Chapter 248: Having You is Enough

Chapter 248: Chapter 248: Having You is Enough

Jaden was left speechless.

He couldn’t wrap his head around it. He didn’t understand why a man like Alaric Blackwood thought in such a... feminine way. Or why Alaric would ignore him, his best friend of over twenty years—someone he’d known since they were toddlers.

"I hope you get out of the hospital soon. And I hope you get your memory back."

With that, Alaric Blackwood pulled open the bathroom door and walked out.

He glanced at Nina Halloway, who was sitting by the hospital bed. She had dark circles under her eyes, clearly stressed and sleep-deprived. He walked straight to the door, opened it, and poked his head out. "Take my sister home," he said to Ethan Austin, who was waiting outside.

Ethan Austin was slightly taken aback. "She’s willing to go back?"

"She doesn’t need to be standing watch here."

"But she..."

"Take her home and make sure she gets a good night’s sleep."

Ethan Austin nodded, stood up, and walked to the door. He lowered his voice and said, "By the way, all those bodyguards you arranged for before have been withdrawn."

"So you’re the only one left?"

"Yeah."

"Just do your job."

"I know."

With no one to relieve him, Ethan Austin had barely slept in nearly two days. Whenever he couldn’t stay awake any longer, he’d lean back in his chair and doze off for a bit. Nina Halloway, who had been constantly at Jaden’s side, was in no better shape.

He walked past Alaric Blackwood, went inside, pulled Nina Halloway to her feet, and started dragging her away.

Jaden came out of the bathroom and saw what was happening. He tried to step forward and stop them but was blocked by Alaric Blackwood’s body.

"You’re going too far, Alaric."

Alaric Blackwood lifted his chin slightly. "My sister is nothing to you. She has no reason to be here watching over you."

"Nothing to me?"

Jaden was so angry he wanted to laugh. In his memory, Nina Halloway was still his fiancée, and he had been kidnapped and hurt by the masked man because of her.

’Shouldn’t Nina be by my side?’

Blocked by Alaric Blackwood’s tall frame, he could only watch helplessly as Nina Halloway was dragged out by Ethan Austin.

He was starting to get angry with Alaric Blackwood. "Fine! You win! If you don’t want her to stay, then she can get the hell out!"

Alaric Blackwood said, "Fine," and turned and left.

Jaden was left standing there, stunned. It took him a long moment to snap out of it.

When Mrs. Garland came to see him with takeout, he had already thrown a tantrum. The water glass and other items on the cabinet had been hurled to the floor in anger, shattering into tiny pieces.

She put down the food containers and started cleaning up the broken shards. "What’s wrong? Where’s Nina?"

"She left."

"Left?"

"They all say I cheated, but I don’t even remember. And now they’re blaming everything on me."

Jaden was indignant.

Mrs. Garland finished cleaning up the shards of glass. After comforting him for a moment, she said, "Even though you and Nina have already broken off the engagement, it was still wrong of her to just abandon you. Listen to your mother. Stop thinking about her. Your fiancée is Jasmine now. Don’t go breaking Jasmine’s heart, too, or you’ll end up losing both of them. Should I have Jasmine come over?"

Jaden remained silent.

Mrs. Garland took her son’s silence as tacit approval. She stepped outside the room and called Stella Yarrow.

Before long, Stella Yarrow rushed over.

The young woman stayed by Jaden’s side constantly. She fed him his meals and wiped him down with a damp towel before bed. He had chased her away before, but this time, Stella Yarrow showed no resentment at all upon her return. A sliver of guilt began to stir within him.

He studied Stella Yarrow carefully. She was young, with a petite and charming figure. She was pretty and quite likable.

He couldn’t help but compare her to Nina Halloway’s coldness and the danger Nina had brought upon him. The more he looked at Stella Yarrow, the more he felt she was gentle and lovely, especially compared to Nina, whom he found increasingly difficult to handle.

’Everyone is telling me that Stella Yarrow is the one for me now, that she’s my fiancée. Instead of humbling myself and begging a woman who only brought me danger and pain—a woman who might never come back—I should just go with the flow and be with Stella.’

