Chapter 308

Besides, if a man like him could be in danger, her kneeling wouldn't have mattered. Even if she'd broken her legs, it wouldn't have helped him. Her silence darkened his eyes. Without another word, he started the car and drove away. In the car, Grace felt only silence and repression.

The next day, Grace met Lina Sweeney at a restaurant near Lina's house. Noticing her friend's dark circles, Grace guessed she hadn't slept well.

"What happened after you got home yesterday?" Grace asked.

"Don't ask," Lina replied. "My parents were preparing a ransom and nearly made me kneel on the washboard when I got home."

Grace's face showed her surprise. "Why? You didn't tell them about Hadwin Stephenson?"

"Uh I told them that" Lina trailed off, unable to tell her parents the truth. She knew if they knew she'd been intimate with a man abroad, they'd have done far more than just scold her. Her father might have even beaten her with a rolling pin.

"What's going on with you and Hadwin Stephenson? Why did he take you away yesterday?" Grace asked, voicing her biggest question. She'd also discovered, after seeing Hadwin yesterday, that he was the man she'd seen through the restaurant window when she'd dined with Lina. Hadwin had been stalking Lina!

Lina blushed, seeming unable to speak.

"If you can't talk about it" Grace began.

"Hey, there's nothing I can't say," Lina insisted, then roughly recounted the events. "Then I got your call and came back. I thought, having grown up abroad, he'd be more open-minded. I thought he wouldn't take it seriously. Who knew Uh, he seems to think I'm a playgirl."

Lina felt embarrassed. Recalling Hadwin's "accusation," she reflected that if she were a man, she'd be considered a jerk—saying sweet words to an innocent man and then running off. If their genders were reversed, she'd be the kind of playboy audiences despised in eight o'clock TV dramas.

Grace was stunned by her friend's story. According to Jason, Hadwin Stephenson wasn't a simple man; he was scheming and manipulative, but her best friend? Who would believe such a thing?

"He's been looking for you for years?" Grace asked.

"I guess so" Lina replied, embarrassed.

"Even though we saved you from him yesterday, I don't think he'll let it go," Grace said. "How are you going to handle your relationship with him?"

Lina scratched her head in distress. "I don't know. Let's take it one step at a time." She added that her phone was still with Hadwin; she'd have to buy a new one and report the lost number.