Chapter 28: Chapter 28: Caught in the Act

The moment she heard the voice, Jessie Sterling froze in her seat, her eyes wide with disbelief.

She stared at the newcomer in shock, as if she could have never imagined he would appear in Southaven tonight.

At the same time, Lynn Jennings, who was sitting across from her, was also stunned.

She forgot all about flirting with the man beside her.

Although she had never seen Victor Morgan in person, she had gotten a photo of him through a friend while she was in Port Caldoria.

A man who looked like that was truly hard to forget, even if you had only seen him once, or even just in a photograph.

Besides, the Victor Morgan who had just appeared in the bar exuded an aura that seemed completely out of place.

Lynn Jennings thought to herself, ’It’s all over.’

’I never wanted to get in the way of the engaged couple’s relationship,’ she thought. ’But in a situation like this… well, as her best friend, all I can do is say a silent prayer for Jessie Sterling.’

The male model sitting beside Jessie Sterling had been about to offer her a drink to share. When a hand stopped him, a flash of annoyance shot through him. He was about to look up and see who was so tactless, but when he raised his head, his eyes met those of the man in a black suit who had appeared before them. At that moment, any and all complaints died in his throat.

The man wasn’t wearing any extravagant jewelry; even the watch on his wrist looked unremarkable. But for some inexplicable reason, the aura he projected was frightening.

He was clearly no ordinary person.

Jessie Sterling stared at the suddenly-appeared Victor Morgan for a long moment before she seemed to snap out of her stupor. She stammered, “Y-you, what are you doing here?”

Victor Morgan placed the drink he had just intercepted on the table. Upon hearing Jessie Sterling’s question, his eyes instinctively swept over the young men surrounding her.

Victor Morgan himself may not have thought anything of the glance, but everyone his eyes swept over felt a chill creep up the back of their necks.

“I’m here to take you back,” Victor Morgan replied.

“Take me back?” Jessie Sterling asked instinctively. Her home was in Southaven, and Victor Morgan’s was in Aethelburg. Since they were both in Southaven at the moment, his words sounded a bit odd.

At that moment, Lynn Jennings spoke up. She wasn’t greeting Victor Morgan, but rather dismissing the half-naked and rather eye-pleasing “male models” around them.

This gesture did not go unnoticed by Victor Morgan, and the tension in his brow eased slightly.

“Ready to go?” Victor Morgan asked calmly, as if he hadn’t detected the earlier confusion in Jessie Sterling’s voice.

Jessie Sterling didn’t want to stay at the bar any longer to begin with. Hearing Victor Morgan’s words, she was about to nod, but the next moment, she seemed to remember something and looked up at Lynn Jennings.

Lynn Jennings was desperately hoping Victor Morgan hadn’t noticed her, so when Jessie Sterling looked her way, she just waved her hand dismissively. “Go on, go on. I’m going to stay and have fun for a bit longer.”

Jessie Sterling murmured, “Oh,” and only then remembered that she hadn’t introduced Lynn Jennings to Victor Morgan.

“This is my friend, Lynn Jennings,” Jessie Sterling offered.

Victor Morgan gave the woman across from them a polite nod. In his opinion, anyone who would bring Jessie Sterling to a place like this for fun was of questionable character.

Lynn Jennings quickly completed the “student handover” with Victor Morgan. Only after she watched the man in the crisp suit lead Jessie Sterling away did Lynn finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The man’s looks were truly one in a million, but his presence was just too intense. Lynn Jennings couldn’t help but say a silent prayer for Jessie Sterling, mentally lighting a few candles for her good luck.

’I have no idea what’s going to happen to my precious little student, now that she’s with a man like that.’

Jessie Sterling hadn’t even walked out of the bar when she felt a jacket being draped over her shoulders.

It was the jacket Victor Morgan had been carrying over his arm.

Jessie Sterling looked up, just in time to see the man’s sharp jawline.

She wanted to say that she wasn’t actually cold. It was the middle of summer. Even though the bar’s air conditioning was on, the atmosphere was so heated—how could anyone possibly feel cold?

But in the end, Jessie Sterling just lowered her head. Whether it was from a guilty conscience or some other reason, she simply pulled the jacket on her shoulders tighter.

’I kind of want to run right now.’

’Still, why would Victor Morgan suddenly appear in Southaven?’

’Didn’t he have a company meeting this morning?’

Jessie Sterling had no idea.

’He couldn’t have made a special trip to Southaven just for me, could he?’

She couldn’t quite bring herself to believe the thought.

Once they were out of the bar, Victor Morgan led Jessie Sterling to a Rolls-Royce Cullinan parked by the curb.

“Get in,” Victor Morgan said, opening the passenger-side door.

He hadn’t brought a driver with him to Southaven; he had flown over on his private jet right after finishing work for the day. He had even eaten a simple dinner on the plane.

However, Victor Morgan hadn’t expected Jessie Sterling to give him such a big surprise the moment he arrived.

The moment he had walked into the bar and found his seemingly docile and delicate fiancée, the men surrounding her had struck him as a jarring, unsightly spectacle.

Once in the car, Jessie Sterling didn’t ask where Victor Morgan was taking her.

“So why did you suddenly show up in Southaven? Do you have business to take care of here?” Jessie Sterling asked, breaking the silence in the car as she glanced at the man focused on driving beside her.

Victor Morgan grunted in acknowledgment but, contrary to what she might have expected, he didn’t refuse to elaborate. “I came for you,” he said bluntly.

Jessie Sterling was taken aback. “For me? Why?”

Her mind felt muddled. ’Didn’t we already sort everything out this morning before I left Aethelburg?’

’Was there something that required him to make a special trip to Southaven to tell me in person?’

Victor Morgan turned his head to glance at Jessie Sterling, his expression complex.

“You left for the airport so suddenly. I was worried it might be awkward to talk over the phone, so I wanted to confirm things with you in person,” Victor Morgan said, not hiding his reasoning.

His thinking had been that if Jessie Sterling had truly left over some minor issue she was uncomfortable bringing up, he should take the initiative to pursue the matter and ask her directly.

They were an engaged couple now, and Victor Morgan felt that, in his role as her fiancé, he had a responsibility to be considerate and look after her.

That was why, despite his busy schedule, he had flown all the way here.

Jessie Sterling hadn’t expected that he had really come because of her.

For a moment, she looked rather embarrassed.

“Didn’t I tell you? I just felt that everything in Aethelburg was fine and that nothing needed to be changed, so I came back early…”

“Is that all?” Victor Morgan asked again.

Jessie Sterling nodded. “Really, the butler and the driver are both wonderful…” After a pause, she added, “And you’re very nice, too.”

Victor Morgan fell silent.

The platonic nature of her compliment was so blatant it was impossible for him to misunderstand.

He had just been handed the “nice guy” card. For a moment, Victor Morgan felt a complicated mix of emotions.

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