Chapter 329
Riley stood upstairs and saw Alexa and Valerie fighting fiercely below. “Stop! I’ll jump if you keep fighting.”
Hearing her shout, Clayton and Wyatt rushed to the balcony window and quickly spotted Alexa beating Valerie.
Clayton’s face paled instantly when he recognized the person being attacked. “Wyatt, go stop Alexa now. Valerie has an infectious disease”
“What?” Thinking Clayton was protecting Valerie at first, Wyatt bolted downstairs as soon as he heard the second half. Assuming Clayton meant AIDS, Wyatt raced to stop Alexa from continuing the beating.
Valerie had scratched Alexa’s neck and arms. Alexa kicked her again, screaming, “Let go of me. I’ll kill her
When Wyatt saw the blood on Alexa, he instinctively released his grip, a flicker of revulsion in his eyes, “Clayton said she has an infectious disease”
“Good riddance if she dies from it, so she can’t hurt others,” Alexa snapped.
“She has AIDS,” Wyatt said.
“Perfect, I hope she drops dead–wait, what?” Alexa whipped around to stare at Wyatt, who nodded.
Glaring at the wounds Valerie had inflicted, Alexa collapsed into a scream of horror. The onlookers who’d heard about Valerie’s AIDS instantly recoiled. Seeing others treat her like a plague, Alexa completely broke down and fainted.
Wyatt instinctively reached to catch her but stopped, realizing the risk of infection from contact.
Alexa fell to the ground. Luckily, she landed on the lawn and wasn’t seriously hurt.
Wyatt quickly called an ambulance. Riley abandoned her suicide pretense after Lillian agreed to let her go to Ashbourne with Valerie for school.
Lillian also believed a new environment would help Riley’s mental state. As long as her granddaughter stayed alive, she didn’t care about academic performance.
Riley was the Patels‘ only granddaughter; if she’d died, John would’ve blamed Lillian when he got out of prison, not to mention Lillian’s own guilt.
A week later, Audrey and her group arrived at the resort. Instead of famous scenic spots, they chose a relatively remote but beautiful island.
Lucia bought luxury goods whenever they had time. After unpacking, they took a boat to stock up on supplies for their stay.
Lucia knocked on Emilia and Brooke’s door. “Want to go for a walk?”
Brooke and Emilia were there on business, so they couldn’t splurge on shopping, but a stroll was fine. “Let me check with Ms. Henderson. If there’s no work, we’ll come,” they said.
Yann prepared a sightseeing cart to take Audrey around. Learning there was no urgent work, Emilia and Brooke joined Lucia.
The cart was small, and Yann had padded it with thick cushions, so Audrey could only stretch one leg outside. Glancing at Yann curled up beside her, she no longer felt cramped. “A bicycle might be more convenient,” Audrey said, holding a sun umbrella.
“I worried it would be uncomfortable for you.” Yann drove the cart like an adult in a child’s toy car.
Audrey leaned on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and breathed in the fresh air.
When they stopped on a hillside to take photos, Audrey pointed to a yellowing field in the distance. “Are those pineapples?”
Yann stood beside her and nodded. “Want to eat pineapples?”
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Chapter 329
Audrey shook her head. “Eating pineapple gives me mouth ulcers, but I can drink juice”
Yann looked at her noticeably swollen belly and hugged her.
Audrey laughed, “You could wrap both arms around me before. In a while, you might not be able to.” She gestured exaggeratedly with her hands.
She added, “Brooke is only having one baby, but she already has stretch marks on her stomach.”
Brooke had told Audrey that stretch marks made her feel inferior and afraid her husband would dislike her, so she’d urged Audrey to have a C–section. Emilia, who’d had a two–hour natural birth, advised natural delivery.
Audrey wanted to ask Yann if he’d dislike her for stretch marks and self–blame in his eyes.
changed body after childbirth, but she stopped when she saw the profound concern
He held her close and murmured, “I’ll get a vasectomy after the baby is born. We won’t have more kids. I’m sorry.”
“You’ve done nothing to apologize for,” Audrey said, patting his back to soothe him.
“I’m sorry,” Yann repeated guiltily. “I’m the one who enjoys it, but you suffer.”
Audrey didn’t speak. She wanted to say she’d enjoyed the sex too.
Growing up without siblings, she’d had no one to consult or help her in trouble. When she met Yann, seven years her senior, he’d given her a deep sense of security.
At first, she’d seen him as an older brother, but the day she realized her possessiveness toward him, the shock had matched learning of her father’s death.
Audrey had gone to Ironhaven to escape those feelings and start fresh, only to return to Ashbourne. If this were a single child, she’d have wanted another, but with triplets on the way, she was relieved to avoid a second delivery.
“Yanny?” she said.
Yann’s breath hitched.
Audrey trembled with laughter in his arms, pinching his cheek. “Do you prefer me to call you Yann or Yanny?”
Yann tilted her chin and kissed her.
Audrey let him guide her backward until she leaned against a tree, her hands tangled in his hair. “Want to… get intimate here?” she mumbled breathlessly.
By the time the supply boat returned at dusk, Emilia and Brooke carried armfuls of shopping bags. “Audrey, come see what I bought! So many–where’s Audrey?”
Yann sat at the desk by the floor–to–ceiling window, reviewing documents. Glancing at the bags, he said calmly, “She’s asleep.”
“It’s only seven PM,” Lucia laughed. “She must be tired from the trip. We can eat when she wakes up.” She headed to her room with her bags.
Emilia and Brooke, uneasy around Yann, greeted him politely before following Lucia.
Calvin entered after them. Seeing everyone upstairs, he approached Yann to report newly obtained information.
