A Woman Worth Billions Dated the Wrong Brother novel Chapter 416

Jasmine POV 2

Jasmine POV

Leo was already seated in a booth near the back, positioned so he could see the entrance, the main dining room. and most of the hallway leading toward the restrooms. At least his field instincts survived social events.

Unfortunately, so did his face.

Leo had jet-black hair that fell around his forehead with the kind of deliberate carelessness people probably paid ridiculous amounts of money to achieve. With his smooth features, dark eyes and annoyingly perfect proportions, he looked less like someone who had participated in a military operation on an island full of traffickers and more like he’d escaped from a K-pop group between performances.

Then there was the smile.

That smile was his greatest weapon.

Warm, easy and just shy enough to make strangers assume he was harmless, it had probably been responsible for half the information he’d collected without anyone realizing they were being questioned. Women trusted it. Older people wanted to feed him. Security guards tended to relax around him. Even people who should have known better looked at that face and apparently concluded that Leo Vargas couldn’t possibly be dangerous.

It was a complete joke.

I’d watched him fight.

There was absolutely nothing harmless about him.

He could drop a man twice his size before the idiot realized the pretty boy was the threat in the room, then turn around five seconds later and produce that ridiculous smile as though he’d spent the afternoon posing for an album cover instead of breaking someone’s wrist.

Leo noticed me looking at him and smiled.

There it was. 1

That stupid, professionally harmless smile.

I nearly rolled my eyes.

His harmless smile disappeared when he saw my bandaged arm.

“You left the hospital.”

“You texted me.”

“I expected a phone call.”

“Then you should know me better.”

“I know you perfectly. That’s why I expected this.”

We ordered before discussing anything important. Once the waiter left, Leo told me what had happened.

He’d attended a private party where several distant Asher relatives had been present. Three people-two men and a woman-had separated themselves from the main group, and Leo had overheard enough of their conversation to realize it wasn’t ordinary family gossip.

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One of them had asked what they were going to do if the nurse failed.

They actually said nurse?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“And Amber?”

“By name. Someone else said they had other options if Amber survived.”

My appetite disappeared.

It wasn’t enough to prove who had arranged the attack, and it definitely wasn’t enough to start accusing every distant Asher relative with a bad personality. But it was enough to prove I hadn’t left the hospital chasing a coincidence.

Someone at that party knew about the nurse.

Someone had expected her to succeed.

And someone had already been discussing what came next if Amber survived.

“What else?” I asked.

“They talked about Adrian. Said they needed to keep him and his family under control.”

“How?”

“They didn’t say. But Rose came up.”

That made me pay closer attention.

Rose being Adrian’s half sister was widely known. Adrian had been the one determined to save her when he learned what was happening to her, and Amber had insisted on going for him. Later, when Adrian’s grandmother and Rose’s own father refused to take responsibility for her and renounced their parental rights, Rose remained with Amber because it was genuinely the best place for her.

Adrian had never abandoned his little sister. He visited, spent time with her and treated her like family even when the older members of his own family hadn’t wanted the responsibility.

“They said Adrian was the only one in his family who actively spent time with Rose,” Leo continued. “One of them laughed about it, like caring about her made him weak.”

“Did they threaten Rose?”

“No.”

“Say they intended to use her?”

“No.”

“Then we don’t assume they do.”

Leo nodded.

That was one reason I trusted him. He understood the difference between evidence and suspicion.

Then he made his mistake.

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“I have a possible location.”

topped eating. “Give it to me.”

“No.”

“Leo.”

“I’ll give it to you if you take backup.”

“Fine.”

“Noah.”

I stared at him. “I said backup, not a babysitter.”

“Good, because Noah isn’t a babysitter. He’s one of the few people I’d trust to keep up with you.”

“I can choose my own backup.”

“Then you can find your own address.”

I narrowed my eyes.

Leo didn’t flinch. For someone who had decided I was his little sister, he had become alarmingly comfortable irritating me.

“Why Noah?”

“Because you’re injured, he’s good, and he cares enough about you to make sure you don’t do something suicidal just to prove you can.”

“He doesn’t-”

“He does. I’m not blind.”

I glared at him.

Leo shrugged. “Besides, Noah is kind of my idol.”

That almost made me laugh.

Unlike Leo, who merely looked like he belonged onstage, Noah actually did. When he wasn’t serving, he was a genuine idol and pop star. When he worked with the military, he stayed disguised enough that most people never connected the soldier with the celebrity.

Apparently Leo had.

!

Before I could tease him about it, my phone vibrated.

Noah.

I silenced it.

Leo looked at me. “Answer him.”

“No.”

“He knows you’re missing.”

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“That’s unfortunate.”

The phone rang again.

I ignored it again.

A few minutes later, someone cleared his throat behind me.

I froze.

Noah stood there in the same military disguise he’d been wearing at the hospital. His expression told me immediately what had happened.

They had noticed I was gone.

He had tracked me.

“You left a letter with Iris,” he said.

“An informative letter.”

“You told us not to follow you.”

“That part was very clear.”

“It was.”

“And yet here you are.”