My Great Escape Led Me to You (Emily Blair) novel Chapter 1048

Andrew let out a low laugh through the phone. “What’s wrong with the ring? Don’t like it? I can have another one made, or send you a few designs to pick from.”

He was pretending not to get it, and Emily wasn’t about to play along. She stayed quiet.

Andrew cleared his throat. “I gave you that gift myself. I’d like you to return it to me yourself. If you just send your assistant, forget it. Tell him to go home.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “This is basically extortion. Since when did you get so shameless, Mr. Lane?”

He laughed again, that deep, muffled sound. “You can’t care about pride when you’re chasing the woman you love.”

She clenched her jaw. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Not unbelievable,” Andrew said lightly. “Just running a fever. Will you come check on me?”

Emily’s smile turned cold. “If you die over there, I’ll come see you then.”

Before she could hang up, Andrew coughed a few more times for good measure.

She ended the call and turned to her assistant. “Just leave the box in the car for now. No need to deliver it.”

She’d thought about leaving it at security and letting them handle it however they wanted. But knowing Andrew and guessing how much that ring must have cost, if it ever went missing, he’d never let it go. He’d definitely chase her down, demanding answers, and make everything a headache.

Emily didn’t want to even look at the ring. She told her assistant to keep it in the car.

Done with the call, she dropped the whole thing from her mind, grabbed her pajamas, and headed to the shower. Afterward, she looked around her room for her phone, then remembered it was still in the living room.

She walked out and spotted her phone glowing on the pale sofa, screen lit up with a bunch of new notifications. She frowned, picked it up, and saw most of the messages were from Andrew.

Andrew: [Remember when you had a fever at the resort? Can I ask you to come see me, just like I did for you?]

All these messages had come in while she was in the shower.

Emily read them all, her expression unchanging. She tapped out a single word: [No.]

She closed the chat, took her phone, and went back to her room. Before bed, she glanced at her work group chat to make sure she hadn’t missed anything important, then put her phone down and turned out the lights. Andrew kept sending more messages, each one trying harder to get her sympathy, hoping she’d give in. Emily ignored every single one and went to sleep.

The night passed in a blur. When she woke up, she checked her phone and saw a few more messages had come in overnight. Without even looking, she figured they were from Andrew and went straight to wash up.

After breakfast, dressed and ready, Emily grabbed her phone and headed out to work.