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

Chapter 208: Chapter 208: Thomas Sterling Is Dead

The day before Leah Sinclair’s graduation ceremony, Mabel Grant and Brandon Jacobs arrived. Seeing Asher Keating, Mabel raised an eyebrow and asked him, ”Third Master Keating, shouldn’t you be back in Celestia earning the bride price? What are you doing loafing around?”

A small smile touched Asher Keating’s lips, his eyes twinkling. ”Aunt Mabel, there’s no end to earning a bride price, but Leah’s graduation is more important right now.”

Mabel Grant huffed but didn’t say anything more. Brandon Jacobs smiled and asked him, ”When are you planning to head back?”

”After Leah’s graduation, I plan to take her traveling around the area before we go back.”

Brandon Jacobs nodded. ”That’s true. Leah has been so busy with her studies these past few years. She deserves a good rest.”

For the past three years, Leah had done nothing but study. She hadn’t even returned to Celestia for the New Year holidays. Brandon Jacobs knew she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to resist running off to Riverfall if she went back, but he still worried she would turn into a bookworm.

And whenever he thought about Mason Grant, who insisted on going back to Celestia every New Year, Brandon Jacobs couldn’t help but feel annoyed. He’d demand to know why Mason was always running back for no reason. Didn’t he know he should be spending more time with his sister?

”Dad, am I adopted?” This was the question Mason Grant asked Brandon Jacobs most often after Leah Sinclair joined the Grant family.

During the graduation ceremony, Asher Keating sat in the audience. People kept glancing at him, wondering who he was. An enthusiastic and bold young woman asked for his contact information, but he replied coolly that he was there for his fiancée’s graduation.

”Who is so lucky?” someone asked curiously.

Watching Leah Sinclair in her cap and gown slowly walk onto the stage, Asher Keating’s lips curved into a smile. ”The lucky one is me.”

Tim Academy had a tradition. As the graduation ceremony drew to a close, cameras would pan across the crowd, capturing the graduates’ smiling faces and actions to display on the big screen.

Because of this, many graduates would prepare banners every year, unfurling them when the camera landed on them. It was a popular time for public confessions of love.

And when the camera landed on Leah Sinclair, her beautiful, almond-shaped eyes crinkled, and the corners of her lips lifted gently. She stood up and raised a banner. On it was written in bold letters, ”Hualiu is the most powerful!!! Hualiu is the f*cking best!!!”

The moment they saw it, all the Celestian international students in the audience erupted in frantic applause and whistles. The hall was thrown into a fervent uproar by the countless voices.

Mason Grant, abandoning his usual composure, went wild with excitement, whistling nonstop and shouting, ”That’s my sister! That’s my sister!”

Mabel Grant kicked him in disgust, but her eyes, fixed on the screen, were filled with pride. Brandon Jacobs was also clapping enthusiastically, a hearty laugh booming from him.

The camera stayed on Leah for a full thirty seconds. Asher Keating watched Leah smiling on the big screen, holding her banner, his eyes full of affection. He snapped a photo and immediately posted it to his social media feed with the caption: ”Mine.”

At that moment, it was evening back in Celestia. Just moments after Asher Keating posted, a flood of likes and comments poured in.

”Whoa! Leah is so badass!”

”AHHHH!!! Leah is so freaking awesome!!!”

”Tsk tsk, that’s my girl!”

”President Keating’s girlfriend is beautiful.”

”Congratulations, President Keating!”

”President Keating’s girlfriend is so cool!!!”

”AHHHHHH! Boss, Leah is so awesome! Hualiu is the f*cking best!!!”

The July sun carried a sweltering heat, but today, a gentle breeze rustled by as Leah Sinclair stood beside Asher Keating in her graduation gown.

Their fingers intertwined, they smiled for the camera—his gentle, hers radiant. It was the first real photograph of just the two of them together.

Asher Keating had originally planned to stay in Eldoria for another ten days after Leah’s graduation to travel with her. But on the third day of their road trip, news arrived from Celestia.

Thomas Sterling, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for two years, was dead.

When the Sterling Family issued the obituary, Morgan Sterling sent a message to Asher Keating, hoping he would attend Thomas Sterling’s funeral. After all, one should respect the dead. Even though Madeline Sterling had done many terrible things, Thomas Sterling had at least always treated Asher well.

Asher Keating replied with just two words: ”My condolences.”

He didn’t say whether he would attend.

Mabel Grant was even more direct. When Morgan Sterling suggested that Leah might attend, she retorted, ”We’ll skip Thomas Sterling’s, but if it were yours, I’d make sure Leah went.”

When Morgan Sterling saw the reply, he let out a sinister laugh. He reopened the post on Asher Keating’s feed. The photo of Leah’s radiant smile sparked a strange sense of greed in his eyes.

”Mr. Sterling, we’ve heard from the prison again. Miss Madeline says she wants to see you. She still doesn’t know about the master’s passing. Should we...” Morgan Sterling’s assistant, Hugh Sterling, said as he knocked and entered.

Morgan Sterling leisurely lit a cigarette. ”The Sterling family has no young lady who is also a kidnapper.”

Hugh Sterling fell silent for a moment. ”Understood.”

Just as he was about to leave, Morgan Sterling stopped him. ”Wait. Make the arrangements. I’ll go see Madeline.”

After Hugh Sterling left, Morgan Sterling went to Jacqueline Vaughn’s room. For the past two years, ever since Thomas Sterling’s paralysis, Jacqueline had become vacant and foolish, oblivious to the outside world, doing nothing but staring into space.

Morgan sat across from her, a cigarette dangling from his lips, a cold smile playing on his face as he stared at Jacqueline. Jacqueline’s eyes were hollow. She just stared straight ahead, expressionless and motionless.

”Mother.”

Morgan Sterling’s voice rang out, but Jacqueline Vaughn still didn’t react. He smiled faintly, stood up, walked over, and knelt before her. Like a child seeking his mother’s comfort, he placed a hand on her knee. Jacqueline’s eyelid twitched almost imperceptibly.

”Tell me, where did Father put his will and his personal seal?”

”...”

”I never would have thought Father could bribe someone to draft a will after being paralyzed in bed for two years. Let me guess... did he leave the Sterling Group to Madeline? Heh... He always looked down on me. But do you know where Madeline is right now?”

”...”

Jacqueline Vaughn still didn’t react, but her fingers began to tremble uncontrollably. Though Morgan Sterling kept smiling as he spoke, ’her heart felt as if a venomous snake were slithering over it, sending a cold shiver through her.’

”Your precious daughter... Back then, Father managed to contact her and told her to come back, pinning all his last hopes on her. But she hasn’t come to see either of you, has she? Mother, do you know why?”

A smile remained fixed on Morgan Sterling’s lips as he stared intently at Jacqueline Vaughn. Her eyeballs moved. Her lips trembling, she looked at Morgan. Her voice, unused for so long, was hoarse. ”What did you do to Madeline?”

”Mother, Madeline is my sister. What could I possibly do to her? She’s in a very safe place right now. As long as you’re willing to tell me where the will is, I’ll send you and Madeline abroad after I get it. I guarantee you’ll both live out the rest of your days without a single worry.”

Morgan Sterling gently placed his hand over Jacqueline Vaughn’s cold one, a faint smile still playing on his lips.

”I... I don’t believe you.”

”Heh... Mother, do you really think Father’s will can constrain me? It can’t. He’s dead. To me, it makes no difference whether a will exists or not. I just don’t want things between us, mother and son, to end up like they did with Father. After all, I just lost my father. I’d hate to lose my mother too.”