Chapter 155

But before she could deal with Penelope, Anastasia was jolted awake by a phone call in the dead of night.
Half asleep, she fumbled for her phone and pressed it to her ear. Harrison’s voice came through—a low, hoarse whisper, struggling to keep something at bay.
“Ana.”
She thought for a moment she was dreaming, her reply muffled and dazed. Honey?”
“Come outside. I’m at the front gate.”
That woke her up. Anastasia glanced at the clock: 3:30 a.m.
What was Harrison doing outside the university gates at this hour?
Her heart pounding, she threw on the nearest jacket, slipped her feet into her slippers, and hurried out of the dorm.
Across the room, Helen stirred, awakened by the commotion. She propped herself up, watching Anastasia’s anxious silhouette disappear through the door, eyes flickering with suspicion. Had she just heard Anastasia call someone… honey?
At the university gate, Anastasia spotted the familiar car parked under the streetlight. She broke into a run.
“Honey! You-!”
She barely got the words out before Harrison pulled her into his arms, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe.
Pressed against his chest, her face tucked into the crook of his neck, Anastasia felt his tension slowly ebb away, his clenched jaw relaxing as the storm inside him finally began to subside.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” she managed, worry outweighing the discomfort of his iron grip.
He took in her worried eyes, the hastily thrown-on jacket, her mismatched slippers. Something unnameable flickered across his face.
“I’m fine. I just… missed you,” he said, his voice betraying a weariness she hadn’t noticed before. Anastasia looked closer and saw red veins lacing his tired eyes. Her heart ached. “You haven’t been sleeping, have you?”
Harrison didn’t answer. Fresh chapters posted on.net
In the passenger seat, Logan opened his mouth as if to explain, then thought better of it. Tonight, Mr. Harrison Lancaster hadn’t slept at all. When his usual bedtime came, he was wide awake and seething, his mood dark and volatile.
The doctor’s warnings echoed in Logan’s mind: Harrison’s health was in critical condition. He mustn’t stay up late—if he did, it was anyone’s guess whether he’d even make it to thirty.
Logan had reminded him several times, despite the pressure, but he hadn’t realized just how much Harrison had come to depend on his new wife. Even lying in bed, he simply couldn’t sleep without her.
So, in the middle of the night, they’d driven to Kingsbridge University.
When the car started moving, Anastasia assumed they were headed back to Rosewood Manor. She stayed quiet, too worried about Harrison to care much where they went.
But a few minutes later, the car pulled up outside an apartment building near the school.
“Honey she began to ask, but before she could finish, Harrison scooped her up and carried her out of the car.
The sudden weightlessness made her instinctively wrap her arms around his neck. He strode inside, covering the distance to the apartment in just a few steps. Before she could even take in her surroundings, he’d carried her straight to the bedroom and laid her gently on the bed.
Harrison didn’t say a word. He simply pulled her into his embrace, holding her as if she were the only thing keeping him afloat, as if she were a rare treasure he couldn’t afford to lose.
Only then did the tension leave his brow, his body finally relaxing as he drifted into
a deep, dreamless sleep without so much as a word.
Anastasia lay still, startled by the suddenness of it all.
She shifted a little, but the arm around her waist tightened, his brows knitting as though he might wake at any second.
She froze, not daring to move again, quietly settling into his arms.