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

Chapter 254: Chapter 254: That’s... Liam Peyton?

Phoebe Peyton sat on Morgan Sterling’s lap and pouted, ”What are you thinking about? Didn’t you hear me talking to you?”

A flicker of something crossed Morgan Sterling’s eyes before he returned to his usual self. Holding her by the waist, he smiled. ”Nothing. What did you just say?”

”I was saying, what kind of magic does that woman Leah Grant possess? Huh? Seducing Asher Keating wasn’t enough, and now even my brother has fallen for her?”

The more Phoebe Peyton thought about it, the less she understood. Asher Keating was one thing—they had known each other for years, so there was at least some history there. But she just couldn’t fathom why Liam Peyton would fall for her too.

”My brother was on the verge of getting engaged two years ago.”

”Oh? So why didn’t he?”

Phoebe Peyton’s expression faltered, and she hesitated. Morgan Sterling studied her, his fingers gently tracing patterns on her back through the fabric of her dress.

His voice was laced with a seductive charm. ”Phoebe, I’m working for you now. Can’t you even tell me this?”

The light touch sent a shiver through Phoebe, and Morgan Sterling captured her red lips in a deep kiss.

After a long moment, she spoke, her voice trembling. ”It’s nothing, really. It’s just... well, my brother was about to get engaged. But at a business dinner, someone pushed a woman on him. He’d had too much to drink...”

”His fiancée found out the very next day. She made a scene, but didn’t say much after that. It was my brother who felt too guilty and broke off the engagement.”

”When did this happen?”

”About two years ago. The whole thing was hushed up, so nobody else knows about it. My uncle, Elijah, was furious. He stripped my brother of many of his privileges. Before that, my brother only had time to visit Cecilia in Eldoria once or twice a year. Afterward, he was much freer and started going every two months.”

Phoebe sighed. To be fair, Liam had always been good to her. Whenever there were holidays, if Cecilia got a gift, so would she, even when she wasn’t in the country.

She knew that Liam following her to Riverfall this time was on Elijah Peyton’s orders.

But aside from a few necessary interventions, Liam let her do as she pleased and never overly interfered with her decisions.

”Hah. I doubt it’s that simple.”

Morgan Sterling just smiled and shook his head, leaving Phoebe utterly confused. ”What do you mean?”

Morgan gently stroked her waist. ”Your brother’s former fiancée—that was a family arrangement, wasn’t it?”

”Yes. The daughter of the Chase Family. They’re the ones I told you about, the family that was so thoroughly crushed by the Grant Family they could never recover.”

”Could it be that your brother was just... taking advantage of the situation? That he didn’t like the Chase girl, didn’t want to marry her, and so...”

Phoebe froze. She’d never considered that. Back when she first heard Liam was supposed to marry the daughter of the Chase family, she’d actually felt sorry for him.

After all, the Chase girl was... really not a good match for Liam, looks-wise. But Liam had been groomed since childhood to be the Peyton family’s successor.

His marriage was never his own to decide.

”Are... are you saying my brother did it on purpose?”

A playful note entered Morgan’s voice. ”It’s not out of the question. He started flying to Eldoria constantly after that. Are you forgetting that Cecilia isn’t the only one there? There’s also... the second daughter of the Grant Family.”

Phoebe felt her heart begin to race. It was as if she had just stumbled upon a massive secret, one even more shocking than when she’d overheard Liam outside his office admitting he liked Leah Sinclair.

”That’s right, Leah Grant was in Eldoria then, too. And... the Chase Family is nothing compared to the Grant Family. Does that mean my uncle might have known?”

”That’s impossible to say. But even if he did, I doubt he would have objected. What is a broken-down Chase Family compared to the Grant Family?”

”Then... couldn’t we give them a little push? After all, my brother likes her. You could say I’d be doing him a huge favor, right?”

Phoebe gave a mischievous smile, and Morgan laughed along with her. ”My dear Phoebe is so... brilliant. Aren’t you all going to that mountain resort this weekend?”

Morgan leaned close to her ear, whispering. Phoebe’s expression grew more and more animated, her eyes shining with unconcealable excitement.

Asher Keating’s flight was early. Since he was leaving on a business trip for several days, he had been rather... unrestrained the night before. He was still groggy when Sean Yates called to wake him.

After mumbling a reply, he carefully slid his arm out from under Leah Sinclair’s neck and rubbed it. A soft chuckle escaped him as he watched her snuggle like a kitten into the warm space he’d just left.

Once in the car, Edward Yates handed him a tablet. ”Sir, our people have investigated everyone who attended the Myriad Corp opening banquet, but we found nothing. However, based on the timeline, these two people from the security footage may have been in the garden’s blind spot.”

Asher played the video. It showed a man and a woman who had entered the hotel shortly after the banquet began. They hadn’t gone to the banquet hall, but instead went straight to a hotel room.

Not long after Leah Sinclair arrived, they left their room and headed for the banquet floor. We don’t know where they went, but they returned to the room about twenty minutes later and didn’t leave until the next day.

”When the guest list turned up nothing, we started checking everyone who checked into the hotel that day. We found that these two used fake identities to register, and we haven’t located them yet.”

Asher replayed the video in silence. Edward felt a knot of apprehension in his stomach. ’It’s not our fault,’ he thought. ’It was a hotel, and there were just too many people coming and going.’

Then, Sean Yates had a sudden stroke of genius and suggested that perhaps the culprits weren’t banquet guests at all. So they shifted their focus, investigating everyone who entered or checked into the hotel during that time frame.

Asher’s hand suddenly froze. He rewound the video, watching a certain section several times before handing the tablet back to Edward. ”Investigate Liam Peyton. He was in the garden then, too.”

Edward froze, staring intently at the tablet. In the top-left corner of the paused frame, a person was faintly visible. His hand was stuck in his pants pocket, revealing the watch on his left wrist.

He asked in surprise, ”Is that... Liam Peyton?”

”Yes. I remember he was wearing that exact watch that day,” Asher said, his voice laced with a chill.

Liam’s position was in the opposite direction from where Leah had been that day, which was why Edward and his team hadn’t noticed him. If Asher hadn’t remembered that specific watch, he would have missed it too.

Although Leah hadn’t brought up that day again, nor had she mentioned the incident with Phoebe, Asher didn’t believe for a second that she had simply forgotten about it.

Besides, the whole affair was clearly targeted at them. The memory of Leah’s furrowed brow that night, which wouldn’t smooth out no matter how many times he kissed it while she slept, left a bitter feeling in his chest.

「The weekend arrived in a flash.」

Leah Sinclair’s foot was almost completely healed. As long as she avoided putting too much pressure on it, she could walk normally.

But Mason Grant, still worried she might re-injure it, didn’t let her participate in many of their more strenuous activities. Still, it was much better than being cooped up in her room.

The mountain resort belonged to Chester Hale’s family. Nestled among lush green hills and clear waters, the scenery was beautiful.

The others went off-roading in the mountains, leaving Leah to cool off by herself next to the man-made lake. It was quiet and peaceful, so comfortable that she started to feel drowsy.

”Leah Grant, you’re here too?”