Chapter 162
Early the next morning, lan showed up at Ashton’s place with sincerity and good intentions. Ashton, being the easygoing guy he was, didn’t make a loss and invited lan right in.
Briar was out for her morning run when she spotted Connor hanging from a pull–up bar in the yard. She called out, “Ashton’s not giving lan a hard me, is he?”
Connor glanced inside at the two men chatting and shook his head. He shared, “Nah, Ashton’s smiling like everything’s cool.”
Briar nodded, her mind already racing with thoughts.
Briar knew Ashton was a deep one, and she could read him well enough. He’d been on guard with lan just last night, and there was no way a man like him would flip his attitude so quickly.
‘He must be plotting something,‘ Briar thought as she kept running.
Briar had classes that morning. By the time she returned from her run, lan had already left. Seeing Briar finish her run, Ashton started going through
some sparring drills with Connor in the yard to loosen up.
Ashton moved with the kind of skill one would expect from a master. His style was rooted in traditional martial arts, every move sharp and dangerous, yet there was a fluid grace to it all. It was the first time Briar had seen him in action, and it blew her away.
Every time she discovered another strength of his, Briar found herself even more impressed.
Ashton was sparring with Connor, but he still found time to call out to Briar, “Briar, breakfast’s ready. Go freshen up, then come eat. I’ll give you a ride to
school in a bit.”
Briar snapped out of her daze and nodded, “Okay, I’ll be right there.”
Once Briar was inside, Connor stopped sparring and grinned. “Ashton, you were just showing off like a peacock trying to impress a mate.”
Ashton raised an eyebrow. He had caught the look of awe in Briar’s eyes, and smiled in amusement, “It was pretty effective, wasn’t it?”
Connor just shrugged.
On the way to school, Ashton sent Briar the details of their dinner reservation. “It’s at Kajuntan Seafood Restaurant, I’ve booked the luxury private room on the third floor. I already called the manager this morning and had your favorite seafood from last time flown in.”
Briar nodded in response, “Okay.”
Before they knew it, they were already at the school gate. Ashton’s ride was so flashy that the other cars had cleared out before they even got close, Just as Briar was about to get out, Ashton caught her wrist with a smile and asked, “By the way, I heard you’re running the long–distance race at the school sports meet?”
Briar arched an eyebrow and asked, “Yeah, what about it?”
Ashton said in a serious voice, “Long–distance running drains your energy. You should build up your strength in advance. How about I treat you to something delicious tonight?”
“Sure, you pick the place,” Briar replied with a grin, playing along and not exposing the little scheme behind Ashton’s ‘serious‘ suggestion.
The air in the car was so thick with jealousy and sweetness that Briar couldn’t stand it for even a second longer.
Ashton waited until Briar disappeared into the campus, then told Connor, “Let’s go to the office.”
“Got it,” Connor replied, and drove off.
Chapter 162
Near the school entrance, a sleek black car was parked quietly, taking pictures of everything happening outside. Anel Ashton’s dye catchi drove off, the person in the black car sat up and began looking through the images they had taken.
The more they looked, the bigger the grin under their baseball cap grew. After flipping through all the photos, they pulled out their phread and chalet number. The man reported, “Mr. Garza, I got what you wanted. That 66 thousand dollars deal we discussed is still on, right
Whatever Mr. Garza said made the guy bow and grin even wider. He replied, “Alright, I’ll sort the pictures and send them to your pronta email fait a
A few minutes later, the black sedan eased away from the school gate. Anyone sharp enough would’ve noticed the car dodged every street camars, slipping away like it was never even there.
Briar had plans for lunch that day. Just before eleven, she checked in with Joshua and slipped out of school early
lan was already waiting at the gate, sitting in a shiny new G–Wagon without a license plate. He waved at Briar with his cigarette hand, then casually flicked the butt right into a nearby trash can. He greeted, “Yo, Briar, over here!”
Briar walked over and exclaimed, “This isn’t even your kind of ride!”
lan might live dangerously, but he had a thing for flashy sports cars. Back in Qathana, Briar even had a limited–edition supercar he gave her, painted in an obnoxiously bright green that screamed for attention.
lan just shrugged, flashing his pearly whites, explaining, “My sister likes it.”
‘Yep, he’s definitely got a sister complex,’ she silently mused.
Briar nodded and hopped into the passenger seat.
lan fired up the engine and punched the address into the GPS and said, “I’m treating you to lunch, and you pick a seafood joint? How much damage could you possibly do to my wallet with seafood?”
Briar replied coolly, “Ashton picked the place. All the seafood was flown in fresh this morning.”
“Alright then!” lan clicked his tongue, grinning. “If Ashton’s handling it, I know I’m in good hands.”
‘Whenever Ashton’s involved, it’s always the best of the best. This meal’s gotta be at least five figures,‘ lan thought.
When they arrived at the restaurant, the manager personally came out to greet them and led them to a private room on the third floor. Once they were seated, the manager asked politely, “Miss Jennings, the dishes are ready. Would you like us to start serving now?”
Briar nodded in response, “All right, you can start serving.”
“Of course, please wait just a moment,” the manager replied before stepping out. In less than ten minutes, plate after plate of seafood was brought in, filling the entire table. “Miss Jennings, lan, all the dishes are here. Please enjoy your meal.”
With that, the manager and the other staff quietly left, closing the door behind them.
lan was floored by the entire setup, giving thumbs up nonstop. He gasped in amazement, “No wonder Ashton’s one of the richest men in Shoneport. This table’s gotta be worth at least 26 thousand dollars.”
Briar smiled in response, “Ashton said he could get us a discount.”
“A crazy discount?” lan quipped as he ladled some soup for Briar.
Briar couldn’t help but laugh, “What, did Ashton ever mess you up behind the scenes?”
lan served himself a bowl too, giving Briar a complicated look. He explained, “Is someone like me worth Ashton’s time? But, he does seem kinda hostile
toward me…”
Briar stared at him in silence.
Chapter 162
Once they were about halfway through the meal, Briar put down her utensils and got straight to the point. She asked, “You didn’t just more h to thank me for looking after Ellen, did you?”
lan set his utensils down top and nodded in response, “You got me. I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you, Briar. Which one do your weat
first?”
“Good news,” Briar said, lazily glancing at lan, who could barely hide his excitement.
“Actually, let’s start with the bad news,” lan said, rubbing his nose. “Someone sold the news of your return to Dasmiera on the international darknet to you want to guess who’s behind it?”
“I haven’t checked the darknet in over half a year. I’m not guessing,” Briar replied, totally unfazed. She never really cared about the international darknet
anyway.
In her eyes, the people who hung around the darknet were just nobodies with no real skills, scraping by on bottom–feeder cash. The real mercenary groups and underground organizations never even bothered to acknowledge their existence.
AD
