I'm Afraid I Won't Be Able to Leave

"Mr. Sterling, Derek Lawson has fled."

Hugh Sterling rushed in to report. Morgan Sterling barely lifted an eyelid. "Doesn’t he have a wife and kids?"

"...I understand."

As Hugh Sterling closed the door, he heard the violent crash of something being smashed. He didn’t dare linger and left immediately.

Morgan Sterling was alone in the office, having just smashed something. There were scratches on his hand, and a single drop of blood fell to the floor. His eyes were dark and menacing.

"Asher Keating... well played."

Leah Sinclair had only sprained her foot. The injury wasn’t very serious, and there were no broken bones. After the doctor bandaged it, he instructed her to apply ice packs intermittently for the first 24 hours, and to switch to heat packs after that.

He told her to get plenty of bed rest and return in three days for a follow-up and to have the bandage removed. After prescribing some medication for the swelling and bruising, he sent them on their way.

Once they were back, Asher Keating carried her to his room, and Leah Sinclair didn’t object. He set her down gently on the bed, then went to get ice and carefully began to ice her ankle.

While he was doing so, Leah Sinclair took a call from Mabel Grant. Mabel had already heard about Leah being ambushed by reporters. She and Brandon Jacobs had immediately bought plane tickets and were on their way, expected to arrive that evening.

Leah Sinclair watched him and asked, "Asher, are you sure you don’t have to go to the office? I’m fine now. Mrs. Lowell is here, so it’s all right."

"I’m not going in today. Let’s eat first."

They had been so busy that neither of them had eaten yet. Mrs. Lowell had been notified earlier and had already prepared a meal. But upon seeing Leah’s condition, she started muttering about going to buy pork bones for soup, insisting that Leah needed to be properly nourished.

Leah Sinclair was indeed quite hungry. Asher Keating, on the other hand, didn’t eat much and just kept placing food on her plate.

After the meal, Louise Holt brought over Leah Sinclair’s laptop. Leah figured she wouldn’t be able to go to the office for the next few days and would have to work from home. Juanita Coleman had also sent her a message, telling her to rest well and that she would keep an eye on the project.

Leah Sinclair asked Louise Holt, "What’s the situation at the office now?"

Louise Holt hesitated, glancing at Asher Keating. Asher spoke up calmly, "She’s asking you, so tell her. You’re Leah Sinclair’s assistant."

Louise Holt then spoke frankly. "Juanita and the rest of our team are fine; they haven’t said anything. But everyone in the main office is gossiping like crazy. Department One and Department Two are talking, and so are all the other departments."

"Miles Kessler and Doris Harlow even got into an argument with someone from Department Two. Miles almost started a fight with the guy. Things only cooled down after President Grant gave an order, but people are definitely still talking behind their backs."

"He almost fought him? Why?" Leah Sinclair was surprised.

"Well... the things he said were disgusting. He claimed he’d been to Azure Bay before and had seen you there... saying you weren’t wearing much, that your legs were long, and... very fair."

The room fell silent for a moment. Asher Keating’s gaze turned cold. Leah Sinclair continued to ask, her voice flat, "Is that all? Miles isn’t an impulsive person. It must have been more than that to make him want to throw a punch."

"He also said that after your first contract at Azure Bay ended, you got ’casual,’ and that afterward... who knows how many men you’ve ’kept company’ with..." By the end, Louise Holt’s voice was as soft as a mosquito’s buzz.

"Hah. And Nash and Shawn didn’t kill him for that?" Asher Keating’s voice was dangerously low.

"The two President Grants don’t know. If they did, President Shawn probably would have beaten the guy up on the spot. They haven’t been over to the project department."

"The guy said it to someone in the smoking room. Miles Kessler and Doris Harlow just happened to pass by and heard him, so they started arguing with him. They told him not to spout nonsense when he didn’t know the facts. I wasn’t there at the time. I went looking for him when I got back, but he was gone. Otherwise, I would’ve beaten him to a pulp," Louise Holt explained.

"All right, I understand. You can go back for now. I’ll be out of the office for the next couple of days, so I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on things. Call me if anything happens. And as for that guy from Department Two, don’t you go starting anything." Leah Sinclair didn’t pursue the topic further and opened her laptop.

Louise Holt said it was her duty and left. Leah Sinclair stared at the laptop, but her mind was a blank. Asher Keating walked over and closed it. Leah looked up at him, her eyes dazed.

Asher Keating set the laptop aside and pulled her into his arms. "Don’t pay any attention to all that."

Leah Sinclair snuggled into his embrace. "I’ve heard much worse things than this. Why would I be afraid? It’s just been a long time, so hearing it again so suddenly caught me off guard is all. Asher, I’m not that cowardly and fragile."

There was a hint of a smile in Asher Keating’s deep voice. "I know. If you were a coward, would you have dared to take on Morgan Sterling back then?"

Leah Sinclair recalled those past events, and her lips curved into a smile. "That’s right. I didn’t even back down when I faced Morgan Sterling, let alone now. Once my foot is better, I’ll go settle the score with them."

Asher Keating placed a kiss on her forehead. "I’m here. You can raise as much hell as you want. I’ll have your back."

"Call me by a sweet name. Tonight, if he tries anything funny, you can cause whatever scene you want. I’ll cover for you."

The face of the Asher before her now overlapped with the Asher from three years ago. Leah suddenly pulled his neck down and kissed him. Asher Keating froze for a second, then pressed the back of her head to deepen the kiss. The anxiety that had been gnawing at him for the past few days gradually melted away in that kiss.

After the kiss, Leah Sinclair fell into a deep sleep in his arms. She hadn’t slept well for the past few days, but beside Asher Keating, breathing in his familiar scent, she slept soundly.

When she next awoke, the sun had set, the last vestiges of its glow fading from the horizon. Asher Keating was gone. She sat up in bed, dazed for a moment, until the sound of conversation from the living room instantly snapped her awake.

’Could Mabel be here already?’ she thought. Even though Mabel Grant knew she was staying at Asher Keating’s place, she... still felt a little embarrassed.

She quickly fumbled for her phone to send Asher Keating a message, but just then, he opened the door and came in. It turned out Sheila Hughes and Ethan Shaw had arrived.

Seeing that she was awake, Sheila Hughes came in. Ethan Shaw stayed outside, and Asher Keating resumed his conversation with him, leaving the room to Leah Sinclair and Sheila.

"Leah, are you okay?"

Sheila Hughes looked at her with concern. She hadn’t actually known about what happened to Leah Sinclair at first, as Asher Keating’s side had been quick to suppress the news.

It was only when the news about Derek’s scandal broke, combined with the incident involving Madeline Sterling, that she suddenly realized something must have happened to Leah Sinclair.

Zion Sawyer, who was always on top of the gossip, immediately told her what he knew. The two of them couldn’t find any news about Leah Sinclair on their phones. Still worried, Sheila rushed to find Asher Keating. Edward Yates told her that Asher and Leah were together, and only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

When Ethan Shaw picked her up after work, he told her what Shawn Grant had said—that Leah Sinclair had been ambushed by reporters that afternoon and gotten hurt. She had rushed over immediately.

"I’m fine, see? I’m perfectly all right. I just sprained my ankle a little."

"You know what I’m talking about."

Annoyed, Sheila Hughes pinched her friend’s cheeks with both hands. This girl was trying to play dumb with her.