Chapter 7
Initially, I had complete faith in Blake.
And just as I’d expected, Blake searched for Dad in those waters for seven straight days and nights.]
During those seven days, he didn’t eat a single bite of food–surviving only on the water I forced down his throat.[]
I secretly recorded Blake’s desperate search efforts and sent the footage to Dad.[]
Dad just smiled without responding.
After seven days of exhausting every possible method with no trace of Dad, Blake finally gave up and returned home at my insistence.[]
With Dad’s sudden death, Blake began gradually taking over the Winston family business.[]
I could see he’d genuinely learned from Dad over the years.
Though he wasn’t as smooth and composed as Dad, he managed to pull the company back from the brink of collapse.[]
The day Winston Industries relaunched, Blake held me in his arms after we’d made love and whispered: “Harper, now that Dad’s gone, I don’t want the
company
to keep using the Winston name. It makes me sad every time I see it. Can we change it to Ashford Industries instead?“]]
My heart clenched, but remembering the despair in Blake’s eyes as he’d searched those waters for Dad, I chose to trust him.[]
The next day, the massive Winston sign spanning dozens of meters across our headquarters was replaced with Blake’s surname.[]
This was the first time I didn’t send Dad footage of Blake’s actions.[]
From then on, I messaged Dad less and less.
Because things were heading in directions I’d never imagined.]
Blake hired his first female secretary.
Initially, when I showed my displeasure, Blake immediately fired her without question.[]
But when HR sent Claire to work for Blake, he stopped caring about my cold reactions.[]
For the first time, his tone with me became impatient: “Harper, when are you gonna drop this princess act? Don’t you realize women make better secretaries because they’re more detail–oriented? Ashford Industries is hanging by a thread–can you please stop creating problems?“]
He seemed to have forgotten that when he’d first joined Winston Industries, he’d started as Dad’s personal assistant.
At his first company party speech, he’d actually said: “I think men are much better suited for personal assistant roles–they’re brave, decisive, rational…”
He’d listed ten thousand advantages, but facing Claire, he’d forgotten them all.]
Later, Blake started coming home later and later.]
The Mr. Ashford who’d never scheduled meetings past 9 PM stopped returning home before dawn.[]
Eventually, he couldn’t even make time for my weekly prenatal appointments.[]
Dad sent me a message for the first time: “Harper, it’s not too late to cut your losses…”
But I refused to give up. I couldn’t believe my husband would fail such a simple test.
Not until Blake threw me in that freezer over Claire’s period cramps-
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Chapter 7
In that moment, my heart finally went cold.[]
I finally saw this man’s true nature.[]
He’d never genuinely loved me–not once in all these years.[]
Maybe from the moment he’d walked into that Winston Industries interview eight years ago, maybe even when he’d risked his life to shield me from that chandelier, he’d already been calculating…
“Harper, please don’t ignore me. I’m so scared when you’re like this. Please forgive me? I really do love you. Have you forgotten all our years together?“]
Blake’s trembling pleas interrupted my thoughts.]
I turned to look at him, took a deep breath, and said quietly: “Yeah.“]
