<b>Chapter </b><b>162 </b>
Early the next morning,n showed up at Ashton’s ce with sincerity and good intentions. Ashton, being the easygoing guy he was<b>, </b><b>didn’t </b>make a <b>loss </b>and invitedn right in.
Briar was out for her morning run when she spotted Connor hanging from a pull–up bar in the yard. She called out, “Ashton’s not givingn <b>a </b>hard me, is he?”
Connor nced inside at the two men chatting and shook his head. He shared, “Nah, Ashton’s smiling like everything’s cool.”
Briar nodded, her mind already racing with thoughts.
Briar knew Ashton was a deep one, and she could read him well enough. He’d been on guard withn justst night, and there was no way a man like him would flip his attitude so quickly.
‘He must be plotting something,‘ Briar thought as she kept running.
Briar had sses that morning. By the time she returned from her run,n had already left. Seeing Briar finish her run, Ashton started going through
some sparring drills with Connor in the yard to loosen up.
Ashton moved with the kind of skill one would expect from a master. His style was rooted in traditional martial arts, every move sharp and dangerous, yet there was a fluid grace to it all. It was the first time Briar had seen him in action, and it blew her away.
Every time she discovered another strength of his, Briar found herself even more impressed.
Ashton was sparring with Connor, but he still found time to call out to Briar, “Briar, breakfast’s ready. Go freshen up, thene eat. I’ll give you a ride to
school in a bit.”
Briar snapped out of her daze and nodded, “Okay, I’ll be right there.”
Once Briar was inside, Connor stopped sparring and grinned. “Ashton, you were just showing off like a peacock trying to impress a mate.”
Ashton raised an eyebrow. He had caught the look of awe in Briar’s eyes, and smiled in amusement, “It was pretty effective, wasn’t it?”
Connor just shrugged.
On the way to school, Ashton sent Briar the details of their dinner reservation. “It’s at Kajuntan Seafood Restaurant, I’ve booked the luxury private room on the third floor. I already called the manager this morning and had your favorite seafood fromst time flown in.”
Briar nodded in response, “Okay.”
Before they knew it, they were already at the school gate. Ashton’s ride was so shy that the other cars had cleared out before they even got close, <b>Just </b>as Briar was about to get out, Ashton caught her wrist with a smile and asked, “By the way, I heard you’re running the long–distance race at the school sports meet?”
Briar arched an eyebrow and asked, “Yeah, what about it?”
Ashton said in a serious voice, “Long–distance running drains your energy. You should build up your strength in advance. How about I treat you to something delicious tonight?”
“Sure, you pick the ce,” Briar replied with a grin, ying along and not exposing the little scheme behind Ashton’s ‘serious‘ suggestion.
The air in the car was so thick with jealousy and sweetness that Briar couldn’t stand it for even a second longer.
Ashton waited until Briar disappeared into the campus, then told Connor, “Let’s go to the office.”
“Got it,” Connor replied, and drove off.
Near the school entrance, a sleek ck car was parked quietly, taking pictures of everything happening <b>outside</b>. <b>Anel </b><b>Ashton’s </b>dye catchi drove off, the person in the ck car sat up and began looking through the images they had taken.
The more they looked, the bigger the grin under their baseball cap grew. After flipping through all the photos, they <b>pulled </b>out their phread and chalet number. The man reported, “Mr. Garza, I got what you wanted. That 66 thousand dors deal we discussed is still on, right
Whatever Mr. Garza said made the guy bow and grin even wider. He replied, “Alright, I’ll sort the pictures and send them to your <b>pronta </b>email fait a
A few minutester, the ck sedan eased away from the school gate. Anyone sharp enough would’ve noticed the car dodged every street camars, slipping away like it was never even there.
Briar had ns for lunch that day. Just before eleven, she checked in with Joshua and slipped out of school early
Briar walked over and eximed, “This isn’t even your kind of ride!”
, </b><b>painted </b>in an obnoxiously bright green that screamed for attention.
‘Yep, he’s definitely got a sisterplex,’ she silently mused.
Briar nodded and hopped into the passenger seat.
Briar replied coolly, “Ashton picked the ce. All the seafood was flown in fresh this morning.”
“Alright then!”n clicked his tongue, grinning. “If Ashton’s handling it, I know I’m in good hands.”
‘Whenever Ashton’s involved, it’s always the best of the best. This meal’s gotta be at least five figures,‘n thought.
When they arrived at the restaurant, the manager personally came out to greet them and led them to a private room on the third floor. Once <b>they </b>were seated, the manager asked politely, “Miss Jennings, the dishes are ready. Would you like us to start serving now?”
Briar nodded in response, “All right, you can start serving.”
“Of <i>course</i><i>, </i>please wait just a moment,” the manager replied before stepping out. In less than ten minutes, te after te of seafood was brought in<b>, </b>filling the entire table. “Miss Jennings,n, all the dishes are here. Please enjoy your meal.”
With that, the manager and the other staff quietly left, closing the door behind them.
. </i>He gasped in amazement, “No wonder Ashton’s one of <b>the </b>richest men in <b>Shoneport</b>. <b>This </b>table’s gotta be worth at least 26 thousand dors.”
Briar smiled in response, “Ashton said he could get us a discount.”
“A crazy discount?”n quipped as hedled some soup for Briar.
Briar couldn’t help butugh, “What, did Ashton ever mess you up behind the scenes?”
But</b><b>, </b><b>he </b><b>does </b>seem kinda <b>hostile </b>
toward me…”
Briar stared at him <i>in </i>silence.
Once they were about halfway through the meal, Briar put down her utensils and got straight to the point. She asked<b>, </b><b>“</b><b>You </b>didn’t just more h to thank me for looking after Ellen, did you?<b>” </b>
Briar</b>. Which <b>one </b>do your <b>weat </b>
first?”
“Good news,” Briar said,zily ncing atn, who could barely hide his excitement.
“Actually, let’s start with the bad news,”n said, rubbing his nose. “Someone sold the news of your return to Dasmiera on the international <b>dar </b><b>to </b>you want to guess who’s behind it?”
“I haven’t checked the dar in over half a year. I’m not guessing,” Briar replied, totally unfazed. She never really cared about the international <b>dar </b>
anyway.
In her eyes, the people who hung around the dar were just nobodies with no real skills, scraping by on bottom–feeder cash. The real mercenary groups and underground organizations never even bothered to acknowledge their existence.
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