Love Never Came Novel – Chapter 10
When Jasmine sent the text, Martin was toweling his hair dry.
He heard his phone beeping and was about to take it, but Alessa grabbed it before he could.
“I’m gonna read the text for you.” She gave his phone a little shake, flashing him a sweet smile.
He couldn’t argue with her, so he smiled. “Okay.”
He had registered her fingerprint on his phone much earlier. With practiced ease, she pulled up Jasmine’s chat window to the screen and saw the latest text. A hint of disdain flashed in her eyes as she tapped on the screen again, deleting the message.
On the first day Alessa returned to Corvalis, she learned about the relationship between Martin and Jasmine. As far as she was concerned, Jasmine was the only one who had invested feelings in it.
Everyone knew how hopelessly devoted he was to her. He couldn’t have moved on from her if he wanted to. So, why would he fall in love with anyone else?
Afterward, Alessa also saw a lot of work emails from his collaborative partners, and she deleted them too.
At that moment, Martin was done towel-drying his hair. His body still carried the shampoo’s aromatic scent as he leaned in close and pulled her into his arms.
“What’s the text about?”
Alessa turned and hugged him back, putting his phone on the side. “It’s just spam. Let’s forget about it and go to bed, okay?”
She smiled, her robe occasionally slipping to reveal her breasts, leaving him staring with a burning desire. He gulped and nodded. “Okay.”
Martin left his phone on the table and carried Alessa to the bed. What followed was a night of tangled intimacy.
He was still sleeping when his phone suddenly rang. At first, he wanted to ignore it, but it just kept ringing nonstop, disturbing him and pushing his patience to the limit. There wasn’t supposed to be any work that day.
Martin gazed at Alessa, who was still sleeping, and grabbed his phone. He lowered his voice, but he was intensely irritated.
“What is it? It’s the weekend, and I didn’t have any work arranged.”
On the other side of the phone, his assistant responded, her tone frantic and helpless. “Our collaborative partner sent you an email yesterday. They told you they’re coming over to have a meeting today. And they’re here already. Mr. Quinlan, everyone’s waiting for you!”
“What? When did they send me emails? I didn’t receive them at all!”
Any traces of sleepiness Martin might’ve had a second ago disappeared completely. Sitting upright, he hurriedly got changed, his brow furrowing deeply.
“Why didn’t Jasmine inform me about something this important? What the hell is she doing? Does she think she can bear the consequences if the company suffers a huge loss? Get her to pick me up now!”
His tone was brimming with rage. In his mind, Jasmine must’ve neglected her job because she was still upset. To his surprise, however, his assistant spoke after a brief stunned silence, her tone timid.
“Mr. Quinlan, Ms. Scully has resigned.”
Martin was utterly dumbstruck. His grip on his phone tightened uncontrollably. “When did she resign? I’ve approved no such thing. Get her back immediately! She isn’t allowed to resign without my say-so!”
At that moment, Martin roared, no longer caring about Alessa and her slumber.
How dare Jasmine resign over such trivial matters? He explicitly told her that Alessa was the most important person in his life and that he would think of a way to make it up to her for everything she suffered. And yet, she went ahead and quit her job without saying a word.
His gaze darkened. It was plain as day that he was infuriated, and his assistant was so frightened that she was trembling, not daring to say anything further.
Just as Martin’s patience was about to run out, a pair of slender arms wrapped around his waist.
“What’s wrong, Martin?” Alessa asked tenderly, seemingly woken up by the ruckus.
Seeing her in this state, he couldn’t help but soften and lower his voice. “It’s just work. Don’t worry about it. Go back to sleep.”
He had to go to Quinlan Group now. No matter what, he couldn’t afford to cross his collaborative partners. However, Alessa didn’t care at all. She kept holding him in her arms, acting all coy.
“Sleep with me, please? It’s still early. Martin, don’t leave me alone, okay?”
Her affectionate words made his Adam’s apple bob, reminding him of the sweet, tempting moments they shared last night.
He couldn’t help but carry her in his arms and lie on the bed once more.
Half an hour had passed by the time Martin coaxed Alessa to sleep. His phone’s screen kept flashing with all the missed calls from his assistant.
His gaze darkened when he saw it. He replied, “Push the meeting to afternoon.”
She replied to his text in less than a minute, “Mr. Quinlan, they’re gone. We’ve lost the chance to sign a contract with them.”
Martin’s head throbbed. When he saw Alessa sleeping in his arms, however, he believed it was all worth it. His lips curled into a grin, but it didn’t last long.
He recalled what his assistant had said, and something didn’t add up. Tapping on his phone screen, he checked his emails but didn’t find anything new. That was when it came back to him—Alessa had checked his phone last night.
Clinging onto a sliver of hope, Martin checked the trash folder. His face turned pale, and he gritted his teeth.