Chapter 31As Ashley entered the giant hall, she made a beeline straight for her father. The man was insufferable, he could decide to freeze it even if she brought Ian.The thought of Ian gave her pause and she looked around but didn't see him. She didn't see her father either. How big was this place? What were they even celebrating? She had at least hoped they would be celebrating something worthwhile that she could sit around and watch. But her friends were missing, her father was missing, and her husband was missing. Instead she was surrounded by people looking her up and down, some looks lecherous. Thankful to Ian for providing the long coat – and regretting taking it off in the first place – she donned it on, reducing the amount of people leering at her.She spotted her father walking away from a place with empty space in the front and boasting at his business partners. Amelia had done something worthy again. She tried to think it wasn't her business on most days, she tried to f

Chapter 33Ashley was satisfied. She had thrown as many insults as she wanted over the course of the evening, and the guests were already waning. At first, people had rushed the event – everyone wanted to see Ian Hills – but for some reason, they weren't able to get in. She supposed Yu Zhen wanted to regulate the number of people.She had never seen Yu Zhen so serious. The man was always smiling or smirking in some sort of way, but the last time she saw him beside Ian, his frown was almost as grave as Ian's.She let the lizard beside her go and started looking for her father. It was time to talk about business."You're useless, your boyfriend is mine, your father is mine, everything you wish you own is mine", Amelia sneered as she eagerly removed her hand from Ashley s elbow.Ashley swallowed the sting of her statement and sent things right back."At least I wasn't publicly disgraced", she said calmly, dusting off her arm like she had it elbow deep in cow dung. "Oh please! Like you

Chapter 35Ian was disappointed. He had hoped she would sleep in the car so he'd sleep too. He was still riding on the high of sleeping two hours and he had hoped that an extra one hour or so would help him through the week.He could sense a general broodiness in her emotions. It was even worse than the night of their wedding. He didn't know how to suddenly change his displacement to her overnight, so he wasn't exactly sure what he did wrong. He should have brought his laptop in here. He didn't know how to operate entirely through a phone like Yu Zhen, so except for making some calls, he was stranded.He hated this feeling of having nothing to do. It was strange and unwelcome. Ashley had closed her eyes, but she didn't seem to be asleep. A single tear ran from her eyes and he massaged his temple. How did one comfort a woman that wanted to be left alone?Why did he want to comfort her? She looked like the epitome of depression. Like a woman scorned by life. He decided to try out how

Chapter 37Ashley stood ramrod straight, glaring at the man standing across from her on the other side of the bed."Drop it", she snarled."I'm thankful you saved my life. However you still have no right to act like you're actually my-""Drop. That. Shit. Now", she glowered.Ian stood stubbornly, refusing to drop it.Ian had freshened up first and Ashley had waited till she got night clothes before she went to bathe.When she came back in the fluffy pajamas she was provided, Ian was already working at the desk in his room. Whose bright idea was it to allow a workaholic install a desk in their room?"I swear-""Do not forget that you're my wife only in name", Ian said coldly, his rigid exterior coming back to play.Ashley did not give a shit. She didn't know why but she cared for him, and she refused to let Rita lose her sibling so early in life, so if she had to channel her inner disappointed housewife, she would channel it to the best of her ability."I won't hesitate to smash it", s

Chapter 39"You look good", Ian said, walking into the studio in a coal three-piece suit with purple lapels that were the exact color as her gown. He had given the gown to her personally and she was absolutely obsessed with it. The way the back was slightly open was so elegant, and there was a mini-coat for when her back got too cold. Being rich truly had the best perks."...Thank you", Ashley bit the inside of her cheeks to contain her blush. "Do you ever wear color?", She asked, rolling her hair up as the video in front of her played."There's purple on my suit right now", he deadpanned and Ashley rolled her eyes and continued to focus on the video.The realization had come starkly to her that the professional makeup artists would know who she was, and now she was doing her own makeup.She knew Ian could have them sign an NDA, but the less people that knew generally, the better. She could barely field the thought that some people had most likely seen Ian and Yu Zhen walking into he