“I’m not transferring to another school! I want to go to school with Samuel.”
“Haven’t you had enough? I’m doing this for your own good, Charlotte.”
“You’re not!” Charlotte suddenly caught sight of Rachel and instantly burst into tears. She stretched out her arms toward Rachel while saying, “Mommy, Daddy’s bullying me! He wants to transfer me to another school!”
Rachel promptly held her in her arms. “There, there. Stop crying, my dear Charlotte.”
Charlotte cried even louder in an instant. “Daddy won’t let me go to the same school with Samuel.”
Justin, who was the last person on earth who could bear to see Charlotte cry, immediately furrowed his brows.
Rachel promptly asked, “Why would you do that? Charlotte is finally willing to go to school. Besides, the school is pretty nice. I have done an on-site survey of the school, and the teachers there are quite responsible. How could you transfer her to another school at whim?”
“Are all teachers there responsible? Are you talking about the teacher who hit me?”
“That was an accident.”
“An accident?” Justin let out a cold snort. “A school that has such a teacher mustn’t be a nice school. That brat is on good terms with you, so you’d definitely feel easy about sending your son there. I don’t feel easy about letting Charlotte go to that school, though.”
“Can’t you take Charlotte’s own wishes into account for once? Say it yourself, Charlotte. Does Mr. Wade treat you well?”
Charlotte nodded her head while crying. “He’s very nice to me! He’s nice to Samuel and me… I don’t want to go to another school!”
“You heard that, didn’t you?”
“So what?” Justin sounded so resolute that he wouldn’t take no for an answer. “I have already made a decision on this matter, and I’m not asking for anyone’s opinion. You’ll transfer to another school as I’m telling you to.”
“I won’t!”
“Don’t go to school then. Just stay at home and learn from your private tutors like you used to. No one can change my mind on this!” Justin said. After finishing his sentence, he slammed down his cutlery, shot Rachel a cold glance, and stormed out of the dining room without looking back.
Rachel instantly clenched her fists as a shudder suddenly swept over her. The look Justin shot at her just now was so chilling as if it instantly swept her back six years in time to those days where she was left at his disposal and the nightmares that terrified her. She couldn’t help feeling there was something different in the way he looked at her.
The next day, Lisa knocked on the door and came in soon after Rachel arrived at the office. “Miss Hudson, the President’s office just called to inform us that we’ll be receiving a herbal supplier at 10.00AM. They told you to get ready and go upstairs before that for a meeting.”
“Haven’t we always ordered herbs from the same supplier? Is President Burton planning to order from someone else instead?”
“I’m not sure about this, but the supplier seems to have quoted a price lower than the market rate.”
“Okay, I got it.”
Rachel was deep in thought after Lisa left. Why the sudden change of the herbal supplier? Not only that, Justin
even bypassed me and ordered the change. As the acting sales director of Burton Pharmaceuticals, I haven’t gotten wind of this at all.
Before 10.00AM, Rachel went to Justin’s office with the medicinal product catalog. “Hi, Miss Hudson.” Frankie stopped her at the door.
“What’s wrong?” Rachel was baffled. “Isn’t President Burton inside?”
“Uh, nothing. President Burton is waiting for you. The supplier has arrived as well.”
Rachel replied with a straight face, “Then I’ll go inside right now.”
“Miss Hudson…” Frankie hesitated for a long time as if he wanted to say something.
“Is there anything else?”
However, he shook his head in the end. “Nothing. Please go inside.”
With that, the office door was pulled open from the outside. Rachel straightened her clothes and came in to
see Justin and the supplier sitting on the sofa, having a nice conversation. However, the instant the supplier raised his head, Rachel’s face was instantly drained of color. She finally realized why Frankie had hesitated to speak just now-the man chatting happily with Justin in the office was a nightmare to her.
“Allow me to introduce Mr. Wayne, the president of Golden Herbs Enterprise.” Justin sat erect on the sofa. “Mr. Wayne, this is Chris, the sales director of Burton Pharmaceuticals.”
Mr. Wayne turned to look at Rachel. As he gave her a nod, he greeted, “I have heard long ago that Miss Chris is very professional, but I didn’t expect you to be so beautiful.”
Rachel’s hands were covered in a cold sweat. Her face was as white as a sheet, and her ears were buzzing. Six years ago, when she first tried to ask Justin for divorce and requested that she be allowed to leave the Burton Family, Justin took her to a nightclub and left her at the disposal of the man before her eyes. The dazzling purple light in the private room, the man’s greasy and glowing face, the various ‘instruments of torture’ hung on the wall, and the sound of the clothes being ripped apart hit her suddenly like a surging tide, instantly overwhelming all her senses.
“Chris?”
Justin’s voice brought Rachel back to her senses somewhat. Like a marionette, she stepped toward the sofa in a daze, not knowing how she took the steps.
Mr. Wayne straightened up and extended his hand to her. “Hi, Miss Chris. Nice to meet you.”
Nice to meet you? An overwhelming fishy smell suddenly surged up Rachel’s throat. Before Justin and Mr. Wayne could speak, she suddenly covered her mouth and ran into the restroom. She nearly vomited up the dinner she had yesterday as her stomach churned over and over again. Is Justin doing this on purpose? Is he using Mr. Wayne to disgust me and remind me of that embarrassing past?
Just then, she heard someone bang at the door. “What’s wrong with you, Rachel?”
After a long time, Rachel regained her composure, forcibly suppressed the feelings of resentment and shame within her, and pulled the restroom door open. Justin’s hand was still outstretched. When he saw that she opened the door, his hand naturally fell to his side. “What’s wrong?”
“I should be the one who asks you this question instead. Is Mr. Wayne the new herbal supplier?”
“Well? What’s wrong with that?”
Rachel secretly clenched her fists as she studied Justin’s expression. She asked probingly, “It’s not that Burton Pharmaceuticals hasn’t worked with him before. Our company put him on a blacklist and vowed to
never work with him anymore, so why would we suddenly start working with him again?”
Justin glanced at her in surprise. “You know quite a lot, but do you know there are no permanent enemies in business? Golden Herbs Enterprise has had a nice reputation in the market in recent years. Since our collaboration would be a win-win situation, no one will care about some past misunderstandings.”
“Misunderstandings?” Rachel clenched her teeth. “Don’t you even remember that incident?”
“Remember what?”
Rachel was too ashamed to tell Justin what had happened. She replied coldly, “He’s a person of disreputable character. One just needs to ask around a little in Riverdale to know that he is a tough nut to crack. I’m not taking this project. Let someone take over it instead.” After finishing her sentence, she walked past Justin as if to leave. She would never get in touch with a disgusting person like Mr. Wayne unless she was out of her mind!
“Stay where you are!” Justin grabbed her arm effortlessly with his large hand. His chilling voice could be heard saying, “What place do you think Burton Pharmaceuticals is? I’m not paying you to act dignified-I’m paying you to work for me! What right do you have to choose your projects?”
