Chapter 196: Compared to Her, Are You Worthy?
CRASH!
Asher Keating grabbed a decorative object from the desk and threw it. It hit Tiana Vaughn squarely before falling to the floor with a loud shatter.
Tiana felt a sharp pain in her back. Her already pale face turned even whiter, and she was too frightened to say another word. Leah Sinclair glanced at the thrown object. It looked like a piece of jade, and a pang of pity for the object went through her.
Tiana trembled as she turned back to look. Asher’s gaze was murderous. "It’s not your place to judge her. Compare yourself to her? Are you even worthy?"
Leah sighed. She suddenly had no desire to argue with Tiana anymore. Asher called for Sean Yates to come in and take Tiana away.
As she was dragged to her feet, Tiana’s face was streaked with tears. She stared at Asher, unwilling to give up. "I made you soup, I cooked you porridge, I prepared your meals! Don’t you feel even the slightest bit of affection for me?"
Asher looked at her as if she were an idiot. "I should feel something just for that? Why don’t I just fall for my chef instead?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
After she was gone, Leah stood up and tried to pick up the pieces of what Asher had thrown. It was shattered, completely smashed to bits that were too small to even gather. She looked up, her expression pained, and asked, "How much did this cost?"
"I don’t remember."
Asher watched her expression. In the heat of the moment, he hadn’t paid attention to what he’d grabbed. Looking at it now, it seemed to be the paperweight his father had given him. ’How much was it again? Six hundred thousand or so?’
He walked over and pulled her up so she wouldn’t cut her hands. "It’s already broken. Broken pieces bring good luck, as they say."
Leah looked at him, speechless. Asher gently pinched her cheek and asked, "Are you tired?"
"Not tired. I’m not that weak. I feel much better today."
In truth, Leah still felt a little dizzy when she stood up, but she didn’t say anything, not wanting to worry him. She looked at Asher’s face and asked quizzically, "Asher, I’m curious too. What is it you like about me?"
"It’s definitely not because you cook for me,"
Asher said with an amused chuckle. He then pulled her into an embrace. "I don’t know when it started, when I began to have feelings for you. By the time I realized it, I was already in too deep to get out."
Then he asked, "What about you? What do you like about me?"
"Uhh..." Leah couldn’t quite put it into words.
"That I’m handsome? Have a good body? Good in bed?"
"...Can you please forget about that? It’s been so long, how do you still remember it so clearly?" Leah’s face flushed with embarrassment at his words.
Asher leaned in and kissed her, only letting go after a long moment. "I’ll remember it for a lifetime."
Leah’s face grew even redder. She ran over to grab her bag. "I’m going to have lunch with Sheila and Zion."
Asher clicked his tongue. ’Getting ditched again. I really shouldn’t have brought her to the company. The moment she’s here, I can’t even get a spot on her lunch schedule.’
Leah had just opened the door when she backed away from it. "Asher, I want to buy something."
Asher raised an eyebrow. "What do you want to buy? Is the second young miss of the Grant family short on cash?"
"I’m in a good mood. I want to go shopping. I want to... spend your money."
Leah’s eyes curved into crescents. Mabel Grant had given her two cards—one was a black card, and the other held an amount with an unknown number of zeros. But today, she just wanted to spend Asher’s money. After all, he had spent so much on Tiana before.
’Hmph, I’m not happy about that!’
"Show me some sincerity," Asher said, raising an eyebrow at her.
Leah walked to his side, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her lips against his. Asher held her waist with one hand and pressed the back of her head with the other, deepening the kiss.
He didn’t let go until her pale lips had turned a tempting, vibrant red. Kissed breathless, Leah’s eyes were slightly moist, and she looked at him like a doe-eyed little animal.
A corner of Asher’s mouth curled up as he took a card from his wallet and handed it to her. "The PIN is your birthday."
Leah took it with a surprised look. "When did you change the PIN?"
"Why do you care?"
"..."
’Fine, fine, fine. It’s your card, you’re the boss.’
Leah put the card away and asked casually, "How much is in it?"
"What? Are you planning to buy a building?"
"...Is there enough?"
"Yep."
"..."
Leah started to feel a pang of regret again. It was fair to say she had rarely taken the initiative to spend Asher’s money. The funds he had given her before were all saved away obediently.
Except for occasionally buying something expensive for Asher or a birthday gift for the old Mr. Keating, she hadn’t touched a single cent of it.
Today, she had acted on a whim, suddenly wanting to experience the thrill of swiping Asher’s card. She had assumed it would have a few hundred thousand on it at most, but his response implied there was enough to buy a building. A sense of guilt washed over her.
Asher could tell from her expression that she was conflicted again. He chuckled and pinched her cheek. "Go spend it. Your man has plenty of money."
This card was one Asher had prepared for Leah all along. During the three years she was abroad, he would transfer money into it whenever he thought of it. Now, even he didn’t know how much was in the account.
Still, it should be enough to buy a building. Besides, knowing Leah, she’d be pushing it to spend even fifty thousand, and more than half of that would probably be on things for him.
He knew how she had lived abroad for the past three years. Even though she was now the second young miss of the Grant family, she was still quite frugal with her spending. Fortunately, aside from meals and such, she didn’t have many other major expenses.
Every quarter, Mabel Grant would punctually buy clothes, bags, and other things and have them sent to her. Leah had told her many times that she couldn’t wear or use them all, but Mabel paid no mind, buying and sending things whenever the thought occurred to her.
Leah walked out with a pained expression on her face. After she left, the smile faded from Asher’s face. He sent a text to Edward Yates: "Release the announcement."
While Leah was having lunch with Sheila Hughes and Zion Sawyer, Zion let out a cry of surprise as he looked at his phone. "Quick, look at the main group chat! The President’s Office just sent out an announcement!"
"What announcement?" Sheila Hughes asked, puzzled. She took the phone, and after reading it, she too looked at Leah in shock.
Seeing them both staring at her, Leah asked strangely, "What’s wrong?"
Sheila handed her phone to Leah. Leah took it and saw a formal statement issued by the Keating Group a few minutes earlier.
The gist of it was about Tiana Vaughn. It stated that she had fabricated her identity and was originally a corporate spy planted in the Keating Group by a competitor to steal trade secrets.
Furthermore, during her employment, she had repeatedly abused her position to take kickbacks totaling hundreds of thousands of RMB, and had leaked company secrets to a competing firm on multiple occasions.
The company had already reported the matter to the police, and all further information would be subject to official police announcements. Given the gravity of the incident, the group hoped all employees would take this as a cautionary tale and prevent similar events from happening again.
"Wow, she’s really something else. I heard her salary wasn’t low, and President Keating treated her so well. How could she still take kickbacks? That’s just awful!" Zion said, his face full of indignation.
This was something Leah hadn’t expected either. Any lingering sympathy she had felt for Tiana completely vanished after seeing this.
She believed that Asher would never issue such an announcement without evidence. Therefore, everything stated in it had to be true.