Chapter 244 Nervous
“I’m going to help Martha prepare dinner,” Rachel said, thereafter going to the kitchen. It wasn’t until she left that Justin finally dropped the magazine in his hands with an uncharacteristically vexed expression on his face. In fact, he was very dissatisfied with his previous nervousness.
After all, it wasn’t as if he was a prepubescent boy. He shared a marriage and a child with her, so how could he still get so nervous? Martha’s and Rachel’s voices floated out of the kitchen, blending with the sound of the two children talking and laughing in the dining room. Just like that, the large, deserted villa was filled with familial warmth.
As Justin looked down at the cake on the coffee table, he couldn’t help picking up the fork once again. Indeed, the cake was quite delicious.
After dinner, Rachel headed into the bathroom to help Charlotte bathe.
As the four yellow rubber ducks floated atop the bubbles in the filled bathtub, Charlotte said, “These two are Mommy and Daddy. This is me, and this is Samuel.”
Giving her daughter a conflicted look, Rachel started, “Charlotte, if Mommy and Daddy were to separate, who would you want to live with?”
The smile on Charlotte’s face froze and her small, heat-reddened face crumpled up with anxiety. “Are you leaving again, Mommy?”
The word ‘again’ stabbed into Rachel’s heart like the sharp point of a knife, but she steeled herself and persisted, “I’m saying ‘if,’ Charlotte. If your daddy and I separated, who would you want to go with?”
Instantly, the rims of Charlotte’s eyes reddened. “Why do you want to separate, Mommy? Is it because I was bad?”
Seeing her daughter on the verge of tears, Rachel no longer had the heart to continue asking. Quickly, she wiped her daughter’s eyes and reassured, “It’s not because of you. You’ve been very good. You’re a very good girl.”
After carrying Charlotte back to her room, Rachel took some time to placate the child and read to her. Only after an interminable length of time where she watched her daughter fall asleep did she finally let out a deep breath.
Children were the most vulnerable party in a parental divorce. Often, their first reaction would be to find fault with themselves, whether it be ‘I wasn’t well-behaved enough’ or ‘my parents no longer wanted me.’ The anxiety of abandonment would wire itself into their brains, leaving them with trauma that would not heal for the rest of their lives.
If it weren’t for the fact that it was her last resort, Rachel would never subject Charlotte to that.
By now, it was late in the night. The wind on the balcony was strong and it looked like it was about to rain.
Rachel’s vibrating cell phone showed an incoming call from Jolly.
“Hey, are you back?”
“I just landed. How are things there?”
“I got what I needed and passed it on to Janice. Barring any accidents, we should see the results soon.”
“Is it truly related to Jefferey?”
“Yes. The person in charge of the transaction that Hans stumbled upon is Stanley Tillery, one of Jefferey’s men. He currently works as Chief of Security at Hudson Pharmaceuticals.”
“Can he be convicted based on one video alone?”
“Janice is looking into him as well as the other people in the video. He’s only the face of the group. The others operate more covertly.”
While ‘Chief of Security at Hudson Pharmaceuticals’ didn’t sound like a particularly important position, it was tantamount to being Jefferey’s right-hand man and monitoring Hudson Pharmaceuticals’ every move when it came to underground business deals.
As for the rest of the men, though they looked unremarkable and unrelated to Hudson Pharmaceuticals, they were actually Jefferey’s way of protecting himself and avoiding scrutiny from the police should any accident arise.
Presently, Jolly advised, “You’d better stay by Justin’s side these few days to avoid arousing any suspicions.”
“Of course. It’ll only be a few more days.”
“Don’t take things too seriously, though. When everything is over, I have a surprise for you.”
Though Jolly’s tone was mysterious, Rachel found it hard to lift her spirits. “Don’t give me another plane ticket and send me to another place for a vacation. I don’t feel like going anywhere right now.”
“Do I seem that clueless? Of course it’s not a plane ticket. Right, I can’t talk anymore. My ride’s here.”
Just as Rachel was about to ask what that had to do with not being able to continue talking, she heard a man’s voice calling out from the other end of the line, “Who are you talking to?”
“No one!”
In the end, Jolly hung up rather decisively.
It made Rachel narrow her eyes. Who on earth had gone to pick Jolly up?
And so, she texted, ‘Is it him?’
Clearly dodging the question and not wishing to elaborate, Jolly only replied with a few emojis. For her part, Rachel didn’t feel like pursuing the topic, anyway. As of late, the conclusion of Hans’ murder case had been weighing on her heart and she felt the issue becoming more and more imminent.
The closer she got to the last, critical moment, the longer and more nightmare-ridden her dreams felt.
For the next three days, a storm enveloped the city.
“The weather forecast indicates that there will be a storm again tonight, President Burton, so the security team advises that we cancel the celebrity meet-and-greet session lest a safety incident occur. You know how crazy the fans can be.”
A sweaty Mr. Smith, who happened to be the person in charge of publicizing the mall event, rushed over to report on the event progress.
“Don’t you have a Plan B?” From behind the desk, Justin asked coldly, “Did you not come up with an alternative for bad weather?”
Paling, Mr. Smith answered, “We… We didn’t take the weather into consideration since the event would take place indoors anyway.”
“So, you’re telling me now that it’s not your responsibility?”
“That’s not what I mean, President Burton. I…” Mr. Smith fell silent, wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole.
Right then, there was a series of taps on the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
From outside, the secretary announced, “Miss Hudson is here, President Burton.”
Justin lifted his head. His originally glacial expression had melted somewhat as he said, “Get in contact with the celebrity’s agent. Have the star himself send out a tweet to calm his fan base. Additionally, issue shopping vouchers with no expiry date to anyone who comes to the mall today to make up for the cancellation.”
Caught off-guard, Mr. Smith stared at Justin as he mused to himself, Is he handing me a solution just like that?
“Is there anything else?” Justin gave him a sharp glance.
Startling, Mr. Smith mumbled, “Uh—no…”
“Get lost, then!” Even Frankie was glaring impatiently at him. “Can’t you see that there’s someone else waiting by the door?”
Only then did Mr. Smith came to his senses. “I’ll act according to your instructions then, President Burton.”
As Rachel entered, she happened to come face-to-face with him.
Gratefully, he stared at her, but his gaze made her feel somewhat uneasy and she only nodded awkwardly in greeting. “I’m not disturbing you, am I?” she asked Justin as she carried a document over to him. “Wasn’t that Mr. Smith from the marketing department? Why does he look so uncomfortable?”
“It’s fine. He was simply here to report on the mall event. We’ve finished our discussion.”
“Oh—that’s good, then.” She handed the document over to Justin. “These are HR’s candidates for general manager. All of them were recommended by headhunters. I took a look at them and they all have good qualifications and broad networks. No matter who you choose, they’ll be able to drive the development of the pharmaceutical industry. Take a look.”
“No need.” He pushed the document aside. “I already have a candidate in mind.”
