Secret Scion

Meanwhile, Mikaela Leonard was lying on a bed at the gynecology ward within a private hospital. Her eyes were puffy red from tears, and her face was pale and drained of blood-one might even say that she was withered and deathly.

She was about to go to bed last night when several unidentified men charged into her hotel room and abducted her, taking her to this hospital for an abortion.

Mikaela knew right after that the Schmidts sent those men, but was confused as to why her location was exposed. There were only two people who knew that she was at the Dynasty Hotel, the first being Asher Crawford and the other Radley Leonard.

However, Asher clearly would not betray her because she was his leverage against the Schmidts, making Radley the only suspect.

In fact, Mikaela refused to believe that it was Radley, especially since they were cousins who were as close as siblings since they were children.

How could Radley do this?

Be that as it may, she later woke up after the surgery from her induced sleep, and when she saw Radley standing next to her, her worst fears came true-Radley was the one who betrayed her. Her throat hurt, and she had no idea how to start cursing him.

Nonetheless, Radley defended himself before she could say a word. "I'm doing this for your own good, Micky. Did you really think your baby was enough to threaten the Schmidts? You're being naive-hell, forget the Schmidts and their massive influence, even the Hoffmans aren't worried about blackmail. Hunter Larson and his mother are a living example! Moreover, I've more or less secured a foothold here at Alexandrius, and once I become successful, I'll avenge you, so don't get so upset, Micky... Just forgive me this once, alright?"

"Fuck off!" Mikaela bellowed right then. "I don't want to see you ever again!"

"You just had surgery, Micky-you should really calm down. I'll leave for now, okay? Don't worry, I'll be back in the afternoon..."

"Fuck off!"

Given her outburst, Radley scrambled out of the ward before he could finish, and he could not help smoking a cigarette unhappily on the stairs.

On the other hand, Mikaela pulled out every needle attached to her, put on her clothes and left -even though she should stay in bed for three days after an abortion.

She checked her phone and found a whole bunch of missed calls and texts from Asher, and she wanted to cry for doubting him. Why did she have to believe in a vermin like Radley? Now, she had lost her child, and she was of no use to Asher.

She absolutely regretted everything right then.

Hence, she trudged along the street like a shell, as if her soul had left her body, taking no notice even though she was hurting terribly between the legs.

It took her a long while to notice that her phone was vibrating, and she saw that it was another

call from Asher. As such, she answered and briskly said, "You can stop calling me now, Asher. My child is gone."

The news left Ash stunned for seconds before he quickly asked, "What happened?!"

"Radley betrayed me," she replied and burst into tears.

Nonetheless, Ash asked, "Where are you right now? Let's talk face to face."

***

More than ten minutes later, Asher found Mikaela sitting at a bus stop, her face still very pale

and looking utterly haggard. It was obvious that she was very frail as well.

Feeling a little sorry for her, Ash wound down his window and said, "Get in."

Mikaela hesitated for a long while before getting in, and she asked with a worn-out voice, "Where are we going?"

Ash said nothing as she drove straight to Layla Knight's home. Her grandfather was a famous doctor in Alexandrius, but he had taken in patients for years-Asher was naturally a special case. After checking Mikaela, he wrote her a prescription and told Asher, "She's very weak at the moment and really shouldn't move around. You can let her stay with us, and she can leave after she has taken her prescription."

Asher nodded. "Sorry for imposing."

"Don't be so formal. We're family," Mr. Knight said, waving him off.

Soon, Mr. Knight had Mikaela settled into an empty room where she would stay for the time being. Asher went to check on her as well, and then said, "Take your time to rest and recover. If there's anything you want to say, you can tell me later."

As he headed out, Mikaela asked, "Why are you helping me? I'm worthless to you now, aren't I?"

To be honest, she was puzzled why a man completely unrelated to her was being so considerate of her. Moreover, he did not hit her or scold her when he found her, and instead brought her here to get treated, whereas her own cousin betrayed her.

