Free Web NovelChapter 45: Chapter 45: Kiss Him
One of the test results made Alaric Blackwood blush.
It was from the gynecology department.
Sophie Shaw must have specifically requested it. The result showed she was still a virgin.
He couldn’t help but recall their brief argument from last night.
"Strictly speaking, I’m ’cleaner’ than you. I’ve never even had a girlfriend."
"So you’re saying I’m dirty?"
"I didn’t say that."
"But you’re implying that because I’ve had a boyfriend, I’m dirtier than you, aren’t you?"
...
Snapping out of his memories, he put away the medical report. After Sophie Shaw finished looking at his, he raised an eyebrow and tentatively asked, "Try again tonight?"
Sophie Shaw’s cheeks grew slightly warm. "Okay."
"See you tonight, then."
Alaric Blackwood said this as he lifted his wrist to check his watch, seeming to have work to attend to. He left in a hurry.
Sophie Shaw watched him leave the clinic lobby. She followed him outside and watched from a distance as he walked to the parking lot, got into a black Maybach after Preston Chase opened the door.
As the car drove away under her gaze, she looked down again at Alaric Blackwood’s medical report. He was healthier than she had imagined, with all his metrics falling within the standard range.
She walked to the parking lot, drove back to the Kane Family estate, and ran right into Joseph Shaw as she entered.
Remembering something important, she called out to him. "Dad, Mom had a sketchbook before she passed away. You put it away, right? Is it still around?"
Joseph Shaw thought for a moment. "It should be."
"Where did you put it?"
"All the unused things are in the attic, in a big box. You can go up and look for it yourself."
She nodded, changed into her slippers, and was about to go upstairs when Joseph Shaw grabbed her arm. "By the way, what have you decided about that thing I mentioned before?"
"What thing?"
"About depositing ten million for your little brother."
Sophie Shaw had actually been considering it, but ever since her mother’s necklace went missing, she had stopped.
She gave Joseph Shaw a tight-lipped, cold smile. "Joel is still young, he doesn’t need that kind of money. We can talk about it again when he’s a little older."
With that, she strode into the living room and ran up the stairs—THUMP THUMP THUMP—not giving Joseph Shaw another chance to stop her. She ran all the way to the attic in one go.
The attic was a mess, with things piled up haphazardly. It was clearly never cleaned, and dust covered everything.
She took a mask from her coat pocket, put it on, and began rummaging through boxes and cabinets. In a large cardboard box, she found some of the unused items that she and Joseph Shaw had packed away after they moved in.
The contents of the box were a jumble. She searched for a long time before she finally found her mother’s sketchbook.
It was crushed at the very bottom of the box. A thin layer of dust coated the cover, the whole sketchbook was wrinkled from the weight of the clutter on top of it, and the edges of the pages inside had already yellowed.
She set the sketchbook aside, tidied up the rest of the clutter, and left the attic with the book, hurrying back to her room.
After cleaning the dust off the sketchbook, she borrowed an iron from a maid and carefully ironed every wrinkled page flat, then laid them out to air on her desk.
The sketchbook did indeed contain her mother’s posthumous works, but most were incomplete. It was filled more with design sketches she had casually drawn.
She snapped a few photos with her phone of the designs she thought were particularly good. Seeing it was about time, she went downstairs for dinner.
Mr. Kane had been discharged from the hospital today. Joseph Shaw and Bianca Kane had picked him up early in the morning, and he was now sitting at the head of the table, a long look on his face.
No one spoke during the entire meal. After dinner, Mr. Kane threw down his chopsticks and said to Damian Morgan, "Come to my study."
Damian Morgan immediately put down his utensils and followed the old man out of the dining room.
Sophie Shaw seized the opportunity to get up and grab her car keys, intending to slip out. She had already reached the foyer when Joseph Shaw’s sharp voice stopped her. "It’s already dark. Where are you going?"
"To see a friend."
"You slept at a friend’s house yesterday. What about today?"
"Same."
"Sophie, your wedding is just around the corner. Behave yourself."
Sophie Shaw didn’t like the sound of that. "Dad, what do you mean?"
Joseph Shaw didn’t mince words. "Your friend Anne has already joined her film crew. She’s a makeup artist for a big star, isn’t she? She’s not even in Kingsport. So why don’t you tell me which friend you stayed with last night."
Sophie Shaw fell silent, unable to answer.
"You’re getting more and more out of line. Staying out overnight before your wedding... if the Blackwoods find out, they’ll say you have a promiscuous lifestyle."
Sophie Shaw couldn’t believe a father would say such awful things, or think so little of her. Her gaze gradually turned ice-cold.
"Is that really the kind of person you think I am?"
Joseph Shaw’s brow furrowed slightly. "You’re about to get married. Just try not to cause any trouble."
"Growing up, have I ever caused any trouble for you?"
"Sophie, I just mean you should be more careful. Vianne had to work last night and didn’t come back. You stayed out, and Damian Morgan also stayed out. It’s hard not to let one’s imagination run wild." Joseph Shaw lowered his voice, afraid someone might overhear.
"Mr. Kane just called Damian Morgan to the study alone, most likely about this very thing. It seems he’s secretly had someone tailing Damian."
Sophie Shaw flared up with anger. "What does him staying out have to do with me? Are you accusing me of having an affair with Damian Morgan?"
"I’m just reminding you..."
"I was with Alaric Blackwood last night, and I’m going to see him tonight, too."
She cut Joseph Shaw off, yanked the door open, and stormed out, slamming it behind her in frustration.
Getting into her Algarve Blue Cayenne, she started the engine, slammed on the gas, and sped away from the Kane Family estate.
Once she was out of the villa complex, Sophie Shaw yanked the steering wheel and pulled the car over to the side of the road.
She took deep, desperate breaths, trying to suppress the knot of anger and frustration in her chest. She didn’t even want to cry, but her eyes were like open floodgates, tears streaming down ceaselessly.
’Joseph Shaw probably thinks this way because of Bianca Kane. She must have been whispering poison in his ear.’
Ever since she moved into the Kane residence, none of the Kanes had taken a liking to her. Now, even Joseph Shaw was finding fault with her at every turn, looking at her with nothing but disdain.
She found it hard to accept that her own father had become so unreasonable. The Joseph Shaw of today felt like a complete stranger.
She cried over the steering wheel for a while until her emotions stabilized. Wiping her tears away, she started the car again and headed toward Maplewood Estate.
Alaric Blackwood had been waiting for her for a long time.
He and Preston Chase had eaten dinner out. The moment he got home, he went straight to his room, took a long bath, washed himself until he smelled fragrant, shaved, and splashed on some toner. He felt refreshed from head to toe.
Seeing the Cayenne pull into the courtyard from the second-floor balcony, he adjusted his silk robe, deliberately loosening the belt at his waist to give a tantalizing glimpse of his firm muscles and abs. Then, with a cigar between his fingers and a cutter in his other hand, he sauntered out of the room and went downstairs.
He sat down on the living room sofa and nonchalantly trimmed his cigar.
Hearing the door open, he feigned a lazy glance toward the foyer, lifting his eyelids slowly.
As his eyes met Sophie Shaw’s, the man’s hand, in the middle of trimming the cigar, froze slightly.
The woman changed into slippers in the foyer and walked straight toward him, her eyes red. freewēbnoveℓ.com
"You were cry—"
The rest of the word was cut off as her lips pressed against his.
