Jepherson chucked the document aside and suggested Raeleigh hire an attorney. She asked, "Why would I need one?" "To be your legal advisor, of course. Why do you think these backstabbers can come and go as they please? Isn't it all because your company's system is filled with loopholes for them to exploit. But not to worry. Since they're requesting to jump ships, let's play ball." "The less trouble, the better. They only did this for their career's sake. A word for you, don't get so invested in their business and mind your own." Raeleigh said as she reached for the document, only to fail. "I'll read through it again. Forget about taking it from me." Jepherson took the document in time and called in the secretary. She came in and took the report away. It was already six, but Jepherson intended to meet the two resigning designers. They could've left work, but Jepherson said he had other things to attend to the next day, so the two designers were
Jepherson had the call on speaker, so the whole room heard their conversation loud and clear. Raeleigh couldn't believe it; even her office phone was on Jepherson's side. What more could she say? Ending the call, Jepherson looked over at the two designers and said, "You think you can push Raeleigh around just because she is soft and nice to you. Well, good news, now you get to deal with me." "I'm sorry, the company needs some funds to launch a new car. Eight hundred million from you two will suffice, I believe." Standing up, Jepherson turned to Raeleigh, held her hand to pull her up, and walked toward the door. Meanwhile, the two designers were galled at the decision. Although it wouldn't be too difficult to get a job as a car designer after leaving Bloom Aksea Group, Jepherson had destroyed their career in less than ten minutes, let alone the compensation they'd have to give the company. Where could they scrape together the money now? "We don't have
Jepherson looked at Cindy and said, "You can go now. She wants to let the case slide, so I guess it's a crisis averted for you." "Thank you, Mr. Richards." Cindy hurriedly thanked Jepherson. Raeleigh slowly looked over at her; she had nothing to say. Why bother herself with someone like her? After Cindy left, Jepherson fixed his gaze at Raeleigh, who was twisting her spaghetti with a fork. She couldn't quite understand why Jepherson wanted to have spaghetti again. Hadn't she had enough trouble with it during their lunch earlier? Jepherson scooted over to her and took the fork over to feed her, only for her to look at him and say, "It's okay, I can do it myself." Jepherson said, "If you don't want to hear my voice, I can keep my mouth shut. You can pretend I'm still Callis from Waverly Village." Jepherson twisted a mouth full of spaghetti and delivered it to Raeleigh's mouth again. She hesitated for a moment before taking the bite. J
When Jepherson was leaving, Raeleigh was there at the airport to see him off. After watching him board the plane, she turned to leave, only to see Jared standing behind her. Seeing Raeleigh look at him, Jared shrugged and said, "Don't look at me.; I didn't ask for this. I'd rather stay by his side and protect him than you." With that, Jared walked away while Raeleigh was rendered stumped for a moment before following him out. It was cold that day, so Raeleigh had on quite a few layers. Plus, her left hand was handicapped, so she was extra careful when walking. Jared waited for Raeleigh outside, but his actions resembled none of a bodyguard. Raeleigh stood at the exit, searching, and headed to where Xanthus parked his car, telling Jared in the meantime, "You don't need to follow me. Feel free to leave if you want to." "You're my responsibility now. When have I said I'm leaving you?" He talked back to her, and she cut him a glance, saying, "If Jepherso
Jared washed his hands and sat down to eat without hesitation. On the other hand, Xanthus had already lost his appetite when he saw Jared. Their grudge because of Cynthia aside, how he acted at the airport upset him as well. Jared sat down only for Xanthus to leave the table and went to the sofa to watch TV. Seeing so, Raeleigh followed suit. She sat down beside him and handed him an orange. "Have some of this. I'll ask the servants to make you something later." Xanthus took the orange and said to her, "Ask them to leave." Raeleigh looked at the three at the dining table. She knew she wouldn't have a problem speaking up if it were someone else, but not Stuart and Lucy. At the same time, Stuart glanced at Jared, seated across from him. Jared only ate as if nothing had happened. With that, Stuart headed to Xanthus. "Dr. Osteen." Xanthus looked up at him and scooted aside. "Have a seat." Stuart obliged and explained, "Lucy and I are ma
Raeleigh merely watched as Jepherson laughed until he stopped before she finally talked business with him. Just as Raeleigh wanted to end the call after the discussion, Jepeherson asked, "What's her name?" Stumped, Raeleigh asked back, "What's who's name?" Jepherson looked slightly distracted as he fixed his gaze at Raeleigh as if he would be able to read her mind. However, Raeleigh said nothing. Eventually, he said, "I'll come over in the next few days once I'm done with my work here. I'll be bringing Hadrian-" Knowing what Jepherson was going to say, Raeleigh cut him mid-sentence. "Don't bring them here. I can't stand the two of them." "Then who can you stand?" Raeleigh did not answer his question and ended the call instead. The next second, a knock came at the door. Raeleigh told them to enter, and her secretary came in, saying, "Cindy Lee's here." That female designer. Raeleigh was truly surprised to learn what kind of person Ci
With that, Raeleigh scanned the crowd and added, "I know it is not easy for you to achieve even a little success; I have been there too." "But if you want to succeed in this industry, you have to make a statement." "Although I had brought a huge fortune to Richards Group, I did not take a single cent with me when I left. Even my achievements were left with the company." "This is the rule of this field. I had violated the rule first. There's no reason for the company to make an exception for an employee who disobeyed the rules." "If I had stayed in Richards Group, I would have received much better benefits than most people." "And if I stayed until the end of my contract, my achievements would've belonged solely to me." "By that time, I could even start my company using my name." "However, I didn't do that. I insisted on leaving, and for that, I had to pay the price." The crowd was floored at Raeleigh's statement. "Our president is the Rael
