Private Marriage, Secret Love-Chapter 143: Refusing to Leave

Raina Reddington didn’t wait for anyone to lead the way and walked straight inside. The space wasn’t large, unlike those high-end clubs that had every possible amenity.

The door to the first private room was opened. A woman in high heels and a spaghetti strap top leaned against the doorway and shouted toward the front desk, "Another ten bottles of beer."

"Coming right up!"

The woman reeked of smoke, and the bra under her top was crooked. She paid no mind to who might be watching and reached right in to adjust it.

Raina Reddington quickly averted her gaze and walked to the door of the second private room.

Ethan Lancaster was right behind her. They both stopped. He leaned lightly against the wall while Raina stared at the door in front of her, slowly reaching out her hand.

She grasped the doorknob. There was an unpleasant, sticky feeling on her palm. She didn’t need much mental preparation; these past few days, she had long been prepared for the worst.

Raina pushed the door open a crack. Deafening music spilled out. The man holding the microphone was completely tone-deaf, just screaming his lungs out.

Through the crack in the door and the dim light filtering out from the room, she saw several people sitting on the sofa. But Miles Hawthorne was always the most eye-catching in a crowd; Raina didn’t need to look hard to spot him instantly.

Miles was wearing a white shirt, an arm slung around his shoulders by the person next to him—a man in his early forties. He was saying something loudly, his words coarse, but his next action so shocked Raina that she was frozen to the spot.

The man leaned down and kissed Miles’s face. On Miles’s other side sat a woman of similar age, who saw this and laughed, undoing the buttons at his collar and sliding her hand toward his chest.

The shocking scene assaulted her senses. The man was pushing Miles, trying to pin him down on the sofa. A wave of nausea churned in Raina’s stomach. She hadn’t eaten dinner, and her stomach had already been aching faintly. Now, with this shock, she couldn’t take it anymore.

Without thinking, she pulled the door shut. Her palm clutching the handle, she squatted down and began to dry-heave.

Ethan Lancaster glanced down at her. His original intention was simple, and his goal had been achieved.

’Didn’t Raina say I was disgusting? Well, I brought her here to see what the man she’s been pining for does every day. I’d love to ask her, who’s more disgusting now?’

But now, seeing her dry-heaving while trying to suppress the sound, he felt an unexpected pang of heartache. Ethan Lancaster straightened up, his lips moving, but he didn’t know what to say.

Raina covered her mouth, terrified the people inside would hear. Her stomach churned violently, but she couldn’t throw up.

Ethan bent down, grabbed her arm, and pulled her up. "Let’s go. We’re going home."

’How could I just go back like this?’ Raina pushed Ethan away. He stared at her. "You don’t still want to go in there, do you?"

Raina swallowed hard against the rising bile. ’Why shouldn’t I go in?’

’I’ve been searching for so long. Is one glance supposed to be enough?’

Raina reached for the door, but Ethan grabbed her hand again. "Raina Reddington."

She threw his hand off with all her might, twisted the doorknob, and walked inside.

The sounds of laughter in the room hadn’t stopped. Raina walked forward, her final step landing on the rug in front of the coffee table. Miles Hawthorne was lying with his upper body on the sofa, his line of sight only taking in Raina’s legs at first. He slowly lifted his gaze and saw Raina open her purse, pull out two stacks of cash, and toss them onto the table.

"Split this amongst yourselves. Now, get out."

’Whenever I went out to look for him, I always brought money. What if I found him and needed cash to sort things out?’

This wasn’t a high-end establishment, and the clientele wasn’t exactly classy. Twenty thousand was a lot of money here. The man who had been on top of Miles was the first to get up. "Didn’t expect a pretty lady like you to be looking for fun here, too."

Raina didn’t want to spare the man a single glance, feeling that wave of disgust wash over her again. "Out."

The man got up, took the money, and walked out. Seeing this, the others hurried after him to get their share.

Miles Hawthorne remained slumped in his previous position. Raina raised a hand to wipe the corner of her eye. "What, you don’t recognize me?"

He pushed himself up with both hands. Several buttons had been ripped from his shirt, leaving only the tails barely tucked into his waistband. He didn’t bother with his exposed upper body, instead running his hands through his hair a couple of times. Only then did Raina see that his naturally black hair had been dyed a striking shade of gray, giving him an undefinable, restless allure.

"What are you doing here?"

The room was thick with the smell of smoke, enough to give anyone a splitting headache.

Miles Hawthorne leaned over, picked up a pack of cigarettes from the coffee table, pulled one out, stuck it in his mouth, and lit it.

The smell of smoke made Raina feel even more sick.

Meanwhile, Ethan Lancaster was still standing outside; he hadn’t left. The sound of their voices was drowned out by the music. His gaze went inside, and he saw Raina’s back.

Miles took a drag from his cigarette, his thin lips slightly parted. He sat leaning back, his eyes fixed on the floor by Raina’s feet.

His lips were actually trembling. He was afraid to face Raina. She must have seen him at his most humiliating moment.

"Miles, let’s get out of here."

Raina took a step forward, not understanding why he was still sitting there.

The man ran a hand through his hair, his gaze turning wary as he looked at Raina. "Who brought you here?"

She couldn’t answer. She didn’t dare mention Ethan Lancaster’s name in front of Miles.

"This isn’t a place you should be."

Facing this man, Raina was at a complete loss. "Let’s just go outside first, okay?"

But Miles just shook his head slightly. "Raina, you should go."

"Don’t you know? Your mom... she’s already..."

The hand Miles was holding his cigarette with started to tremble. He had already guessed. He gave a bitter smile and closed his eyes. "I tried calling my mom, but her phone was disconnected. I knew she was probably gone."

Raina felt as helpless now as she had back then. "Do you have any idea I’ve been looking everywhere for you? Since you couldn’t reach your mom, why didn’t you call me?"

Miles finished his cigarette, stubbing out the butt in the ashtray. "You should know. If he doesn’t want you to find me, there’s no way we can meet." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Raina turned off the video on the large screen, and the room instantly fell silent. Miles looked down, wanting to button his shirt, but found that the woman from before had been too rough. She had pulled and torn at it so violently that not a single button was left.

She walked over to him and looked down, her expression full of pity. "Miles, some things are in the past now."

Miles leaned his upper body back, his eyes cold and desolate. His gaze fixed on Raina’s profile. "I’m not leaving."

Raina never expected such an answer. "Are you crazy? Look at this place! Why won’t you leave?"

But deep down, she already knew the answer. It wasn’t that Miles didn’t want to leave; it was that he couldn’t.

Ethan Lancaster had only promised to bring her to see him, not to let her take him away.