Chapter 216

Chapter 216

"Did you receive the flowers I sent?"

Ava froze for a moment and asked,

"What flowers?"

Lewis smiled,

"Looks like you didn't read the card. No worries, I'm here to deliver my wishes in person."

Ava tried to stay calm,

"Sir, you're too kind, but we're not close enough for me to accept your gift. How much did the flowers cost? I'll have my assistant transfer the money to you."

Her reaction was exactly what Lewis expected.

Lewis paused,

"Ms. Davis, I would like to discuss a business deal with you. Could we talk privately?"

With that question, both assistants quietly disappeared, leaving only the two of them in the lobby.

Ava kept her face stiff. She didn't want any connection with anyone from Emerald City, especially this man who was William's classmate.

As an adult woman, how could she not know what Lewis was thinking?

She'd always assumed young men like him were players—Lewis had studied abroad, lived freely. He probably wasn't the settling-down type..

She never expected that after that brief encounter at the baby's one-month celebration, he would come after her again.

Now, she realized that the Ms. Jones who came to order jewelry was probably his sister, who rarely showed up in high society circles and kept a low profile.

Ava didn't want anyone from her old life knowing she was still out there, but on the cruise ship, Lewis had kindly warned her once to watch out for Sarah. She was grateful to him for that.

Now, with both assistants gone and only the two of them left in the lobby, the air was terrifyingly quiet.

Ava's mind kept struggling.

Lewis broke the silence first,

"Ms. Davis, the Jones Media has already signed a contract with Mr. Robert Davis. From now on, any endorsements, promotions, or commercials tied to the Davis family will come through my company. If you have any promotional needs, Ms. Davis, you can give them directly to me. You might as well use what your brother's already paid for."

He kept it strictly business, not mentioning anything about Emerald City's past.

Ava knew in her heart that this was just a thin veil. Whether she was called Ava or Mia, what he was after was her as a person.

"Mr. Jones, thank you for your thoughtfulness, but my brother and I agreed that I won't use his resources."

Lewis carefully protected her feelings, afraid one misstep would send her running again

Before, she had been Mrs. Morgan — beyond reach. But now she was Mia Davis, single. He wasn't going to waste it.

"Ms. Davis, setting aside our business relationship, I'm also a jewelry enthusiast. Would you accept my Facebook friend request? I promise I won't tell anyone about our connection."

Ava heard the subtext in his words. After a moment's silence, she gestured him into her office, closed the door, and took a slow breath—as if making a very difficult decision.

"Lewis, if you came all this way to find me, I'm telling you now it's not necessary."

Lewis saw her attitude change as she called him by his first name, no longer pretending to be strangers. His heart tensed up. He was afraid she would say anything to reject him. She was single now, and he wanted to pursue her openly.

If he told her directly that he came specifically to find her, she would be scared off.

"Ms. Davis, I'm in Harmony City on a business trip for a week, just stopping by to see... an old friend."

He carefully chose the words 'old friend.'

The coldness and distance in Ava's eyes made him afraid to say anything else.

"Lewis, please don't come anymore. I appreciate you bringing me business, but as you can probably see, I don't want any connection with people from Emerald City. The Ava you knew is gone. The person in front of you is Mia.

I also ask you to keep our meeting a secret from everyone. This could bring disaster to me. I hope you can understand."

Lewis saw the hurt on her face. That bastard William had hurt her badly. He wanted so badly to tell her that not every man was William—that good men still existed.

He raised his hand urgently to swear,

"I won't tell anyone. And I hope you'll give me a chance to have dinner—you're Mia, I'm Lewis, this is our second meeting. Can we have a meal together, new friend?"

After Lewis finished, he added,

"Your brother will be there too. The restaurant is already booked, it's not just the two of us."

He brought up Robert because he was afraid she wouldn't come. After everything he had said, refusing now would feel cold even to her.

She nodded,

"Okay, why don't we leave now? There might be traffic later."

Just that one nod made Lewis's heart burst with fireworks. The goddess's every smile and frown was etched in his heart. He felt he had gotten one step closer to her.

Right after they left, a man in a suit carrying a briefcase knocked on the door of SereneShine Studio. Aria and Stella rushed to greet him,

"Sir, are you here to order jewelry?"

So many important clients had come that day, the two assistants naturally assumed this gentleman was here to order jewelry.

James took out a business card and handed it over,

"I'm James Smith, executive assistant to the CEO of the Morgan Group. Our boss has seen your studio's work and would like to meet your designer. Dinner, if that works?"

The Morgan Group's reputation was the kind that ordinary people felt was out of their league.

Aria and Stella sized up this well-featured, steady-looking man, their hearts pounding. Their studio had just opened, and they had already attracted this big player who was famous in the industry. They had to give Ms. Davis credit for being awesome!

Aria quickly took the business card and invited him in, while Stella went to pour water.

"Mr. Smith, sorry, your timing is unfortunate. Our Ms. Davis just stepped out. She won't be far, but she has an appointment tonight and can't do dinner. I'll pass along the message when she's back."

James looked around this small studio of about a hundred square meters, feeling somehow familiar with it.

He went downstairs back to the car. William was sitting in the back seat and asked,

"Did you meet her?"

"Mr. Morgan, that designer named Mia happened to go out, she's not in the office. Should we come back tomorrow?"

William paused,

"Let's go back to the hotel first."

She was just an unknown designer, not worth making two trips for as CEO. If this designer didn't happen to share the same surname as Xu, that's the only reason he had sent James to get her contact information.

James pulled out of the parking space. As he turned around, a Mercedes G quickly passed by on his right. James glanced at it and inexplicably felt the driver looked like William's old classmate.

"Mr. Morgan, that car ahead looks like Mr. Lewis Jones's."

William didn't care. That nutcase Lewis had already cut ties with him, he wouldn't bother with anything related to him.

"Don't worry about it."

James acknowledged and opened the navigation to head to the booked hotel.

But as they drove, that Mercedes G stayed right in front of their car. William noticed too and repeated,

"Don't follow him, we're going back to the hotel."

James explained,

"Mr. Morgan, this is the route to our hotel. Lewis might be going there too, same direction as us."