The security guards came in and dragged Cindy away. Just then, Raeleigh's phone rang, and everyone turned to look at her. She glanced at the screen and confirmed that it was Jepherson before answering the phone. "What's the matter?" "Can't I call you for no reason?" Jepherson laughed, but Raeleigh did not. She did not attempt to hide her feelings. After all, Cindy had already left. "Since you already promised to let her go, why did you still punish her according to the company's rules?" She could not understand why he went back on his word. Jepherson chuckled and replied, "She asked for it. Since she refuses to give up, we will send her into jail and let her reflect on her mistakes." "You ruined her whole life just for a little money. It would be years until she came out of jail. I don't think it's appropriate to do this." "This matter is non-negotiable." Jepherson refused decisively. Raeleigh thought that there was no need to talk
Santiago went home once more to retrieve Jepherson's sperm from the sperm bank. After that, Raeleigh got pregnant through medical procedures. However, when Raeleigh was only three days pregnant, the doctor made a major discovery. He informed her that he made progress with Shaney's illness , and that he might have misdiagnosed her condition. At that time, Raeleigh had been so overjoyed that Shaney was fine, and she only remembered that she was pregnant after half a month since learning about Shaney. By the time she remembered that she was with child, she wanted to stop her pregnancy. However, Santiago persuaded her to give the baby to him. Raeleigh pondered about it for a long time before finally agreeing. ...... Time passed in a blink of an eye, and Raeleigh had never expected for things to turn out the way it did. She gave birth to her second child, and Shaney had made a full recovery. Santiago had told her that the baby was the will of God, and he
When Raeleigh got out of the car, she began staring at the Richards family's courtyard. Although the Richards family had already buried Marissa's body, Raeleigh was still unwilling to go back. However, as she gazed at Carsten's precious little face that was looking at her expectantly, she had no choice but to follow Jepherson inside. At that moment, Santigo and the other children were in the yard. When Santiago saw Raeleigh and Jepherson, he smiled and gestured at Jepherson. "What are you doing?" Raeleigh asked when she saw Santiago. "Nothing." Though Raeleigh did not believe Jepherson, she decided not to ask further. When Carsten saw Forden and Shaney, he immediately tried to break away from Jepherson's arms, wanting to get to them. The children were all gathered in the Richards family manor that day. Coupled with the four other children of the Whalen family, there were ten children altogether, and they almost occupied the entire courtyard. Ra
Raeleigh said nothing as Carsten continued sinking his teeth into Jepherson's neck. She stared in shock as blood seeped out of his wound. Jepherson raised his hand and patted Carsten gently, then walked to the bed and sat down. After a while, Carsten finally fell asleep. He closed his eyes as he dozed off in Jepherson's arms. Meanwhile, Raeleigh had rushed out of the room to ask the hotel staff to prepare disinfectants before going back into the room to help Jepherson clean his wound. Jepherson leaned against the wall, still holding Carsten in his arms and unwilling to let go. Raeleigh frowned. "What should we do?" Jepherson's voice was a little hoarse. He had been busy for the past two days entertaining guests. "He got scared because of the crowd. He thought that you didn't want him anymore since he couldn't find you, and probably thinks that I'm the one who forced him to stay there." After bandaging Jepherson's wound, Raeleigh helped wipe Carsten's mouth. Sudd
After Raeleigh and the others left, Santiago walked to Zorion's car and stopped him. Zorion casted a glance outside. "Rossie, you should go first. He won't show any mercy once I get off." "You knew he wouldn't show you mercy, so why didn't you think of that before you caused trouble?" "I was just kidding! Who knew he'd have such a bad temper? I didn't expect him to take it seriously." Rossie sighed and gave in. Glancing at Zorion, she finally understood that he was only using her as an excuse to escape whenever he got into trouble. She got out of the car and looked at Santiago who stood opposite her. "Long time no see." "Where's Zorion?" "He's so afraid of you that he doesn't even dare to come out," said Rossie. "It's too late to be scared." He walked up to Zorion's car with the rod in his hand, then raised the stick and smashed it against the car until it was completely wrecked. When he was done, he tossed the stick aside, turned to pick
After leaving the kindergarten, Raeleigh followed Santiago to the Richards family manor. It had been four years since she returned, so she was no longer familiar with the place. Santiago went in, put Carsten down and asked the children to keep themselves entertained. He then looked at Raeleigh and said, "I came back this time because Mrs. Richards is dying. She has been unconscious for a while now. I came back to see her for the last time." Raeleigh asked, "Mrs. Richards?" "Yes. Jepherson hasn't been home these couple of days because he has gone to visit her. He didn't tell you about it because Mrs. Richards doesn't want to see you. While she was still herself, she did say that she would never let you into the family, and that she didn't want to see you ever again. Jepherson went to take care of her but was worried about you. So, he asked me to come home to take a look and it was only then did I find out that Carsten is autistic. This is on your plate now."
