He Stole Me From My Deadbeat Husband
Chapter 419

Chapter 419: Chapter 419

"Mai, I don’t think you can follow me anymore," Kate said.

Mai held her breath instantly. She didn’t know if she heard it right and asked, "W—What do you mean? Did I do something wrong?"

Mai hugged Kate as tight as she could and said, "I don’t know what I did wrong, but please don’t say something like that to me, Kate. You know that I see you as my sister. You are my only family!"

"We are a family, Mai, will always be," Kate smiled. "But you’re not going to be happy following me around like this. It’s my fight with Henry. You shouldn’t be involved in the first place."

"But—"

"Mai, listen to me," Kate grabbed Mai’s shoulder and pushed her up to her arm’s length. She stared at the woman whom she saw as her little sister. Mai was crying, thinking that she had been abandoned.

"Please don’t abandon me. I’ve been abandoned by so many people in my life. I don’t want to be alone..." Mai begged. Her tears streamed down freely from the corner of her eyes.

"I’m not abandoning you. But I want you to find your own happiness. I want you to be happy without clinging your hope to me," Kate said. She knew she was harsh, but she didn’t want Mai to sacrifice everything for her. "I will spend the rest of my life in misery, Mai. But you... you shouldn’t suffer just because of me. You deserve to have a fulfilling life."

Mai shook her head, "But I still want to follow you..."

"We will stay in contact," Kate said. "I just want you to find your own path, to be with someone you love. What you’re doing right now is not healthy, Mai."

Mai’s mind was buzzing. In her head, she was basically abandoned by Kate, just like how she abandoned her sister back then.

Kate realized that Mai wasn’t listening to her anymore. So she shook Mai’s body, "Pull yourself together, Mai! I’m not abandoning you! I just want you to be more independent!"

"Then what should I do to be more independent?" Mai said. "Just tell me what to do, okay? I’ve been drifting, surviving all by myself until you hired me and even accepted me as your family. You can’t just let me drift without purpose again..."

...

Kate lowered her head. She wondered if it was alright to ask Mai about this, but in the end, she asked, "I can’t let you go back to Los Angeles because you might be in danger. In fact, I can’t let you leave New York because Marlon and Sarah will target you."

"So I want you to return to the office and work in the Empress Publishing in my stead," Kate said. "I’ve promised a lot of authors who trusted me, so I can’t abandon them."

"But I don’t want to work for Henry! He is an asshole who hurt you!" Mai refused. "I... I can’t meet with Michael either. I’m afraid I may fall in love even harder for him..."

"You don’t work for him. You work for me," Kate said. "Henry already transferred all of his ownership of the Empress Publishing to me, and the rest of the stocks are from investors."

"You also don’t need to meet with Michael. I’m sure Michael won’t bother you again after this. He is fiercely loyal to Henry," Kate added. "So I want you to maintain the company. If you’re afraid of losing contact with me, then this will guarantee that we won’t be separated, at least not with our communication. Because I will be observing daily, you must call me for every important decision."

Mai was still reluctant. She wanted to follow her sister no matter what because she simply didn’t want to be alone.

But Kate was also correct. They had to maintain Empress Publishing because many authors relied on them.

They were fiercely loyal to Kate, and to disappoint them again was not something that Kate would do.

"This is the stability that you need, Mai. You need to focus on work; you need to be surrounded by work that will take your mind off this mess," Kate said.

Mai slowly let go of her resistance. She began to think that maybe Kate was right.

She wanted to be with Kate, but that meant she would be in constant turmoil. She would find no peace in doing that.

"But where will you go after giving birth?" Mai asked. "I know you won’t stay here forever, right?"

Kate smiled helplessly, "Well, I don’t know. But I just want to leave. I want to start anew."

"But you’ll be in danger too. Marlon and Sarah will continue to hunt you down!" Mai said. "This is what I mean, sister. I have to protect you no matter what."

"I can protect myself. Besides, I’m sure Henry wouldn’t let me go so easily. He will continue to surround me with his subordinates. Dahlia and Vernon would do the same, it’s inevitable," Kate sighed. "But at least I won’t have to be with them. It’s the only way for me to have a normal life, for me, and for Theodore too."

Mai nodded.

She finally let go of her sister and asked, "I have a question, and it’s my last one, Kate."

"Go on, tell me."

"Can I come for a visit to your new place? At least once every month or two. I can’t bear not seeing my sister and nephew for a long time," Mai said. "I’m sorry that I can be clingy. But I really see you as my sister, Kate..."

"Well, once a month should be alright. You will be busy in the office, so it can’t be too often," Kate said. "This is for the best, Mai. Return to the Phoenix Tower, get all your belongings, and move out. Find a hotel, then rent an apartment near the office. You can just use my card for everything you need, got it?"