Chapter 199

What should have been a lovely family dinner got completely ruined by Sharpson’s sudden psychotic episode. Anastasia silently drank way too much wine and got herself completely wasted. When it was time to leave, Elisabeth watched her granddaughter with deep concern.

Cassian reassured her, “Don’t worry, Grandma. I’ll take good care of her.”

Elisabeth nodded. “If the spare room wasn’t so dusty from being empty, I’d have you both stay here tonight.”

Actually, the room was always kept clean—Elisabeth wanted Anastasia to be able to come home anytime she felt sad or needed space. But she figured someone of Cassian’s status would be uncomfortable in this old building with paper-thin walls, so she didn’t insist.

Cassian helped Anastasia down to the street to wait for their car. The old complex had such limited parking that they’d had to leave their car on the street outside.

“Easy there,” Cassian murmured, supporting the drunk Anastasia.

When Anastasia got drunk, she became a completely different person, rubbing against him and mumbling, “Why is this telephone pole moving? I’m so dizzy.”

Cassian: “…”

“Telephone pole? Really?”

He glanced around and spotted some chairs the elderly residents had left under a tree by the complex entrance for evening relaxation. He guided Anastasia over to sit down before she could embarrass them both any further.

“Here, sit down, sweetheart,” Cassian coaxed gently, not finding her behavior annoying at all.

Anastasia actually settled down and said, “Home. I wanna go home.”

“We will. The driver will be here soon,” Cassian continued in that soft voice.

Just then, Cassian’s phone rang. Seeing it was the driver, he answered.

“Mr. Rhodes, I’m so sorry. I wasn’t paying attention and got into a fender bender. I’m dealing with it now.”

Cassian’s driver had worked for him for years and was incredibly reliable—he’d barely had any accidents. This was an old neighborhood with narrow streets, heavy foot traffic, and poor lighting. It was easy to have an accident here at night.

Cassian didn’t blame him. “Will a hundred grand cover it?”

“A hundred thousand…” The driver swallowed hard. The other car was a fifteen-year-old Japanese sedan worth maybe twenty grand at most. But he understood Cassian wanted this resolved quickly. “I’ll negotiate with him.”

“Make it fast.”

Cassian had been watching Anastasia while talking, but after calling his assistant to arrange the transfer, he looked up to find the chair where she’d been sitting was empty. His heart nearly stopped.

“Anastasia!”

Where was she? How had she just vanished?

Cassian was furious with himself. In the span of a phone call, she’d disappeared. If anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.

Anastasia stumbled forward and suddenly saw three young men approaching her—one with green hair, another with yellow, and a third with red. She tilted her head to the left and mumbled, “Why is the traffic light crooked?”

Traffic light?

The three guys exchanged confused looks. But their attention quickly returned to Anastasia. Late at night, a gorgeous woman, drunk, wandering around alone—even if this was some kind of setup, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

They didn’t just think it; they acted on it, circling her like hungry wolves. “Hey beautiful, all alone tonight?”

Anastasia rubbed her bleary eyes and mumbled, “The traffic light… turned into dogs?”

“Help! Wild dogs everywhere!”

The three “wild dogs” watched in amazement as Anastasia scampered up a high wall like an agile monkey and perched on top.

“Get lost, you mangy mutts!”

Anastasia pulled off one of her heels and hurled it at one of them.

The three street punks had been trying to figure out how she’d managed to scale that wall using just her hands and feet, but when she started throwing shoes, they quickly dodged. When they caught sight of her delicate, pale foot, their eyes went wide.

“Smells nice. Beautiful women’s shoes always smell good,” the green-haired guy said, picking up her shoe and sniffing it.

“Ugh…”

Anastasia wasn’t trying to be rude, but they were genuinely disgusting. She was already feeling nauseous, and now she threw up right in front of them.

“Dude, you’re grossing her out.”

“Screw off.”

“What are you standing around for? Get up there and drag her down!”

They decided to form a human ladder.

Anastasia suddenly burst into giggles. “The doggies are climbing the wall!”

Her laughter was infectious, which only made the three punks more furious.

“I swear, if I don’t have my way with her tonight, I’ll change my damn name!”

Suddenly, a shadow fell across their vision. They looked up to see a tall man blocking their path.

Yellow-hair frowned and said to the imposing Cassian, “Hey buddy, first come, first served. Let us have our fun first, then you can have your turn.”

Cassian’s expression went black as thunder.

“I’m afraid you won’t live to enjoy it,” he said coldly.

“What? You trying to cut in line?”

The three punks figured they had numbers on their side, and this guy in his fancy suit looked like all show and no substance.

Yellow-hair spat on the ground and shouted, “Get him!”

He charged at Cassian first.

Cassian smoothly dodged the attack and landed a punch directly on Yellow-hair’s nose. Blood spurted from his nose as he staggered around dazed, then caught a kick to the stomach that had him rolling on the ground in agony.

From her perch on the wall, Anastasia clapped enthusiastically. “Nice hit! Telephone pole versus traffic light!”

Cassian: “…”

Yellow-hair: “…”

Suddenly, Anastasia swayed and almost fell.

Cassian’s heart leaped into his throat. “Careful!”

Anastasia spread her arms for balance, wobbled for a moment, then steadied herself.

“Wow, I’m so good! Didn’t fall!”

Cassian exhaled in relief, but his heart was still racing. He was also genuinely curious—how the hell had she gotten up there? And more importantly, how was he going to get her down?

Green-hair and Red-hair charged at Cassian together. With one sweeping move, Cassian took them both down.

Just then, the driver came running up and shouted at the punks, “Get the hell out of here!”

The guys scrambled to their feet and fled.

Cassian looked up at Anastasia and held out his hands like he was coaxing a child. “Come on down, sweetheart.”