Chapter 426:
Seeing that she was set on it, Kristian didn’t push. He understood when to stop.
He had originally intended to escort them home himself, knowing it wasn’t safe for a woman to be out late. But recalling the drinks he’d had, he borrowed Freya’s phone to call Gerard.
Freya didn’t question it, assuming he needed Gerard to bring him a replacement phone.
Not long after, Gerard arrived.
Kristian had arranged for Gerard to live in the same building for ease of work.
The moment Gerard stepped through the door and saw Freya, he froze. “Ms. Briggs?”
What in the world was happening? Had Kristian patched things up with her?
“Freya came to pick up her cousin,” Kristian explained, his deep voice laced with a rare warmth. “Help me send them home.”
Gerard caught on quickly. “Of course.”
Freya opened her mouth to decline, but neither of them gave her the chance.
Gerard got Alan settled in the back seat, and Freya climbed in beside him.
As the car pulled away, she turned to look back at Kristian, who stood silently watching them leave. Her usual sense of clarity slowly crept back in.
She turned to Gerard, her tone light. “Why was Alan even at Kristian’s?”
Her cousin had more than one secretary.
Normally, if he’d invited Kristian to dinner, he would’ve had a secretary tag along. How had things ended up like this?
“He was already drunk by the time the dinner ended,” Gerard said, honest but slightly amused at Kristian’s cunning. “My boss asked whether Mr. Briggs wanted his secretary to take him home or if he preferred my boss to do it. Mr. Briggs chose the latter.”
Freya was speechless. How drunk was Alan to choose that?
gⱯ𝗅𝗇0ν𝖊𝗅𝘀.𝗰𝗈𝗺; 𝓯𝗶𝓻𝓼𝓽 𝓼𝓮𝒆𝓷
“My boss didn’t know where Mr. Briggs lived, so he didn’t have much of a choice—he brought him back here,” Gerard added, trying to defend Kristian. “Sorry to trouble you, especially this late.”
“It’s no trouble,” Freya replied, though her thoughts were a tangled mess.
Truth be told, she couldn’t figure out Kristian’s behavior tonight.
The last time she’d tried to leave, he’d locked the door and refused to let her go. But tonight, he not only let her go—he’d even arranged for Gerard to take her home.
Had he drunk too much again?
Unable to make sense of it all, Freya decided to stop wondering. When Gerard dropped her off at Alan’s place, he waited until they were inside before driving off.
Freya unlocked the door with Alan’s fingerprint and left him slumped on the sofa without a second glance.
Meanwhile, Kristian stayed behind in his living room, waiting for Gerard’s return.
It was close to midnight when Gerard finally got back and told him Freya and Alan were home safe.
“Good,” Kristian said, then added, “Get me a new phone first thing in the morning.”
“Understood. Any preferences?” Gerard asked.
“Just something I can use,” Kristian said flatly.
Gerard paused, his eyes drifting to the shattered phone on the table. For a moment, he couldn’t help but picture a dramatic blowout between Freya and his boss.
Kristian didn’t need words to know what Gerard was thinking—his face said it all. With a slight curl of his lips, Kristian offered a calm explanation, saying, “The phone accidentally slipped from Alan’s hand after he’d had a few drinks.”
“That’s it?” Gerard raised an eyebrow, his disbelief evident in every feature of his face. The phone wasn’t just broken—it was demolished beyond all hope of repair. No ordinary fall could’ve caused that kind of damage. This was no accident. It reeked of a scuffle.
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