Chapter 191: Won’t Even Think About It
He had been torn between telling her the truth and seizing the opportunity to play along, smoothly extricating himself from the affair.
Leah looked at him, her eyes full of hurt. "Even if I hadn’t gotten angry and broken up with you that day, you still would have gone home and asked me to fake a breakup, wouldn’t you?"
Asher froze. That was exactly what he had been planning. He had taken Leah to the Keating Group, an act he knew Tiana Vaughn would surely report to Madeline Sterling.
He hadn’t been able to resist bringing her along on the day of Nathan Grant’s wedding. Honestly, after more than three years apart, he never wanted to let Leah go again.
But after Leah’s confrontation with Tiana Vaughn that day, he’d had second thoughts. He felt he had been too impulsive and decided he should talk it over with Leah when they got home. His plan was for them to stage a breakup until he could find Madeline Sterling and resolve everything. Only then would they reconcile.
When Leah had suddenly broken up with him, he had almost blurted out the truth right then and there. But he bit his tongue, held back, and didn’t try to stop her.
’This way was better, anyway. Leah’s pain would be more convincing, and Tiana Vaughn would be more likely to believe they had truly broken up.’
Sighing, Asher pulled her back into his arms. "Never again. I won’t even consider it, whether it’s a real breakup or a fake one."
’He couldn’t bear to see Leah in pain. He knew that even a fake breakup would make her suffer.’
Leah murmured her assent, nestling into his embrace. A moment later, she looked up at him. "Asher, were the people following me your men? I noticed someone tailing me at the supermarket a while back. It scared me to death, but they didn’t seem like they were going to hurt me."
Asher grunted affirmatively, his voice growing cold. "I was worried something might happen to you. I just didn’t expect you to be taken right from under their noses. They can kiss their annual bonuses goodbye."
Leah quickly interjected, "You can’t blame them! I was the one who wasn’t careful enough. Please don’t cut their pay."
She recounted the story of her kidnapping. Asher listened in silence. Seeing his furrowed brow, Leah wanted to reach out and smooth it, but she forgot she was still hooked up to an IV. Blood instantly backed up into the tube. Asher quickly lowered her hand. "Fine, I won’t. Just don’t move around."
Leah murmured her agreement. Breathing in his reassuring scent, her eyelids grew heavy. Asher gave her a gentle kiss. "Get some sleep. We can discuss the details tomorrow when we have them over for dinner."
"Okay... Asher, you should go home."
"I’m not leaving. Just get some sleep."
Leah glanced at the companion bed beside hers. This was a VIP room, so the cot was fairly large. She didn’t protest further. The sedatives were still in her system, and she soon drifted off to sleep.
Once Asher heard her breathing even out, he carefully settled her back onto the bed. He walked over to adjust the IV drip speed, then reached for a cigarette before remembering he was in a hospital room. He sighed.
He couldn’t bear to let Leah out of his sight for a single second, so he forced himself to stay, holding the unlit cigarette under his nose and just smelling it.
His nerves had been stretched taut for so long, and he hadn’t slept well these past few days. Now, finally able to relax, Asher watched Leah sleeping peacefully in the bed and felt a wave of drowsiness wash over him.
He pulled out his phone and called Sean Yates. "Find out what Morgan Sterling is up to abroad. I want to know everything."
"Yes."
Sean Yates didn’t dare get on his bad side right now; the fewer words spoken, the better.
The next day, after the doctor examined Leah again and confirmed she was fine, Asher finally took her back to the villa in Silverwood.
When he got out of the car and moved to carry her, Leah looked at him, embarrassed. "I can walk on my own. You carried me all through the hospital, and it’s not like I hurt my legs."
"You have two choices: I carry you, or I give you a piggyback." Asher gave her a mischievous look. In the end, Leah let him carry her inside.
After setting her down on the bed, Asher said, "Get some rest. I invited Ethan Shaw and the others over for dinner tonight."
"Oh? Who’s cooking?"
"Don’t worry, my mom will send someone over. You just focus on resting up here for a while."
"Huh? Is that okay? I could just go back to Nash’s place." Leah felt it wasn’t quite right.
"Don’t even think about it."
Asher pinched her cheek, then gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "If you’re not comfortable here, we’ll go back to Europa Gardens once you’re all better."
That reminded him of how Leah had threatened to smash the place if he dared give the Europa Gardens house to Tiana Vaughn. His eyes crinkled with amusement. "Why can’t I give the house at Europa Gardens to someone else?"
"What do you think?" Leah gave him a look that said, ’You know perfectly well why,’ pouting playfully.
Her playful pout made his heart skip a beat. He leaned in and captured her lips in a kiss, and Leah wrapped her arms around his neck, responding eagerly. As they were lost in the kiss, a voice suddenly called out, "Young Master..."
Leah panicked and quickly pushed him away. A woman who looked to be in her fifties was standing in the doorway—likely the person Ruth Hughes had sent. The woman clearly hadn’t expected to walk in on such a scene and stood there awkwardly. Leah’s face instantly flushed crimson.
Asher, on the other hand, stood up, his expression perfectly composed. "Yes. This is the Young Madam. She needs to rest and recover for a while. Just buy anything she needs."
"Yes, Young Madam," Mrs. Lowell replied at once with a smile. "The Madam sent me to look after you. You can call me Mrs. Lowell. I’ll be taking care of your meals and daily needs for the time being. Please let me know if you have any dietary restrictions or any other requests."
Being called "Young Madam" made Leah’s face turn as red as a tomato. "I... You don’t have to be so formal."
"It is my duty, Young Madam."
Seeing that Leah’s face looked like it was about to let off steam, Asher smiled and dismissed Mrs. Lowell.
"Getting this flustered?" he chuckled, pinching her cheek.
Leah buried her face in his chest. "We’re not even officially married yet."
"We can go this afternoon."
...
’Getting married to Leah wouldn’t be that simple,’ he thought. ’Mabel Grant would never hand over Leah’s household registration book so easily. Mabel was supposed to come to Riverfall, but she was still abroad and hadn’t returned.’
’It’s a good thing she isn’t in the country and doesn’t know what’s happened these past few days. Otherwise, knowing Mabel’s personality, forget about the household registration; she probably wouldn’t even let me see Leah.’ The thought gave Asher a headache.
He went to take a shower. When he came out, he found Leah had fallen asleep again. He walked over, gave her a light kiss, then sat down at the desk beside the bed, opened his laptop, and began to work.
Leah’s sleep was restless. Her dreams were a chaotic nightmare, her mind tormented by a shifting collage of faces: one moment Asher’s, the next Madeline Sterling’s, and then Tiana Vaughn’s.
Her distress grew as she slept, and she began to mumble, "Stay away... No..." Asher, who had been reviewing some files, noticed her stirring and rushed over to hold and soothe her.
Leah didn’t wake, but she gradually calmed under Asher’s gentle caress. Tears welled in the corners of her eyes as she clutched his shirt. "Asher... don’t go."
A pang of heartache shot through Asher. He kissed the corner of her eye. "As long as you’re here, I’m not going anywhere."
Leah fell back into a deep sleep, but a chill settled in Asher’s heart. He hadn’t pressed her for details about what she’d endured over the past two days. But considering the environment she was in, the slap print on her face... he knew it couldn’t have been anything but awful.
Even if she hadn’t been physically violated, her psyche must have taken a serious blow. And on top of that, she had seen that man... Asher didn’t dare to imagine how long Leah had been forced to watch while Madeline Sterling made that disgusting call to him.