From Ashes of Scandals to His Embrace novel Chapter 408

Adolphus turned his head, giving her a sideways glance and a little laugh. “What’s this? Trying to win me over?”

Laurinda rolled her eyes. “Please. What would I even get out of that? I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m just being honest. The guy I picked just keeps getting better looking, that’s all.”

She leaned in, looking completely smitten, her hand sliding onto his leg as she absentmindedly traced little circles with her fingertips.

He felt a spark run through him at her touch. Grabbing her wandering hand, Adolphus arched an eyebrow. “So you only like me because I’m good-looking?”

She grinned. “That’s not it. You’re also way too good to me. You spoil me more than my own dad ever did.”

That made Adolphus laugh, even as he shook his head in disbelief. While waiting for the light to change, he turned, leaned over, and pressed his lips to hers, silencing her with a kiss.

“You know, your mouth is much better for kissing. The things you say sometimes really get under my skin.”

Laurinda laughed, eyes shining. “Well, you could always just kiss me more. Maybe then I’ll talk less.”

She looked at him with so much affection that Adolphus couldn’t help but feel lucky. No matter how annoyed he got, he never once lost his temper with her. Honestly, she wouldn’t mind if he kissed her a little more often.

***

A week later, Laurinda heard from Shirley about the school assembly.

At the assembly, the principal had called out Gordon in front of everyone, turning her into a cautionary tale. The punishment was swift. Gordon was expelled on the spot.

“Well, well, what’s up, little troublemaker? Calling me at this hour?”

Laurinda could hear the fond exasperation in his voice and grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m not calling because I need you to bail me out of anything. I just wanted to ask if you know anything about a student named Gordon. Our principal sent her to the police for fraud.”

The detective sounded surprised, but he was intrigued. “That girl? She’s with the anti-fraud team now. Been there a week already. They question her every day, but she won’t budge. Keeps insisting she didn’t do anything wrong. Even when my colleagues showed her Laura’s record, she refused to believe it. Swore up and down that Laura wouldn’t trick her.”

Laurinda blinked. “Record? Laura has a criminal record?”

She hadn’t known anything about that.

“What’s on her record?”