Was it not a little ironic?

"You're human too," Asher simply said and left.

Once he was far enough, he started smoking-all his plans were now a mess.

Mikaela's forced abortion meant they had no leverage against the Schmidts, and she was now utterly useless to him.

Once again, they had to start from scratch.

Why did she have to doubt him?

Asher was puffing heavily on his cigarette, and it burnt away rapidly, soon leaving just a butt. Layla, who happened to be nearby, raised a brow when she saw him-it had been a while since she saw him make that face.

"So? What happened to Mikaela that messed up all your plans, huh?" she asked, striding up to him in her skinny jeans which accentuated her long legs to perfection.

"The point is that she's not going to make it into the Schmidt family," Asher told her. "Revenge is going to be difficult now."

"That's her own fault, " Layla pointed out. "Even victims are culpable of their own mistakes. You don't have to feel sympathy for her.

Asher simply flashed a pained smile. "Every victim deserves sympathy, too. I mean, has anyone shown me that?"

Layla was actually stunned, and she could not quite understand what Asher was getting at. All she felt was that he should not be saying such melancholic words, since it did not fit his personality.

Twiddling one of her loose locks of hair, she changed the conversation, "Have you spoken to Huxley? You of all people should know that it's necessary to straighten out internal affairs before tending to anything else. Any differences in the family would leave us vulnerable to those outside, and the situation would only get worse for you."

However, Asher smiled faintly at that. "I was just getting paranoid with Huxley. He's not that petty -everyone had the wrong idea."

"The wrong idea?" Layla frowned. "I could clearly sense his hostility toward you before, or did you forget that he tried to embarrass you in public?"

Asher chuckled. "No one is a saint around here. It's understandable that he got a little upset over the family's distribution of profits, especially since he has the right to be the legal heir."

Layla had no idea how Ashley and Huxley Crawford made peace, but she had the nagging feeling that Huxley had somehow deceived Asher.

Nonetheless, she was not about to risk straining the cousins' relationship when she lacked solid evidence.

***

Xavier Schmidt was laughing out loud at the Schmidt Manor after hearing about Mikaela's abortion. Being in an utterly good mood now, he exclaimed, "Wonderful work, Rose! I'm absolutely pleased-tell me, what do you want as a reward? You just need to ask."

It was the first time Rose Schmidt was being praised in front of so many elders, so she simply smiled. "I'm just doing what I should for the family, Grandfather."

"Good! I couldn't have put it better... Truly, you are proof that the gods are still looking out for us, Rose!"

Xavier laughed before turning toward Garrett Schmidt, his joy fading right away just then as he growled impassively, "You should learn from her, Garrett-I won't go so far as to call you incompetent, but you do have a flair for causing trouble for the family. Hell, if Rose hadn't turned the tables against those scum this time, you would have been affected for the rest of your life... So why aren't you thanking her?"

However, Garrett's heart was dripping with venomous spit, since his own grandfather was humiliating him in front of everyone. How was he going to hold his head high from now on? He set his sights on getting payback from Rose right then, since she was deliberately embarrassing him in front of everyone!

Despite his seething rage, he had no choice but to comply-forcing a smile, he said, "Thank you, Rose. You really are better than Asher Crawford."

"You're welcome." Rose replied faintly. She naturally saw through his insincere smile, but she was not at ease to expose him in front of so many elders.

After she left the living room, she whipped out her phone and called Savannah Anderson, "How are your preparations? Get started if there aren't any issues."

***

Time flew by, and it was early October in the blink of an eye.

Autumn was settling in, and it was 59 degrees even during the day. Even Asher had to put on his jacket when he went out.

Still, he rarely left the house, and he would stay home to train his Metamorphosis whenever he had the time. He had been clearly improving thanks to Aiden Duncan's help, and he would not be helpless the next time he ran into Rodrick Johnson.