Chapter 352 It Was Me Who Wronged You First
Rachel took a bottle of drinking water from the fridge. From across the breakfast bar in the kitchen, she saw Justin waiting in the living room.
Charlotte seemed unwilling to talk to the man as she played with her Lego pieces on her own. “This piece is supposed to be here.”
Charlotte knocked Justin’s hand off before it could touch the Lego pieces. “I like to put it here!” She looked high and mighty. “I’ll put it wherever I like! What does that have to do with you?”
Rachel immediately came out with the bottle of water. “Charlotte! You’re not supposed to speak like that!”
“These are my Lego pieces!”
“These are the Lego pieces that your dad bought for you.”
Charlotte was instantly stumped by Rachel’s words.
The atmosphere turned awkward all at once. Most of the toys in the apartment had been sent by Justin. Even though the lawsuit had gotten very ugly, Justin didn’t seem to take it to heart, and he had the toys delivered every now and then.
Seeing Rachel knitting her brows as though she was going to give Charlotte a lecture, Justin immediately tried to ease the situation, saying, “It’s alright. They’re Charlotte’s.”
Suddenly, Charlotte pushed over the half-finished Lego model with a crash and got up from the carpet. She said angrily, “I’m giving them back to you! This is my home! Who let you in?”
Justin was stunned.
“Charlotte!” Rachel scowled at once. “Who taught you to speak like that? Apologize to your dad!”
“Why should I apologize? I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“You…” Rachel was speechless with anger. That’s why I’d say this girl inherited Justin’s temperament. She’s damn stubborn and doesn’t easily change her beliefs. To think that she had never mentioned a word about Justin since the lawsuit ended!
Charlotte then slammed her room door shut with a loud bang that shook the entire house.
Samuel was playing games on the couch at first. At this moment, he hurriedly tossed his games console aside and ran over to Charlotte’s room. “Don’t worry, Mommy. I’ll go take a look.”
Rachel felt deeply embarrassed as she and Justin were the only ones left in the living room. “Sorry. Charlotte’s been emotionally unstable lately.”
“It’s understandable. I didn’t do what I promised her.” Justin took a deep breath before slowly letting it out, looking somewhat dejected as he massaged his temples.
Seeing how dejected the man looked, Rachel felt somewhat uncomfortable all of a sudden. It would be a lie if she said she didn’t feel guilty at all about setting him up previously. However, she was bent on getting Charlotte’s custody under the circumstances at the time. “I’ll try my best to explain the photos to Charlotte. I’m sorry about what happened earlier, but I don’t regret it.”
Justin replied, “There’s no need to apologize. If I were you, I would’ve gone even further.”
“Don’t you hate me?” blurted Rachel, only to regret it the instant the question escaped her lips. To ask him something like that makes it sound like I care about what he thinks of me.
As she had expected, Justin seemed dumbfounded by her question. “Why would I hate you?”
Startled, Rachel was stumped by the man’s words at once.
Justin continued, “It was me who wronged you first. You’ve never wronged me; you only fought me for Charlotte’s custody out of a mother’s instincts. Even if you’ve resorted to some means, it’s just a part of being human. You’ve never done anything wrong.”
Rachel’s feelings became increasingly mixed.
“Anyway, let’s not talk about this. I have something to give you.” Justin took out a document and handed it to Rachel.
“What is this?”
“The list of Burton Pharmaceuticals’ technical personnel and clients.”
Rachel paused for a moment as she flipped through the document. “Why are you giving this to me?”
“I know it’s hard for Hudson Pharmaceuticals to start all over again, but I hope that you won’t resort to desperate measures no matter what the difficulty is. Half of the clients here were around while you were still at Burton Pharmaceuticals. As for the technical personnel, you also know a lot of them personally.”
“You don’t have to do this.” Rachel closed the document while pretending to give it back to Justin. He stopped her, though, saying, “I only have a request. Stop dealing with those from the Jockey Club, including my uncle. It’s only a matter of time before he gets investigated by the Riverdale Investigation Bureau.”
Rachel was stunned. He’d always thought that I had dealings with Jason and the others for Hudson Pharmaceuticals.
“Alright, I’ve said everything I have to say.” Justin got up from the couch. “I’ll get going. I won’t keep you any longer.”
“Aren’t you gonna say goodbye to Charlotte?”
“No, I’ll come pick her up in a few days.” Justin threw a glance in the direction of Charlotte’s bedroom. Despite his reluctance, he left.
Rachel saw the man out of the apartment. As she saw him to the door, she suddenly said, “Justin, since Charlotte has come back to me, just forget whatever happened in the past. Don’t dwell too much on it.”
Justin was startled. Just then, the elevator door slowly opened before him.
Rachel reminded him. “The elevator’s here.”
When Rachel closed the door and heard her cell phone ringing in the living room, she immediately hurried over and answered the phone. “Hello?”
“I just learned a piece of shocking news.” Jolly’s voice sounded through the phone; she sounded so delighted as if she wished she could jump out of the phone’s screen.
“What is it?”
“Check out the trending topics on the internet right now, and you’ll see it.”
“Stop keeping me in suspense. Just spill it. I have to cook for the kids after this.”
“Alright, alright.” Jolly was someone who could hardly contain her emotions. She said immediately, “Justin’s been removed from his position as president of the Burton Group.”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”
“It’s true. The Burton Group announced that the board of directors had passed a motion to restructure the company’s shares. At the same time, Justin, the former president of the company, has been removed and replaced by a new president.”
“When did it happen?” Rachel asked while opening her laptop to search for information about it. And sure enough, the instant she googled the term “the Burton Group,” news of Justin being removed as president immediately popped up with all kinds of descriptions.
Jolly replied, “It was just announced this morning, but their board of directors must have held their meeting and passed the resolution a few days ago. I heard that not only was he removed from his position, but he also had most of his shares diluted, so now he doesn’t have much say in the company. Oh, right, I also heard that he’s now been demoted to vice president and is having a hard time at the company.”
Jolly also said something else, but Rachel was no longer listening to her words.
Compared to what Jolly had said, the comments on the internet were much harsher. Because of the previous scandal, Justin’s reputation suffered a drastic decline. The furor over that matter hadn’t died down yet, and now, his removal as the Burton Group’s president was undoubtedly making a huge splash.
Rachel felt suffocated when she saw the different kinds of vicious remarks about the man on the internet. How did this happen? Isn’t Justin Old Mr. Burton’s favorite grandson? However displeased the board of directors was with him, Old Mr. Burton wouldn’t have allowed such a situation to happen. This was far from what she had expected.
“Chris?” Jolly’s voice sounded through the phone and snapped Rachel out of her thoughts. “Why aren’t you speaking? Are you dumbstruck or something?”
“Why was he removed as president? Was it because of the previous public outcry?”
“That was probably part of it. And besides, what happened to the Northlane development project caused him to lose the board of directors’ support. But I heard that it was Old Mr. Burton himself who proposed removing Justin.”
Upon hearing that, Rachel was startled.
