Of course, Tanya did not intend to learn more. The question was perfunctory, and she simply wanted to start a topic with it.She nodded in reply. Seeing how calm and distant Ivanka was, Tanya knew that she was drawing boundaries between them and did not plan to make friends.Certainly, it would be awkward if they became friends.Everyone knew that she fancied Michael, and that Ivanka was his ex-wife. Also, the both of them were still involved with each other.Tanya suppressed the conflicting emotions in her heart. She looked at Ivanka and said, “Actually, I asked you over because I just wanted to chat. We won’t talk about work, so you don’t have to be so guarded.”Ivanka raised her brows. “Ms. Cullen, I trust that you won’t cross the line when it comes to business. I never intend to keep my guard up in front of you.”She did not know what Tanya wanted to do, but she did not trust her in the slightest. Naturally, she would be wary of her.Tanya sighed resignedly. “I actually just
Ivanka sat with her back facing that door’s direction, so she did not see the newly arrived customers. Meanwhile, Tanya kept her head down, as if she was pondering over something.Neither of them had noticed the two figures at the door.But those two people spotted Tanya and Ivanka seated opposite each other right away.Ivan was amused. He pointed to them. “Look who I’ve just seen?”Michael pressed his lips together. Naturally, he had seen what Ivan saw.Ivan smiled. “Why don’t we share a table with them?”Michael immediately frowned. He disliked butting in on the women’s conversation. It was ungentlemanly.But even with this thought in mind, he did not move. His instinct obeyed his desire, as if waited for Ivan to talk him into it.Ivan was speechless. He forced a faint smile. Michael always managed to drive him speechless. Ignoring his friend, Ivan made a beeline in Tanya and Ivanka’s direction.“Hey, what a coincidence. I didn’t think we’d run into each other here?”Ivan
When Ivan noticed Michael sulking again, he immediately said, “Why are you two here? I never saw you interacting with each other before. Are you going to collaborate?”A strange emotion glimmered in Tanya’s eyes, and she smiled. “If so, I would’ve booked a private room. I used to stay in another city, so I didn’t have a chance to talk to Ms. Lane. I admire her very much.”After all, Tanya was the heiress of the Cullen family. The Cullens’ influence could even rival that of Barkworth’s Group. Like Michael, she was the future head of the family. Therefore when she spoke, she would place herself in a higher position and put the other party down.She said she admired Ivanka. It did not mean that Tanya liked her and wanted to be her friend. Tanya was not buttering her up. She was patronizing Ivanka.Her status and influence allowed her to do this. As she spoke, her every word and expression had not implied that she was putting Ivanka down. She was composed and at ease.Ivanka smiled fa
Ivan was speechless.Meanwhile, the tense scowl on Michael’s face eased up a little.He picked up his spoon and ate silently.When he had not said a word all this while, Tanya felt like a clown for no reason. She finally managed to dine with him, yet it was all thanks to Ivanka.But she was never a schemer. As someone who ran a company for years, she always saw the bigger picture. Therefore, she hid her emotions and said with a chuckle, “Mr. Barkworth.”Michael eventually looked at her.He said nothing and waited for her to continue.Tanya paused and then said with a smile, “You and Ms. Lane are collaborating lately. I wonder if you can free up some time to collaborate with Cullen’s Group? There are two excellent projects I’d like you to have a look at.”Michael glanced at Ivanka from the periphery of his vision. Cold glints flashed in his eyes.Then, he nodded expressionlessly. “Sure.”Tanya was a little surprised. She did not think that Michael would agree to it so easily.
After a moment of hesitation, Tanya suddenly thought of something and smiled. “Why don’t you drive my car? I’ll get a lift from Ms. Lane. After all, I’m going to Barkworth’s Group as well.Ivan was speechless.Tanya was really something!With this suggestion, she could keep Michael away from Ivanka without forcing herself between them and painting herself in a bad light.However, Michael would not want this. Her suggestion might displease him.Ivan glanced at Michael from the corner of his eye and saw his friend’s face darken. Amused, Ivan grinned.“Hahaha… How could we do that? I’ll call the driver here instead.”Tanya was stunned.When it came to putting her in an awkward position, Ivan surely did it without hesitation.But she knew Michael would not want to take her offer.Oftentimes, Ivan spoke for him.Tanya smiled. “Alright then.”The men had turned down her offer. Considering that she and Michael were not even close, she should take a step back instead of pushing it.
