You Had Me, You Lost Me, You'll Never Find Me novel Chapter 52

Hearing the devastating news about Grandfather Wyatt, her first instinct was to reach out to Ashton, to ask if he was okay.

Her fingers typed and deleted messages on the screen, hesitating back and forth.

Three years—over a thousand days and nights of shared history. She just wanted him to be okay, but she didn't want him to think she was trying to crawl back to him.

In the end, Sylvia didn't send anything. She set her phone aside just as the director called for action, and the thought slipped her mind.

When she finally finished work for the day and dried her hair, she picked up her phone to find several messages from Ashton.

[WY]: What do you want?

A moment later.

[WY]: Spit it out if you have something to say.

An hour later.

[WY]: Damn it, are you playing games with me?

Sylvia was speechless, but knowing he was probably in a dark place right now, she decided not to provoke him further.

[Half an Orange]: I wasn't looking for you.

[WY]: You were typing for half the afternoon. Do you think I'm blind?

Sylvia's fingers paused. She hadn't expected him to be watching her chat screen. Did he really have that much free time?

While she was spacing out, a video call came through. Sylvia meant to decline it, accidentally hit accept, and then hastily hung up.

The moment she disconnected, he called again.

Thinking it over, Sylvia finally answered. Ashton's sharp, chiseled face quickly appeared on the screen. He looked thinner than before, noticeably haggard. It was late at night, and he seemed to be in his office, wearing a crisp, immaculate black suit that stretched across his broad shoulders.

Ashton turned his head, snapped that he got it, and shifted his predatory gaze back to her.

Sylvia felt a strange disconnect from the man on the screen. She said, "Ashton, you don't need to wait for me. We were both a little irrational before, but what I said still stands. Not wanting to continue with you wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision. We belong to two completely different worlds, and now we're just going back to where we started. I still wish you the best."

Ashton's brows knitted together. "What do you mean, two different worlds? Everyone eats, breathes, and lives the same damn way. I already said I'd let your wandering eye and emotional cheating slide. What more do you want?"

Sylvia knew they were about to fight again, and a suffocating wave of exhaustion washed over her.

"Whatever is going on with Julian happened openly, and only after we broke up. What about you and Reina? Didn't you cross the line with her while we were still together?"

Ashton's voice darkened. "It's not what you think with her. She used to follow me around when we were kids, always looking up to me. It's only natural I take care of her. There's no reason for you to be jealous."

Sylvia knew she shouldn't have brought it up. What did he mean, "no reason to be jealous"?

He made it sound as if she enjoyed being petty and unreasonable.