The following scene had occurred in the hospital. Paisley sat on the sofa with a gloomy face and a man’s voice was being heard through her mobile phone, “Ms. Anthony, hello there! I am one of the subordinates of Mr. Laban. He has given instructions in scheduling you to have lunch at the western restaurant in the city center by noon. You are able to arrive on time, aren’t you?”
Paisley tightened her grip on the phone and gritted her teeth. “What is the exact time?”
“The appointment would be scheduled at half-past eleven at noon! I shall be waiting for your arrival at the entrance of the western restaurant! By the way, Ms. Anthony, I hope that you could dress up well. Thank you in advance!”
Paisley hung up the phone call and gnashed her teeth. “Ornard, you old fart! Are you that f*cking heartless?”
Danya, who was lying on the hospital bed, glanced at the haggard Paisley with tears in her eyes. “Paisley! How could he treat you like this? Husband and wife should take care of each other forever, how can he…”
Paisley interrupted her and said, “That is enough! Stop dwelling on this topic! We are not a married couple! We are just taking advantage of each other that’s all!”
“He should not treat you like this despite so. Ornard has indeed crossed the line!”
“The winner eventually takes it all. One would take extreme measures when there is no other way out. Besides, this is my own choice from the very beginning and my reputation has been ruined anyway. Just let things be and I shall suffer the humiliation that I will receive real soon!”
Paisley began to doll herself up after she had finished speaking. Danya started sobbing on the bed and said, “Everything would be fine if Hardy is still with us! He would be absolutely heartbroken should he get to know how poor you were being treated!”
“Haha!” Paisley sneered and quickly dressed herself up before eventually leaving the hospital ward.
She had arrived at the western restaurant located in the city center forty minutes later. It was seen that a Bentley was being parked at the entrance of the western restaurant. The door of the said vehicle was being opened as soon as Paisley’s car came to a halt.
A man got out of the Bentley with a smile on his face. “Paisley!” Paisley’s gaze was filled with disgust upon seeing the old man who was wearing a striped shirt.
The old man grinned and headed towards her before attempting to lock hands with her. Paisley quickly avoided him and lowered her voice before asking, “What are you trying to do?”
There was still a grin on the old man’s face. “We need to go all-in during this act! Ms. Anthony, thank you in advance for your cooperation!”
“Let us march into the western restaurant side by side. Why would you bother holding my hand?”
“It was not my idea of locking hands with you. Ms. Anthony, I was being instructed by Mr. Laban to make a trip here. It would be best for us to perform well as a team! Otherwise, it will be tough for me to report our progress to Mr. Laban!”
“You are just a useless piece of shit. How dare you threaten me like this?” Paisley could not bear it anymore.
“Ms. Anthony, I have no objection should you choose to not cooperate with me. However, I will come clean to Mr. Laban if we are unable to complete the allocated task today!”
Paisley clearly knew that the old man was trying to intimidate her. She suppressed the sickening feeling within her and entered the restaurant by locking hands with the old man.
Paisley swiftly dropped her fact after shutting the door upon entering the private room. She freed herself from the man’s hand and grabbed the wet tissue on the table to wipe her hand non-stop. She did not hide her disgust towards him at all.
The man turned a blind eye towards her behavior and said, “Ms. Anthony, you need to put on an act with me for three days as per the instruction of Mr. Laban.”
“What? Why should we need to partner up for three days?”
“I have no idea about it as well. You are free to enquire Mr. Laban the rationale behind it when you have the time!”
Paisley glared at the man that was seated opposite her. She then picked up her mobile phone to send a message to Ornard. However, it was obvious that her message was eventually not reverted back.
The following scene had occurred in Wolf Group. William, Marcus, and Bobby decided to enjoy their lunch at the company’s headquarters. They sat down in the VIP room and Bobby began to place the order for today’s lunch. On the other hand, Marcus and William were talking about Paisley.
“Ornard, that old fart is indeed ruthless. He has hired an old man pretending to date Paisley just to clear out the rumors that he is currently seeing her. I reckon that Paisley must be in a bad mood now.”
William smiled without commenting on this topic. Marcus shook his head and said, “Paisley initially thought that she had found a parachute that could turn the tables around for her. She did not expect this so-called protective figure would soon be life-threatening towards her. Why can’t she live a peaceful life? She is very stubborn in acting so recklessly.”
