I still hadn’t forgiven him for forcing himself on me the previous night, so I pretended not to have heard him.
“Scarlett!” he repeated, this time more forceful.
“Gregory said he had never eaten his mother’s homemade breakfast, so I made some to coax him. Is that what you want too, Mr. Fuller? Then again, I wouldn’t want to make your stomach upset from my food,” I replied, still refusing to make eye contact with him.
My snarky tone riled Ashton up, and he was about to rebuke me when one of his staff announced, “Mr. Campbell has arrived, Mr. Fuller.”
Now that he had work to tend to, Ashton shot an angry glance at me before stalking out in a huff.
Once I could no longer hear footsteps, I snuck a glance at the stairs.
So it seems like Ashton isn’t that easy to provoke.
There were still no signs of the man coming back even after twenty minutes had passed. When the maid started to clear the table, I decided to ask if she knew where he was.
“Mr. Fuller is currently in the study with Mr. Campbell.”
Knowing Joseph was still around put a dampener on my mood as I trudged my way up the stairs.
Once I got to the study, I could vaguely hear their voices from outside the room. I tried to eavesdrop on their conversation by placing my ear against the door, but it was useless.
After a moment of hesitation, I mustered up the courage and knocked on the door. “It’s me, Carlette.”
The door opened almost immediately; it was Ashton who walked out.
He stood at the door with no intention of letting me in. “What’s the matter?” he asked curtly.
I pursed my lips and sulked. “Don’t you want breakfast?”
“I’ll eat whatever Gregory had. I’m not picky,” he answered after giving it some thought.
“You want a kid’s breakfast?” Is he trying to compete with his own son?
“Sure. But given your personality, you don’t have to force yourself to make it if you don’t want to, Ms. Stovall.”
With that, Ashton nodded toward the stairs behind me, hinting that I should take my leave.
I was about to do as instructed when I got hit by a sudden realization. “What do you take me for, Ashton? Did you bring me here so you can order me around and do whatever you like?”
The man remained calm as he stuck his hands into his pockets. As soon as he leaned against the door, I could see Joseph behind him, holding on to a stack of documents. “Don’t you want your memories back? Want to join in?”
“What? What are you two talking about?”
Ashton’s lips curled into a smirk. “Something you’d surely be interested in.”
I was so annoyed at the way he was keeping me in suspense, but even I had to agree that the temptation he threw out was too great to resist.
After a deep sigh, I sulked my way back into the kitchen and made the same breakfast for Ashton as I had for Gregory.
When I went back into the study with Ashton’s food, Joseph had already left. “Here. Your breakfast.”
Ashton accepted his food without a word and started eating.
However, he had only had two mouthfuls when he suddenly stopped.
What now? I opened my mouth to mutter, “I told you my food wouldn’t be good enough for someone like you.”
Ashton merely glanced at me before lowering his head to continue eating.
It was a simple breakfast set for kids, yet Ashton made it look like he was tucking into a feast. Seeing him eat with such gusto was surprisingly heartwarming.
Since he was busy eating, I decided to check out the documents on the table.
The documents largely detailed the lives of “Scarlett” and Ashton. They were a young couple who had been through thick and thin to get to where they were until an accident on the island led to the demise of Scarlett.
I had to continue pretending to be Scarlett, no matter how long it might take. But even as I took in all the information laid out in front of me, I felt no connection with her.
As I pored through the documents, I felt my gaze slowly shifting toward Ashton. He was hard to fathom, but he was also just like everyone else. Still, it was hard to imagine that a man like him was capable of having such an intense and loyal love for another woman.
