Aveline had never entered the event to socialize with people. She had never planned to walk around with Damien to et guests. Everything had gone as she planned.
Though a small part of her had doubted whether Damien would swallow his pride and shock, if he had, the crowd wouldn’t have seen Ashford’s true colors, and she would have had to put on an act for much longer. Anyway, he had cracked just enough to give her the space to walk away.
If there was going to be any event she hosted, it would be through her Grace & Bloom Event Managent company, not to glorify Damien, the very man who thought of her as much less than human.
However, there had been an unplanned complication: her throbbing foot. The pain was making her increasingly dizzy, the more she walked.
"I can’t walk," she grimaced painfully as she grabbed Mike Wilson’s hand. She was Damien’s plus-one, so she hadn’t been able to get Mike inside as her guest.
Mike quickly supported her, worry flaring in his eyes. "Ms. Laurent, what happened? Why can’t you walk?"
Aveline wasn’t sure how she had managed to bear the pain for so long until she got away from prying eyes. Now she struggled to even breathe through the agony.
She didn’t want to stay there any longer. As she tried to limp while holding Mike’s hand, she heard quick footsteps. She lifted her head to find Alaric running toward her, erging from the green room corridor.
Before she could process more, the elevator door opened, and Ezra stood beside it. Without a word, Alaric scooped her into his arms.
Mike Wilson stood speechless.
Aveline barely had the energy to say anything, much less resist him. Yet she glanced toward the entrance of the hall. What if Damien had followed her out? She didn’t want Damien to trouble Alaric or piece together that she had been orchestrating things behind the scenes.
Ezra pressed the top floor button. Once all three were inside, he exited the elevator and took a different one downstairs to erase the security footage of Aveline and Alaric.
Mike was shocked when Alaric sat on the elevator floor with his right leg bent and foot grounded, his left leg folded to support Aveline’s back.
"What..." Aveline failed to voice her question through the pain.
Alaric lifted her dress hem just enough to make her foot visible. Mike crouched down with wide eyes.
The bridge of her foot was swollen and red. The visible bruise was a deep shade of purple. It was grueso to see her slender foot in such a painful condition.
"We... we need a doctor," Mike stamred as he pulled out his phone.
Alaric’s hand shook. He hadn’t expected it to be in such bad condition. He held her ankle, and the mont she tried to stop him, "No..."
"Shut up," he snapped, his voice cold and hoarse.
That startled Aveline, and Mike was montarily frozen.
Alaric continued, his tone authoritative and unyielding as he prepared to remove her heels. "Look away. Bite onto sothing."
Aveline looked away, only to find herself tucked securely in his arms. As soon as she felt his fingers sliding off her heel, the pain made her instinctively bite down on his shoulder. Her muffled scream echoed in the elevator.
Alaric wanted to release the breath he had been holding, but the bruise on her pale skin made him grimace more than the woman suffering in his arms. He slid off the other heel and inford Mike, "The doctor is waiting upstairs."
Mike ended his call to the sight of a tense, worried Alaric on the floor with trembling Aveline cradled in his arms as she tried to catch her breath.
Damien should have been doing what Alaric was doing for Aveline. The situation looked wrong, yet right in nurous ways.
If Damien had been doing his job properly, there wouldn’t have been a need for Alaric to take care of her.
When the elevator door opened, Mike grabbed Aveline’s purse and heels. Alaric carefully stood with Aveline in his arms and carried her into the presidential suite.
...
In the lavish suite of Erald.
Aveline was speechless when she saw an entire team of doctors checking her vitals and examining her leg. Even after everyone left, Alia Grey scolded her for being reckless and walking in heels with such an injury.
She demanded that Alaric take Aveline for a scan if the swelling didn’t subside by morning. Then she instructed her not to walk for the entire night, to avoid walking as much as possible for two days, and to wear flats until all the pain subsided.
Mike returned and reported, "Damien is looking for you, Ms. Laurent. Cassandra Ashford has been moved to her suite, and the in-house doctor is examining her."
Aveline instructed, "Send the car away," so Damien would assu she had left. "And call my brother here." Charles was already on edge; she wasn’t in any condition to return ho and would rather have him beside her. "Change the suite booking to his na."
Mike left to handle the arrangents, and Ezra entered calmly, nodding at Alaric to indicate he had successfully erased the security footage.
Then he reported further: "Nearly forty guests have left, and the rest are discussing mostly the Ashford family dynamics involving Ms. Laurent."
He stepped closer and whispered the rest to Alaric: "Nicholas Lancaster was looking for you. He asked about your interest in Ms. Laurent. I dismissed it, saying You know her as a client."
Just as the three were about to breathe in relief, her phone started ringing.
She answered her father’s call. [Lina, what is happening there?] He sounded incredulous.
She could guess that soone from the event had already inford Henry. He was in a different ti zone, where it was three in the morning.
"Sothing your daughter dared to pull off, Dad. Did you wake up in the middle of the night to ask this? You need rest." She didn’t ntion her injured leg, because they would rush back to her.
[This is dangerous, sweetheart. You are taking what he is obsessed with. What if he harms you?]
Aveline sighed. "He won’t. Everyone saw his reaction on the big screen. They know he didn’t approve of the share transfer but was using the land anyway. It’s better for him to behave properly right now." She was confident.
Henry wasn’t just incredulous, he was deeply worried about Aveline. She was entering a web where even he, as an experienced businessman, thought twice and tread carefully.
His voice softened. [Lina, the Ashford Holdings board is large and difficult to deal with. You can’t trust or depend on them. I’m sure Damien’ll provoke them to call an ergency eting to remove you. They’ll make you a figurehead like Maxwell Ashford. Co-heading Ashford Holdings!? They would never agree to that.]
Aveline understood his worry, and even she wasn’t certain how she would handle the situation.
"Who said I want to be chairman? Dad, I never intended to play the king." The lead role always ca with constant questioning and unnecessary attention; she would have to please half the board just to accomplish sothing worthwhile.
Alaric was intrigued by her words.
Aveline continued, "I want to be a beautiful sculpture," so that nobody would bother her and keep underestimating her. She added with a sly smile, "With the strings of control in my fingers."
Her statent left both n speechless. Alaric barely concealed his smirk.
She was the youngest and most inexperienced person in the room, yet she was utterly calculating.
Alaric’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out, and the screen displayed ’Dad’.
His jaw tightened. Edward would stand against him. Isabella wouldn’t just be angry, she would be out for Aveline Laurent, aka Damien Ashford’s wife’s blood.
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