Chapter 102: I’m Not Ready Yet
"Give them a taste of their own medicine."
Asher Keating glanced at him. Ethan Shaw ripped the camera down, huffed at the two of them, and followed him out the door. A cold sweat broke out on Madeline Sterling’s back at what Asher had just said. ’Asher Keating actually recorded it? He... how dare he?’
She collapsed onto the sofa, her body trembling. Her mind was racing, trying to figure out what to do. ’Will Asher release the recording?’
’If he releases it, what will I do? My original plan was to film this, edit it, and release it to create a narrative where Leah Sinclair is a homewrecker who stole him away, and Asher Keating is a heartless man. But now...’
As her mind continued to spin wildly, a shadow fell over her. Madeline Sterling shivered instantly.
Morgan Sterling gripped her chin. "What did I warn you before you came out?"
"Brother... Brother, I was wrong. I... I was just..."
Madeline Sterling was trembling uncontrollably. She had been acting crazy, fueled by alcohol, but Asher’s threat had scared her sober.
And now, with Morgan Sterling staring at her, his face devoid of expression, her own face turned deathly pale. His gaze was too dangerous, as if he might just wrap his hands around her neck in the next second.
"Why are you as stupid as your mother? All you do all day is fight over men. What else are you good for? Since you’re so useless, you might as well go crawling back to Arcadia." Morgan Sterling viciously shoved her face away.
"Brother, I am useful! I am! You know I still have my uses! I don’t want to go back! I don’t want to go back!"
Madeline Sterling clung to his leg, crying and shouting. Her makeup had long since been ruined by her tears, and her face was now a mess of tear streaks and smudged cosmetics.
"Get lost!"
Morgan Sterling shook his hand, then disgustedly picked up a tissue to wipe off the foundation Madeline had gotten on him. Suddenly, his hand froze.
’He thought of Leah Sinclair. She didn’t seem to be wearing any makeup today, either. There were slight dark circles under her eyes, but they didn’t detract from her beauty at all. In fact, they made her look rather pitiable. Heh. Dark circles... was it because she didn’t sleep well after fighting with Third Master Keating a few days ago?’
When Asher Keating and Ethan Shaw returned, Ethan furiously sat down and chugged a glass of alcohol. His female companion quickly sidled up to him, hugging his arm and cooing sweet nothings. Riley Sterling and the others were a bit confused and gathered around. Asher clapped Ethan on the shoulder before walking over to Leah Sinclair.
Leah Sinclair was looking at her phone. She’d gotten blackout drunk the day before and didn’t dare drink too much today, so she had retreated to the side to play on her phone after a short while. Seeing Ethan’s state, she looked at Asher Keating with some unease. Asher gently pinched her cheek. "It’s fine now."
"Ethan..."
"He’s just blowing off some steam. Let him be."
Asher Keating’s face darkened. "And you. What’s this about ’you’ll stay as long as I don’t ditch you, and if I get tired of you, you have your own legs to walk away’?"
"Huh?"
Leah Sinclair cried out internally. ’Ethan sold me out again!’ She shot an indignant look at Ethan. He saw it and realized what had happened, losing any desire to even complain. "Ah, ha... ha. Drink up, everyone. Drink up."
’I’m done for. Third Master, don’t come after me. I was really just trying to warn Leah not to get in too deep.’
"Back then... it wasn’t, you know."
Leah Sinclair gave a dry laugh, then hugged Asher Keating’s arm to admit her mistake. "Third Master, I was wrong!"
"You’re always the quickest to apologize, and then you just go and do it again, don’t you?"
Asher Keating pinched her cheek, exasperated. ’She always says those three little words, "I was wrong," so quickly, but she never learns her lesson.’
"Ow, ow, that hurts."
Leah Sinclair rescued her face from his grasp. Her phone was still chiming—DING DONG, DING DONG. With a small cry, she quickly picked it up.
Asher Keating saw how anxious she was and plucked the phone from her hand to take a look. It turned out she was snatching red envelopes. He tapped one for her. ’Thirty-two cents? Is her luck really that bad?’
"Hey, my master is sending us red envelopes."
Leah Sinclair snatched her phone back. "It’s the New Year! Master said, ’A new year brings a new start.’ Look, this is everything I’ve snatched so far. It adds up to over fifty yuan."
Asher Keating was rather speechless. ’So she’s been here snatching red envelopes this whole time with such terrible luck, getting just over fifty yuan, and she’s happy about it?’
Asher Keating pulled out his phone and, with a few quick taps, dropped three red envelopes, each worth 5,000 yuan, into the main company group chat.
Leah was still trying to snatch some when she saw a message from Zion Sawyer: "Main group! Main group! President Keating is sending out huge red envelopes!!"
"Hey! Hey!"
By the time Leah Sinclair quickly switched over, all three of the 5,000 yuan red envelopes, which were being snatched by 200 people each, were gone. She hadn’t gotten a single one. The group chat instantly exploded with cheers.
"Thank you, Boss! May you get rich!"
"Thank you, President Keating! President Keating is the most handsome!"
"Ah! I didn’t get one! Send more, please!"
"Thank you, Boss!"
Leah Sinclair felt like she’d missed out on a billion dollars. She looked at Asher Keating pitifully. With a few more taps, he sent out another three red envelopes, this time for 6,666 yuan each. Leah reacted and managed to snatch one, getting eight yuan and thirty cents. ’Her luck was just abysmal.’
...
Asher Keating was about to send more, but Leah Sinclair quickly stopped his hand. "Third Master, can you wait for me to get ready?!"
Asher Keating lifted his chin. "Fine. I’ll give you time to prepare."
Leah Sinclair immediately grabbed a throw pillow, put it on the floor, and sat down between the sofa and the coffee table. She placed her phone on the table, deliberately wiped the screen with a tissue, and then stared at it intently.
"Ready?" Asher Keating’s amused voice came from behind her.
"Mhm!"
Leah Sinclair took a deep breath to show she was ready. ’She refused to believe it. With Asher giving her a heads-up, how could she possibly fail to snatch one?’
The result... Asher Keating sent out five red envelopes worth 8,888 yuan each, and even though Leah Sinclair nearly broke her phone screen tapping it, she only managed to snatch one.
Still, her luck was a bit better this time—one hundred and twenty-six yuan. The group chat went completely wild. For the next while, Asher Keating continuously dropped red envelopes into the chat, but no matter how hard Leah tried, she either got a few dozen yuan or nothing at all.
It wasn’t until Asher Keating hit his sending limit that she finally realized and asked, "Third Master, how much did you send in total?"
"Two hundred thousand. I’ve hit the limit."
Even though it was Asher Keating’s own money, Leah Sinclair felt her heart bleeding. ’This wasn’t just missing out on a billion dollars; this was like missing out on tens of billions!’
Zion Sawyer excitedly sent her a message, saying that from the red envelopes Asher had just sent, she’d managed to snatch over five thousand yuan. This made Leah’s heart ache even more. She picked up her glass and took a sip. The drink felt ice-cold going down.
Asher Keating looked at her expression and knew she was hurting—hurting for the money he’d sent out, and hurting for the money she’d failed to snatch.
He smiled and started transferring money to her. Leah Sinclair could only watch, wide-eyed, as her phone received one bank notification after another. The amounts were all different. After he finished one round of transfers, he started a second.
"Stop, stop transferring!"
Leah Sinclair rushed over and pressed down on his hand. In just that short time, over six hundred thousand yuan had been deposited into her account.
Asher Keating pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss. "Happy with what you’ve received?"