The atmosphere in the president’s office was awkward. Freya looked at Kevin gloomily. Once they were so in love and they were lovers who could tattoo each other’s names on their bodies, but now they had become the most familiar strangers, and he used the coldest eyes and the coldest words to tell her that there were no more shared values between him and her.
“Kevin, you disappoint me so much.”
She spoke this, trembling, covering her lips and crying, and ran out, colliding with Alvin who was about to knock on the door to enter, and they looked at each other but said nothing.
“Mr. Jones-Sharp, I’ve checked out the reporter you asked me to look into.”
“What?”
“He really is an impostor. He was ordered by some people to deliberately mess up the press conference. It seems that the person who ordered him and the person who spread the rumor are in cahoots, and they aim at the Jones-Sharp Group.”
Kevin nodded, “Keep an eye on this person and see who he deals within the next few days.”
“Okay.”
Alvin paused and asked timidly, “What’s going on with Miss Macadam?”
Kevin’s face fell, “Don’t mind her.”
Bella arrived at Louis’s office, where Louis was standing around shoulders in front of the window, looking smart, as if he was contemplating something.
“Mr. Hunter.”
She called out lightly, and Louis turned back around, “Yes, what’s wrong?”
“There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“What is it?”
He took a few steps toward her, gazing at her gently as usual, and Bella lowered her head, deliberately avoiding his burning eyes.
“I want to quit.”
“Just for that news?”
“Not really.”
“Then why?”
“I’ve had some problems of my own and need time to adjust.”
“You can take time off if you need time. You know you are an excellent teacher and there is no way I will approve your request to leave.”
“This is not a problem that can be solved in a day or two, or a month or two, so you’d better not stop me.”
“Then one year.” Louis said with certainty, “One year is always enough, right?”
“Are you putting me on leave without pay?”
“Yes.”
“But I…”
“Well, it’s decided. Mr. Jobson will be coming to speak at the school on the fifth of next month, and it’s entirely in your honor. If you leave your job, will he still come?”
Bella wanted to speak something, but Louis didn’t give her a chance to speak at all, “Don’t mind the pressure from the outside world. You will always be the best woman in my eyes.”
She sighed, and for the sake of the school, she could only agree, “Alright then.”
Looking at her tired figure as she turned away, Louis was very distressed. From the first time he saw her three years ago, she was like a leaf boat on the ocean until now, fluctuating with the wind and waves. He wanted to help her, but was unable to catch her.
Thinking of this, he picked up his car keys, hurried out of the school and drove to his mother’s newly registered company, Pegasus Group.
When Celeste suddenly saw her son come to the company to look for her, she was very surprised, “Louis, how come you have time to see Mom today?”
Louis didn’t say anything, stared at his mother for a few times, and asked straight to the point, “You did it, right? Did you spread the false reports of Bella’s greed for riches and marrying into a wealthy family?”
Freya’s face paled and she reprimanded, “What nonsense!”
“Don’t hide it. Do you think you can fool the world and me too? Don’t forget, I’m your son, and I know your methods and style better than anyone!”
“You don’t need to know what I’ve done. You just need to know that anything I’ve done is for you.”
Louis was furious, “Don’t use me as an excuse to hurt someone I don’t want to hurt! Bella thinks of you as a good person up to now, and yet you do such a ghastly thing.”
“Is that what you mean by looking down on Mom?”
“Yes, I’ll despise you even more if you continue to do such things, and if you don’t want me to despise you, then don’t hurt Bella!”
After Louis said that, he angrily left his mother’s office. No matter how his mother called out to him behind him, he turned a deaf ear and insisted on leaving.
In the evening, Bella returned home, and solemnly announced with the family, “From tomorrow I will not go to school, I will take unpaid leave.”
Blanche was the first to support, “It should have been like this long ago. Look at how bad you look recently. It’s time to take care of the conditioning at home.”
Kevin was naturally more supportive, and in front of the family, he held her in his arms, “You finally did something that satisfied me.”
Bella awkwardly broke free and said, blushing, “Let’s eat, I’m hungry.”
In the evening, Patrick asked to his dazed wife, “Has something happened to my daughter-in-law recently?”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“I think there’s something wrong with her. She will take unpaid leave, which is not like her style.”
“That’s alright. Now she suffered a blow by the news.”
