Leah Sinclair woke up in the morning and noticed Kian Hawthorne’s suit tossed on the sofa.
He had come back last night.
She walked over to the front door and pressed the handle. The door clicked open.
Stunned for a second, Leah hurriedly turned back to her room and dragged out her packed luggage.
She planned to stay at her family’s home for a few days before looking for a new apartment.
Her uncle had not yet been discharged from the hospital. She hadn’t wanted to make her aunt and uncle worry about her at a critical juncture like this, but if she kept delaying, who knew if Kian would lock her in the house again next time?
Leah dragged her suitcase to the door and looked down to change her shoes. Just as she was about to open the door and leave, the doorbell rang.
She paused. Peering through the peephole, she saw that the person standing outside was actually Jean Finch.
Why was she here so early in the morning?
The doorbell rang a few more times. Left with no choice, Leah stuffed her suitcase into the entryway storage cabinet, changed back into her slippers, and opened the door.
Leah offered a slight smile. "Mom, why are you here so early?"
Jean pulled a long face and gave her a cold, sweeping glance. "To see a useless thing like you."
Leah froze.
Ignoring her, Jean walked straight into the house and seated herself gracefully on the living room sofa.
Leah closed the door and went to pour her mother-in-law a cup of tea. The moment she set the cup down, Jean demanded, "Do you not watch the news?"
Leah was taken aback. Mustering her patience, she asked, "Mom, what happened?"
"Kian ran off to Silvane to host the grave relocation ceremony for Selene Shaw’s father. It’s all over the television!"
The corners of Leah’s mouth twitched. "Kian didn’t tell me about this."
"Of course he wouldn’t tell you. But as the lawful wife, are you just going to let a mistress walk all over you?" Jean slapped the table in anger.
Leah decided to play helpless. "Mom, I have no money and no status, and my family is weak. How am I supposed to control him?"
Jean shot up from her seat. "What kind of attitude is that? If you let your husband keep a mistress on the outside, aren’t you afraid of getting kicked out on the streets?"
Leah would love nothing more than to be kicked out. However, she didn’t want to argue with Jean, so she kept her head down and stayed silent.
Jean hadn’t come today out of genuine concern for Leah and Kian’s relationship. She had been forced over by her husband to lecture her daughter-in-law.
The Hawthorne family and the Shaw family used to be close. Years ago, when Mr. Shaw was suspected of economic crimes, paying a massive fine could have spared him from a prison sentence. He had begged Owen Harrison to lend him the money, but the Hawthorne family refused. Mr. Shaw had no choice but to go to prison, where he eventually died of depression. Owen had even acquired the Shaw family’s assets at a ridiculously low price.
It was an unethical move, leaving a stain on Owen’s reputation. For this exact reason, he resolutely forbade his son from being with Selene.
Now that Kian had gone behind his father’s back to act as a pallbearer for Mr. Shaw, Owen couldn’t scold his son directly. Instead, he sent his wife over to knock some sense into his daughter-in-law so she would keep her husband on a tighter leash.
"Say something! Are you just going to watch helplessly as the mistress moves into your home and kicks you out?"
"Who is a mistress?" a cold voice interjected.
Kian walked out, dressed in loungewear.
Jean froze. She had heard that Kian was in Silvane and wouldn’t be back for several days. She never expected him to be home.
"What wind blew Mrs. Harrison to my humble abode today?" Kian sneered as he took a seat beside Leah, casting a glance at her.
He had overheard the entire conversation between the two women. It suddenly occurred to him that he seemed to have underestimated Leah all this time.
He took her hand in his. She tried to pull it away, but he held on tight.
"Leah is young and innocent. Don’t scare her, Mrs. Harrison." As long as his father wasn’t present, he never called Jean "Mom."
Put on the spot, Jean had no choice but to find an out for herself.
"Kian, I’m only doing this for Leah’s own good."
"For her own good?" Kian shot a look at Leah. "She’s so scared she’s about to cry. Can’t you see?"
Jean’s lips parted. Since things had escalated to this point today, she might as well lay everything out in the open.
"Kian, if your heart aches for Leah, you should reel yourself in." She paused. "It wasn’t my own idea to come here today."
Kian understood the subtext. It was his father; the old man had found out about his trip to Silvane to help the Shaw family relocate the grave.
"Rest assured, I know exactly what I am doing," he enunciated every word. "I am simply repaying a debt on behalf of the Hawthorne family. Once it’s paid, it will be over."
He turned his head to look at Leah. Her face was pale, her expression wooden. Kian enunciated every word, "There will only ever be one Mrs. Hawthorne, and that is Leah."
Having been thoroughly rebuffed, Jean had no choice but to stand up. "You can handle your own father-son and marital affairs yourselves. I’m leaving."
"Take care." Kian didn’t even pretend to get up to see her out.
Leah pulled her hand out of his grasp and stood up to walk Jean to the door.
As soon as she had seen her out and closed the door, Kian said, "Leah, let’s talk."
Leah didn’t want to talk to him. She dragged her suitcase back out of the entryway cabinet.
Kian was amused out of pure exasperation by this little woman.
"Even if you want to run away from home, at least wait until I finish talking," he said, pausing briefly. "Besides, going back to your family’s home now will only add to your brother’s troubles. He should be extremely stressed right now."
Leah paused. "What do you mean? What happened to my brother?"
Kian unlocked his phone and swiped to a social media news post from last night. "Something happened at your brother’s factory. Come look for yourself."
Leah walked over, picked up the phone for a glance, and froze.
Crowds of people were surrounding her brother’s mobile phone glue factory, holding up signs to demand unpaid debts and wages.
Kian leveled his tone. "I only found out about it last night, too. Ash and a few other small business owners mutually guaranteed each other’s loans. One of them absconded with the funds, and as the guarantor, Ash has to bear the entire debt."
Leah’s mind was in utter turmoil.
That glue factory was her brother’s life’s work. His entire net worth and all his dreams were invested into it.
Kian observed Leah’s expression. He pulled the phone back, guided her to sit down, and spoke softly.
"I already called a few bank presidents last night to ask them to grant an emergency credit line to Ash’s factory. He should receive calls from the banks today."
Leah pursed her lips and stayed silent.
She knew Kian wasn’t helping her brother for no reason. He was a businessman; everything came with a price.
"Leah, I said a lot of things I shouldn’t have yesterday." He raised his hand and tucked a stray wisp of hair behind her ear. "Selene and I are just friends. The things I did were only to make up for the debt the Hawthorne family owes the Shaw family from years ago."
Leah pursed her lips and remained silent.
Kian said gently, "When I married you, I never once thought about getting a divorce. I’m very busy. Perhaps I can’t give you the romance you want, but I can ensure that you have a smooth and worry-free life forever."
Leah still didn’t make a sound.
Right in front of her, Kian pulled out his phone and called the corporate HR director.
"Hello, Director Young, this is Kian. Starting today, transfer Diana Carter out of the CEO’s office and find a new chief secretary."
Leah was taken aback.
Kian hung up the phone and looked at her gently. "To slight you is to disrespect me. I want the entire corporation to know that your affairs are my affairs."
He paused. "How about it, Leah? Can you forgive me? We have been married for two years, and yesterday was our first fight. You wouldn’t sentence our marriage to death over a single argument, would you?"
Leah shot up from her seat and said stiffly, "I’m going to call my brother."
She grabbed her phone, hurried into the guest room, and shut the door behind her.
Kian looked at her retreating figure and offered a faint smile.
If he couldn’t even handle one little woman, what kind of CEO was he?