One day, Michael would stay by her side and treat her gently.No one would ever take her place again!With that thought, Tanya got into her car with her eyes downcast. Soon, Ivanka also arrived in her car.As she approached the driver’s side, Ivan ran over and opened the car door. He smiled at Ivanka. “I’ll drive! It wouldn’t be right for you to drive when we’re carpooling with your car. Let me take care of that.”Ivanka was speechless. Since when did she let them carpool with her?However, Ivan did not give her a chance to say anything. He immediately got into the driver’s seat. Ivanka frowned and went to sit in the back seat.To her surprise, Michael walked over and joined her by sitting opposite her.Ivanka frowned. She had chosen the back seat for its proximity to the driver’s seat and had no intention of sitting in the passenger seat because she had noticed Michael heading in that direction earlier.However, he ended up taking the seat opposite her. She was annoy
Michael glared at her as he said coldly, “Ivanka, can you just think before you speak?”He was livid.Ivanka frowned and looked at him in puzzlement. “I didn’t say anything wrong, did I? Let me go!”He did not loosen his grip on her chin, but he did not hurt her too much either. He thought this slight discomfort would make her come back to her senses. She needed to realize what foolish things she had just said earlier.Ivan had been a chatterbox a while ago. At that very moment, he just wanted to drive in silence.There were only Ivanka and Michael in the backseat.Michael felt a strong urge to rip Ivanka’s heart out to see if she truly had one. How could she say something so ruthless?He huffed as he gritted his teeth, “You didn’t say anything wrong? What you said was way out of line!”“Who’s really out of line here?!”He disrupted her whole life and always found ways to interfere despite her repeated requests for him not to. Why did he hate her so much? She had moved on from
Ivan was shocked when he heard this.Was that lunatic out of his mind?How dare he say such things!He had feelings for Ivanka, yet he adamantly denied them and chose to utter such hurtful words instead!Why? Why would he do that?!Ivanka’s face turned pale. She was completely taken aback by Michael’s words.The next moment, she could not help but laugh, “Yeah, I don’t deserve it. I know that. That’s why I’ve been keeping my distance from you.”She no longer wanted to talk to him. Words could not express how annoyed she was at him.Michael’s expression changed as he spoke those words. It seemed as though they had slipped out without much thought.When he noticed Ivanka’s pale face, he pursed his lips and turned away without a word.Ivan, who was still driving, could feel the awkwardness in the air and couldn’t stand being there any longer.He cleared his throat and quickly intervened for Michael’s sake, “Come on, you two! What’s the big fuss about? It’s not that serious! Mic
“Okay, you can come over, but not too close. Also, get rid of the earphones from your ears.”“No!” Michael said almost immediately.Ivanka frowned. It was obvious that the other party had misunderstood. He thought that she was talking to the police.She could not help but explain, “Don’t worry, this is just a call with my friend, not the police.”She did not know if the mention of the police had irritated him. The jumper, who was originally still emotionally stable, suddenly started throwing a tantrum. His eyes were full of madness.“I don’t care! All I know is that if you want to come over, throw away your earphones, or I’m going to jump!”Ivanka noticed that the man seemed to be wearing a wireless headset as well. Presumably, someone on the other end of the phone was guiding him.As the man spoke, he stood up like he would fall if the wind blew.The people downstairs were once again abuzz.“What’s going on here? The talks broke down, didn’t they?”“Oh my god, I can’t stand
The nearest civilian police officer was also about ten meters away. He had ordered them not to approach.He was probably also afraid of dying, which was why he was sitting on the railing.In that position, as long as he did not let go, he generally could not die. That was why the police were also utilizing the blind spot in his vision to approach slowly.Before she came, the police had already told her. She had only come to attract the man’s attention. However, she also could not let him get too emotional. Otherwise, he might slip and fall off the building or commit suicide from being too emotional.Originally, the jumper’s emotions were still quite stable as well.But as soon as he saw Ivanka, he started to get agitated.“Don’t you f*cking move! It’s all because of you! My whole family can’t get the money. My wife is dead! You talk like you’re all that on TV, but in reality, you’re just pretending! You’ve got a good reputation, but what about us? Aren’t we human beings? Don’t
Jimothy did not speak for a long time as if he had suddenly thought of something.An eerie silence spread between the two.When Candice saw that Jimothy did not answer her, she assumed that he had agreed to it silently and did not continue with the topic. She had no idea how to continue the topic either.Jimothy seemed rather heavy-hearted. In the past, after persuading her but to no avail, he would probably do something to ease Candice’s frustration.But at present, he just felt… that perhaps doing nothing was the best.On the other side, Ivanka entered the elevator and watched the elevator’s floors slowly rise in a bit of a daze.In the elevator, she and Michael also thought about the matter of an inside man.Normally when entering the Lane’s Group, even if Michael were to come personally, he would have to have an appointment, let alone an unfamiliar face.In such a situation, there would also be migrant workers appearing on the top floor of Lane’s Group. It was hard to bel
