Betrayed, Then Back For Blood

Chapter 117

Ashton noticed Briar was spacing out and straightened up a bit, his eyes burning into her.

Feeling his gaze, Briar had no choice but to snap back to reality. Her long lashes fluttered twice as she asked,

“What's wrong?”

At this distance, even their breathing fell into sync. A breeze laced with osmanthus fragrance swept by, lifting a

stray lock of hair from Briar’s forehead.

Nothing separated them anymore. Their eyes, their lips, even the air they breathed seemed to mingle on each

other’s faces.

‘This is way too weird,’ Briar thought to herself.

Strangely enough, her heart started to feel inexplicably happy. She blinked, wanting to turn her head away.

But Ashton moved first.

He straightened up, took a step to the side, and put on an earnest smile.

He said, “Nothing. | just thought you might get mad, so I'd be conveniently on hand to comfort you.”

Briar shot a glare at the man who was pretending to be all serious. “If you knew | might get mad, then why'd you

tell me?”

It was a totally normal comeback, but to Ashton, it sounded like pride and pouting. He found it irresistibly cute.

He chuckled softly again.

Brandon even held his breath, desperately trying to fade into the background like an emotionless prop.

‘Is Mr. Wade actually flirting right now? Seriously?‘ Brandon screamed in his head.

As a guy who always kept women at arm's length, Ashton was pulling out trick after trick. It was enough to make

everyone's jaw drop.

Brandon felt that this was just next-level.

Brandon rubbed his ear, feeling conflicted.

He thought, ‘Should | remind Mr. Wade that Xavion said you're supposed to confess first and wait for a response

before doing all this?

Otherwise, it would just be sexually harassing.

“I don’t want to hide anything from you,” Ashton kept up his act. “So, are you mad? | can deal with Frank for

you.”

Briar paused for a moment before finally saying, “No, thanks.”

Ashton nodded, looking a bit disappointed. “Alright, what a shame.

“I already had someone hold Frank at the villa | was planning to beat him up when we got hto make you feel

better.”

Briar was at a loss for words.

The more tBriar spent around Ashton, the more she felt that everything people said about him just didn’t

match him at all.

When they got home, Briar saw Frank being guarded in the yard, serving as a buffet for the mosquitoes.

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Chapter 117

Frank spotted Briar getting out of the car with Ashton and let out a hoarse, desperate cry. “Briar, save me...

Briar, who was about to head to her own house, stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. “Frank, Ashton’s

not going to hit you

Frank looked at Ashton, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Really, Ashton?”

In the two hours he'd been dragged back, he'd run through every possible scenario.

He'd even rewritten his will for the 182nd time. So, he was surprised that he wasn’t getting beaten up.

Ashton’s indulgence toward Briar tonight was totally unprecedented. “If Briar says | won't hit you, then | won't.”

Frank looked at Briar with tears of gratitude. If Ashton hadn’t been standing right there, he probably would've

rushed over and hugged

Briar’s leg to show how thankful he was.

He said, “Briar, you're the best! From now on, | will buy you snacks every single day.”

Briar had a serious sweet tooth and loved all kinds of desserts and smoothies.

Her desk drawer in the lab was crammed full of candy and snacks. From tto time, she’d order desserts and

smoothies.

“Alright,” Briar said, her eyes curving with a smile.

Hearing someone promise to cover her snacks for the next four years of college actually made her pretty happy.

Even though she wasn’t sure she'd actually finish all four years, the desserts in Shoneport really were way better

than anything in Qathana.

Once their conversation was over, Ashton wasted no tin sending Frank off. “You can go now.”

Frank was stunned. “Ashton, | haven't even eaten yet! You draggedhere. Shouldn't you at least feed me?”

Ashton narrowed his eyes, glancing at the sticks set aside. “How about sbeating? | am good at cooking that

up.”

Frank instantly chickened out, looking all aggrieved. “I'm leaving right now.”

As he passed by, Briar, still looking down at her phone, suddenly called out, “Frank, tell your people to stop

voting forin the Campus Belle

Contest.”

She had just checked. The first round voting window was already closed, which meant the results were set in

stone and couldn't be changed

anymore.

Frank nodded with a serious face. “I know. I'll have them stop tomorrow.”

But inside, he was secretly delighted. Briar was way ahead in the first round of campus belle votes.

Even if the next two rounds were just average, with a little behind-the-scenes maneuvering, her chances of

winning were still pretty high.

As for Ashton’s threat, he couldn't care less.

Compared to being forcefully shipped with all sorts of random girls and made into sfake couple, he felt that

getting beaten up by Ashton was way better.

Who cares about that! Getting smacked around by Ashton for a bit was way better than being stuck in some

awkward ship for a whole year.

Frank left, hopping into his showy red Lamborghini. Then, he was gone.

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10:50 Fri, 15 Aug

Chapter 117

Aug

“Ashton, I'm heading back too,” Briar said, turning to leave.

But someone caught her arm, and when she looked back, she met Ashton’s burning gaze.

Ashton cleared his throat. “Are you free tomorrow night? | want to take you to a movie.”

Briar raised an eyebrow. “A movie?”

Ashton cleared his throat again. “Do you know Stephen Wade? He’s a movie star.”

Briar had checked out the Wade family before, so she knew Stephen was Ashton’s distant cousin,

At thirty, he was one of the rare few who made it big without relying on the Wade family’s connections. He'd

becDasmieca’s top actor all

on his own.

She nodded. “I've heard of him.”

Ashton took two movie premiere tickets from Brandon. “Tomorrow night, his new movie, ‘The Emperor's Edict, is

premiering

“He gavetwo tickets. Would you cwith me?”

Briar hesitated for a moment, meaning to turn him down, but when she met his hopeful gaze, she just couldn't

refuse. “Alright.”

Only then did Ashton let Briar go home.

As he watched Briar head inside and saw the light flick on in her upstairs bedroom, Brandon finally let out a sigh.

“Mr. Wade, your flirting skills are way better than Xavion’s.”

He thought, ‘Mr. Wade's already pulled off all the date moves, but he still hasn't actually said the words."

Ashton didn’t even bother responding. He just turned and walked into the house.

Just then, Morton showed up to report to Ashton. As soon as he got out of the car, he spotted Brandon standing

there in the yard looking lost.

Out of concern, he called out, “Hey, Brandon, what's up? Did Mr. Wade make you stand out here as

punishment?”

Brandon shot him a look. “Can’t you ever wish something good forfor once?”

Morton shrugged. “Con, don’t get mad! You're always glued to Mr. Wade's side.

“Out of the four of us brothers, aren't you the one who gets punished the most?”

Brandon snorted and spilled the beans to Morton about how Ashton had been sneaking around, basically going

on a date with Briar tonight.

Morton, no longer in a hurry to head inside, crossed his arms and gave Brandon a friendly reminder.

He said, “Didn’t Xavion already warn you to stop overthinking this? Can't you see how much Mr. Wade cares

about Miss Jennings?”

Brandon replied, “He did remind me,”

Morton shrugged. “Exactly, so just don’t get involved. Just follow Mr. Wade's lead. He knows what he’s doing.”

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