The young woman asked Thomas, “Who is she, Mr. Lowe?”
“Do you know Mr. Fuller from Fuller Corporation? She’s his wife, Scarlett Stovall.”
“Wow, what a lucky woman! I heard Mr. Fuller is not only young but also…”
I could no longer hear what she said anymore as I had walked away. From her coquettish voice, I knew something was going on between the two of them.
HiTech had quite a several sites in J City, and I felt tired after visiting a few. I went through the list and decided to visit those that had more critical problems.
As soon as I arrived at the last site in the South District, I was dumbfounded by what I saw. Despite being in the suburbs, the South District was considered well-developed. The only downside was it was too far away from the city center.
I remembered vetting the quotation for that particular site. Though the budget was high, the company had still generously approved the application.
Normally, an electronics factory would have more than one building. Yet, there was only one building on this site, and it looked dilapidated. The guard at the entrance came up to me and said, “This factory is closed. Please leave!”
Closed?
I was taken aback and asked with a frown, “How come? How long has it be closed?”
He did not know who I was. Perhaps he was bored being alone, so he decided to explain to me, “Almost six months. Someone died here, and the management panicked. They decided to shut down the factory.”
“When did this happen?”
“End of last year!” The guard looked at him and asked, “You’re not from this area, are you? Mr. Quinn visited this factory quite some time ago. He said this factory was not making money because someone had died here, so it was best for them to suspend the operations.”
Mr. Quinn?
Joe?
Joe had been in charge of HiTech, but he had never reported anything to the company. Based on his report, this factory still managed to generate steady revenues in the last few months. If this site has ceased operations for nearly half a year, where did Joe get the money from?
I continued asking the guard a few more questions. Since he forbade me from entering the building, I could only return to the office and go through all the financial records from the South District.
Why did Joe choose to sweep the workplace accident under the carpet instead of reporting the incident to the company? And where did he find the money to cover up the losses that this factory had made in the last six months?
Where did all the reported revenues come from then?
So many questions popped up in my mind, but I had to wait for Ashton to investigate the matter.
It was already afternoon by the time I completed my site visits. I supposed I did not need to make a trip to the hospital since Rebecca would be there anyway, and I did not feel like going back to the villa either.
I took out my phone to give Macy a call.
To my surprise, the screen greeted me with notifications of more than fifty missed calls from Ashton.
What does he want from me now?
I hesitated but decided to return his call anyway. He answered it almost immediately.
“Where are you?” he asked before I could say anything. It looks like someone’s in a bad mood today.
I was tidying my desk. “At the office. What do you want?”
“Watch your attitude,” he expressed his dismay in a deep voice. “Don’t you remember you have a husband in the hospital? A husband who needs your care!”
“Where’s Ms. Larson?” I grabbed my handbag and was about to leave the office.
“She’s not my wife!”
“Your lover can take good enough care of you too.”
I knew he was mad, but I did not give a damn. What I said was true anyway.
Ashton tried to control his anger by keeping mum for a bit. “Are you jealous?”
I grinned. “Yes, you’re right.”
I could hear his suppressed chuckle. He continued, “Come and have dinner with me. We have fish fillets with rosemary on the menu tonight. Your favorite.”
“I can’t make it. I’ve made a dinner plan with someone! Sorry.” I was going to ask Macy out anyway.
“With whom?”
I grew a little annoyed at his question. “Is there anything else you want to say? If not, I’m going to end this call.”
“I’ll give you half an hour to come to the hospital. If not, I’ll send someone to bring you here!” he threatened.
“All right, Mr. Fuller,” I replied. Whatever.
Hearing his voice gave me a headache. I instantly hung up on him, got into my car, and gave Macy a call, but the woman did not answer.
I tried several times, but no one answered.
All of a sudden, an unknown number called me. I answered, “Hi, there.”
“Hey, how have you been?”
I got the shock of my life upon hearing John’s voice.
My headache turned more severe, but I tried to stay calm by clenching my fist. “What do you want?”
“I miss you!”
Those three words sent a chill down my spine. I thought I would be able to enjoy peace of mind after the fight he had with Ashton. I was wrong.
“If there’s nothing else, I’m going to hang up now.” Ashton alone gave me a massive headache. I did not need John to cause me any more trouble.
The man on the line laughed lightly. “Don’t you miss me?”
“Enough of this nonsense!” My head pounded as I ended the call right away.
I placed my hands over the steering wheel, leaning over to catch my breath and have a moment’s rest. After a short moment, someone knocked on my window. I opened my eyes and saw Joseph staring at me with a deadpan expression on his face.
