From Ashes of Scandal to His Embrace (Laurinda) novel Chapter 194

It was kind of funny, actually. Laurinda never expected to find a picture of her own boyfriend tucked inside another woman’s wallet.

Adolphus came back from hanging up their coats and spotted Laurinda crouched on the floor, examining something. He knelt down next to her, curiosity written all over his face.

“Is this you?” she asked, holding the photo so close to his face he had to blink to focus.

Adolphus squinted for a second, then realized what he was looking at. It was a photo from his family portrait. He honestly had no clue how it ended up here.

“Yeah, that’s me. That’s our family photo. Where did you get this?”

Laurinda shook the wallet in her hand. She hadn’t found anything useful inside, but she had a pretty good guess about its owner.

If she remembered right, Adah had caused a scene at the hospital because she lost her bag and couldn’t get in touch with the Charles family. That was what led Adolphus to admit her to the psych ward.

But how did Adah’s bag wind up in their house?

Adolphus wrinkled his nose and brushed the wallet out of Laurinda’s hands. Then he grabbed her wrist, gently pulled her up, and led her straight to the bathroom.

He wrapped his arms around her and patiently washed her hands, grumbling under his breath the whole time.

“You really shouldn’t touch random stuff like that. Who knows how many germs are on it?”

Laurinda relaxed into his arms, watching his face twist in irritation like he’d just swallowed a bug. She giggled softly.

“So, you figured out whose wallet it is, right?”

Adolphus looked down, meeting her sparkling eyes, and couldn’t help but smile at her teasing expression.

“There aren’t many people who’d have a copy of our family photo. Adah is one of them. Her sister is my sister-in-law.”

“Burn it,” Laurinda said. “Make sure it’s all gone.”

The butler nodded, picked up everything, and took it outside to burn it until nothing was left.

The next morning, Laurinda came downstairs and saw Sam waiting in the living room with a guy in glasses and work clothes.

That’s when she remembered Sam had asked her for a favor, and she’d completely forgotten about it.

“Have you been waiting long? Why didn’t you ask one of the maids to wake me up?” she said as she sat down across from them, feeling a little embarrassed.

Sam had come to ask for help, so he was extra polite and careful with his words.

“Adolphus told me your sleep isn’t great, so he said I should wait for you to wake up before we talked business.”