Chapter 26Ashley had an upbeat song in the background that made her feel like a foreign princess as she ran down the halls in a billowing red gown Ian had provided. Louis delivered it to her with a wink and she was obsessed with it. Her footsteps matched the tempo of the song as she slid down the library’s round staircase, singing along as the material flowed behind her. Chloe and Christopher would be there in an hour, so she had one hour to get up to her best shenanigans.The servants of the mansion were already used to her exuberance, seeing as none of them batted an eye when they saw a five foot six woman running bare feet in a brilliant red flowing gown.“Try muah muah, try zdaga zdaga”, she sang, and melodramatically flailed against one of the giant bookshelves in the library. It wasn’t everyday a woman got to wear gowns they only dreamed about. The long sleeved silk arms slid against her skin and she felt like a rich heiress, wiggling her arms and whipping her hand around.She
Chapter 27"Drunk? I don't get drunk, Toma", he glared at her petulantly and Ashley knew he was indeed tethering over the edge of drunk.She walked up to him and snatched the bottle from his hands. "You're not allowed to drink, you can't sabotage me!", She huffed. Ian looked astounded at her audacity, his hands poised like he was only a second from clutching his chest due to the fact that he was flabbergasted."D-""No, nothing. We agreed that you'd come along with me, you can't be drunk!", She exclaimed. Ian shut his eyes and massaged his temples looking tired.Instead of arguing, he just crossed his long elegant legs and leaned back on a pillow.Ashley didn't know why she seemed to do this around Ian, but like before, she felt the need to fill the void of the silence."My dad wants to ban me from my inheritance", she said awkwardly, sitting at the edge of the pit. The last time she did this was the night they got married, and the conversation had flowed well at that time, perhaps i
Chapter 28Ian glared at Rita before she even opened her mouth. He knew exactly what she was going to say.She said it anyway."Oh my oh my, you're doing the devil's tango in a wine cellar, how naughty", Rita grinned from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat."Which eye of yours saw us touching each other?", Ashley asked, as annoyed as he felt."You seem to be in that stage where you're giving him directions", Rita winked."We're literally not touching", Ashley said, falling back on the pillow across from him."Hey Ashley, what did I miss?", Yu Zhen strolled down in an emerald green blazer with his dress shirt unbuttoned to his navel yet again. "They were having sex", Rita said, strolling down the staircase and taking a bottle on her way."Drop it you thief-""We were not having sex, we will never have sex-""Don't sound so sure Ash, and don't be so stingy Ian", Rita chastised like a mother. Ashley threw a pillow at her in annoyance. It hit her head with a plop and she scowled."Why are yo
Chapter 29"Girl you look like a million dollars, girl your house looks like fifty million dollars, girl!!!!", Chloe whisper-yelled as she ran to hug Ashley in a beautiful yellow dress. Christopher stood behind her in a black suit with padded elbows – a true lecturer that one – and a bright look in his eyes."It's actually two hundred million", Rita said, walking slowly to the two of them. Chloe stopped short and Ashley could see the slight hint of intimidation in her eyes – the tension strummed high – before Chloe squared up and smiled."Only four times more than I imagined"."Pfft, oh heavens no, I actually have no idea what it's worth, I'll Google it, hold on", Rita laughed and brought out her phone from her purse. "Ah yes, we're both wrong, it's worth six hundred million, because of the library I think", Rita huffed out a laugh and Chloe was gobsmacked."You were closer than I was", She eventually shrugged."Ha! Like you can call that closer. Blame my brother for everything", Ri
Chapter 30Ian had gotten his confirmation. It hadn't even been planned, he was busy brooding, but it seemed her being asleep lulled him to sleep too, and it was a worriless sleep.A perfect two hours. He woke up feeling much better than he had in an entire month. What was it about her that made his insomnia go away? Was it the fact that she always looked so peaceful sleeping that tricked his subconscious? He didn't know it was even possible to get sleep in the evening. It was always something he heard of people doing, but never himself. She could sleep anywhere. She especially loved cars.Now that he knew she wasn't what he thought her to be – because no gold digger would voluntarily give out that kind of money every month – he didn't know how he'd convince her to sleep with him. He wasn't picky, just once or twice a week was enough to atleast elongate his wonky lifespan by two years. He wished Rita hadn't gone into law. The conglomerate could under no circumstances fall into Mark'
Chapter 31As Ashley entered the giant hall, she made a beeline straight for her father. The man was insufferable, he could decide to freeze it even if she brought Ian.The thought of Ian gave her pause and she looked around but didn't see him. She didn't see her father either. How big was this place? What were they even celebrating? She had at least hoped they would be celebrating something worthwhile that she could sit around and watch. But her friends were missing, her father was missing, and her husband was missing. Instead she was surrounded by people looking her up and down, some looks lecherous. Thankful to Ian for providing the long coat – and regretting taking it off in the first place – she donned it on, reducing the amount of people leering at her.She spotted her father walking away from a place with empty space in the front and boasting at his business partners. Amelia had done something worthy again. She tried to think it wasn't her business on most days, she tried to f
Chapter 32Chloe stood at the entrance of the enclosed gazebo, watching and waving at people that looked her way. It was such a lovely evening and so many great things had happened already.She entered a limo for the first time, Ian Hills acknowledged her, she entered a mansion worth a lot of millions, she was sipping okay wine. The night was young and bright.The fact that a certain person's ex was tied up inside the gazebo was only another plus in the long night of plusses.She was satisfied with threatening him, or telling him off. She, Christopher and Rita had their whole warning speech planned in the limo – with Christopher throwing weird angry vibes everytime Rita opened her mouth and Rita throwing weird angry vibes everytime Christopher talked to her, she didn't know what the fuck was up with them, they had literally just met, it was however none of her business so she stayed out of it.When the negative tension between them got too much, she turned to the quiet Yu Zhen. The ma
Chapter 33Ashley was satisfied. She had thrown as many insults as she wanted over the course of the evening, and the guests were already waning. At first, people had rushed the event – everyone wanted to see Ian Hills – but for some reason, they weren't able to get in. She supposed Yu Zhen wanted to regulate the number of people.She had never seen Yu Zhen so serious. The man was always smiling or smirking in some sort of way, but the last time she saw him beside Ian, his frown was almost as grave as Ian's.She let the lizard beside her go and started looking for her father. It was time to talk about business."You're useless, your boyfriend is mine, your father is mine, everything you wish you own is mine", Amelia sneered as she eagerly removed her hand from Ashley s elbow.Ashley swallowed the sting of her statement and sent things right back."At least I wasn't publicly disgraced", she said calmly, dusting off her arm like she had it elbow deep in cow dung. "Oh please! Like you