Mona paused for a bit and wiped her tears dry. Lifting her gaze, she kept eye contact with Thaddeus while taking in the meaning behind his words. “What? Did you think I’d fight you for the children’s custody?” Thaddeus reached out and nonchalantly brushed the tears off her lashes. “Am I that cruel to you?” Mona sniffled, and he had a soft spot for her dewy eyes. “What are you trying to do then?” “Come live with me at the Fontaine Residence. I am just trying to bond with the kids, and you can’t leave them. They don’t want to be apart from you either.” Mona scoffed. At the end of the day, Thaddeus only saw her as a tool. He would kick her away as soon as he bonded with the children. Did he take her for a fool? Faced with her silence, he added, “I can go and live with you if you don’t want to stay at the family residence. The new house is big enough for the four of us.” “I don’t think that’s necessary. The kids and I have our own routine, and your presence is a disruption.”
“Mr. Rockwell, I’m sorry for arriving late. There was an issue about the runway that needed immediate attention. I apologize for taking up your valuable time. Do forgive me.” Raymond offhandedly cast the pair a glance, reflecting disdain in his looks. “You’ve kept me waiting a long time. I could have hammered out a deal by now.” Mona peered to the side at Raymond. It was unlike him to speak this way. Her boss usually sat in the office on his mobile game or enjoyed a cup in the restaurant downstairs. He dwelled in the free and easy life. Dedication was hardly put into his career. That could only mean one thing: Raymond deliberately put it out there to give the pair hell. Raymond snuck a glance at Mona. They exchanged looks for a moment. By the sparkle in his eyes, it seemed he had something to say. He turned around and faced the pair. Raymond uttered with a smile, “I find it weird. Aren’t you always punctual, Mrs. Yale? If my memory serves me right, you once gave our model
Mona walked out of the office to find Mrs. Yale giving her employees in the guest reception area a hard time. Her two assistants stood across from Mona, quaking in their boots, and the younger lady even turned teary. “What’s going on here?” Mona turned over and whispered a question to an on-looking colleague. “I think something is wrong with Mrs. Yale’s jewelry. Someone stole a diamond necklace, and now the assistants are getting it…” Raising a brow, Mona glanced into the guest reception area in bewilderment. The jewelry pieces were put there. How did it get stolen? “Do you know how much a necklace costs? Your lifetime salaries put together won’t be able to cover the loss!” Mrs. Yale blew up. The younger assistant could not take it anymore and burst out crying. His wails startled a lot of the onlookers to come closer. Raymond, who was in the office, came approaching. It ticked the man off that there was foul play on his turf. His presence was the nosy crowd’s cue to dispers
It was not that Raymond did not side with Mona, but the evidence was all pointing to the young boys. It was a bit of a sticky situation. Out of options, Mona had to leave the area. She waited outside for a while until the guest reception door opened. Raymond walked out, not looking too pleased. “What’s the matter? Did you manage to find out what happened?” Raymond appeared serious for once. “Mona, I need to do a search in your office. Are you okay with that?” Mona was dumbstruck. Did that mean that she was a suspect too? She opened the door to her office to let Raymond and Mrs. Yale’s group in. “Go on. Search all you want.” Standing at the office entrance, she watched a few men turn her office upside down. In the end, they found a red diamond necklace in her handbag. “That’s the necklace I lost!” Mrs. Yale gasped in shock and took the necklace for a closer inspection. “This is it. It carries the exclusive symbol of our designer.” Mona stared at the diamond necklace wh
All eyes fell on Thaddeus, including Mona’s when he walked into the room. As the man drew close, it took Mona a few seconds to register that Thaddeus was there. Only, what was he doing there? “You’re finally here, Thad.” Now that help had arrived, Raymond approached Thaddeus, and they spoke in hushed tones, “It’s not looking good for us. Mrs. Yale isn’t backing down and is ready to call the cops.” Tensing his facial muscles, Thaddeus glanced indifferently at Raymond and sneered. “And you only informed me of it now? I told you you aren’t cut out for this.” “Now is not the time to talk about that.” Raymond took a fleeting glance at Mona. “Mona is in a tough spot at the moment. Hurry up and figure something out.” “So you can’t even handle a tiny issue like this? I guess your business degree attained from abroad was for nothing.” Raymond was speechless. He graduated at the top of his class in business school. Alas, Thaddeus was too much of a perfect guy that he outshined ever
With downcast eyes, Thaddeus said to Mona, “Did you touch the necklace?” Mona took a deep breath as the annoyance was getting to her. “Nope. I haven’t even seen it before.” “What about those?” Thaddeus bobbed his chin at the two jewelry sets on the desk. Those were the pieces Mona had randomly picked. “I’ve never touched those either. I hadn’t had time to take them out of the box.” “Chuck them,” Thaddeus said in a bossy tone. “My people shouldn’t be touching or even looking at this cheap and tacky stuff.” Mona’s jaw dropped as she stared at the man in disbelief. The man’s commanding presence left her in shock. Noticing the glint in her eyes, Thaddeus mistook the shock as awe. He raised his brow and said, “Got it? Don’t let this level of trash appear in your sight. I don’t want anything so cheap and tasteless to be reflected on me.” Mona compliantly nodded her head and replied, "Yeah. I got it.” It was a rare moment for Thaddeus to witness the woman’s courteous side. H
“Ben, Tim, tell me the truth. Why were you at the guest reception area?” Mona folded her arms and looked at the two young, dashing boys who were a lot taller than her. She carried herself like a demigoddess with uncanny abilities. Ben and Tim hung their heads low and stared at the floor under their feet, not saying a word. “Fine. Don’t want to talk? Then you can forget working with me from now on. I don’t need two assistants who can’t be forthright and truthful with me,” Mona pretended to be angry. The trick seemed to work, as Ben was the first to lose his cool. He turned his eyes to Tim. “Why don’t we tell Mona about the plan? She’s one of us, so there’s nothing to hide.” Tim remained tight-lipped, but he did not refuse Ben’s suggestion. Getting the green light, Ben went on to explain to Mona. “Don’t be mad, Mona. We had our reason to go to the guest reception area, but it was not to steal anything. The old hag must be out to get you. Had we known she had set up a trap, we
“I have taken classes on design. So I guess you can say I know a thing or two. We can give it a go if you don’t believe me. I’ll sort this out in three days.” Tim and Ben looked pleasantly surprised, blown away, and in awe. “You’re a goddess, Mona. How many more skills can we uncover from you? You’re amazing.” Mona smiled without a word. She had not wasted one bit of her time as Mrs. Fontaine over the years. She attended social events and picked up the know-how about finance, the stock market, design, fashion, red wine, and anything to do with the social circle. She knew she would leave Thaddeus sooner or later. Hence, Mona had to up herself with skills instead of becoming a tamed and complacent housewife. Mona had not given herself a chance to slack off and jumped on any opportunity to learn and enrich herself. “Cut the nonsense, and get back to work.” Rising to her feet, Mona lowered her head and tidied up a desk when the bling between her fingers caught her eye. She st