“That’s not what I mean.” Gloria’s childish stubbornness was written all over her face. “Never mind, I can’t explain it clearly to you anyway. In short, Justin isn’t as devoid of human feelings as you perceive him to be. He cares about you a lot, you know.”
Does he really care about me? All of a sudden, Rachel felt like laughing.
When she saw how unmoved Rachel was, Gloria felt annoyed. “How could you be so ignorant of what is good
for you? I have made myself so clear to you, yet you don’t even understand a word of what I have said. Anyway, I’ll stop being nice to you if you dare to hit him again!” she warned. Then, she picked up the breakfast bag from the table and lamented, “I must be out of my mind to have bought breakfast for you!”
With that, the office door slammed shut with a loud bang. Rachel could see clearly through the blinds how Gloria threw the breakfast she had initially bought for her into the trash can before leaving exasperatedly. She took a deep breath, swept the discarded documents on the table aside, and sat down.
Meanwhile, Gloria went back into Justin’s office in a huff. Then, she plonked herself down on the sofa and gulped down a glass of water. “What’s the matter? You look so mad.” Justin’s voice came from behind the computer.
“I was bitten by a dog.” Gloria replied in a petty manner. “I seriously don’t understand your taste for women. The ladies around you are weirder than one another.”
Justin looked at Gloria in bafflement and was about to say something, but Frankie knocked on the door and came in just then. “President Burton, the human resources department needs you to sign this letter of appointment. Amber Hudson can come to work from tomorrow onward.”
“Give it to me.”
“What?” Gloria sprang up from the sofa. “Amber is coming to work at the Burton Group? Why didn’t I know about this?”
Justin replied impassively, “You never liked to concern yourself with work-related matters in the first place.”
“Isn’t she working at the hospital?”
“The Burton Group’s research team is short of hands, so I asked her to come.”
“That won’t do.” Gloria hurriedly ran over to Justin and held his hand. “You mustn’t sign the letter.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t like her,” Gloria replied with a frown. “She’s obviously a vain woman. Don’t you feel sick to your stomach with her around you every day?” Despite her limited contact with Amber, Gloria disliked her very much.
Justin let go of her hand and said seriously, “This is about work, Gloria. Be a good girl.”
“Even I can tell that Amber has evil designs on you. If you let her work at the Burton Group, she and Miss Rachel will meet frequently. Don’t you care about what Miss Rachel might think?”
However, Justin’s eyes darkened at Gloria’s words. “What if I tell you it was Rachel’s suggestion to let Amber come and work at the Burton Group?”
Gloria was stunned. How could that be possible?
After letting go of Gloria’s hand, Justin quickly signed the appointment letter. Meanwhile, Frankie hurriedly took to his heels with the document to stay out of trouble. Justin said, “Gloria, you just need to stay happy. These matters are none of your concern.”
The woman looked at Justin while forcing a wry smile on her radiant and beautiful face. For some reason, she couldn’t help feeling that she had made a wrong decision by giving up piano and coming to Riverdale to
further her studies. It wasn’t until she was here that she realized that Justin’s world was much more complicated than she had imagined, and it seemed that her life was no longer as happy as it used to be.
In the afternoon, Rachel went to Justin’s office before clocking out. This is some financial information about Hudson Pharmaceuticals. Since five years ago, huge amounts of money have been transferred into a secret offshore account in batches every year.
Justin leafed through the documents, but he didn’t have quite the patience to continue reading them. “Does Jefferey have a trusted confidant who lives abroad?”
Rachel shook her head. As far as she knew, there wasn’t such a person.
Justin explained, “It’s almost impossible to have these sums of money transferred to an offshore account unless someone is managing the money overseas.”
There’s one possibility
Justin and Rachel looked at each other as a name crossed their minds. When it came to a trusted person, no one could be more trustworthy than Jefferey’s own daughter. “I’ll ask Amber out for dinner this evening,” Justin said.
Okay. Rachel gathered up the documents and put them into her handbag. If there’s nothing else, I’m clocking off first. I’m going to visit Grandma.
Justin didn’t even realize that his brows had furrowed in sullenness when he saw how apathetic Rachel looked. However, the latter noticed something and looked at him calmly. If you don’t agree to it, I can go home right now.
Justin’s eyes darkened at once. “Are you telling me to make a choice or teaching me how to do things?”
Rachel remained silent. She was doing everything Justin told her to; now that Hans was dead, she had nothing to be afraid of except her grandmother.
Justin shot her a cold glance. Then, he left first with his cell phone in tow.
The office became empty in an instant, and a cold wind blew through the window, causing Rachel to shiver with cold before she clutched the collar of her suit jacket. On her way to visit Nancy, she drove to Old Street to buy some of her grandmother’s favorite old-time snacks for her. This street, which was about to be demolished, was the only place in Riverdale that still made these traditional snacks. After everything was packed up, she walked out of the shop with the snacks in her hands. When she looked up and saw the sign of the tailor’s shop across the street, the scene of her talking and joking with Hans and Janice suddenly flashed across her mind, and her heart ached terribly at once.
“Rachel?”
Rachel thought it was an illusion when the familiar voice came from behind. Then, a figure emerged from a corner in an alley. Sporting neatly-cut short hair, the person looked her up and down with a pair of deep eyes. “Why are you here?”
Rachel waved the bag of snacks in her hand.
There was a trace of disappointment in Janice’s eyes when she realized why Rachel was here. “Are these for your grandmother?”
Rachel nodded. It was entirely through Hans that she got to know Janice. Now that Hans was dead and she was the person who caused it, her relationship with Janice became strained. They used to be friends who hit it off right from the start, but now, they could only look at each other in silence, and it made both of them feel awkward.
Janice eventually said, “I’m still investigating Hans’ death. I’ll seek justice for him. Justin didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
No, he didn’t.
“That’s right.” Janice sneered coldly. “He didn’t hold you accountable even after you hit him, so why should I be worried about you? Hans came to such a tragic end because he was so worried about you.”
Rachel was rendered speechless. Her mind was in turmoil, but she couldn’t say a word to refute Janice.
They then went their own separate ways. As Rachel looked at Janice from behind, she suddenly put her snacks on the roof of her car and went after her. Wait a minute. She tugged at Janice’s sleeve. I have something to tell you.
Janice cast an inquiring glance at Rachel with a frown.
I suspect that Jefferey wants to transfer Hudson Pharmaceuticals’ assets. He’s preparing to short-sell the company, leave it a shell of itself, and then move his entire family out of Riverdale. He might even leave the country
Janice’s pupils shrank. “How did you come to such a conclusion?”
I’m certain there’s something wrong with Hudson Pharmaceuticals’ trademark prescription. The company has been sustaining itself using fake prescriptions, but medicinal product regulations have become increasingly strict over the past few years, and accidents have happened more frequently. I suspect that the agent you talked about had been killed because he discovered something off.
