The CEO's Secret Replacement Bride

His Gentle Tentative

Elena stuffed her few clothes into the small suitcase she had brought when she married into the Hale family, her eyes red and swollen from crying. She had only stayed here for a little more than a week, but she had already felt a warmth she had never felt before in the Carter family. Asher's occasional gentleness, the warm breakfast they had together, the way he had stood in front of her to protect her at the banquet, all these fragments flashed through her mind like a movie, making her heart ache so much that she could barely breathe. When she was packing, she saw the small tube of scar removal ointment that Asher had thrown to her that day on the bedside table. She picked it up and held it in her hand, the cold plastic tube still seemed to have his faint cedar scent on it. She hesitated for a long time, but finally put it in the side pocket of the suitcase, as if she was keeping the only little warmth she had ever gotten. Just as she was zipping up the suitcase, there was a soft knock on the door. Asher's low, magnetic voice came from outside the door: "Elena, open the door. I have something to tell you." Elena froze, she quickly wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve, and didn't want to open the door. She was afraid that when she saw him, she would be reluctant to leave, and would make a fool of herself again. "If you don't open the door in ten seconds, I'll let the maid break the door open." Asher's voice was a little tough, but there was no anger in it, as if he was pretending to be fierce. Elena had no choice but to stand up and open the door. Asher was sitting in a wheelchair at the door, holding a small pink paper box in his hand, which contained the strawberry cream cake she had secretly stared at for three minutes when she was scrolling through social media two days ago. She had casually said that this cake was too expensive and she didn't want to buy it, but she didn't expect Asher to remember it. "I asked the assistant to drive 20 minutes to the downtown dessert shop you like to buy it. It's still cold." Asher handed the cake to her, pretending to be nonchalant, and his eyes fell on the packed suitcase behind her, his face turned cold instantly, "What are you doing? Packing your luggage and preparing to run away without saying a word?" Elena lowered her head, her voice choked and hoarse: "I know you are angry that I lied to you and hid such a big secret from you. I will leave now, and I won't embarrass you anymore. The money you paid for my mother's surgery, I will work part-time to return it to you slowly, I won't renege on the debt..." "Who said I'm angry?" Asher interrupted her coldly, he signaled his assistant to leave first, then rolled his wheelchair into the room, closed the door with his backhand, and looked at her with his ice-blue eyes, "I'm not angry that you are not the biological daughter of the Carter family. I'm angry that you hid this from me and didn't tell me the truth. Do you think I'm the kind of narrow-minded person who will drive you away because of this? What I care about is whether you lie to me, not your identity." Elena raised her head in surprise, her eyes red like a little rabbit that had just cried, tears still hanging on her long eyelashes: "You... you really don't mind? You don't think I'm a liar, a wild child of unknown origin?" "Why should I mind?" Asher raised his eyebrow, and there was a rare trace of tenderness in his eyes, "I married you, not the Carter family's identity. What's more, I have already asked my assistant to buy all the evidence in Luna's hand, and all the people who knew about this matter have been warned. No one will know about this except us. You don't have to worry about others talking about you behind your back, and you don't have to be afraid anymore." He paused, then added awkwardly, his ears turning slightly red: "And... your mother is still recovering in the hospital, where do you want to go? If you leave, who will take care of her? Don't be stupid, stay here honestly, as long as you don't lie to me again, no one can drive you away from the Hale mansion. This is your home now." Elena stared at him for a long time, tears falling down again, but this time it was tears of emotion. She nodded vigorously, wiping the tears off her face, and a faint smile appeared on her pale face: "Thank you, Asher. I will never lie to you again in the future, I promise." "Okay, don't cry anymore. The cake will melt if you don't eat it quickly." Asher looked at her crying and laughing face, felt a little flustered for no reason, took out the silk handkerchief he carried with him and handed it to her, "Ethan will come later to give me a regular check-up, don't look like you have been wronged later, or he will laugh at me for bullying you." Sure enough, less than half an hour later, Ethan came over with a medical kit, and he also brought a box of imported nutritional supplements for Elena's mother. While checking Asher's leg recovery, he chatted with Elena who was sitting beside him eating cake: "I heard from the assistant that you majored in jewelry design in college, and you won the first prize in the national college student jewelry design competition when you were a senior? I have a friend who is holding an international jewelry design competition recently, the champion has a 100,000 dollar prize, and the winning work will also be produced and sold by Tiffany. Do you want to participate? I can recommend you to sign up." Elena's eyes lit up instantly, like stars falling into her eyes. Designing jewelry has always been her biggest dream, and she had always wanted to have her own design brand. "Really? Can I really participate? I thought I would never have the chance to touch design again after I got married." "Of course you can. Your talent shouldn't be buried." Ethan smiled and handed her his business card, "I'll send you the registration link and the competition rules later. If you have any questions about the design, you can call me anytime." Asher watched the two of them chatting happily, his face getting darker and darker. He coughed hard on purpose, so hard that his shoulders shook: "Ethan, you've been checking for half an hour, are you done? My legs are sore from sitting here for too long." Ethan raised his eyebrows with a playful smile, he naturally knew that Asher was jealous. "Okay, okay, I'm done. Your leg recovery is very good, and you can try to stand up and walk with crutches in two months. I'll send you the re-examination report later. Elena, remember to contact me if you want to participate in the competition, the deadline is next week." After Ethan left, Asher looked at Elena holding the business card happily, and said sourly: "Don't just give your contact information to strange men. What if he has bad intentions? And don't participate in any messy competitions, if you are short of money, you can tell me directly, I can give you as much as you want." "I'm not short of money, this is my dream." Elena retorted in a low voice, put the business card in her bag carefully, the corners of her mouth raised unconsciously, looking very happy. In the evening, Elena was sitting on the bed reading the competition rules that Ethan sent her, when her phone vibrated suddenly, it was a message from Asher: [Come to my bedroom now, I have something important to tell you about the car accident that happened to me three years ago. I found out it's related to the Carter family.] Elena's heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition surged up. What does the car accident have to do with the Carter family? She stood up quickly and walked towards Asher's bedroom, her heart beating wildly. She didn't know that what Asher was going to tell her would completely subvert all her previous perceptions, and would also make their relationship take a huge step forward.