Chapter 5

Evelyn Clark POV

“Concert tickets.”

I put my phone into my pocket as if nothing had happened.

“They’re for next month. I booked two. Why are you panicking?”

Adrian froze, then immediately let out a breath of relief and strode forward, pulling me into his arms.

“You scared me to death.”

His chin rested on the top of my head, and his arms tightened.

“I thought you were leaving me.”

“Why would I leave you?”

I raised my head and looked at him calmly.

“Did you do something to betray me?”

Adrian’s arms tightened slightly.

“Of course not.” He lowered his head and pressed his forehead against mine, his smile natural.

“I’m just too nervous about you. I love you too much. I can’t help it.”

After saying that, he had already let go of me and picked up his coat.

“Let’s go. Grandpa is waiting at the estate.”

In the estate dining room, Malcolm Ashford was sitting at the head of the table. The moment he saw me enter, his face darkened.

During the meal.

Malcolm Ashford stayed quiet for only a short while before he couldn’t help speaking.

“Adrian, you’re not young anymore. With an estate as large as the Ashford family’s, there can’t be no heir.”

Adrian didn’t even put down his fork. He didn’t lift his head.

“I don’t need an heir. I only need Evelyn.”

Malcolm Ashford let out a cold snort and said nothing else, lifting his water glass again.

If it were before, I would have already stood up to pour water and ease the atmosphere.

But this time, I sat firmly in my seat without saying a word.

Malcolm Ashford had always looked down on me, thinking I was a poor girl clinging to the Ashford family.

After the car accident three years ago, the doctor said I would very likely never be able to get pregnant again, and Malcolm Ashford’s attitude toward me dropped straight to freezing.

In his eyes, I was now a sinner who had occupied a place that was never mine and cut off the Ashford family’s descendants.

Adrian poured me a glass of red wine.

I glanced at it, eating without tasting anything.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the screen of Adrian’s phone, which was sitting by the table, light up.

Lily Sullivan had sent a photo, with a line of text beneath it: [Are you coming or not? Offer expires soon.]

I withdrew my gaze, looked back at my own plate, and silently started counting down in my heart.

Half a minute later. Adrian stood up.

“There’s a sudden urgent issue at the company. I’ll go handle it first. You and Grandpa keep eating.”

He said to me, “It won’t take long. Wait for me.”

Before I could answer, he was already gone.

The dining room door closed.

Malcolm Ashford slowly took a sip of soup, set the bowl back on the table, and let his gaze fall on my face.

“Adrian is just too softhearted.”

I didn’t respond.

“Back then, he wouldn’t listen no matter what I said. He insisted on marrying you. Fine. I accepted it.”

“But in all these years since you entered this family, what has the Ashford family gained? You couldn’t even keep a child. Do you know why that child died? Because your fate is too hard. You cursed it.”

My fingers tightened.

“The Ashford family has had only one heir for three generations. Adrian is our only grandson.”

Every word from Malcolm Ashford was like a nail.

“If your womb can’t produce anything, fine. But you even took that child’s life with you! Tell me yourself—should I swallow that anger?”

“All these years, for Adrian’s sake, I’ve turned a blind eye. But you should have some self-awareness too.”

“Look at yourself in the mirror. With your background, with what little ability you have, are you worthy of sitting in that chair? Leave while you still can. At least you’ll preserve a little dignity for yourself and give Adrian a way out.”

In the past, I had always gritted my teeth and endured words like these.

I didn’t want to make things hard for Adrian Ashford. I didn’t want him caught between Malcolm Ashford and me, torn and miserable.

But today, I didn’t endure it anymore.

“Grandpa, that child died because Adrian Ashford got drunk that night, and I went to pick him up and take him home. That was why the car accident happened.”

I lifted my head and looked calmly at Malcolm Ashford.

“That child wasn’t cursed to death by me. It was killed by the driver who hit us. I don’t owe the Ashford family anything. Not a single thing.”

“If I leave, it’ll be because I choose to leave, not because you drove me out. When I, Evelyn Clark, leave and how I leave is not for you to decide.”

Malcolm Ashford’s face turned livid. He slammed his palm down on the table.

“How dare you!”

“Disrespecting your elders! You’re out of control!”

He pointed at me, then turned and shouted toward the door.

“Someone, drag her to the basement. Make her kneel there and reflect on herself!”

Two bodyguards walked in and, without another word, seized my arms and dragged me into the basement.

The basement floor tiles had not seen sunlight all year round. They were damp and bitterly cold.

I was forced to kneel. The chill seeped straight from my knees into my bones.

After half an hour, the cold had climbed to my waist.

After one hour, it had reached my chest.

I stared at the thin strip of light seeping through the crack under the door and counted the time.

He still hadn’t come back. Where was he now?

On top of Lily Sullivan, or on his way back?

Two hours passed.

My legs had already gone numb, and my heart was ice cold.

Three hours later, the door was kicked open.

Adrian Ashford strode into the basement, his face dark as death.

The moment he saw me kneeling on the floor, his eyes turned vicious. He raised his foot and kicked over the bodyguard guarding the door.

“Get out!”

After saying that coldly to the bodyguard, he bent down and lifted me into his arms.

My legs had lost all feeling, and a sharp, tingling ache shot through my knees.

“I’m sorry, Evelyn. This is my fault.”

Adrian Ashford carried me out in long strides, genuine guilt in his voice.

When we got back to the car, Adrian Ashford settled me into the passenger seat and immediately turned the heat to the highest setting.

He took out a thermos, poured hot water, and handed it to me.

“Drink something warm first.”

I took it and wrapped both hands around it, but I didn’t drink.

Adrian Ashford was already crouching by my feet. His large palms cupped my knees, rubbing them back and forth, helping me drive away that bone-deep chill.

“This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have left you there alone. The company matter was too urgent, and in my panic, I forgot. It’s my fault, Evelyn. I’m sorry.”

As he spoke, he pressed the seat-heating button to the highest level.

“They’re still cold.”

“Do your knees hurt? Should we go to the hospital and have them checked?”

He frowned, lowered his head, and breathed warm air over my knees.

“It’s my fault. All of it is my fault. Yell at me. I’ll take it.”

I leaned back against the seat and watched him lower his head, seriously warming my knees.

This man was good in every way. So good that I once thought as long as he was by my side, I would be afraid of nothing.

Because the heat was turned up too high, a layer of fog slowly covered the car window.

I unconsciously turned my head, and my gaze landed on the glass.

The fog blurred the window, but instead made the marks on it clearer.

Behind the mist, two overlapping handprints were clearly stamped on the glass.

One large and one small, fingers interlocked, printed right in the center of the car window.

So during those three hours I had been kneeling on the icy floor tiles in the Ashford estate’s basement, he had been right here.

He had been in the car outside the estate, having sex with Lily Sullivan.

I looked at those two sets of handprints, and a miserable laugh slipped out of me as tears fell.