Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Yasmin was running low on cash right now. It was all she needed to settle the problem. Everyone

was taken aback as they turned to stare at her. She smiled. “What? Don’t tell me the daughter of an

affluent family isn’t even willing to compensate me for my medical bill.”

Roxy couldn’t stand being provoked. She held her head high and said, “Who said anything about

not wanting to pay you? Name your price.”

“50 thousand dollars.” Yasmin was afraid she would go back on her word and quickly flashed her

QR code.

Roxy pulled out her phone and scanned it. “There, I’ve transferred it to you. Check your balance.

Don’t go around saying I haven’t paid you.”

“It’s in.” Yasmin was in a much better mood when she saw the additional 50 thousand dollars in her

account. Earning such a huge sum in exchange for two slaps was pretty worth

it. 1

The atmosphere turned odd. Blake watched as Yasmin took the money, his expression frosty as

could be.

She didn’t linger, turning to leave after getting the money. Blake’s expression darkened further as he

followed her and overtook her. He strode ahead, looking like he was in a bad

mood.

Yasmin found this odd. Had she stepped on his tail? She touched her face. The earlier slaps made

her cheeks sting. They hurt a little.

She saw Blake’s car parked outside when she exited NAS Group’s building. Why hadn’t he left yet?

Yasmin didn’t think he’d be waiting for her, though. She walked down the steps, wanting to hail a

cab.

“Where do you think you’re going, looking like that?” Blake strode over to her, looking moody. He

grabbed her hand and stuffed her into the car.

Yasmin looked down at her dress. It was covered in coffee stains. She looked disheveled.

She thought it was better to return to Oak Garden with him. She needed to pack her things,

anyway.

They didn’t speak on the way back. Yasmin leaned against the door and watched the scenery

outside the window pass them in a blur.

+15 BONUS

Suddenly, Blake said, “Stop the car.

Yasmin didn’t know what he was up to. She turned to see him unbuckle his seatbelt before getting

out of the car. In the night, his figure seemed taller and more domineering than

usual.

She couldn’t help thinking about the day they’d met each other. Yasmin had been 20 at the time.

She’d seen Blake walking down a flight of spiral stairs. He wore a tailor-made suit, and his

handsome face had been illuminated by the lights of the chandelier above him.

That day, Yasmin had learned what love at first sight felt like. Later, she’d drawn portraits of him and

secretly stashed them in her room.

many

One day, Stuart had found the portraits. He asked, “Do you like Blake Ford?”

Yasmin’s face had turned red. “It’s just a little crush.”

Stuart watched her for a while before asking again, “Would you want him as your husband, Yaz?”

Yasmin had said shyly, “What are you talking about, Dad? I’m only 20!”

“Oh, you silly thing. I want to make all your wishes come true.”

At the time, Yasmin hadn’t understood Stuart’s underlying meaning. Sometime after this

conversation, it had been Blake’s birthday. Stuart had brought her with him to Blake’s birthday

celebration and coaxed her to have a few drinks.

The liquor had made her head spin. She hadn’t known heads from tails. When she woke up, she

and Blake had been lying in a bed together, naked as the day they’d been born.

Then, Stuart burst into the room with a bunch of papa raz zi. The elders of the Ford family had

shown up later. Arthur was a traditional man. When he’d seen the state Yasmin and Blake had been

in, he forced them to marry.

That day, Blake had looked positively murderous.

Yasmin was pulled out of her reverie. Her gaze landed outside the car. She saw Blake walk out of

the pharmacy. His expression was as cold as the day he’d been forced to marry her two years ago.

A wave of bitterness washed over her. Perhaps it was from that moment that Blake had despised

the Starr family. He hated them for tricking him and forcing him to marry a woman he didn’t love.

+15 BÔNUS

Blake crossed the road and got into the car. When he saw Yasmin’s expression, he raised an

eyebrow. “What? Are you enchanted by my face? Am I that handsome?”

Yasmin returned to her senses. She was about to lower her head when Blake gripped her jaw and

turned her head to scrutinize the handprints on her cheeks.