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

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: She Won’t Forgive Me

Leah Sinclair was startled and quickly reached out to help her up. But Tiana Vaughn stubbornly used all her strength to stay kneeling, refusing to move and continuously pleading in a low voice. Leah tried to pull her up several times to no avail.

Finally, she sighed in exasperation. ”Fine, then tell me. You say you were wrong, but what did you do wrong? If you can tell me, I’ll go talk to him. How about that?”

”I... I...” Tiana Vaughn froze. She hadn’t expected Leah Sinclair to ask her that.

Leah Sinclair’s brow slowly furrowed. ”So, you’re only saying you’re sorry because you don’t want your pay docked, but you have no idea what you actually did wrong?”

”I know I used the president’s private elevator, but didn’t those two people from the first department use it too? And they were mocking me the whole time. I get a month’s salary docked for using the president’s elevator, but they don’t even get a simple warning? Miss Grant, aren’t you throwing your weight around a little too much?”

With red-rimmed eyes, Tiana Vaughn straightened her back. Tears streamed down her face, creating a pitiful portrait of someone both wronged and defiant, one that was hard not to feel sorry for.

Leah Sinclair laughed. It was a laugh of exasperation.

Asher Keating had told her that he sponsored Tiana Vaughn because of her family’s problems. Having nearly been forced to drop out of school herself, Leah Sinclair could understand her situation.

She hadn’t really wanted to make things difficult for Tiana Vaughn. If she could just name one thing she did wrong, Leah would have gone to Asher Keating and told him to drop it.

But it was obvious that the person before her didn’t truly think she was at fault. She was even trying to turn the tables and play the victim.

Leah Sinclair hadn’t wanted to argue with her, but now she felt compelled to set the record straight. She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. ”You don’t know what you did wrong, is that it? Fine, I’ll tell you. First, you used the president’s private elevator without authorization. That is explicitly forbidden in the company’s regulations.”

”Second, I was the one who took those two people from the first department on the elevator. I called Assistant Yates for permission before we used it, so they were authorized. Third, you’re an employee, and Asher Keating is the president. This is a company. Sean Yates and Edward Yates both call him President Keating here. You call him by a nickname—is that appropriate?”

”Fourth, you accuse me of throwing my weight around. What power am I supposedly using? You don’t actually think President Keating docked your pay because he listens to me, do you? Fifth, you don’t feel you did anything wrong at all. You just don’t want to lose your money. And by kneeling here begging me now, are you trying to guilt-trip me, or are you just admiring your own tragic performance?”

As Leah Sinclair laid out her points, one through five, Tiana Vaughn’s face grew paler and paler. She never imagined Leah would spell everything out for her, point by point, with such clarity.

She had assumed that if she just knelt and admitted she was wrong, Leah Sinclair would drop the matter. But it was clear Leah had no intention of letting it be glossed over so vaguely.

”I...”

”Hey, you know...”

Just as Tiana Vaughn started to speak, a man with a cigarette dangling from his lips pushed the door open and froze at the scene before him. Someone behind him, seeing him stop, gave him a shove. When the second man saw what was happening, he froze as well.

Both men’s gazes shifted back and forth between Leah Sinclair, who stood with her arms crossed, and Tiana Vaughn, who was kneeling ramrod straight on the floor.

Leah Sinclair lowered her arms and said with a frown, ”I’ve said what I needed to say. You should think it over yourself.”

With that, Leah Sinclair turned and left without a backward glance. One of the men hurried to help Tiana Vaughn up. ”Tiana, what are you doing kneeling here?”

Tiana Vaughn, who had just managed to stop her tears, began to cry again. ”I... I was apologizing to Miss Grant,” she said pitifully. ”I was hoping she’d forgive me. I really don’t want my pay to be docked, but she won’t forgive me...”

”Damn, are you serious? Just because she has connections doesn’t mean she can bully people like this! So what if she’s President Keating’s girlfriend? Does that make her so special?” the two men said, filled with righteous indignation.

”Sob... I don’t know what I did to offend her. Is it because she found out I’m sponsored by President Keating? Is she jealous, and that’s why she’s targeting me like this?”

Tiana Vaughn wrung her hands, crying pitifully as countless tears rolled from her beautiful eyes.

”Don’t be afraid! We both saw it. She was bullying you. We’ll go report this to Assistant Yates right now. She’s just President Keating’s girlfriend, not the boss’s wife! What right does she have to bully an employee of the Keating Group here?”

”Please don’t, Brother Lawson, Walsh. I... I can’t afford to offend her.”

Tiana Vaughn quickly grabbed both of them and burst into another round of tears. The two men had spoken impulsively. On second thought, they realized it was true—they probably couldn’t afford to offend her either. They sighed and began to comfort Tiana Vaughn again.

Leah Sinclair didn’t allow herself to take a deep breath and compose herself until she reached the door to Asher Keating’s office. She knocked, and someone opened it. It was Sean Yates, who quickly ushered her inside upon seeing it was her.

Leah Sinclair went inside and saw that Edward Yates was there as well. A pile of documents sat on Asher Keating’s desk, and they seemed to be in the middle of a discussion. She hesitated, not approaching them. Feeling out of place, she wondered if she should just go back.

Asher Keating looked up and, noticing she looked unwell, asked, ”What’s wrong?”

”I’m a little tired, maybe I’m still jet-lagged. Asher, maybe I should head back first?”

Asher Keating stood up, took her hand, and led her into an inner room. ”Rest here for a bit. I still have some work to finish.”

”Okay.”

Leah Sinclair was indeed tired, and the incident just now had left her feeling dispirited. After Asher Keating closed the door, she flopped onto the bed in a spread-eagle position. The room carried his scent, which calmed her heart, and she slowly, truly drifted off to sleep.

By the time Asher Keating and the two Yates brothers had finished their discussion, more than an hour had passed. Before they left, Asher Keating stopped Sean Yates. ”Find out what happened before she came in.”

Sean Yates paused for a moment, then replied, ”Right away. I’ll go check.”

Asher Keating pinched the bridge of his nose and lit a cigarette. After slowly finishing it, he stood up and walked toward the room. Leah Sinclair was sleeping soundly, but her brow was slightly furrowed. Asher leaned over and kissed her forehead. Her frown gradually eased, and she snuggled closer to him.

A smile tugged at the corners of Asher Keating’s lips as he leaned against the headboard. He rested one hand on her back, patting it rhythmically as if soothing a child, while holding a tablet to read documents with his other hand.

A short while later, Asher Keating received a message from Sean Yates. It contained two video clips. The first showed Tiana Vaughn stopping Leah Sinclair shortly after she came up, and the second was a video of the two of them in the stairwell.

The videos had no sound, only picture. After watching them in their entirety, Asher Keating thought for a moment and replied to Sean Yates, ”Tell Tiana Vaughn the salary deduction is mandatory. But reimburse her for the amount privately.”

”Understood.”

Asher Keating looked down at Leah Sinclair in his arms and sighed in the dimly lit room.

As dusk fell and the city lights began to glow, Leah Sinclair was woken by Asher Keating’s kisses. She groggily opened her eyes, then closed them again, wrapping her arms around his neck to return the kiss. Seeing she was awake, Asher Keating chuckled and pulled away. ”Time to get up and eat.”

”So sleepy.”

Leah Sinclair mumbled, burying her head in the crook of his neck, her voice thick and hazy with sleep.

Asher Keating held her, letting her lie there a little longer. Once she was fully awake, he pulled her up. Leah Sinclair washed her face and asked, ”Who are we going with?”