Chapter 31

After speaking, I lifted my full glass of wine. Resisting the urge to throw up, I chugged down a few glasses in a row. My alcohol tolerance wasn’t that high to begin with. Hence, by the third glass, a dull ache had formed in my lower abdomen.

Jared sensed the change in me and held down my hand. Glancing at Ashton, he said slowly, “Ashton, she’s still your wife now. You know she can’t drink in her current state. It’ll be too late to regret if something happens to her.”

“Let me go!” I was already a little dizzy. Driven by rage and indignance, I pushed Jared’s hand away and reached out to grab a glass of wine.

I was stopped by a powerful grip, right before being pulled into a familiar embrace. Joe stared at Ashton with a bewildered expression. “Ashton?”

“She’s my wife, so I’ll drink the rest!” With that, he finished the remaining amount of wine. As Rebecca watched him, her eyes instantly glowed red.

My stomach felt queasy, the urge to retch surging within me several times, but I was trapped in Ashton’s arms. Thus, I had no choice but to fight through nausea.

Ashton had been polishing off glass after glass for quite some time when Rebecca abruptly stood up and ordered Joe, “Take me home!”

Anger and hurt could clearly be detected in her voice.

Joe looked at Ashton with a conflicted expression, opening his mouth to speak, but no words came. In the end, he trailed after Rebecca and left.

Immediately after, Jared snatched away the wine glass in Ashton’s hand and snapped at him, “If you don’t want anything to happen to her, you’d better take her back now!”

He was referring to me.

Ashton frowned and carried me out of the nightclub, bridal-style. My head spun slightly and I didn’t know what happened to Jared after that. After Ashton put me in the car, I felt a stabbing pain in my abdomen.

Seeing me curled up into a ball while cradling my belly, Ashton’s brows scrunched together and his palm caressed my abdomen. “Does it hurt very badly?”

I nodded in response, a layer of sweat already forming on my forehead.

He started the car and said, “Hang it there. I’ll take you to the hospital!”

Breaking out in cold sweat, I quickly grabbed his arm and peered into his dark eyes while shaking my head. “Bring me back to the villa and get Dr. Crest to come. He can treat me!”

He frowned, looking slightly unhappy.

Afraid that he might overthink things, I explained, “After the surgery, he was the one who monitored my recovery, so he knows what to do.”

Ashton paused for a moment before putting the car into drive and heading back to the villa.

I breathed a sigh of relief at that.

Ashton skillfully maneuvered the car and floored the accelerator at the same time, so we reached the villa in no time.

Ashton carried me into the bedroom, where Jared gave me some medicine which slowly eased the pain in my abdomen.

After a hectic day, I was exhausted, not to mention light-headed as well, so I gradually drifted off to sleep.

While I was asleep, the muffled sound of Ashton calling me pierced through the haze in my mind, but too drowsy to open my eyes, I vaguely felt him taking off my clothes and carrying me into the bathroom to give me a bath.

My subconsciousness wanted to refuse him, but I just couldn’t wake up no matter how hard I tried.

His palm seemed to graze my abdomen. Unsure of what he was trying to do, I squirmed away from him a little.

In my groggy state, I felt him carry me back to bed. Once again overcome by exhaustion, I fell into a deep slumber almost immediately.

The next day.

Perhaps it was because I had too much to drink last night, I woke up with a hangover. I sat in bed for a long time while my phone rang a few times.

After feeling more relaxed, I checked my phone to see that there was a message from Macy.

How was the male escort last night? Did everything go well?

I held my forehead, utterly speechless, and typed out a message: Macy, you do know that after a miscarriage, it’s not advisable to have sex for at least a month, right?

Not long after I sent the message, she called me.

I answered it and Macy began fussing on the other end. “What the heck? You should’ve told me that earlier! Do you know how much I paid that male escort yesterday?”

I stretched lazily and got out of bed to draw the curtains open while speaking into the phone. “Let’s go shopping one of these days and I’ll get you something you like. By the way, I ran into Rebecca last night.”

Macy was stunned to hear that. “Isn’t she always flaunting about what a virtuous woman she is? Why did she go there then?”

“Ashton and the rest were there too.” After a heavy downpour, the villa’s surroundings seemed to sparkle brilliantly, as if cleansed by the rain.

Macy sighed. “Forget it. Let’s not talk about her anymore. Have you planned when to leave J City?”

Thinking about this matter gave me a headache. “Ashton hasn’t signed the divorce papers, and I haven’t settled things at the company yet.”

She hummed a response, falling silent for a while before saying, “Tell me after you’re done with all of those. I’ll head to Q City in a few days to check out some good locations, then settle the bar transfer here.”

I felt my throat tighten from emotion. “Hour Bar has been operating for so many years already. Don’t you feel sad about giving it up?” The fact that she was doing it for my sake didn’t leave a pleasant feeling in my heart.

“Tsk!” She sounded slightly exasperated when she spoke again. “Some things come and go in life. What’s there to be sad about? Besides, it’s not like I can’t open up another bar in Q City.”

Having said that, she instantly chirped excitedly, “Have you ever thought about what you wanna do once you leave Fuller Corporation and move to Q City?”