You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 149

Ashton slowly lifted his gaze, remaining dead silent for a long time.

How could she say something so incredibly cruel?

He had grown up without his parents around, completely accustomed to a cold, isolated existence. Then, this woman had wandered into his life, clinging to him like an affectionate kitten. She showered him with adoration, whispering "I love you" every single day. The shy glimmer in her eyes and the rosy flush on her cheeks always melted his defenses, flooding his chest with a sickeningly sweet warmth.

He was naturally stoic and terrible at expressing himself. What she interpreted as a cold shoulder was actually his clumsily guarded version of tenderness.

He had been quietly consumed by jealousy over her interactions with other men countless times but refused to let it show. Back in college, it had been her male classmates; once she started working, it was her male co-stars.

Ashton had forced himself to tolerate her gruelingly late hours, only to watch her act overly familiar with other men at wrap parties. To him, her actions always crossed the line of intimacy. Tucking a stray curl behind her ear, her crimson lips slightly parted—she looked exactly like a naive, defenseless prey waiting to be snatched up.

Whenever he dragged her away from those events, he would pin her down in the car and ruthlessly dominate her. In the beginning, he had always used protection. But one night, blinded by simmering fury and lacking supplies in the car, he took her completely raw. Overwhelmed by his aggressive possession, her body trembling, she had cried out, "What if I get pregnant?"

"If you get pregnant, we deal with it," he had said coldly, leaning down to kiss the beauty mark by her eye.

From that night onward, he stopped being careful.

If she had actually gotten pregnant, he would have married her and kept the baby. He could never bring himself to let her go through an abortion.

She had whimpered and cried like a wounded kitten that night, and the sound alone had nearly driven him insane.

Driven by an unspeakable, suffocating possessiveness, he had once declared to the elite circle that no one was allowed to touch Sylvia. Somehow, the rumor was twisted into a malicious command, making the industry believe she was blacklisted by him.

Naturally, such gossip never reached Ashton's ears, allowing the tragic misunderstandings to pile up until they crushed them both.

...

Sylvia followed Julian into the car. Glancing through the rearview mirror, she could still see Ashton standing rigidly in the exact same spot.

The rain dripped continuously from his eyelashes, making it look as though he were weeping.

—

It rained endlessly for five straight days after that afternoon. At its peak, the downpour was so violent that the sky and the ground blurred into one solid sheet of gray.

Despite the exhaustion, Sylvia felt utterly radiant. Life felt bright, and the world seemed endlessly beautiful.

The only dark cloud looming over her happiness was Harriet's lingering disapproval.

More than once, Sylvia had caught snippets of Julian arguing with his mother on the phone behind closed doors.

"...This is my life, I will make the final decision..."

"Mom, stay out of this..."

"...You don't need to worry about the baby..."

Whenever he hung up, Julian would immediately switch back to his usual warm demeanor, completely hiding the conflict. Sylvia never pushed him on it.

Just as Julian had promised, they could get married without his parents' blessing. But deep down, who wouldn't want to be celebrated by the people who raised them?