From Ashes of Scandal to His Embrace (Laurinda) novel Chapter 127

After marrying into the Charles family, Laurinda’s life had completely changed. Her status shot up, her career took off, and honestly, it had been ages since anyone dared to talk to her like that.

She was just about to stand up and fire back when the host stepped in, showing off some serious crowd control skills and smoothing over the tension in the room.

“Let’s welcome contestant number three to the stage.”

Laurinda gave Adolphus’s arm a gentle tap and the three of them stood up, heading backstage together. Most people in the audience were still so caught up in their outrage over what happened to Jasper, they didn’t even notice the three of them slipping out.

Backstage, Laurinda spotted the butler looking furious. He jumped up as soon as he saw her.

“Laurinda, you’re here.”

She nodded. “Irvin told me Jasper was number twelve. How did he suddenly become number two?”

Just mentioning the number swap made the butler even angrier. He looked like he was about to explode.

“It was that judge, Gates. Number two was supposed to go to a girl named Aggie. Right after they drew numbers, Aggie ran out crying. Not long after, she came back with someone who said she was Aileen’s assistant and insisted on trading numbers with Jasper. Aggressively, too.”

“At first, Jasper and I both refused. We were about to call the event organizers, but then Aileen showed up herself. She pulled Jasper aside for a talk, and when he came back, he agreed to the switch.”

The butler looked at Laurinda, clearly feeling guilty, like he’d let Jasper down.

“Jasper agreed on his own?”

Laurinda’s eyes sparkled. She could already sense that someone was about to regret crossing them.

Jasper seemed to pick up on her frustration. He tugged gently on her sleeve. “Laurinda, I can handle my own stuff. Really.”

Laurinda softened. “I know you can. I trust you. I just want to be there when the results come out, so we can all go home together.”

She had no intention of interfering with Jasper’s plans. She loved that he could stand up for himself, and she wanted to give him the space to do it. Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t do something about Aileen herself. Laurinda had plenty of dirt saved up, and honestly, it would be a waste not to use it after all the work she’d put in.

When they got back to their seats, Adolphus leaned over and glanced at Laurinda’s phone, curiosity written all over his face.

“What are you up to?”

Laurinda’s lips curled into a sly smile as she held her phone out for him to see. “Just giving everyone a front-row seat to Aileen’s private life. Want to take a look?”