Then again, I would never compliment him, but neither would I dare censure him.
After all, I wouldn’t want to provoke someone as vindictive as Ashton.
Even though I held my tongue, he wasn’t about to let me off that easily. “Ms. Stovall, you were the one who wanted me to behave myself, yet you’re now hugging me so tightly.”
He leaned in even closer and looked into my eyes. “Aren’t you being a little hypocritical here?”
As if he wasn’t annoying enough, he even had to emphasize the word “hypocritical.”
The entire process had felt like an eternity to me, but it couldn’t have been more than a minute. I doubt Gregory had seen or heard everything that transpired.
Even if he had, at his age, the boy probably wouldn’t have understood any of it.
True enough, Gregory was still waiting by the side and waving his little hands. “Ms. Stovall, I want a hug too.”
He looked and sounded so sweet and innocent that my heart immediately softened.
Ashton, on the other hand, had such a smirk on his face that I could only imagine the evil intentions that lurked behind that smile.
Compared to him, Gregory was an absolute angel.
The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Without any care for how I looked, I mustered up all my strength to wriggle out of Ashton’s embrace. Once I freed myself, I knelt and kissed Gregory on his face. “Greg is the best!”
I had even intentionally kissed him loudly, just to irritate Ashton. I then held my head up high and strutted toward my bedroom.
Gregory stayed behind and continued to pester his father. “Daddy, I want you to hug me the way you did with Ms. Stovall!”
“Ms. Stovall?” Ashton asked calmly.
“Yes! Ms. Stovall! Hug!”
“Are you sure?” Ashton asked with a lilt in his voice. “No hugs.”
Gregory immediately knew what his father meant and exclaimed, “Not Ms. Stovall! It’s Mommy!”
Ashton finally smiled at his son and picked him up. The hallway filled with Gregory’s laughter as they continued to play.
It warmed my heart to hear them having so much fun, and I couldn’t help but smile at the sight.
As I sat on my bed, I thought back on the documents I had read earlier. The more I thought about them, the more restless I felt.
The uneasiness became so bad that I decided to give Emery a call. Hopefully, she could be the voice of reason.
The woman couldn’t hide her surprise at me having taken the initiative to call her. “Letty!”
“Emery,” I replied, trying to sound as calm as possible. “I have something I need to discuss with you.”
“Go ahead. I’ll tell you everything I know.”
I decided to be tactful as I asked, “What’s Ashton really like?”
After spending time with the man, I realized how passive my behavior was whenever I was with him. I’d have to know who I was up against if I wanted to change that.
When Emery didn’t reply, I grew paranoid, thinking she might have figured out my intentions. “It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me anything,” I quickly added.
“It’s not that,” Emery replied sternly. “The thing is, I don’t know Ashton as well as you do. The two of you are the ones who know each other the best. If I were to comment more, it would just be a biased opinion.”
“That’s fine. You can put it as simply as you like.”
“Alright then, let’s see how I should say this.” After pondering for a while, she finally concluded, “He’s capable and has foresight. But whenever it comes to something to do with you, he lets his heart rule his head. And, I suppose he has terrible judgment when it comes to women… “
As the richest man in the country, I did not doubt that he was capable and possessed keen foresight.
But letting his heart rule his head sounded a lot like an exaggeration. Being as vindictive as he was, wouldn’t women be at his mercy?
And with his intelligence, how was he not able to tell the good from the bad?
I couldn’t hide the doubt in my voice as I replied, “Yeah, maybe you’re right. You don’t know Ashton well, or rather, you don’t know men well enough. How can anyone not tell when someone is intentionally getting close to them? They’re only playing along and enjoying the ride.”
