You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 128

Sylvia felt thoroughly exhausted. For three entire days, he had hounded her relentlessly, refusing to give her a single second to breathe.

"What answer? I can write you an IOU and pay you back in installments. I can't magically produce millions of dollars all at once. I just can't."

Ashton studied her flushed, furious face and let out a dark laugh. "So you're just going to play dead? Fine. If you won't pay, expect a court summons tomorrow. I'm certainly not the one on a deadline."

Sylvia was completely livid. "Why are you so wicked?"

He dragged her against his side, wrapping an arm around her shoulder in a gesture that was half-embrace, half-threat. "If I were truly wicked, I'd drag you to a clinic right now to abort that bastard child, instead of wasting my night riding ferris wheels and watching movies with you."

His heavy hand squeezed her shoulder, his tone dropping to absolute zero.

A violent shudder ripped down Sylvia's spine.

-

When Sylvia arrived back at her apartment building, Julian happened to be walking into the lobby. They stepped into the elevator together.

Under the harsh fluorescent lights, Julian's clean, handsome features stood out sharply. He looked genuinely surprised to see her. "Did your shoot run incredibly late today?"

Sylvia's eyes drifted down to the shopping bag in his hand. Instead of answering, she asked, "Did you have plans tonight?"

Julian followed her gaze, lifted the bag, and pulled out a small plush toy. "This is for you. Do you like it?"

Sylvia took the toy. It was the kind of cheap prize you could only win from an arcade claw machine.

Julian smiled softly. "I noticed you have a worn-out throw pillow on your couch. It's from the same character series as this, isn't it?"

Sylvia stared at him in quiet shock. She hadn't expected him to pay attention to such a tiny detail.

"Ah, yes. But did you go out of your way just to buy this?"

Julian raised a brow. "No, actually. I won it while playing games with a girl."

Her mind instantly spiraled into chaos. "Then..."

Julian let out a warm chuckle. "Aren't we going to go inside first?"

Sylvia suddenly realized the elevator doors had opened and they were standing right in front of her apartment. Since they were next-door neighbors, it was entirely normal. She unlocked her door and stepped aside. "Do you want to come in?"

"Sure."

Inside a private booth at The Reign, Sydney Brooks beamed brightly.

She was the exact same girl who had been on the blind date with Julian. She had a deceptively sweet voice and the polished look of a perfect daughter, but she was rebellious to the core—which was exactly why she had defied her mother, Vivienne Wyatt, and insisted on studying abroad.

Ashton cast a sideways glance at his cousin. "Looking for more allowance?"

Sydney took a very satisfied sip of her cocktail. "No, no. Even though I totally covered for you on that blind date, don't you think that guy was insanely hot? Do you have his contact info?"

Ashton snatched the cocktail out of her hand and slammed a soda down in front of her. "You like him?"

Sydney's eyes widened. "Are you kidding? A million times yes. You're basically omnipotent—you can pull his entire background file in three minutes, right?"

Ashton looked at her with utter disbelief. "You didn't just ask him yourself?"

Sydney sighed dramatically. "I did! He shot me down. He claimed he already has a fiancée. Is that actually true?"

Ashton let out a flat "Oh" and lied without blinking. "Fake. He got dumped."

Sydney looked deeply suspicious. "Liar. A guy who looks like that getting dumped? Impossible."