A Woman Worth Billions Dated the Wrong Brother novel Chapter 415

Jasmine POV 1

Jasmine POV

Hospitals were designed to keep people alive, which was admirable, but they were also designed to keep people in bed, which became considerably less adinirable when the person in that bed happened to be me.

I had been shot in the arm. Not the chest, not the head and nowhere particularly essential to my continued existence. The bullet had gone through, the doctors had cleaned everything, stitched what needed stitching and spent an unreasonable amount of time explaining that blood loss, physical exertion and fresh bullet wounds were apparently reasons to rest.

I had listened carefully.

Listening and obeying were entirely different skills.

Besides, Amber was unconscious because someone had poisoned her, Jason could barely walk, two babies had been delivered by emergency C-section, and a nurse who had spent two weeks inside Jason’s hospital room had somehow gotten close enough to try to kill both of them. Under those circumstances, staying in bed seemed almost irresponsible.

I pulled my jacket on carefully because, despite my commitment to pretending otherwise, my arm hurt like hell. The pain wasn’t disabling, though. There was an important distinction between something hurting and something preventing me from functioning, and I had always been very good at recognizing it.

Before leaving, I found Iris sitting in the waiting area with Alice, Alex and Rose. She was slightly apart from the younger children, watching everything with those enormous observant eyes of hers.

Iris bothered me.

Not in a bad way. 1

She just looked so fragile.

I knew better than to assume that meant she actually was fragile. Iris had survived things that would have destroyed plenty of adults, but surviving and defending yourself were two different skills. Someone needed to teach that girl what to do when there wasn’t a convenient soldier nearby. 1

Actually, I could do that.

Assuming Jason didn’t murder me after today.

I slipped the folded letter into her hand.

“What’s this?” she whispered.

“Insurance.”

Her eyebrows drew together. “Against what?”

“Me making a bad decision.”

Iris stared at me.

I reconsidered. “Fine. A worse decision than usual.”

“Jasmine.”

1/4

+15 Bonus

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“Don’t open it. It’s not for you.”

Then why are you giving it to me?”

That was a fair question, and I disliked fair questions because they usually required actual explanations.

“Because people underestimate you.”

Her expression immediately changed.

I understood that look.

People underestimated me too, although usually only once.

“Who do I give it to?”

“Jason. If Jason isn’t available, Mr. Stait.”

“When?”

“If somebody notices I’m gone.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You’re leaving?”

“Technically.”

“You’re in the hospital.”

“Currently.”

“You were shot.”

“People keep bringing that up.’

“Because you were shot.”

I sighed and leaned closer. “Iris, I need you to do something for me. Stay with Alice, Alex and Rose. Don’t let any of them leave with someone you don’t personally know. I don’t care if that person says Amber sent them, Jason sent them, Mr. Asher sent them, or Mr. and Mrs. Sun sent them. You verify it first. Understand?”

She nodded slowly.

“Good.”

I looked at her again and decided I was definitely teaching her how to fight. Maybe not today. Possibly tomorrow. Amber would complain if I started with knives, so I’d begin with something reasonable.

Like elbows.

“I also need to teach you how to break someone’s nose.” 1

Iris blinked. “What?”

“Later.”

“Jasmine-”

I walked away before she could ask anything else.

I wasn’t good with family.

2/4

+15 Bonus

That was something I knew about myself.

Nould learn the Tayout of an unfamiliar building after walking through it once. I could remember faces, exits, weapons, accents and tiny inconsistencies in someone’s story without needing to write anything down. I could sit across from someone who wanted to hurt me and calculate exactly how much danger they represented before they finished their first sentence.

People were easy when there was a mission attached to them.

Family wasn’t.

Family expected things I didn’t understand instinctively. There were invisible rules about affection, reassurance, forgiveness and knowing when someone wanted a hug instead of a solution. Sometimes Alice climbed into my lap and I spent the first thirty seconds wondering what I was supposed to do with my arms. Rose would take my hand without warning. Alex asked questions as though I had all the answers. Iris watched me like she was trying to decide what kind of person she wanted to become.

I didn’t know how to be anyone’s example.

Amber never seemed to care.

She had somehow figured out that the easiest way to make me part of a family was not to ask me whether I wanted to be part of one. She simply included me. There was always a chair for me. Food appeared in front of me. If I disappeared too long, she asked where I’d been. If I was injured, she became irritating. If I did something reckless, she yelled first and worried second, although occasionally she did both simultaneously. 1

Amber had never demanded that I become softer before I was allowed to belong.

That was probably why I had become so attached to her.

Which was also why whoever poisoned her had made an extremely poor decision.

Getting out of the hospital wasn’t difficult. That wasn’t arrogance; it was an objective assessment. People tended to think security was about locked doors and armed guards when it was mostly about patterns, assumptions and making everyone around you believe you belonged exactly where you were.

Hospitals were particularly easy because nobody wanted to interrupt someone who looked busy.

I changed my posture, tied my hair differently, borrowed a jacket that had been carelessly left where jackets should not be left around me, picked up a folder from an empty counter and used the service corridor.

Nobody stopped me.