When the time came, Raeleigh enrolled Carsten into a kindergarten. On the first day of school, Carsten was bullied. Raeleigh felt sorry for him as she gently touched his swollen face. He had been beaten because he could not speak. She wanted to confront the bully, but Jepherson stopped her. He told her that Carsten should resolve this matter by himself. That year, Raeleigh could not sleep well at night. Hair loss became an issue, and she was exhausted all the time. But after half a month, the children stopped bullying Carsten. Instead, their parents came to Raeleigh's home. "Just take a look at your child..." The parents pointed to their child, and Raeleigh was confused when she saw a boy about the same height as Carsten. The boy seemed to have taken a serious beating, but when Carsten had gotten beaten up like this, Raeleigh hadn't gone to look for trouble with the bully's parents, did she? Raeleigh retorted, "And? It's normal for
The snow was falling heavily. Jepherson put away the phone and took Raeleigh back into the house. The two stood inside and watched the snow. Meanwhile, Hadrian and Scarlette were busy in the kitchen, not daring to make a sound. The Richards family manor remained quiet when winter was approaching. None of the family members returned even on New Year's Day. Raeleigh went to the yard and waited for them in advance, but no one came back. After New Year's Day, Raeleigh returned to her home with Jepherson. Her family members were all surprised to see her pregnant when she got home. They did not expect Raeleigh to be pregnant after being missing for several months. Moreover, she was almost due. Everyone in the Osteen family knew that Raeleigh stayed because of the baby inside her belly. Undoubtedly, the baby was Jepherson's. However, they wondered where Santiago went. Since Raeleigh said nothing, no one dared to ask about it. They all ignored the incident and sil
Raeleigh was stopped by Jepherson's men at the entrance of the village. 'I knew it wouldn't be easy for me to run away.' "Madam Raeleigh, Mr. Richards is waiting for you." Raeleigh had no choice but to go back with them. At the same time, Jepherson sat on his wheelchair outside the village with a blanket on his lap and upon seeing Raeleigh, he breathed a sigh of relief. Raeleigh walked up to him, "Don't be complacent. I'll leave one day." Shifting his gaze to Raeleigh's belly, Jepherson stretched out his hand and pulled her to him. Despite being too weak to walk, he had a firm grip. Raeleigh lost her balance and fell onto his lap. She tried to escape, but he said immediately, "Don't move." Although his voice sounded terrifying to others, he was trying to negotiate. Everyone turned around to look at them, and Raeleigh blushed. Jepherson covered her body with the blanket, then placed his hand onto her belly. Raeleigh tensed up immediately. She ra
Raeleigh had been depressed for a while after Santiago's departure. After a few days, she finally calmed down a little. Jepherson's health had not improved during this period of time. Whenever he was free, he would stare at Shaney's photo in a daze. Deanna and Jacky had helped take care of Jepherson when Raeleigh fell ill. After Raeleigh recovered, she returned to taking care of him herself. However, Jepherson had been in such poor health that he couldn't even go downstairs. It took Raeleigh a lot of effort to help him get down, especially when he was unwilling to go downstairs. "Autumn is coming. I don't want to go down." He was saying that it was cold downstairs. Raeleigh replied, "I can't take care of you all the time. Are you going to exhaust me to death? Your parents left you alone and ignored you. Santiago abandoned you too. What do you want me to do? I have to work. I also have to take care of you..." "Then stop working. Take care of me." Rael