Chapter 16

Tina’s eyes widened as his alluring voice echoed beside her ears.

Was Samuel going to do it… right here?

That was when a phone started to ring abruptly.

Tina turned towards Samuel and saw the terrible look on his face then, and quickly explained, “N-No! It’s not my phone!”

Samuel’s expression only darkened further, and he turned to leave and answered the call, which turned out to be from Sandy.

“Mr. Langford,” Sandy greeted him respectfully, unaware that his call had cut short their hanky-panky. “We’ve just received a reply from Mr. Carter—he said that he would like to visit you to discuss some of the specifics regarding our joint project…”

“John Carter?” Samuel’s tone was quite unfriendly. “Now?”

Sandy seemed to detect something right then, and asked tentatively, “What would be a good time for you, Mr. Langford?”

Samuel took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead. John Carter was the most eccentric partner they had ever had, and if they missed this chance, there was no telling where the man would run off to next…

“Forget it. Let him come,” Samuel said, hanging up and turning towards Tina. “Stay right there.”

Just as he was about to turn to leave, she panicked and quickly tugged at his sleeve.

“What?” Samuel frowned, his whole body projecting a king’s imposing presence.

Nonetheless, Tina asked softly, “Are you leaving already? W-What about me?”

Most importantly, the one million and fifteen grand…

“Heh.” Samuel snorted, seeing through her thoughts with a single look. “I’m not leaving—I’m having a business discussion downstairs.”

Relieved, Tina nodded repeatedly.

“Okay. I’ll be waiting.”

The sight of her tamely holding his sleeve left Samuel with a tender feeling in his heart, though he soon firmly shook her off.

“Don’t touch me so casually. Know your place, Tina Lynd.”

He was almost bewitched by that woman’s acting, damn it!

Meanwhile, Tina watched him leave, and muttered softly in slight frustration, “Who would stay with someone like you if not for money?!”

Nonetheless, she got changed and waited patiently on the couch.

She then checked her phone, and saw that she missed several calls from Sylvia, and promptly returned her call.

“I’m sorry, madam. My phone was on silent, and I just saw your calls—”

Tina started apologetically the instant she answered, only for Pearl to answer from the other end. “It’s me!”

“Why is it you?” Tina’s face fell. “Why are you answering Madam Woods’s phone?!”

“We checked the visitation logs and borrowed it from her,” Pearl replied.

Tina clenched a fist tensely. “What do you want?”

“Oh, nothing. We just want to know when we’ll get our one million dollars!”

“I’ll give it to you.”

“Great! By the way, when do you have time to come have dinner with us? Bring Mr. Langford’s assistant, too—we’re family after all, so we should at least get to know each other, right?”

As a matter of fact, Pearl was absolutely jealous to see Tina getting into a luxury car, and was bent on sabotaging Tina.

“He’s very busy. He won’t be free.”

Having confirmed that the Lynds wouldn’t do anything to Sylvia, Tina promptly hung up.

Pearl was certainly frustrated from such treatment by Tina, and slammed the phone on the floor and stamped it viciously repeatedly.

“You wretch! What are you being all smug about?! I’ll take your place eventually!”

On the other hand, Tina became worried after hanging up.

She needed to get the money as soon as possible, or Sylvia would definitely get caught in the crossfire…

Unable to sit still, she left the room, intending to sneak a peek at the situation downstairs.

Carefully tiptoeing down stairs, she peeked at the living room.

Samuel’s presence was strong and imposing, and he sat like a king on the couch, while Sandy stood near him, waiting upon him like a eunuch.

The young man sitting opposite Samuel was unaffected by his imposing presence, however—in fact, he was holding his own against Samuel.

As an assistant passed him a document just then, Tina did a double take, realizing that she had seen that young man somewhere before.

Wait, wasn’t he the same person who had appeared outside Loving Heart Orphanage? The young man who was looking for his younger sister?!

She didn’t think that he would show up here, and now it seems that Samuel must have been shown up nearby as well because of that young man…

While her thoughts drifted away, the young man turned towards the stairs as if sensing something.

She was startled and promptly tried to run away, and accidentally knocked a vase in the corner.

Clang!

The vase dropped and shattered all over the floor.

Tina’s heart sank immediately.

Oh no, she had messed up!

“Who’s there?!”

Everyone in the living room was promptly on alert, and the bodyguard even whipped out their guns.

A dark look flashed over Samuel’s face just then. That woman was really damned.

“It’s just a cat,” he said with a tone that didn’t allow questioning. “Settle down.”

John Carter lifted a brow and asked in slight humor, “You like cats, Mr. Langford?”

“No, but that was an annoying wildcat,” Samuel snorted coolly. “When that happens, I’ll have someone clean up the mess.”

John, however, appeared sympathetic. “Coco loved cats. Spare it.”

It just so happened that Samuel was aware why John was visiting Freesia—to find his long lost younger sister, whose pet name was Coco.

“Very well. I’ll spare her since you’ve spoken, Mr. Carter.”

***

It was late at night when the details of the agreement was finalized. Samuel saw John off before heading upstairs, where he found Tina curled into a ball on a couch.

He frowned. She actually was sleeping like a kitten…

Tina slept lightly, and she opened her groggy eyes when she heard his footsteps approaching. “You’re finally back…”

Samuel looked down at her, feeling nothing inside.

“Get out.”

Tina’s head cleared up immediately. “What?”

“Leave,” Samuel growled in irritation. “Don’t show up around me ever again.”

That woman was simply greedy—all that commotion just now must have been to draw John’s attention.

And she tried to do the same when they first met to jump him.

“But…” Tina had no idea what made Samuel mad again this time, but she eventually calmed down and breathed through her teeth, “But, the money…”

Samuel laughed icily.

She did everything for money, didn’t she?!

He coolly whipped out a black card and threw it on the floor in front of her.

“There’s 1.5 million in there. Crawl for it if you want it.”