He Wouldn't Claim Me — Another Man Did

Chapter 162 - 148: Repaying the Debt

After Morgan Hayes left, Annabelle Leighton found herself hoping for his speedy return every day. But the case he was on this time was clearly a difficult one, and his return date remained up in the air.

On the eighth day of Morgan’s business trip, Annabelle returned to work.

A few days after Annabelle went back to work, Isla Prescott returned to the studio as well.

Isla was more than three months pregnant and her condition was stable, but Annabelle was still confused to see her at work.

"You should be resting at home, why are you coming in to work? Is Shane Sterling not feeding you or something?"

"It gets so boring doing nothing at home every day. Besides, being pregnant isn’t an illness. You’re supposed to move around a little." Isla reassured Annabelle, "Don’t worry. If I feel tired, I’ll make sure to rest."

"Okay, but you have to be careful. Give any difficult or stressful work to me. Don’t you worry about or do anything that’s too draining."

"I know, I know." Finding Annabelle a bit naggy, Isla changed the subject. "Has Captain Hayes come back from his trip yet?"

At the mention of him, Annabelle sighed. "Not yet."

"What kind of case is it? Is it that difficult?"

"I don’t know. He didn’t say."

"What have you been eating for dinner lately?"

"Takeout."

"Why don’t you come over to my place for dinner while Captain Hayes is away?" Isla offered.

After she got pregnant, Shane Sterling had hired a nutritionist and a personal chef to cook for her. Her three meals a day were all lavish, but Isla’s appetite was poor, so she could never eat much. Shane was busy with work, and he could rarely make it home for meals, so Isla was in desperate need of a dinner buddy.

"Okay, I’ll take you up on that and come over for dinner tonight."

"Great."

Just as they were chatting, Kiki Ford rushed into the office in a panic.

"Annie, you said Captain Hayes was on a trip to Veridia, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

Kiki Ford handed her a tablet. "It’s from this morning’s news. In Veridia, a police car collided with a semi-truck during a pursuit. The cruiser was completely crushed."

The smile on Annabelle’s lips froze instantly.

"You..." Seeing Annabelle’s expression change so drastically, Kiki quickly added, "Veridia is a big city. The police car in the news might not be Captain Hayes’s team. I just happened to see it, and... don’t look like that. You’re scaring me."

"Don’t jump to conclusions and scare yourself," Isla said, patting a stunned Annabelle. "Call Captain Hayes right now and find out what’s going on."

Annabelle seemed to snap out of it. "Right, I’ll call him now."

In her panic, she couldn’t even find her phone.

"Annie, your phone’s right in your hand," Isla reminded her.

Only then did Annabelle realize.

Morgan’s phone rang, but after three consecutive calls from Annabelle, there was still no answer.

The atmosphere in the office instantly grew heavy.

"Don’t panic," Isla said, squeezing Annabelle’s hand. "He’s probably just busy and couldn’t pick up."

"That’s right! Police usually don’t answer their phones when they’re working on a case."

Their words of comfort clearly had no effect on Annabelle. She couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into tears.

In that moment, Annabelle finally understood the true meaning of the saying: to love someone is to have both armor and a weakness.

"Annie..."

The moment Annabelle started crying, Kiki completely panicked.

Isla, however, remained relatively calm. She quickly pulled out her phone and called Shane Sterling, asking him to send someone to Veridia to find out if Morgan had been involved in the crash.

"Okay, I’ll send someone over right away," Shane said.

"Annie, Sean is sending people to Veridia now. We’ll have news soon, so try not to let your imagination run wild."

Annabelle nodded.

--

Half an hour later, while the people Shane Sterling had dispatched were still en route to Veridia, Morgan called back.

It turned out that when Annabelle had called, Morgan had been in a meeting with the Veridia police department. His phone had been on silent.

It was a false alarm.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"I have one more debriefing meeting this afternoon. As soon as it’s over, I’m coming back," Morgan said.

Hearing that he was coming back, all of Annabelle’s gloominess vanished.

"That’s wonderful! I’ll wait for you at home!"

"Okay."

Since Morgan was coming back, Annabelle canceled her plans to have dinner at Isla’s place.

She headed straight home after work, ordered food from The Gilded Spoon, and had it delivered.

Morgan arrived at Annabelle’s place around six. The moment he opened the door, Annabelle threw herself at him.

"Captain Hayes, you’re finally back! I missed you so much!" She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, unabashedly showing how much she’d missed him.

"I missed you too." Morgan scooped her into his arms and spun her around.

"You must be hungry. Come on in and eat," Annabelle said, pulling him inside.

Morgan smelled the fragrant aroma of food. "Did you make this?"

"Nope, it’s takeout. I can’t cook," Annabelle admitted candidly. She didn’t think there was anything embarrassing about a woman not knowing her way around a kitchen.

"That’s fine. If you can’t cook, you don’t have to. From now on, as long as I’m around, I’ll do all the cooking for you."

"You have to be around." The memory of the day’s false alarm returned, filling her with a subtle unease. "From now on, when you’re out on assignment, you have to be careful."

She had already lost her grandmother; she couldn’t bear to lose Morgan, too.

"I know. Don’t worry. Even if just for you, I’ll be careful."

"Okay, go wash up. Time to eat." Annabelle winked at him. "After dinner, it’ll be time to pay your debt."

Morgan laughed. "And how is this debt calculated?"

"With compound interest, of course."

"So you’re a loan shark."

"That’s right, I’m a loan shark. If you’ve got what it takes, Captain Hayes, then shut me down."

"I couldn’t bear to. I’ll pay whatever interest rate you charge."

The two ate dinner together, and since it was takeout, there were no dishes to wash afterward.

Annabelle tidied up the takeout containers and cozied up to Morgan.

"Captain Hayes..."

"You shouldn’t engage in strenuous activity right after a meal," Morgan said, stopping her from getting any closer. "How about we take a walk to the supermarket to help us digest?"

Annabelle shot him a look. "You didn’t bring any condoms, did you?"

Caught, Morgan’s face turned red. "Sorry, I’ve been so busy lately, I didn’t have time to get any."

He wasn’t lying. While working the case in Veridia, he’d been putting in overtime every day and simply hadn’t had the mental energy for anything else. The moment the case was finally over, he had been in such a hurry to get back to her that he’d completely forgotten about... that.

"It’s okay. Let’s go buy some together."

The two walked to a nearby supermarket. Their goal was clear—they just wanted to buy a couple of boxes of condoms. But the store was crowded, so to avoid an awkward checkout, they bought a bunch of other things as cover.

The moment they got home and the door was open, Annabelle hooked her arms around Morgan’s neck, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him.

Morgan instinctively hugged her back, and the bag of groceries in his hand spilled all over the floor.

"Whoa!" He quickly let go of Annabelle and bent down to pick things up.

Annabelle was a step ahead of him, grabbing the two little boxes first.

"Just get the important stuff. We can get the rest tomorrow."