a perfect replica of Asher Keating, and felt her blood run cold. "Are you insane?"
Madeline seemed not to hear, merely stroking the man’s face and gazing at him with obsessive adoration. "Asher, do you love me?"
"Of course. You’re the one I love most."
After the man finished speaking, they crashed together in a kiss. He kissed Madeline aggressively, tearing at her clothes, while she clung to him tightly and ripped off his bathrobe.
Leah felt goosebumps erupt all over her skin. She shut her eyes, but the couple’s lewd sounds made her stomach churn with wave after wave of nausea, and she had to fight the urge to vomit.
"Leah Sinclair! Open your damn eyes! If you don’t, I’ll have him fuck you when we’re done!" Madeline shrieked when she saw Leah’s tightly shut eyelids.
Leah’s eyes snapped open. "Are you a sicko?"
"Ahhh... yes, I am a sicko! And you’re about to find out I can be even sicker!"
Madeline gave Leah a look, her face flush with arousal. She licked her lips, her eyes burning with desire and defiance.
"Asher! We’ve searched everywhere! All of the Sterling Family’s properties, the company, the basement partitions—we’ve checked them all. There’s no sign of them!"
Ethan Shaw ran over, drenched in sweat. Riley Sterling and Shawn Grant arrived as well, panting, confirming that they had also searched and found no one.
Asher Keating had just left the Sterling estate. Although Shawn Grant had told him Morgan Sterling wasn’t in the country, Asher had been uneasy and went to check for himself.
But aside from the servants and the bedridden Thomas Sterling, the only other person there was Jacqueline Vaughn, who seemed to be in a catatonic state. He slammed his fist on the car in frustration. If Madeline wasn’t at any of the Sterling properties, where could she have possibly gone to hide?
More than an hour had passed, and Asher was no closer to finding them. Madeline wouldn’t have gone somewhere unfamiliar after just returning, so she had to be somewhere in Riverfall.
"Sir! Tiana Vaughn broke. She admitted Madeline planted her. Madeline has been trying to meet with her for the past few days, but Tiana refused."
"She said... she’s genuinely fallen for you and wants to be with you. She doesn’t want to be under Madeline’s control anymore, so she has no idea where Madeline is now," Sean Yates reported to Asher, panting from the run.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Ethan Shaw, Riley Sterling, and Shawn Grant all stared at Asher, speechless. Seeing the dark expression on his face, the three of them didn’t dare to say another word.
Asher was radiating a suppressed, violent energy. He hadn’t exploded yet, but they all knew he was just holding it in. He couldn’t afford to break down before he found Leah.
Just as the men were discussing their next move, Asher’s phone rang. It was an unknown number. He answered it immediately. On the other end was Madeline’s lilting, trembling voice, intertwined with a man’s heavy panting.
Asher fought back his nausea. "Did you call me just so I could listen to this?"
Madeline let out a flirtatious laugh. "Asher, are you looking for Leah?"
Just as Asher was about to respond, he heard Leah’s voice on the line—quiet, but firm. "Madeline Sterling, Asher Keating doesn’t like me anymore. What’s the point of calling him?"
’Leah wouldn’t say something like that for no reason.’ He frowned, pressing his lips together and holding his tongue.
"Shut up!"
Madeline, not expecting Leah to speak, flew into a rage. She shoved the man off her, strode over to Leah, and slapped her hard across the face. "Did I give you permission to speak? Bitch!"
The slap sent Leah’s head whipping to the side, and a fresh wave of dizziness washed over her. "You tied me up, brought me to *this place*, and found this man... Are you trying to change what happened between you and Asher three years ago?"
"Too bad you kidnapped the wrong person. Like you said, he’s fallen for someone else. He doesn’t care about you, and he won’t care about me! What’s the difference between me now and you three years ago?"
’Right, the person Asher likes now... it’s Tiana Vaughn, isn’t it? The same Tiana Vaughn I personally planted by his side!’
She yelled furiously into the phone, "Asher Keating! Tell me, who is it you like now?"
When Asher heard Leah’s words just now, his brow furrowed. He knew she was trying to pass him a message.
As his mind raced to decipher the meaning behind Leah’s words, he replied coolly, "Who I like has nothing to do with either of you, does it?"
’Three years ago... this place... change...’
In a flash of insight, Asher realized something. He motioned for Ethan Shaw to hand him a phone.
Taking the phone, he quickly typed a message: "Check the G&S Hotel. Start with the room where I was drugged three years ago."
"!!!"
Ethan and the others were stunned but dared not make a sound. The group quickly began moving out. The call was still active, so they didn’t dare start their cars, afraid the noise would alert Madeline.
They could only quickly gather around the cars. Shawn Grant stepped aside to call Nathan Grant, telling him to arrange for people to start the search.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Madeline suddenly erupted into manic laughter on the other end of the line. "Asher, you truly are cruel. Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill her?"
Asher’s heart sank. He gripped his phone tightly, forcing his tone to remain steady. "As we were once friends, let me give you a piece of advice. Don’t forget, she’s part of the Grant family now."
"Killing her will have no effect on me. But for you and the Sterling Family? That’s another story. If Aunt Mabel finds out, she’ll hunt you to the ends of the earth."
Madeline fell silent. She knew the Grant family had that kind of power. That’s why her original plan hadn’t involved kidnapping Leah at all. She had only wanted Tiana Vaughn to get close to Asher and make him fall for her.
That way, she could watch Leah suffer the same pain she once had, and through Tiana, she could finally get her hooks into Asher.
But she hadn’t expected Tiana to try and break free from her control. Not only did she refuse to meet, but she even claimed that she had genuinely fallen for Asher, and that he liked her back.
Madeline still had her doubts about Asher’s feelings, but Tiana was completely out of her control. So, she changed the plan and kidnapped Leah. She was sure that with Leah in her hands, Asher would come running for her sake.
Asher was her obsession, an addiction she couldn’t kick. She wanted to sleep with him, and she’d kidnapped Leah to force his hand. But she’d never imagined he would seem to genuinely not care about Leah anymore.
’No, that’s not right!’
"You’re lying to me!"