“I don’t think it will be this matter. Bella’s love for work will not be given up because of such public pressure. There must be something else.”
Blanche saw Patrick has been pursuing a lot of questions, feeling that this matter can no longer be hidden. She quietly waved at him, “You come here.”
“What for?”
“Actually, there’s something I’ve been keeping from you.”
“What is it?”
Patrick’s heart thudded, and he had a bad feeling.
She stuck to his ear and told him Bella’s inability to have a child. Patrick’s face was pale right away. He asked in shock, “What? Can’t she have children?”
“Hush! You keep your voice down.”
Blanche made a gesture of silence, indicating with her eyes that he should not speak too loudly, afraid that this would be heard by the family.
“How come she can’t have children?”
“Hey, we can’t be sure it right now. The last time I went to America was to take her for a checkup, and Adiana said there’s still quite a bit of hope for a cure.”
Patrick rubbed his forehead in pain, “How can this be? This is just unacceptable!”
“Well, it’s not the worst outcome right now, so don’t dwell on it, and pay attention to what you say in front of Bella from now on.”
Alvin investigated for three consecutive days and finally identified the person behind the reporter who made a scene on the day of the press conference. He came to Kevin’s office and reported seriously, “Mr. Jones-Sharp, according to your instructions, the mastermind behind the entire incident has now been identified.”
“Who?”
Kevin gave him a sharp gaze coldly.
“It’s the president of Pegasus Group who only returned to China a while ago to start a business.”
“Pegasus Group?”
Kevin’s gaze chilled even more, “Isn’t Celeste the CEO of Pegasus Group?”
“Yes. It’s exactly her.”
“How did you find out?”
“The impersonating journalist had an extra cash transfer in his account this morning from the Pegasus Group’s finance department.”
“That doesn’t mean it was directed by Freya.”
“Look at this photo.”
Alvin handed a photo to Kevin’s hand. He carefully scrutinized it. In the prominent part of the photo was a strange woman drinking coffee. If someone didn’t look carefully, it would be hard to see anything, but Kevin saw it.
“Mr. Jones-Sharp, do you see anything?”
“Here.”
He pointed his finger to the top left of the photo. In a very inconspicuous place, a man and a woman were talking face to face, the man being the reporter, and the woman must be Celeste.
“It seems that this matter really has nothing to do with her.”
“Yes, I’ve already investigated Celeste. Her business in France is booming, and she has quite a wide range of contacts in China. If it wasn’t for her, it would be hard for other people to compete with you.”
“Make an appointment. I’ll meet with her for a while.”
“Good.”
Alvin contacted Pegasus Group after returning to his office, not expecting Celeste to be quick to agree to Kevin’s invitation, and at seven o’clock that evening, they officially met.
Celeste looked fixedly at the young man in front of her. The longer she looked at him, the more she hated him in her heart. Because Kevin was simply the same as his father when he was younger.
“Mr. Taylor, I asked you out today just to ask if my wife offended you, or if the Jones-Sharp family offend you. Why did you aim at us as soon as you returned to China?
Celeste snickered, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Do you think I don’t know what you’ve done? If you want people to be unaware of it, then you shouldn’t do it. I have ample evidence that you’re related to what happened to my wife.”
Oh, Freya was not alarmed, “Yes, there’s the proverb. So what if you have proof? Will your evidence hold me legally responsible? But speaking of evidence, I do hold some that can bring your parents to justice.”
Kevin’s face fell, “What do you mean?”
“Do you know what my relationship is with Freya? She’s my goddaughter.”
Kevin was completely startled. He just remembered that Freya had unintentionally mentioned before that the cause of her parents’ deaths had been found out for her by a godmother she met in France. So did that mean that Freya had the evidence of his parents’ crimes in her hands?
“I think you’ve probably guessed what evidence I’m talking about by now, and yes, it’s what you guessed.”
Freya proudly got up and turned to leave, when Kevin coldly snapped, “Stop.”
“Why are you targeting my parents? What do you have against our family?”
She smiled coldly, “You can go home and ask the person concerned.”
When Celeste left the door of the clubhouse, she took out her cell phone to dial Bella’s number, “Hey, Bella, are you free? I want to ask you out to talk about something.”
“Auntie, it’s late. Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”
“No, it’s important. We have to talk about it tonight.”
Bella heard her being so adamant as if it was really something important, so she had to agree, “Okay then, where are we going to meet?”