Chapter 85: You Were the Greedy One After All
The video was from the day Leah Sinclair was taken hostage. The situation had been too chaotic and noisy at the time, so Zion Sawyer and the others hadn’t noticed what Leah was shouting.
Leah had also shouted it instinctively in a moment of panic. Nina Linton played the video for Zion Sawyer over and over. If you listened closely, you could indeed hear her shout "Third Brother."
Zion Sawyer looked at Leah Sinclair’s unsettled face and said, "I remember President Shaw used to call President Keating ’Third Brother’ too. I wanted to argue with them, but... I couldn’t win against them."
Leah Sinclair took a deep breath. "Is the whole company talking about it?"
Zion Sawyer said hurriedly, "Nina Linton and Yolanda Lawson, you know them. They’re even bigger gossips than I am. I bet it’s already spread through the entire project department. We’re just the last ones to hear about it."
Leah Sinclair recalled that when she went to make coffee that morning, a few people nearby had given her strange looks. At the time, she didn’t know what was going on and didn’t pay it any mind.
Seeing Leah Sinclair’s pale face and her silence, Zion Sawyer worriedly took her hand. "Leah..."
"Zion, this whole thing... I don’t know how to explain it to you. I..."
"Zion Sawyer! Leah Sinclair! Meeting time!" Todd Coleman had come out looking for them and, not finding them, shouted from the doorway.
Leah Sinclair quickly said to Zion Sawyer, "I’ll explain when I get the chance."
"Okay, Leah. Don’t worry about what other people are saying. I know you must have a reason for doing this."
Zion Sawyer held her hand. They had known each other for so long, and Zion knew what kind of person Leah was. She didn’t believe Leah would let herself be kept by Asher Keating for no reason.
"Thank you."
Leah Sinclair suppressed her inner panic and uttered her thanks. ’I don’t know if Asher knows yet. If he does, how will he handle this? Should I tell him about it?’
But when she took out her phone, she didn’t know how to bring it up with Asher Keating. She hesitated for a long time, the message in his chat window unsent.
Asher Keating wasn’t in the office that afternoon. Edward Yates and his team had promptly curbed the spread of the incident when they discovered it, and the matter had already been suppressed.
But Nina Linton from Department Three had a "slip of the hand" and posted the gossip chat logs to the main group chat. Although the President’s Office retracted it immediately, the incident still reached a fever pitch.
People in every department were talking about it. Some even came to the entrance of Project Department One, pretending to look for someone, but were actually there to see Leah Sinclair, wanting to get a look at the "heroine" of this scandal. Mr. Langdon had Todd Coleman shut the door directly.
When Edward Yates reported the news to Asher Keating, he was on his way back to Europa Gardens. He had returned to the old family estate that afternoon and had a confrontation with Aaron Keating over the Southwood project.
The old Mr. Keating had been sitting on this project for too long, and Aaron Keating also had a feeling it wouldn’t fall into his hands. When the old Mr. Keating summoned Asher back in the afternoon, Aaron got wind of it and rushed back as well.
Aaron Keating had argued with him aggressively, but Asher remained quite calm, enraging Aaron to the point of a near-meltdown with just a few words.
But just before leaving, he suddenly gave Asher a sinister smile and said, "Third Brother, you think you’ve won just because you got the project? The real show is just beginning."
At the time, Asher didn’t know what he meant by that, but now he pretty much understood. He sneered, "Did his brain fall into a wine bottle and get pickled? What kind of impact does he think this method will have?"
Sean Yates was silent for a moment. "Young Master, this indeed won’t have much of an effect on you, but for Leah Sinclair..."
Asher Keating understood. He was the boss. No matter how much people gossiped, they wouldn’t do it to his face. They might even think it was normal. For people like him, what was keeping a woman?
But it was different for Leah Sinclair. Never mind that she had just recently become a full-time employee; even if she had been one for a long time, having this kind of thing exposed would have a huge impact on her.
Aevon Group hadn’t hired any recent graduates for several years. Leah Sinclair had indeed been recommended by her professor, but other people wouldn’t necessarily see it that way. The two of them arriving at the company one after the other was indeed a bit too coincidental.
Asher Keating lit a cigarette and gazed out the window. ’It’s already been five months. I was planning to make my relationship with Leah Sinclair official before the Lunar New Year.’
’Now, with New Year’s Day just a few days away... might as well move it up. Consider it a New Year’s gift. Aaron Keating said the real show was just beginning. Well, why can’t this be the opening act of the real show between me and Leah?’
He curved his lips into a slight smile and took out his phone to send Leah a message. "We’ll talk at home."
When Leah Sinclair received Asher’s message, she knew he had heard about it too. She was just about to leave work, so she immediately replied with an "Okay."
As she got into the elevator, she could clearly feel the people around her looking at her. Zion Sawyer squeezed her hand. Leah Sinclair pressed her lips together and forced herself to straighten her back. ’Right now, all I can do is try to stay calm.’
The moment the elevator doors opened, the voices from behind could no longer be held back.
"So that’s Leah Sinclair?"
"Yeah, yeah. Damn, President Keating is into her type?"
"Tch, she’s just young and pretty. Kids these days, honestly. They never learn anything good, only these crooked ways."
"Keep your voice down. Be careful she doesn’t whisper sweet nothings in President Keating’s ear and get you fired."
Leah Sinclair and Zion Sawyer acted as if they heard nothing and walked straight toward the exit. Once they reached the doors, Zion finally dared to speak. "Leah, are you... are you okay?"
"I’m fine. Don’t worry. I’m heading home now."
Leah Sinclair forced a smile. Back at Azure Bay, she had heard things much nastier than this. At the time, she didn’t know that Asher had been protecting her for the better part of a month, but she had clearly felt the other girls’ hostility toward her. She had heard all kinds of passive-aggressive remarks and veiled insults, so this really wasn’t too bad.
She walked slowly toward the subway station. Leah didn’t know what Asher’s attitude was, but she knew he had gone back to the Keating family’s old estate that afternoon, apparently for something related to the Southwood project. She had heard Asher mention that the old Mr. Keating was preparing to make an announcement, probably within the next few days.
And now today, the business between the two of them had been exposed without any warning, and it had spread so quickly. She suspected Aaron Keating was definitely the one pushing this from behind the scenes.
’If Aaron uses our situation to threaten Asher and make him give up the project, would Asher give it up for me?’ The thought had barely crossed her mind before she cursed herself for being stupid. ’What kind of status do I have? Am I worth Asher Keating giving up such an important project?’
The last thing she ever wanted was to cause trouble for Asher, but this time, it seemed like she had caused a big one. Yet, the moment she thought about how Asher might give her up for that project, Leah’s heart felt like it was being squeezed by a fist, the pain so intense she could hardly breathe.
Their agreed-upon date was just over a month away. Lately, Leah had been hesitating, wondering if she should gather the courage to tell Asher that she didn’t want to leave him, that she wanted to stay by his side.
She remembered how she had once vowed to Ethan Shaw that she had her own two feet and would walk away on her own. She mocked herself internally. ’Ah, Leah. In the end, you were the one who got greedy.’