Jael kept his gaze on the table as Caspian hurried off, only looking at Asher when the door shut.
And the Alpha somehow looked more devastated than he had been expecting, which was impressive because Jael had been expecting him to be pretty crushed.
"He kissed me goodbye," Asher said in despair, staring at the closed door.
"Want to watch movies with me?" Jael offered instead; the night had actually gotten worse for Asher.
"No. Come to my study with me." Asher said steadily, rising to his feet.
Jael did as he said, worry in his dark eyes as he did, genuinely concerned about what Asher was about to do.
The Alpha looked determined out of nowhere, and it made Jael’s blood pressure rise.
"What are you up to?" He asked with narrow-eyed suspicion.
"Letting Caspian do what he wants." Asher replied bluntly.
Jael had a difficult time believing that, "What does that have to do with me and your study?"
"To find something to do before I do something stupid like fire the kitchen staff." Asher remained honest.
Jael relaxed a bit like that, because despite admitting it was stupid, he wouldn’t put it past Asher to go ahead with it.
"In a week, they would have fallen into a routine, Caspian won’t be as busy as this then." He tried to comfort Asher.
He wasn’t exaggerating either; the reason things were this hectic was because deciding to feed the men had been an impromptu decision that was immediately acted upon.
The fact that Caspian was able to manage lunch and dinner was already pretty impressive, but it would still take a couple of days for things to settle down.
But as he stared at Asher pacing the length of his study, he doubted the Alpha’s patience would last a couple of days.
"You could move the business trip forward," He casually suggested.
There was always something to be done, it was just that Asher didn’t need to be the one to do it.
They had trustworthy men that could easily handle things even in other cities and countries, but if Asher needed the distraction, he might as well do it.
Gage had been a good Mafia King, but he slowly deteriorated after the death of Layla, so when Asher got the position, he had to work twice as hard to get the Mafia House back to where it was when Gage was at his peak.
So, he once used to have to handle literally every transaction in person. It meant that Jael wasn’t worried about the Alpha going alone on a business trip.
He would stay back in Haines to keep an eye on things.
"How soon do you want to leave?" He asked when Asher agreed on a business trip.
Unlike Asher who kept pacing, Jael had settled on a comfortable chair, he had eaten more than he usually did, maybe he would watch another movie before bed...
Jael had to do a double take a that, certain he misheard. "What?"
"Tonight." Asher repeated, deadpan.
"Isn’t that too soon?" The Beta frowned.
"I’ve considered locking him up," Asher said seriously.
Jael jumped to his feet at that, "Right, I’ll get started on the arrangements."
This level of self-control from Asher was impressive, and Jael was proud of him.
It was clearly a struggle for the Mafia King, but he had figured out that he was about to do something stupid and stopped in time.
Caspian would definitely be too busy to notice Asher’s absence much, and by the time the Alpha returned, he would be less occupied with kitchen matters.
So, this could be a win-win.
In the hour it took for Jael to set up the arrangements, Caspian was still holed up in the kitchens.
Asher hadn’t wanted to say goodbye in person, and he knew exactly why. There was no reason to further test the Alpha’s self-control.
He would be the one to tell Caspian in person, and they could interact with phone calls or something.
Asher looked truly miserable when it was time to leave, Jael couldn’t even tease him much like he wanted to.
"Maybe a short break from Caspian is what you need," He said half-heartedly.
"I doubt it." Asher moped, slouching in the back seat.
"Keep an eye on him," He said to one of the more high-ranking men driving Asher to the airport.
The man saluted him and drove off. He clearly had questions about why they had to make the trip so late in the night, especially as it was for a deal that wasn’t important, but he asked none of them, taking his job seriously.
Jael watched the car drive out, another following after. He wondered if this was a smart decision.
Instead of Asher running to another country, he could just tell Caspian that he wanted to spend more time with him.
But things were never that easy between the two of them, Jael should be getting remunerations just for living with them.
He turned around to go back into the mansion, he needed to face Caspian and tell him Asher had to go on a spontaneous business trip.
Jael found Caspian in the kitchen, this time he went in, a kitchen staff leading him to a study he didn’t even know the kitchen had.
He could wait till Caspian was done working but he already felt bad about letting Asher run off without confronting Caspian.
So, he couldn’t keep it any longer from him.
"Jael?" Caspian immediately looked up from his laptop, Katya beside him. "Where’s Asher? Is something wrong?"
"Not really," He scratched his short hair, a little guilty although Asher had really made the best decision.
"Asher just had to go on an impromptu business trip-"
The door behind him opened then, and he had to step out of the way because a kitchen staff had something to say to Caspian.
"I’m sorry, I’ll come find you when I’m done." Caspian apologized to him.
Jael didn’t mind, he had an entire private movie theater all to himself that was waiting for him.