Chapter 359 Pasta And Memories

    Chapter 359 Pasta And Memories

    b90 /b

    +10 Free Coins

    “Why would you even take a job in a ce like that?” Laura asked, eyes steady, voice softer than her words.

    Harvey exhaled a brittleugh. “Money, what else? Graduated from college, couldn’tnd a decent position, hospital bills piling up back home–this gig pays fast.”

    Laura studied him. The crooked smile he wore felt like armor made of spite. The boy whose eyes once burned with justice now hid behind a cynic’s grin.

    “Guess I should be grateful I’m easy on the eyes,” Harvey added with a shrug. “Otherwise I wouldn’t even qualify for this line of work, let alone make any money.”

    Just then, the owner returned, bncing two steaming tes whose aromas curled through the air like an invitation.

    Harvey ducked over his te, letting the rising steam screen his difort while he wolfed down the food.

    “If it’s money,” Laura said, leaning forward. “I can lend you some. No interest, no deadline. Get a regr job and pay me back whenever.”

    She offered it gently, afraid that shoving bills across the table would only make him run.

    Harvey paused. Temptation shimmered in his eyes. “But I…”

    “No buts,” Laura cut in. “You saved me once, remember? If you hadn’t testified, my stepbrother -the one who tried to force himself on me–would never have seen a day behind bars.”

    Those days were a tunnel with no light. Quinn was away on assignment, impossible to reach, and Laura had overheard Weston telling his friends that she was nothing but a fleeting diversion.

    Her father was gone, her stepmother coddled the son from her first marriage, and that son- Laura’s stepbrother–had begun to leer at her like a predator stalking prey.

    The night he tried, she fought like a cornered cat and escaped, only to have her stepmother demand silence and even prepare false testimony for him.

    Harvey had been the lone witness, the single voice willing to refuse the hush money and take the stand. Because of him, justice had found her stepbrother. Every time she remembered his upright silhouette in that courtroom, gratitude welled inside her like water behind a dam, fierce and unending.

    Chapter 359 Pasta And Memories

    Sometimes, in the hush between meetings and midnight phone calls, Laura asked herself a forbidden question. If Harvey had never walked into her life, would fate have hurled her into something even worse?

    Laura leaned forward. “Harvey, I’ve never stopped being grateful for what you did back then. I had nothing to offer you at the time, no power, no leverage, nothing. But things have changed. I can finally give back, properly and without strings. And listen, you’ve been hunting for a job. right? Shoot me your résumé, let me see whether there’s a position that fits you.”

    Harvey exhaled, gratitude settling over him like warm rain. “Thank you, Ms. Wentworth,” he said atst, choosing–this time–not to refuse.

    Sheughed, a bright, quick sound. “Don’t call me Ms. Wentworth. I’m a few years older–just stick with Laura, all right?”

    “Laura,” Harvey answered, the single word carrying an ease he had not felt in months.

    A gentle grin tugged at Laura’s lips. Having a younger brother like this, she realized, might not be so bad after all.

    After thete–night meal, she drove Harvey back to the modest t he had rented, waiting until his silhouette vanished behind the gate. Only then did she guide her car toward her own ce.

    But the moment she reached her hallway, the key froze halfway to the lock. She stood rigid, breath caught.

    Weston loomed outside her door, shoulders stiff, a cigarette smoldering between two elegant fingers.

    “You… started smoking?” Surprise, not judgment,ced her voice.

    “Yeah. I did.” His tone was cial, and the carpet of ashes at his feet proved it hadn’t been just

    one.

    Waiting for her had knotted his nerves; he kept lighting cigarette after cigarette until half the packy spent. He could not recall thest time he was this frustrated.

    “Laura Wentworth, am I really so incapable of satisfying you? Is that why you left with a male model tonight?” He red at her.

    Color drained from Laura’s face. She lunged forward and pressed a palm over his mouth, terrified the neighbors might catch even a whisper of that usation. “Will you stop talking

    nonsense?”

    99

    Chapter 359 Pasta And Memories

    +10 Free Coins

    With a dark re, Weston yanked her hand away. “Nonsense? The man you escorted from the club–wasn’t he a male model?”

    “Harvey is my friend,” she said, each syble honed by indignation.

    “Friend?” He scoffed. “You already have a surplus of those. Tell me, do you think he can please you better than I can?”

    Laura rolled her eyes, deciding the corridor was no arena for this quarrel.

    She unlocked the door in one swift motion and dragged Weston inside before the hall lights could blink. “What are you talking about? For the record, there’s nothing romantic between Harvey and me.”

    Weston caught her chin between two fingers, tilting her face toward the ceiling glow. “Then what are you two? Are you going to say friends again? Funny–I never knew you had friends like him.”

    She opened her mouth. “He’s-‘

    The rest dissolved beneath his mouth. Weston crashed down, lips crushing hers while his arms pinned both wrists behind her back.

    A muffled protest slipped free–no more than a breath trapped between them.

    Yet Weston only kissed harder, wild and consuming, as though the sole cure for jealousy was to devour every breath she owned.