I'm Afraid I Won't Be Able to Leave

Chapter 153: Chapter 153: Broke Up

’I’ll come back. Can you wait for me?’

Leah Sinclair couldn’t say those words, nor did she dare to. She fled from Asher Keating’s office.

Only after the office door closed did Asher Keating squeeze his eyes shut. He wanted to light a cigarette but found his hands were trembling. After several failed attempts, he slammed the lighter to the floor.

Leah returned to Project Department One and handed her resignation letter to Mr. Langdon. He initially refused, asking why she would leave when the Southwood project had just begun, and where she was going. After a moment of silence, Leah told him she was a member of the Grant Family and was returning to Kingsford. Stunned, Mr. Langdon had no choice but to agree.

Asher had given the word, so Leah’s departure was processed quickly. Zion Sawyer held onto her, her eyes red, but Leah found herself comforting her instead, promising she would definitely come back to visit when she had time.

Clutching her few belongings, Leah walked out of the Aevon Group building. She took out her phone and stared blankly at the message Mabel Grant had sent her that morning: "Tonight’s flight. Back to Kingsford."

A Lexus LM pulled up slowly in front of her. An assistant got out and opened the door. "Second Miss, please get in."

Mabel Grant was sitting in the car, watching her quietly. Leah handed her things to the assistant and got in.

"Is there anyone else you need to see?"

Mabel pulled Leah’s hand over. Her hand was very cold. ’Once we get to Kingsford,’ Mabel thought, ’I’ll have to make sure she’s properly taken care of.’

Just now, watching from a distance as Leah came out clutching her things and stood there in a daze, Mabel couldn’t help but feel a pang of pity. But she also knew that sometimes, you have to force your own hand.

"To the Verdant Company. I need to say goodbye to Sheila." After saying this, Leah fell silent.

The driver followed her directions and drove to the building where Sheila Hughes’s company was located. Leah called Sheila, who came running down in a hurry.

When she saw the car, however, she hesitated. ’Leah isn’t here to buy me things again, is she?’ she wondered. ’That was enough for one lifetime. My heart can’t take another round.’

The things Leah had bought for her, Cherie, and Dana last time had made the three of them repeatedly pinch themselves to see if they were dreaming.

Leah got out of the car, and Mabel Grant followed, extending a hand to Sheila. "Hello, I’m Leah’s mother, Mabel Grant."

"Oh, uh, hello, ma’am. I’m Sheila Hughes." Sheila was so intimidated by Mabel Grant’s powerful presence that she quickly used both hands to shake hers.

"Thank you for taking care of Leah all these years. The Grant Family will be establishing a construction company in Riverfall soon. If you ever think about changing jobs, you can contact Nash directly."

"Huh? I... Ma’am, I’m quite happy where I am now."

"That’s fine. Just know the offer stands. You two talk." Mabel Grant nodded and turned to get back in the car.

Leah pulled Sheila into a nearby coffee shop. Sheila could see something was off with her and hesitated for a moment before asking, "Leah, what’s wrong?"

"I... I’m going back to Kingsford."

"What?! Are you kidding me?" Sheila cried out, so shocked that everyone in the coffee shop turned to look.

Leah quickly motioned for her to lower her voice. "I’m not kidding. The flight is tonight."

"No, but what’s going on? If you’re going back to Kingsford, what about you and Third Master Keating? Did you two break up?"

Sheila’s barrage of questions made Leah’s eyes instantly turn red. "I don’t know... I don’t know if you could call it a breakup. Sheila, I’m just... so messed up these past few days."

"I know, I know! With one thing happening after another, anyone would be a mess. But why do you have to go back to Kingsford? Even if you’re a Grant, aren’t Nathan Grant and Shawn Grant both in Riverfall? Why... Why do you have to go to Kingsford?"

Sheila’s tears started to fall. She grabbed Leah’s hand, crying uncontrollably. "But it hasn’t even been that long! How can you be leaving Riverfall for Kingsford already? I don’t get it. I really don’t get it."

Hearing her cry, Leah’s own heart ached with pang after pang of pain. She had no idea how to begin explaining the reason she had to leave.

After crying for a long time, Sheila came to a realization. "Wait, that’s not right. Leah, is it... is your mom forcing you to go back? You and Third Master Keating are so good together! There’s no way you’d go back to Kingsford just because you’re a Grant now! Is she forcing you? I’ll go talk to her!"

As she spoke, Sheila started to stand up, but Leah quickly pulled her back down. She could hide the truth from Asher Keating, but not from Sheila. They had been inseparable for four years; Sheila knew her too well.

"Not entirely," Leah admitted. "I’ve been thinking a lot these past few days. On the day of Grandpa Keating’s birthday, Madeline Sterling said something to me. She said that if I married Third Master, people would always be whispering behind his back that he married a paid escort. I know that even if I’m a Grant now, I can’t just peel off that label. But... I still want to be better."

Leah looked out the window and said quietly, "I’m too weak right now. I want to improve myself, become stronger, so I don’t have to spend my whole life hiding behind him, being protected by him. So that when people say I used to be a paid escort, I won’t have to feel so insecure."

"Why are you so stupid? That bitch Madeline Sterling was just trying to provoke you! And Third Master Keating doesn’t care!"

"I know he doesn’t care, but I have to. Sheila, I have to care..."

A light breeze blew outside. It was early spring, and the chill of winter was gradually fading. She looked at the tiny green buds sprouting on the large tree outside the window, but her heart felt as if it were still trapped in the dead of winter.

"So your mother seized on that and is using it to force you to go back, isn’t she?" Sheila’s tears, which she had just managed to stop, started falling again.

"She said that if I don’t go back with her, she’ll go after the Keating Family. I know she might just be bluffing to scare me, but I can’t take that risk, Sheila. Third Master has worked so hard to get where he is today. I can’t gamble with his future."

Leah’s tears finally fell as well. Mabel Grant’s words were like a giant stone, pressing down mercilessly on her heart.

These past few days, she’d been having frequent nightmares—dreaming of the Keating Family going bankrupt, of Asher Keating becoming a broken man, of him saying he hated her.

"You didn’t... tell Third Master Keating, did you?"

"No. If I told him, I wouldn’t be able to leave. Sheila, don’t you tell him either. Trust me, I will come back."

Leah wiped away her tears and looked at Sheila. "I will. I will definitely come back."

In the end, Sheila saw her to the car. Leah then returned to Europa Gardens to get her luggage. This time, she packed even less.

Mabel Grant had told her not to bring anything, that everything was prepared in Kingsford. So she only took a few of her own things: the watch and necklace Asher Keating had given her, and... one of his shirts.

Later, as she sat on the plane and the flight attendant reminded passengers to turn off their devices, she stared at her phone screen. It showed the photo of her and Asher holding hands from the day they went public with their relationship. She sent farewell messages to Ethan Shaw and Riley Sterling, asking them to help look after Asher, then quietly closed her eyes.

"What?! Leah’s gone?!" Inside Ethan Shaw’s car, his voice was loud enough to blow the roof off.

"Yes! On a flight tonight. She’s already gone back to Kingsford. *Sob*... Leah, my Leah." At the thought, Sheila started crying again.

"No!!! What do you mean? She just left without a word? What about our Third Master?"

Ethan quickly called Asher Keating, but no one answered. Panicking, he immediately called Sean Yates. Sean picked up and said he was at the airport with Asher. They were going to... Marlake for a business trip.

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