“It’s all because of greed! This is karma for the things that she had done! Paisley is not worth being sympathized upon,” Bobby chimed in after ordering the dishes.
“William! The process of messing with Ornard would be ending real soon, right? Why does Jaxon have yet to contact us?”
William’s phone rang as soon as the sentence was done being delivered. He showed his phone to Bobby and said, “Speaking of the devil.”
William answered the phone with a smile, “I assume that everything must have commenced smoothly?”
Jaxon replied in a rather hoarse voice, “Yes, you’re right. One of Ornard’s legs is broken and he is currently in the midst of an operation in the hospital.”
“Well done!” William praised him.
“Sir, we have noticed that Veronica had rushed to the hospital upon receiving the news. She cried her lungs out as if she had lost her husband!”
Jaxon soon realized that he had described the situation in an unpleasant way as soon as he finished speaking. The husband of Veronica was the uncle of William after all. He swiftly apologized, “I have been rather reckless regarding the choice of my words. Sir, please forgive me!”
“It’s fine. You shall instruct your men to keep a close eye on the Laban siblings. Ornard is currently in the hospital which means that Veronica would look after him. It is the simplest opportunity for us to obtain any clues regarding their ulterior motives.”
“Duly noted! I shall pay close attention on them personally!”
Marcus came to a sudden realization upon hearing the phone call between William and Jaxon. “Mr. Howard, could it be that you laid a finger on Ornard to assist Jaxon in monitoring the Laban siblings in a much more efficient manner?”
“You’re right. Let us assume that Ornard would be residing in his house. Jaxon would be unable to stalk him no matter how capable he is. However, the hospital is a whole new ballgame as it is a public place. There is no total guarantee of Ornard’s privacy even if he decides to recuperate in a VIP ward. Jaxon will get ahold of the latest news should Veronica decides to pay a visit to Ornard.”
“This is indeed a brilliant idea!” Marcus gave a thumbs up. However, he swiftly placed his hand down and awkwardly brushed his hair upon noticing that William was glaring at him.
The following scene had occurred in the United States. Ornard finally regained his consciousness after the operation. His broken leg and his chest were in great pain as the anesthetics had gradually lost their effect.
He subconsciously let out a cry. Veronica, who was sobbing beside his bed, looked towards Ornard upon hearing his voice.
“You have finally awaken!”
“It hurts… It hurts so badly!” Ornard said with a painful expression on his face.
“You deserve it! You shameless piece of s*it! Why aren’t you dead yet?” Veronica was not as depressed as before when Ornard was still in a coma. She gnashed her teeth and glared at Ornard while giving him an earful.
“Veronica!”
“Stop calling me Veronica! You are a despicable jerk!” Veronica scowled at him and questioned, “Didn’t you make a trip back to the country for business purposes? Weren’t you planning to take advantage of Paisley? How could you end up being a couple with that bitch?”
“I… It was not my initial purpose. I was being framed by her.”
“Pfft!” Veronica spat and snapped back, “Do you possibly think that I am a retard? How is it possible for me to believe your lame excuse?”
“Veronica, I was truly being set up by Paisley. That bitch wanted to take my hand in marriage and hoped to use me in achieving her ultimate goal. She played dirty tricks on me and I ended up being together with her all of a sudden.” Ornard lied by pushing all the blame to Paisley.
“Are you sure that it was well beyond your control or are you secretly just going with the flow? Paisley is a beautiful lady after all. I reckon that she is your cup of tea, right?” Veronica sneered.
“No, I didn’t. She has indeed plotted against me. That b*tch is quick-witted and knew what I was thinking. She then use it as her trump card to threaten me. Don’t you see that I have gone through such a great humiliation just for our plan to succeed?”
“I am utterly amazed at your boldness to go through thick and thin for the end result! You are forced to buy some medication to spice things up between you and that bitch. It was an unfortunate encounter that someone even recorded footage of you both spending time together and it was subsequently being posted online, wasn’t it?”
“That was just…”
“That is enough, stop coming up with excuses! As far as I am concerned, the bid that was won over from the Floyd family by you and Paisley would be unable to make profit figures of five billion, right? How do you plan to compensate for this current loss? Besides, what are you to do with regards to Paisley? Are you planning to go through a so-called sacrifice and soon take her hand in marriage?”
“Of course not. I will never break my promise to you! Veronica! You are the only queen of the Laban family!”