Chapter 1751 We Can Trust Ashton
Seeing that his attempt was futile, John slumped onto the couch and crossed his legs. “Then I’ll just follow my own will. I’ll go out when I want to go out and come back when I want to come back.”
I folded my arms, unfazed by his threats. “You’d better not try that with me. I don’t mind taking turns with Emma to monitor you round the clock. If it doesn’t bother you, then please go ahead and behave recklessly.”
John’s face instantly turned sullen as he complained, “You only do this to me. If you’re so good at it, why don’t you keep Ashton in check instead?”
At the mention of Ashton, I subconsciously knitted my brows. After pondering for a moment, I replied, “I’ll keep him in line as I have always done.”
I knew that Ashton didn’t change. It was just that he couldn’t express it for the time being.
Thinking that he had triggered me, John quickly cleared his throat and rephrased, “I’m not blaming you. I just want you to think about the matter from my perspective. You can’t let go of Ashton, and there’s no way I can allow Emma to manage such a huge company by herself. Her family… I’m a man too, Letty. You are my family, and so is she. I have to be fair. I can’t support you unconditionally while enjoying the results of her efforts and then back out like a coward at a time when she needs me the most, can I?”
“What? Did something happen to her family?” His words brought a sinking feeling to my stomach, but I expected it to be not as bad as I imagined.
Unfortunately, John gave me a heavy nod. “Someone has manipulated the stock exchange and trapped all of the Lyons family assets.”
“Was it… Nathaniel?” The look on John’s face confirmed my suspicions. My teeth began to chatter in disbelief as the matter caught me by surprise.
How is this possible? I acted as if I didn’t care about any of it, yet he still proceeded to destroy them. Did he see through my ruse?
I felt as if I had missed a step and fallen into a deep abyss.
Why can’t I ever figure out what his next step or who his next target is? Will it be the Stovall family or the Fuller family next? Or perhaps both at the same time?
I swallowed a lump in my throat, feeling a chill down my spine. Maybe Ashton was right. Nathaniel was a lot more terrifying than I thought. The more I tried to probe, the deeper the trouble I would land myself in.
Given the circumstances, I no longer had any reason to stop John from leaving the hospital. “Fine, you can recuperate at home. But you have to promise me that you will come back for your check-ups as scheduled. Also, don’t even think about shouldering the matter with Emma’s family alone. We’ll fix it together.”
That was the ideal solution that would satisfy both sides.
“No problem, you’re the boss.” John’s face lit up, but suddenly remembering something, he asked seriously, “Millie mentioned that you met Ashton again today. Did you manage to verify what you wanted to?”
I harked back to that day when Ashton threw me the atropine syringe while making smug comments.
He had obviously prepared to use it on Joseph. After all, no one would walk around carrying such a thing.
In truth, it was a blessing in disguise. If Joseph’s life hadn’t been hanging by a thread, Ashton wouldn’t have risked being discovered by taking out the syringe at the abandoned factory. It was that very gesture that allowed me to confirm that he was still the Ashton I loved and that he hadn’t changed at all.
John didn’t press on with his questions when he saw that I had spaced out. He patted me on my shoulder and comforted me, “It’s all right if you don’t want to talk about it. I believe you know what you’re doing.”
Regaining my senses, I replied with a smile, “No, I was just thinking about something else.”
“John”—I wore a serious expression after getting a grip of myself—”we can trust Ashton.”
