Chapter 22
Layla snapped, “You wouldn’t have told me the truth even if I’d called you to ask about it. You’d spin me some lie about how you’re just collaborating with her or that you’re just acquaintances
“Did you honestly think I’d believe you if you’d told me that an actress in a scanty red dress got into your car at night just to talk about business? Please, Stephen.
“Even if it were a business meeting, why couldn’t she meet you during the day? Is the sunlight going to bring out her sluttiness? Why did you have to meet her at night?”
Stephen asked, “Why don’t you ever believe me, Layla?”
She snorted. “How about I wear a short dress and get into a married man’s car tonight? Would you believe me if I told you I was meeting him for business?
Stephen fell silent.
Moments later, the car pulled up at Murray Estate.
Layla got out of the car and slammed the door shut. None of the household stadt dared to look at her as she stormed into the living room. Even Dylan was standing straight and stiff among the maids. He looked like a punished soldier grunt as he watched Layla go upstairs.
It wasn’t long before Stephen appeared in the living room. Dylan happily bounded up to him and greeted, “Daddy!”
Stephen ruffled the boy’s hair and said to the maids, “Keep a close eye on Layla tonight. Do not let her step out of the house.”
“Yes, sir.”
Stephen left shortly after that.
Upstairs, Layla had locked her bedroom door. She called Robert this time, and she was crying by the time he picked up. “You must be really enjoying yourself in Elmsbury right now! I bet you’re thrilled to hear Stephen’s been picking on me while you’re away!”
Robert was still fuming over Layla’s shenanigans. He wanted to ask her what she had been thinking when she went to the bar that aftemoon and got caught heading into a hotel with a random man. The last thing he’d expected was to hear her crying on the other line.
Her crying was his weakness. “Layla, my dear, Stephen would never pick on you. It’s always been the other way around.”
Layla wiped the tears from the comers of her eyes and mumbled, “No, he picks on me in secret, and whenever you aren’t watching! Can’t you come back now, Grandpa?”
Robert softened. “Layla, can you promise me something? Try to get to know Stephen, and you’ll realize that no one else in this world loves you more than he and I do. I’d stake my life on it.
“As for the whole incident with Regina, rest assured that I know all about it. I can vouch for Stephen; nothing happened between them, I swear.
Layla pouted. “You never believe what I say, and you’re closer to Stephen than to me. You don’t love me at all, Grandpa.”
She huffed into the phone and hung up angrily. She then cried her heart out in her room
Dylan knocked on the door tentatively. “Don’t cry, Aunt Layla, Here, we’ll play with my action figure collection.”
“Go away!”
Dylan pouted. He had no idea what was going on, but he was so upset he thought he might cry too.
Meanwhile, it turned out that Austin was not entirely out of hot water even after he had returned to Galloway Pharmaceuticals.
Martin Gallagher glowered at his son and swatted his back twice with a rolled–up work document. “I told you not to distract Ms. Murray from her studies, didn’t I? You could at least try to remember that!
Martin was a smart man. He knew he had to sound like he was protective of Layla if he wanted to please Stephen, even if it meant degrading his own son.
Austin wasn’t hurt by the swatting, but he was deeply embarrassed to be reprimanded like a child despite his age. “M–Mr. Yates, you must know that Layla forced me to go with her to the hotel.
“I was happily minding my own business and drinking at the bar when she found me. She got all handsy, but I swear, nothing happened between us.”
Stephen recalled the footage he saw and asked, “What did she whisper in your ear?
Austin confessed immediately, “She said i had to play along with her or she’d have my black sports car smashed and sold for parts.”
