Chapter 148

Warren caught the blame in her eyes and felt terrible. “Abby, I won’t do that again. I promise.”

Sebastian walked over to the sink and turned on the water, letting it run over his bleeding cut.

Abigail saw a piece of flesh about the size of a fingernail hanging open and had to look away. She couldn’t stand the sight of blood and injuries.

“Just go back to what you were doing,” Sebastian said calmly, moving away from her.

“That cut looks really deep. Is that knife too sharp? Maybe we should go to the hospital. You don’t want to get an infection.” Abigail’s voice was full of concern.

Sebastian chuckled, “I’ll just disinfect it and it’ll be fine. The healthcare system here isn’t like back home. By the time I get through all the paperwork and waiting rooms, this cut will have healed on its own.”

“Really? I thought healthcare abroad was supposed to be really good,” Abigail said, surprised.

“Things have been tougher overseas these past two years compared to back home. If the Manning family didn’t have business ventures expanding out here, we’d much rather stay home. It’s just more convenient,” Warren explained to Abigail.

Abigail had been so focused on domestic developments that she hadn’t realized how much the overseas situation had declined.

Sebastian held his finger under the running water for a long time before the bleeding finally stopped.

“I’ll keep working on the ingredients. Abby, why don’t you take him to the living room to sit for a bit?” Warren was beating himself up inside. ‘How could I make such a careless mistake?’ he thought.

The two of them went to the living room, and Abigail kept staring at Sebastian’s injured finger.

“It’s fine, I’m not going to die from this,” Sebastian said with a completely casual expression.

“You know why I didn’t want to drink and insisted on helping in the kitchen, don’t you?” Abigail was sitting there feeling bored, so she decided to ask directly.

Sebastian looked at her. “No idea. Is there some specific reason?”

His expression looked completely sincere, and Abigail couldn’t tell if he genuinely didn’t know or if he was just pretending.

Abigail stayed quiet for a moment, then asked, “You were obviously helping me earlier. You knew what I was trying to do by insisting on cooking.”

“When James gets too comfortable with someone, he stops being as careful. You’re a young woman traveling abroad with us, so of course you need to be cautious about everything. It’s totally normal for you to have your guard up.”

Sebastian was tired of speaking in riddles. Abigail was a young woman who got embarrassed easily, so it wasn’t good to spell everything out too clearly.

“I wasn’t thinking about it that much originally. It was that annoying Stephen who brought it up, and when I actually thought about it, I realized he had a point.”

After Abigail finished speaking, she unconsciously bit her lip. She wasn’t sure if being so direct would make them dislike her.

“He’s not much of a person, but he’s right about this,” Sebastian said. He was starting to regret agreeing to let James bring her on this trip. His family’s car AI system could have been handled by anyone.

Sebastian clicked his tongue and looked directly into Abigail’s eyes. “I’m kind of regretting bringing you along.”

“Why?” Abigail immediately grabbed her shirt, her voice tense with worry.

‘I shouldn’t have said all that,’ she thought. ‘Now I’ve made them uncomfortable. What if they never had those kinds of thoughts and I made it all weird?’

“If I hadn’t accidentally cut my finger, you never would have said any of this. You would have just gone along with everything, and if some other guy asks you on a business trip, you probably wouldn’t think twice about it.” Sebastian’s tone carried a hint of irritation.

Abigail was stunned. She looked at him leaning back in his chair with that detached expression and didn’t know what to say.

“You have no idea that if a man really wants to take advantage of you, being on guard won’t help much. He doesn’t even need to spike the food or drink,” Sebastian added.

Abigail bit her lip and waited a moment before asking. “So if I can’t refuse, I’d just have to hope the person has good character?”

“Pretty much. You’re beautiful, so unless the guy has really strong morals, he’s probably going to try something,” Sebastian said matter-of-factly.

He knew this world well enough to understand that most men thought with their lower half when they saw an attractive woman. They’d do whatever it took to get her into bed.

Abigail’s cheeks warmed when he called her beautiful. “You must have met plenty of gorgeous women. I’m nothing special.”

“Beauty is pretty subjective,” Sebastian said with an amused smile.

Abigail looked down without responding. What he was really saying was that it didn’t matter what other people thought – if he found her beautiful, that was what counted.

Sebastian noticed her ears turning red and his smile deepened. “I’m really not as much of a player as you think. Those women you’ve seen me with? I told them upfront it was all for show. That woman I dumped on the street that day crossed a line with me.”

Abigail tried to remember that day, but the details were fuzzy. So many people had been talking about her that day that she couldn’t recall exactly what anyone had said.