Chapter 286 Betrothal Gift
In response, Rachel nodded respectfully. “Thank you.” Logically speaking, as well as in consideration of their interests, it made complete sense for the group to accept her offer.
“Okay, then. I won’t intrude any further. I’ll be on my way.” With that, Rachel glanced toward a tombstone that was some distance away, and said, “Mr. Holt, if you would help me pay my respects.”
After she had said that, she turned around and left. Just then, Justin frowned and raced after her. “Rachel!” “Justin!” Amber instantly grabbed his sleeve. “Justin, you should be able to clearly see this woman’s true self now. She has been making use of you since the start.”
“Let go!” Justin’s expression was currently cold and thunderous. Upon hearing that, Amber trembled and instinctively released her grip on his sleeve.
Meanwhile, Justin flicked off the nonexistent lint on his shirt and coldly responded, “I promised to attend the funeral to stand up for you for the sake of our collaboration. Now that there won’t be a collaboration, there’s nothing else left between us.”
He had originally intended to tackle Amber and then subsequently take control of the old fogeys from Hudson Pharmaceuticals so that by the time Rachel needed help, it would be much easier for him to transfer the shares to her. Right now, however, it seemed that Rachel didn’t need his help. On the contrary, his unnecessary interference had resulted in a misunderstanding.
“Justin!”
Just then, Amber angrily stomped her feet as soon as she saw him rush off. I’m sure things aren’t irrevocable just yet!
At that moment, Rachel had just entered her car, but the door to the front passenger seat was suddenly yanked open and someone rushed in.
“What are you doing here?!”
Rachel’s expression changed the moment she saw Justin. “Get out of my car!”
“No,” Justin responded. “I’ve got something to tell you.”
“If this is regarding Hudson Pharmaceuticals, then I have nothing to say. You should have already known from the start about my intentions toward Hudson Pharmaceuticals, as I have never kept that a secret from you.”
“You stole the document that I was prepared to shred and get rid of, and yet you’re so indignant about the situation?! So, I’m not even allowed to mention anything about that?”
“I didn’t steal it! I merely…” Hold on! Did he just mention he was going to shred it?
Just then, Justin glanced at her intently. “You took a document that was invalid, so you should thank me for not revealing the truth in front of everyone else. I called off the plan to take over Hudson Pharmaceuticals ages ago. If you don’t believe me, then you can go and ask Frankie or the project manager. You want it, so I won’t fight you for it.”
At that moment, Rachel stared at Justin with a shell-shocked expression.
Meanwhile, as she was lost in her thoughts, Justin seemed to have seen something, so he suddenly inched closer by leaning forward. Instinctively, Rachel lifted her hand and pressed on his chest to stop him from getting closer. “What are you trying to do?”
Suddenly, there was an evident sound of a seat belt being fastened.
“What do you think I’m trying to do?”
A deep male voice rang out from above her head and there was a teasing note in his voice. “How does that feel?”
Rachel’s hand was on Justin’s chest, and the warm feeling through his black shirt was quite evident. Through her right hand, she could even feel his heart thudding in his chest.
As soon as Rachel heard his words, she suddenly came to her senses and shoved at him angrily. “You must be nuts!” He’s so childish for his age! He’s still imitating those romantic soap operas and making such tacky moves!
Just then, Justin was shoved aside abruptly and his head bumped against the roof of the car. He stifled his yelp of pain and immediately fell back against the passenger seat as he gasped for air.
“You deserve that!” Rachel was quite annoyed, but she couldn’t help laughing upon seeing the comical turn of events.
At that point, her laugh seemed to clear the air between them and their cold war was resolved.
She released a cough and tried to remain calm. “Since you’re not after Hudson Pharmaceuticals, then why did you turn up today?”
Meanwhile, Justin regained his composure and explained, “Amber promised that she would be able to convince those old fogeys to sell me their shares if I helped her. I planned to buy it under my name and then transfer it to you as a betrothal gift.”
Betrothal gift? Suddenly, Rachel frowned but she couldn’t be bothered to argue with him about the matter of the betrothal gift. “Aren’t you afraid that you’ll force Amber to the brink of desperation by doing so? After all, she’s your fiancée.”
Just then, Justin corrected her, “She’s my ex-fiancée. Besides, the so-called engagement was just her one-sided claim when I lost my memories, so I never acknowledged that.”
“Then have you regained your memories?”
“No, but I’m sure that I’ll definitely be able to recall my past.”
Suddenly, Rachel recalled Hernandez’s words upon seeing Justin’s confident look. Hernandez had mentioned that Justin had gone to see a psychiatrist in private. Is he so intent on regaining his memories?
Meanwhile, Justin kept his eyes on Rachel, and the admiring look in his eyes grew.
It was rare for him to find a woman like her, who was gentle yet full of inner strength. Earlier, at the cemetery, her heroic stance and the way she had easily stirred up trouble within the Hudson Family with a few words had everyone ended up being on her side ultimately. He enjoyed the feeling of finally meeting his match.
Meanwhile, she was quite uncomfortable with his intent stare. “Why are you staring at me?”
And so, he murmured, “I apologize for my behavior from the past few days, but I reckon that it’s quite normal for lovers to get into a tiff. We should try and consider things from each other’s perspectives and reflect on our behavior, and then continue to get along with each other.”
“What’s the outcome of your self-reflection?”
“I shouldn’t have interrogated you for something that I can’t remember and doubt your character. You have the right to befriend any other person and that’s not something that I should interfere with. As for you paying your respects to Hans, I shouldn’t have said anything about that either.”
Justin’s words sounded like a confession of his sins in a church.
“That’s all I have to say. How about you?”
“What’s wrong with me?”
Meanwhile, Justin emphasized his words, “Each of us should reflect on our behavior. I’ve reflected on mine, so what about you?”
“Didn’t you already reflect on your behavior? Since it’s your fault, then I did nothing wrong, right?”
“Yes, it is my fault, but I meant—”
“Besides,” Rachel directly interrupted his sentence. “Since when are we lovers?”
Rachel had never promised Justin anything, so although they had a slightly ambiguous relationship, she wanted him to know that being previously married to each other didn’t mean that they could just take a step back and become lovers.
Meanwhile, Justin was slightly snubbed as he didn’t manage to get his way. However, he suddenly realized that Rachel was quite lovable. Ultimately, he was the one who had mistreated her in the past, so he was quite willing to bear the brunt of her anger.
“Fasten your seat belt properly; otherwise, get out of the car.”
Rachel voiced out impatiently before putting her foot on the accelerator. Subsequently, she drove out of the cemetery.
…
After the funeral, Rachel officially took over Hudson Pharmaceuticals and with a total of sixty percent of shares owned, she became the Chief Executive Officer of the company.
“I’ll hand over my work at the Burton Group to Lisa to deal with, and I won’t bring with me any of the confidential customer details so you don’t have to worry.” Just then, Rachel placed her resignation letter on Justin’s work desk.
“Is it necessary for you to leave? I can reduce your workload and it won’t affect you from your work at Hudson—”
“It won’t work.” Rachel’s simple words reverberated inside the huge office.
Since she had already made up her mind to take over Hudson Pharmaceuticals, there was no way she would continue maintaining her position as the general manager of Burton Pharmaceuticals.
“Hudson Pharmaceuticals’ focus is on pharmaceutics, and it’s the same for Burton Pharmaceuticals. There are plenty of overlapping points, including our raw material suppliers and all of our different marketing avenues. Furthermore, our target customers overseas overlap each other too. Evidently, we are in a directly competitive line of work, so I can only pick one.”
“So does that mean you’ve chosen Hudson Pharmaceuticals?”
