From Ashes of Scandals to His Embrace novel Chapter 80

Bonnie could see right away that Jasper wanted to take care of the Charles family on his own.

York crouched down, watching Jasper’s serious expression. It was obvious the kid was furious. Quietly, York felt a little sorry for whoever was about to cross Jasper.

“Alright, it’s all yours. But if it gets out of hand, call me. I’ll cover for you,” he said.

“I won’t need backup. I’ve got this. I’ve already looked into it. The Charles family’s chip tech is far from perfect. I just have to mess with the code a little when they’re not paying attention. Their whole system will crash and burn. That’ll be the end of the Charles family.”

York didn’t know what to say after that. He just sat beside Jasper, feeling completely out of his depth.

How were regular people supposed to keep up with these two? Wasn’t anyone going to leave them a chance to survive?

A little while later, the door to Laurinda’s hospital room opened. Bonnie had just finished a call and rushed straight to Adolphus, her face tight with worry.

“How is she? Is she alright?” she blurted out.

“She’s doing much better now. Her joints are a bit strained from handling the horse, and she’s pretty worn out, but with a few days of rest, she’ll be fine. Nothing too serious. I’ve already set everything back in place.”

“She’s still sleeping, so you can go in and check on her, but try not to wake her. She needs to rest.”

As he finished speaking, Adolphus gently ruffled Jasper’s hair. Looking at the boy’s face, so much like Laurinda’s, his eyes softened. He knelt so he and Jasper were eye to eye.

“Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, nothing will happen to Laurinda. Go keep her company.”

Jasper nodded, whispered a thank you, then took Bonnie’s hand and the two of them went into the room.

Out in the hallway, only Adolphus and York were left. York could tell Adolphus had something to say, so he spoke up first. “Let’s talk outside.”

“No need. I have an office here. We can talk there.”

When Adolphus checked Laurinda’s pulse earlier, he could tell she’d been hurt before. But after today’s scans, he finally understood how serious her injuries were—the kind that could have killed her if things had gone wrong.

York sat across from him. He knew there was no hiding Laurinda’s injuries from a surgeon.

And maybe, he thought, if Adolphus and Laurinda were going to be together, Adolphus deserved to know the truth.

“Since she was fourteen, Laurinda’s gone on a special mission every year. I don’t know the details.”

“She’d usually be gone for ten days, sometimes two weeks. Last March, she went off for another mission.”

“But this time, she disappeared for a whole month. I managed to get in touch with her team leader, and that’s when I found out she’d been missing for over twenty days.”

“I finally found her in a small town in Madagascar. She was covered in wounds. The worst was a stab wound to her chest.”