But at that moment, Michael’s words pulled Ivanka back when she was absolutely bonkers from her anger.Yes, she could not play into their hands. If not, was she just going to go along with their goal? Ivanka croaked an “okay”. Michael finally felt relieved. After passing through the scene, Ivanka came downstairs.She tilted her head to look up. A migrant worker stood on the roof of the building. Most of his body was already outside the guardrail.He held a long banner in his hand, which read: Unpaid pay, forcing the migrant workers to die!There was a speaker in his other hand as he screeched. “Stop faking it, Ivanka. No matter how grand your speeches are on TV, it still doesn’t change how venomous your heart is. I have a question. Everyone on the internet, how did all of them believe a poisonous woman like you?! Don’t they all say that the eyes of the masses are sharp? Now that everyone has been deceived by your appearances, I’m going to reveal your true colors for everyone
Ivanka agreed with a deep grunt. The gas pedal under her feet unconsciously roared.As she drove to the company building, lots of people had gathered around.There were onlookers watching the commotion. The media, the fire department as well as the police had just arrived.Most importantly, there was also a group of migrant workers. They were all wearing blue work clothes and yellow hats.No matter what their status was, everyone tilted their heads and looked at the roof of the building.Ivanka got out of the car. Under the escort of the security guards, she passed through the middle of the crowd.During this time, for some reason, someone deliberately or unintentionally stirred up everyone’s emotions by shouting.Anyway, someone shouted Ivanka’s name.“Isn’t this Ivanka, the chairman of Lane’s Group?”All of a sudden everyone leaned over towards this side.Some media outlets wanted to find out what was going on. After the last time, Ivanka clarified things live online, she h
Ever since she ended the call with Candice, Ivanka was troubled. She always felt like another incident was just around the corner, especially over the last two days; that feeling had gotten stronger. Ivanka had told only Michael about this feeling. After Michael heard her through, he said that he had the same thoughts and feelings as Ivanka. One thing was certain: the large batch of media reporters appearing at the company’s entrance at the same time was obviously organized and premeditated. So, it was definitely not an accident. That person obviously had some power, and to be able to make so many media companies respond to them meant that they must also have some power financially.What was more, the person behind this was very mysterious. Both Ivanka and Michael could not find out who that person really was, no matter what strings they pulled.There was not even a single clue leading to the person.Michael looked at Ivanka, who seemed a bit worried, and comforted her by
After walking out of the room, Ivanka received Candice’s call. Candice called to report her good news. Ever since the live broadcast, things had clearly improved for the company. The company’s stock had rebounded when it was once on the verge of falling. It was undoubtedly a good sign. Candice informed Ivanka all of this happily while Ivanka was still caught in a daze. “The company is back on track, all thanks to your move in saving the day! The other companies are regretting their decisions now. Iv, you’re awesome!” Ivanka smiled. “I’m glad to hear that the company is operating as usual. I hope nothing else will go wrong again. But I somehow find it odd when things get resolved a bit too smoothly.” Candice, on the other hand, dismissed that thought. She believed Ivanka had been too vigilant. What mattered most was the company’s reputation had been salvaged. Other than that, she could not think of any other problems. Ivanka parted her lips, but no word came out of her
Ivan said this not just because he trusted Ivanka’s medical skills, but mostly because he believed in Sandy. Although a paralyzed person could neither move nor talk, they could hear sounds. Ivan believed Sandy heard Ivanka’s calls. It would help her regain her consciousness. Ivanka felt extremely grateful for their trust in her. She swore to herself that she would not disappoint them. Since Sandy’s family members agreed with this, the physician had no reason to stop Ivanka. When the physician watched Sandy being carried up to the ambulance and sent to Ivanka’s home, he shook his head and sighed. The physician believed Sandy’s family members’ blind obedience and foolishness would only get Sandy killed. Nonetheless, it was out of his hands. The physician could only pray for Sandy. Ivanka did not know what the physician was thinking, nor did she even care. She accompanied Sandy’s mother and talked to her. They had a heart-to-heart talk. After that, she had someone se
Sandy laid quietly on the bed without any signs of life. Ivanka found it strange. After so long, Sandy still did not show any signs of improvement. Ivanka had questioned the attending physician. But the physician gave her a very vague answer. “Even to this day, we don’t knaow the exact time she would regain her consciousness. There’s no way for me to give you an accurate answer. What I could say is, fate will decide. Perhaps she will regain her consciousness by tomorrow, or perhaps she will never regain her consciousness for the rest of her life. In the meantime, her family and friends can stay around and chat with the patient as this can stimulate her will to live on to a certain extent.” Ivanka thought the physician might as well have said nothing at all. Did that mean she could not do anything to help Sandy and could only let fate decide? Ivanka was an atheist. She never trusted in any gods or fate. Judging from the current situation, it looked like the physician was unr