Chapter 4

Thaddeus corrected himself. "No, not my wife. Jessamine Patton. Ms. Patton."

Jordan looked surprised. He didn't know why Thaddeus was in a bad mood today, but he figured it had something to do with Jessamine.

The last time Thaddeus had come to work after having an argument with Jessamine, he'd looked as scary as he was right now.

"Do I need to check her phone records too, Mr. Holt?"

"Yeah. Look into anyone with the name Malcolm."

"Yes, sir." Jordan hurried off to carry out Thaddeus' instructions.

After giving his orders, Thaddeus checked the message Lana had sent to him. His jaw tensed.

Lana's message read, "Mrs. Holt left this behind."

Attached was a photo of Thaddeus' supplementary card. He hadn't mentioned anything about taking it back. Jessamine had taken the initiative to return it.

So, she was taking the "leaving without a word" route, huh?

In a fit of rage, Thaddeus froze all of Jessamine's cards. Once she was out of money, she would return.

Jessamine arrived at a hotel. When she'd completed the registration and was about to pay, the receptionist informed her that her card couldn't be used. After a moment of thought, she figured out who was behind this.

Since she couldn't get a hotel room, she had no choice but to ask her friend, Shane Lowry, for help. He was her best friend, and he was gay.

Close to half an hour after Jessamine hung up, Shane arrived in his car. When he saw the beautiful yet sorrowful woman standing by the roadside, he couldn't help lamenting life.

He got out of the car to help her with her suitcase. He nagged, "I told you not to get together with men who are handsome, rich, or bad-tempered. Look at you—Thaddeus Holt is all of those combined!

"It's such a waste of your gorgeousness! You've been married to him for three years, and this suitcase is all you've got? I've never heard of a company's CEO being such a Scrooge. Honestly, the longer you live, the more you see."

Shane's words were nasty, but Jessamine knew he meant well. Still, she didn't want to hear these things now. She just wanted some peace and quiet.

"He gave me a check and told me to write any amount I wanted." Jessamine leaned against the back seat as she spoke in a soft tone. Her eyes were half-lidded.

Shane had been cursing Thaddeus while driving. When he heard that Thaddeus had given Jessamine a check, he finally stopped dissing Thaddeus and said, "I'm gonna hate you if you write anything less than 100 million dollars."

"Alright, then. A hundred million dollars it is. Should we withdraw the money now?"

Shane thought she was joking, but Jessamine pulled out the crumpled check and filled it in. The money in her bank account was money she'd earned from her part-time job and had nothing to do with Thaddeus. What right did he have to freeze it?

Because of him, she was out of a place to stay. She couldn't even check into a hotel!

Jessamine was mad. Since he'd pushed her so far, he couldn't blame her for demanding more. "Let's go to the bank and withdraw the money."

Shane's eyes lit up as he turned the steering wheel. "I've never seen so much money in my life, Jessie. Do you think it'll all fit into my car? Should I get an elongated SUV instead?"

"I've never seen that much money, either. I guess today's the day we'll widen our horizons."

…

Thaddeus was absent-mindedly reviewing some documents in the CEO's office at Holt Jewelry. At this moment, Jordan hurried into the room.

Before Jordan could say anything, Thaddeus asked, "Have you found anything?"

Jordan looked flustered. "Mr. Holt, Mrs. Holt is withdrawing money at the bank."

Thaddeus was confused by this. He'd just frozen her card. How could she withdraw anything?

Jordan continued, "Mrs. Holt tried to withdraw 100 million dollars with a check you gave her. The bank manager didn't dare to attend to the transaction because of the large amount involved. He needs your signature to approve the transaction."

Jordan watched as Thaddeus' expression darkened while he spoke. The last few words of his sentence were barely louder than a whisper.

He didn't know where Jessamine had mustered the courage to challenge Thaddeus. He was merely reporting what had happened but already felt like Thaddeus would murder him.

Thaddeus almost choked on his coffee.