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

Chapter 206: Chapter 206: I Want to Go See Grandma

He looked down and asked Leah, ”Want to keep watching?”

In his arms, Leah shook her head like a rattle. She couldn’t bear the thought of another hour of the film, of how many more times a scene like that would appear. The surround sound was just... too immersive.

Asher Keating took her hand, and the two of them fled the theater in a panic, not even stopping to grab their popcorn and coffee.

Before leaving the cinema, Asher glanced up at the screen and made a mental note of the movie’s title. ’Watching this kind of thing in a theater is awkward, but it might be okay for the two of us to watch at home.’

Once outside, Asher saw that even the tips of Leah’s ears were bright red. She kept her head down, not daring to look at him. He lit a cigarette to take a moment, then gave a low chuckle, shook his head, and led her away by the hand.

”A-Asher... what kind of collaboration did Wynn discuss with you?” Leah asked, grasping for a random topic to cover her embarrassment.

”Overseas warehouses. The logistics side of things.”

Seeing she didn’t understand, Asher Keating explained. In recent years, e-commerce had developed rapidly, both domestically and internationally. Asher had seized on this signal right when e-commerce was starting to emerge.

After establishing operations domestically, he had planned ahead for international expansion. As a result, the Keating’s operations in this area were already quite mature. He also briefly mentioned Liam Peyton’s proposal.

Leah was a little surprised. ”So, Asher, did you study abroad before?”

”Mhm, most of us have spent time abroad to some extent. Back then, I was at the same school as... Phoebe Peyton, just in a different major.”

Leah was starting to understand. ”So, Morgan Sterling wanted to partner with the Peyton Group, but they refused him, and now they want to partner with you?”

”Mhm.”

”By the way, how is Morgan Sterling doing now? And Madeline Sterling...”

Asher Keating pursed his lips. ”Morgan Sterling returned to the country a while ago. He went to Kingsford personally to apologize to Aunt Mabel, but she wouldn’t see him. As for Madeline Sterling... she’s a piece he’s already discarded.”

Leah fell silent after hearing this. Asher turned to look at her and asked, ”Do you feel sorry for her?”

Leah nodded, then shook her head. ”If she hadn’t planned to drug you and sleep with you from the very beginning, or if she had been willing to come forward and tell the truth after it happened, I might have felt a little sorry for her.”

”But everything that came after was her own choice. She didn’t have to do any of those things. If she hadn’t, Grandma...”

Asher stopped walking and pulled her into his arms. He knew that while Leah didn’t say it out loud, she always felt that what happened to Grandma Sinclair was inextricably linked to her. She hadn’t gone back to visit her grandmother in years because she felt too guilty, like she couldn’t face her.

Leah blinked back the wetness in her eyes. Asher waited for her to compose herself before letting her go. ”Do you remember that woman Ben Coleman brought to my birthday party?”

It took Leah a moment to recall who he was talking about. Asher took her hand and they started walking again. ”That time, Madeline Sterling promised her 500,000 to provoke you, hoping you’d get angry with me or that I’d turn on you. In the end, she failed. Afterward... Madeline had someone send her to Norvenda.”

Leah froze, her eyes wide with disbelief. ’Norvenda... that’s a living hell.’ Just because the woman failed her task, Madeline had sent her to a place like that. A chill ran down her spine.

”So don’t underestimate human malice. As long as you were with me, once she found out about your grandmother, she was bound to go after her. Leah... don’t take this all on yourself. If that’s the case, then I’m the one who should bear the most responsibility.”

Asher Keating’s deep eyes gazed at Leah, a hint of pain within them. He felt just as guilty about what had happened to Grandma Sinclair.

While Leah hadn’t gone back in all these years, Asher had visited Grandma Sinclair’s grave every year to pay his respects. He would speak to her for a while, telling her what Leah had been up to that year, to put her at ease.

Leah looked into his eyes, and the tears she had just suppressed began to well up again. Asher rarely spoke her name, and he called her ”Leah” even less often.

In her memory, he had only done so a few times: once, when she thought he was going to leave her, on the day he came back and said he missed her; another time when he was delirious after being drugged by Madeline Sterling; and the night she had last returned to the country.

And now, he was murmuring ”Leah,” as if telling her that Grandma Sinclair didn’t blame her. Leah was reminded of what Grandma Sinclair had said before she passed away: ”No matter what anyone else says, our Leah is the best little girl.”

’So that’s what Grandma meant. She didn’t believe Madeline Sterling; she only believed in the little girl she had raised since childhood.’

She wanted to smile, but a tear instantly rolled down her cheek. She quickly lowered her head, biting her lip hard, her fingers trembling slightly as she fought to suppress a sob.

Seeing her like this, Asher’s heart felt as if it had been slashed by glass. He pulled her tightly into his arms again, as if trying to merge her into his own body. ”You can cry if you want to. In front of me, you don’t have to hold it back.”

Leah hugged his waist tightly, sobbing softly and murmuring, ”Grandma...” Asher just held her in silence.

Passersby on the street glanced at the handsome man holding a crying woman, their foreign eyes filled with either surprise or indifference.

After crying for who knows how long, Leah finally let go of Asher Keating. Seeing the large tear stain on his shirt, she felt a little embarrassed again.

Asher Keating cupped her face and placed a kiss on her lips. It was a very light kiss, like the brush of a feather—ticklish, yet it smoothed away the last of the pain in Leah’s heart.

”Asher, when we get back home, I want to go see Grandma.”

”Okay, I’ll go with you.”

That night, Asher Keating received a message from Phoebe Peyton: ”Asher, how are you coming along with considering the overseas warehouse partnership with us?”

Asher lit a cigarette and thought it over slowly. ’Given the current scale of the Keating’s overseas warehouses, there’s really no need to partner with the Peyton Group.’

’But the Peyton Group’s name carries a lot of weight. If they could partner with them, there wouldn’t really be any downsides for the Keating. In fact, the Keating could use this opportunity to expand into Kingsford.’

’There was just one thing he couldn’t figure out. The Peyton Group had absolutely no need to partner with anyone on a project like this. Although Liam Peyton said they were new to it and just wanted to take a shortcut...’

’...Asher didn’t believe that the Keating was the only shortcut available. Far too many companies wanted to work with the Peyton Group. Yet Liam Peyton had implied that they were only considering the Keating.’

As if sensing Asher’s hesitation, Phoebe Peyton sent another message: ”Just do me a favor, for old times’ sake, okay? My dad got married last year to a woman younger than me. She’s already pregnant, and they found out it’s a boy. I can’t let him take away my mom’s share too. Asher, this is all I have left.”