Cheryl rushed out when Ashley said yes.
"Are you okay? That wound on your hand doesn't look good," Nina walked up to Ashley and asked her,
frowning a little. Ashley could see that Nina was worried about her, even though she was mostly
expressionless.
Ashley smiled and said, "I'm okay. Watch this for me. I'll be back in a minute."
During the renovation of the shop, Greyson had suggested that a small room be added so that people
could take rest. Ashley considered Greyson to be a genius for having come up with such a good idea.
It was a good thing that Greyson didn't hear Ashley calling him a genius, or he would become
awkward. His intention behind suggesting the building of the room was selfish. He had thought that he
could use that room to play whenever he came.
But Ashley seemed to have misunderstood.
Cheryl soon returned with a bottle of Ibuprofen. "Here, Ashley. This will help with your wound," she
said.
"Thanks a lot, Cheryl," Ashley said, taking the medication from her.
"Well, you need some rest. So I'm off," Cheryl said.
Ashley smiled and nodded.
After Cheryl left, Ashley squeezed a little ointment on to her fingers and applied it to the wound.
She rubbed on it lightly, which caused a pricking on it that made her cry out. "Ouch!" Ashley thought
wistfully, 'How could Raymond be so ruthless to me? It fucking hurts.'
At the same time, she somehow felt pity for him, for being cheated and controlled by that bitch Lena.
Thinking over and over again about all that had happened, Ashley decided that she could never let
Andrew know about her wound, or he would be mad at her.
She could remember how Andrew was the last time she had burned herself. She didn't want to see him
like that again.
It had only been a month since she had gotten to know Andrew, but she didn't want him to be worried,
no matter what.
The Mu Family
Raymond had left Ashley there and come to the Mu family. He had the suspicion that Ashley hadn't told
him the whole story because he could guess her thoughts, having known her for a long, long time.
He didn't really believe that she had done all that.
Lena was now curled up on the sofa, surrounded by snacks and fruits, watching TV.
Lena was a clever woman and could have chosen any workplaces, but she chose to work with the Luo
Group. Why? Because she knew that Ashley and Raymond were both working in this company. So she
joined the company, seeking to watch their moves. But of course, she had succeeded in getting
together with him.
Now that she had gotten what she wanted, she had made Ashley leave the company, made Raymond
her fiance, and got along well with Raymond's family. She didn't have to stay in that company anymore.
So why not leave the company and do whatever she wanted?
Thinking that she heard the doorbell, and she asked the servant to open the door, wanting to know who
it was at this time of the night.
"Raymond, honey, what are you doing here? It's very late." Lena had morphed into a different woman,
including her voice, when she saw who was standing by the door.
She threw the half-eaten apple into the dustbin and sat up on the sofa. She acted like she was the
epitome of elegance and stepped towards Raymond.
Lena wanted to take his hand but Raymond waved her away. He looked her in the eye and asked, "Is it
true? Did Ashley marry that man?"
Lena felt her heart jolt at his question, fearing that he had found out the truth.
'No, it isn't possible, ' she thought frantically. 'Only Mom and I know about Ashley getting married. It's
impossible for him to know about what I did."
Analyzing the situation, she came to a conclusion about what she had to do. She pretended to be
ignorant and confused. "What happened, Raymond? It's true that my sister got married several days
ago. My mom agreed and Ashley showed us the marriage certificate. She wanted us to tell you that
she hoped you would leave her alone and not see her again, because she doesn't want her husband to
misunderstand anything."
Raymond gritted his teeth.
"You told me that she married that man just so she could rent the storefront. Is that true?" he asked.
Lena nodded and said, "Yes, it's true. When she planned to leave Luo Group, I tried to convince her to
stay. I told her not to leave. I told her that it was better for her to work there than to manage a cake
shop all by herself.
But she wouldn't listen to me. I've done all I could to keep her there. And she..." Lena paused and
glanced at Raymond.
"And she what?" Raymond urged her.
"The storefront my sister rented has something to do with Harkim, and the man, my brother-in-law is
the one we met at Vineyard Restaurant last time, can you remember that?"
Vineyard Restaurant?
Raymond remembered that he had met a man at the Vineyard Hotel the last time he was there. That
man had insisted that he was Ashley's boyfriend and told Raymond to keep away from her.
Raymond couldn't recall anything about the man but his cold, horrible eyes.
After that, Raymond had gotten someone to investigate him, but they had found nothing.
It was weird indeed. Raymond was one of the most powerful men in J City. It was pretty easy for him to
root someone out, but he had failed to dig the man up this time. The man probably didn't belong to their
circle. Raymond didn't believe that. He desperately wanted to know who that man was.
Going by Raymond's sullen behavior, Lena suspected that he had already seen Ashley. And Ashley
had definitely told him something that had made him question her.
Lena narrowed her eyes and looked at Raymond, "Honey, I'm telling you the truth. Did Ashley tell you
anything about me? You know, Ashley was adopted, so she never liked me much. But I treated her like
my own sister..." Lena said tearfully.
Hearing everything that Lena was telling him, Raymond faltered. He began to suspect what Ashley had
told him.
He thought, 'Lena is such a kind girl. How could she have done such things? How could she have
deceived me?'
In the end, Raymond was like all other men who couldn't resist women who acted weak. They thought
all women were supposed to be like this, but they didn't know that it was their stupidity that made the
women strong.
Raymond sighed and walked up to Lena. He held her shoulders and said, "I trust you."
Lena leaned against Raymond, sighed, and asked, "Honey, so you've seen my sister, right? What did
she tell you? She wouldn't come back to the Luo Group, would she?"
Raymond felt a pang of regret when he heard Lena's words. He thought, 'Lena didn't say anything bad
about Ashley, so I was wrong about her. She's a kind girl and she's not lying to me.'
Thinking thus, Raymond said, "It's all right. It's okay if she doesn't want to come
back."
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