Chapter 104
Logan didn't answer directly. "You're a smart woman. Why don't you figure it out yourself?"
"You—!" Ashley nearly threw her phone in fury.
A chill shot up from her feet straight to her skull, making her skin crawl.
Logan's voice—every word like an ice pick stabbing into her heart.
He'd been a stand-in?
Then who had actually been dating Juliana?
A name flashed through her mind like lightning.
Could it be...
Ashley's face went white as a sheet.
She gripped the phone so hard her knuckles turned bone-white.
On the other end, Logan's laugh echoed through the empty hospital room—amused, malicious, deliberately cruel.
"Take your time guessing. The game's only just getting started."
The line went dead.
Ashley sat on the edge of the bed, her thoughts spinning in chaos.
Lucas.
Juliana.
The surrogacy.
The truth from seven years ago.
She leaned back against the headboard, still clutching her phone.
She'd raised David herself. Even knowing the truth, he should hate his biological parents, not her.
But thinking about it again, David's reaction this time had been way beyond what she'd expected.
She picked up her phone and texted David. [David, come to my room.]
David replied quickly. [Okay.]
Before long, the door opened.
"Have a seat." Ashley gestured to the chair by the bed.
David didn't sit. He just stood there, waiting for her to speak.
Ashley looked at him, an inexplicable unease stirring in her chest. She cleared her throat. "David, you heard what happened earlier. Logan, that little punk—he can't keep his mouth shut. He brought up an idea, and it's got me worried."
"He wants to go after Juliana." Ashley got straight to the point. "He wants to take her overseas and make her disappear for good."
Something flickered deep in David's eyes. He knew Logan was calculating, but he hadn't expected him to be this direct.
"I don't trust Logan," Ashley continued. "He's smart, sure, but he's reckless. Leaves loose ends. And he's still part of the Sharp family. If something goes wrong, it'll drag Lucas down. It'll drag the whole family down."
She paused, watching David's face. Seeing his expression remain blank, she steeled herself and said what she really needed to say.
"David, you've been with me all these years. You know there are some things only you can handle." Ashley's voice turned hoarse but ice-cold. "I need you to take Juliana overseas. Find a place where she'll disappear completely. Do it clean—leave no trace."
David's body visibly stiffened.
"Don't worry. Once it's done, the Sharp family will take care of you," Ashley said, missing his reaction entirely. "Whatever you want, I'll make it happen. All these years, I've invested in you for exactly this—so when the time comes, you can handle the things the Sharp family can't be seen doing."
"So you raised me to do your dirty work."
Ashley thought he was complaining and softened her tone. "David, that's just how the world works. For the Sharp family to survive, someone has to do these things. You're the person I trust most. The only one who can pull this off."
David closed his eyes. He thought about that sharp voice on the phone, about Ashley's so-called "generosity," about the truth of being bought.
"Fine."
Hearing that, Ashley's tense nerves finally relaxed. A faint smile touched her lips. "I knew you wouldn't let me down."
David said nothing more. He turned and left the room.
……
That evening, Lucas's car was parked outside the hospital entrance. He was waiting for Juliana to get off work so they could go home together.
Juliana walked out through the main doors, looking a little tired. She was about to head over when a white sedan suddenly shot out from the side, cutting in front of Lucas's car.
Bianca stumbled out, her hair disheveled. She rushed to Lucas's window and pounded on it desperately.
Lucas rolled down the window, staring at her coldly.
"Lucas, please, I'm begging you—give the Hale family a way out!" Bianca's voice was hoarse, choked with tears. "I know I was wrong, I really do! But my parents are innocent! If this lawsuit goes through, the Hale family is finished. They'll lose everything!"
"If you do something wrong, you have to face the consequences," Lucas said, his voice low and unmoved.
Bianca turned desperately and spotted Juliana standing not far away. Like she'd found her last lifeline, she stumbled toward her.
"Juliana, Juliana, please! Please help me!" Bianca's knees buckled and she dropped to the ground in front of Juliana, clutching at her pants. "I know I was wrong, I really do! Please, talk to Lucas for me—don't let the Hale family go bankrupt. I'll do anything you ask!"
Juliana looked down at Bianca kneeling before her.
"Everything you're going through? You earned it." Juliana's voice was quiet. She didn't reach down to help her up.
Bianca looked up through tear-blurred eyes.
"Bianca, you lied to Lucas. You pretended to be the boys' mother. You made Dami grow up in a lie. You worked with Ashley to tear me from my children. And if you'd at least treated Dami well, maybe I could let that go. But you hit him, screamed at him. The second he didn't please you, you'd lose it. You even tried to drug him."
"What you're dealing with now? That's just karma."
Lucas got out of the car and walked over to Juliana.
"Let's go," he said.
Juliana nodded and followed Lucas around Bianca, still on her knees, and left the hospital.
Bianca watched their car drive away until it disappeared from sight.
Tears blurred her vision. The wind stung her face.
She knew it was over. The Hale family was done. She was done.
With trembling hands, she pulled out her phone and called Logan.
"Logan, I'll do it," she said, her voice raw with a kind of desperate resignation.
On the other end, Logan's mouth curved into a satisfied grin.
"Now that's more like it, Bianca. Smart people know when to cut their losses." Logan's voice was smug, laced with cruel amusement. "You won't regret this."
He threw his head back and laughed—a sound sharp and grating.