After weighing the pros and cons, he decided to accept Stella Yarrow as his fiancée.

That night, he lay in his hospital bed, unable to sleep. He sent a message to Nina Halloway: "Do I really not have a chance? Even if I apologize, it’s no use?"

Nina Halloway hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time. After being forcibly taken home by Ethan Austin, she slept like the dead and didn’t see Jaden’s WhatsApp message until the next morning.

She replied: "Just treat your fiancée well."

Seeing Nina Halloway’s message, Jaden’s heart sank completely. "Then what about my safety?"

Nina Halloway: "I’ll arrange for bodyguards to protect you until the masked man is caught."

At ten o’clock that morning, several bodyguards appeared outside Jaden’s hospital room.

Nina had personally selected them from a security firm. All of them were tall and solidly built. She hired over twenty bodyguards in one go to protect Jaden in three rotating shifts. Yet, for herself, she only had Ethan Austin.

"You’re not going to hire a few bodyguards for yourself?" Ethan Austin asked, worried.

She shook her head. "Having you is enough."

"You have that much confidence in me?"

Nina Halloway smiled and nodded. She didn’t think she would be in any danger. In comparison, she was more worried that the masked man would target Ethan Austin.

"I was thinking, maybe I should hire a few bodyguards for you."

Ethan Austin’s eyes widened. "Hire bodyguards for your bodyguard?"

"I’m worried something will happen to you."

"Don’t worry. Nothing will happen."

He could take on ten men by himself. He’d already clashed with the masked man’s crew, and they were all a bunch of useless thugs who couldn’t fight.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but say to Nina Halloway, "When I was attacked by the masked man’s people, there were no security cameras around, but the car’s dashcam was running. The whole ambush was recorded. Shouldn’t we give the footage to the police?"

Nina Halloway was shocked. "Why didn’t you say so earlier!"

She immediately contacted Officer Young and gave him the video from the dashcam.

Around noon, she received a message from Sophie Shaw, inviting her to lunch at a restaurant called Heart of the Ocean. A table had already been booked.

The restaurant was nearby, only a few minutes’ walk away.

When she arrived, Sophie Shaw and Anne were already in a private room.

"Why didn’t Alaric come?"

She pulled Ethan Austin down to sit with her and asked in surprise, "Isn’t he pretty free lately? He said he’d be with you. Where is he?"

"He has a lunch meeting today."

"A meeting with who?"

Sophie Shaw pointed to the room next door. "He’s in the private room right there, meeting with some chairman."

"Which chairman?"

"I’m not too sure. Some rival company, I think. Reid Group or something."

Sophie Shaw hadn’t paid much attention to who Alaric Blackwood was meeting. She only remembered him saying that the person was Mandy Halloway’s first love and the chairman of a rival company to the Blackwood Group.

They ordered their food and soon began to eat, the atmosphere lively.

In the private room next door, Alaric Blackwood and Chairman Lancaster had also ordered.

"I heard your parents are getting a divorce?" Chairman Lancaster proactively asked about Mandy Halloway’s private affairs.

"They’re already filing for it."

Chairman Lancaster nodded, feigning composure as he fought to suppress a smile. "Your father held a press conference, claiming he’d found his long-lost daughter. Anyone with eyes can see she’s his illegitimate child, right? So, why are you contacting me at a time like this?"

"I just think Chairman Lancaster has worked too hard building his career all these years. Have you considered selling some of your shares to give the younger generation a chance to grow?"

Chairman Lancaster laughed out loud. "You’re an interesting kid. Don’t you know about the relationship between your father and me?"

"I do."

"Are you throwing a tantrum with him? Trying to use me to piss him off or something?"

Alaric Blackwood shook his head with a smile. "I’m not a three-year-old, and I don’t play games. I want to acquire the Blackwood Group. You, Chairman Lancaster, have been suppressed by him for the better part of your life. Don’t you want to settle the score?"

"Helping a rival company go against your own father?" Chairman Lancaster was stunned. "Did I hear you right?"