Chapter 9

Bloomberg Group was a company that had been involved in the international education field for many years. It founded many international schools across the country, including preschools, middle schools, high schools, and even pre-U courses.

They were considered pioneers in their field and held a large market share in the international education industry. This was because they had been the first to dip their hands into this previously untouched gold mine.

For the past two years, Bloomberg Group had been trying to get itself listed. The upper management had consulted a few well-known financial consultants on this matter.

One of the consultants whom the group consulted, Gordon Wembley, had felt extremely doubtful after hearing the company's concerns.

He had realized that although Bloomberg Group was only a 20-year-old business, the entire company management was made up of family members, not to mention senior management and whoever was in power.

With unclear boundaries between work and private life, the family members' rights and job responsibilities overlapped messily, making it close to impossible for them to even want to get listed.

If the group really wanted to get listed, then the nepotism aspect had to be changed. If Gordon had suggested the change, then it would have offended the rights of many of these family members in senior management roles.

The chairman and founder didn't seem to dare to touch that aspect, which meant it was even harder for the company to get listed.

Gordon wasn't fond of messy cases like these. He took great pride in his reputation—if he got on Bloomberg Group's case but failed to get this company listed as promised, then his reputation would take a huge toll, and it would destroy his success streak.

However, of course if he managed to pull it off, then it would be his biggest victory yet.

While still on the fence, Gordon decided to consult his old classmate for his opinion, and it was none other than Dean Hoffman.

Dean had then started researching up on Bloomberg Group and its roots on Gordon's behalf, doing him a favor. And Dean had a habit of getting to the bottom of everything when he did his research, leaving not a single stone left unturned.

That was how Dean accidentally and inadvertently learned the truth about Corbyn's family.

Dean had discovered the relationship between Corbyn and Bloomberg Group fairly quickly. The chairman and founder of Bloomberg Group was Vlad Bloomberg, Corbyn's maternal grandfather.

Corbyn had taken his mother's last name, making him eligible to be a candidate for the next Bloomberg heir.

Veronica never thought that Dean would have learned of Corbyn's true identity because of this. She was taken aback. However, when she thought about it closely, it made perfect sense.

Veronica frowned and asked, "Since you knew from the start that Corey came from a filthy rich family, why didn't you tell him that you knew? Did you enjoy watching him acting poor and pitiful alongside you? Is it really that fun?"

Dean answered, "But Corey never acted poor or pitiful at all."

Veronica was suddenly reminded of the day she'd visited Corbyn at the hotel. Corbyn had been dressed in a pair of Louis Vuitton silk pajamas, staying at a five-star hotel, and writing with a Montblanc luxury pen. Indeed, Corbyn wasn't as pitiful as she thought.

In reality, when Corbyn complained to Dean that he was "too poor to afford rent", he had been staying at the Five Seasons Hotel on a long-term basis until Dean finally allowed him to move in with him.

Corbyn would complain that his salary was "too low to make a living out of", yet, he would be spending with his black card every single time.

Also, Corbyn also told Dean that he was "too poor to afford a car", so he could only let his personal chauffeur drive him to work and back every day.

Dean wasn't a particularly sensitive person when it came to money. However, he wasn't daft.

Veronica reorganized the thoughts in her head. She then realized that everything she knew about Dean was only limited to whatever Paxton had told her. And, it was pretty obvious that Paxton's storytelling was majorly flawed.

According to Paxton, Dean was a careless person who never paid much attention to Corbyn. Dean supposedly didn't know what kind of job Corbyn worked at. But now, it seemed as if that was far from the truth.

Veronica gave Dean another once-over.

"Then why didn't you expose him?" she asked.

Dean replied, "I supposed he had his own reasons for his actions."

Veronica felt more and more surprised.

Ever since he set foot into Veronica's office, Dean's every word had left her stunned and surprised. His answers had all been unexpected so far, and this was something new for Veronica. After all, to her, men were nothing but dogs.

She then figured that Dean must be a whole different breed of dog altogether. No wonder he'd managed to make Corbyn fall for him, hook, line, and sinker!

Veronica scratched her bright red manicured nails against the black armrest as she looked down. Her thick eyelashes fluttered downward as a result.

"Were you never curious about the reason for his lies?"

"A little," Dean answered, "But I believe that he'll tell me the truth at an appropriate time."

Veronica scoffed coldly. "Have you not learned economics before? Don't you know that you can't assume that everyone on earth is a rational person?

"If Corey were a smart and rational person, then, you're free to think however you want. But he isn't."

Dean was stunned speechless. He looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Veronica looked at Dean's confused expression and suddenly found it a familiar scene once more. She was used to holding the reins in situations like this. Dean's confused look on his otherwise cold and expressionless demeanor somehow felt sexy and attractive to Veronica.

She hurriedly calmed herself down by inwardly repeating the mantra, "He's gay, he's gay, he's fucking gay and he's also fucking your son!" It was only then that she managed to keep her lust in check.

"Corey is someone who loves beating around the bush and putting too much of his focus on tiny, insignificant things. Splitting hairs, maybe," Veronica said, crossing her black stockinged legs as she started twirling her hair with her fingers.

"By the way, what kind of person do you think Corey is?"

Dean looked up at Veronica and said, "Corey is a very gentle and earnest person."

Veronica couldn't help bursting into laughter when she heard that. "You're so dumb! He's always been a naughty and troublesome troublemaker ever since he was a child. Only someone as dumb as you would fall for his demure act!"

…

After learning that Veronica had summoned Dean to her office, Corbyn immediately threw his tasks aside and hurried over to her. Naturally, Marc didn't dare to stop the fuming Corbyn from entering Veronica's office.

Corbyn barged into the office and looked around. However, aside from her, there was no one else inside.

He suddenly felt deflated. A look of embarrassment crept onto his face. "Mom? Why are you…"

"Why am I what?" Veronica asked.

Corbyn hesitated. "Why are you here at work?"

The question sounded rather ridiculous. Veronica just chuckled at it. "That's right. Why am I here? What do you think?"

Corbyn shut the door behind him. After hesitating for a while longer, he gathered enough pluck to ask, "Did you meet Dean?"

"I did," Veronica answered simply. "I merely wanted to see for myself which sly old fox managed to make my son lose his head and go gaga over him."

Corbyn didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard Veronica referring to Dean as a "sly old fox". Veronica thought that Dean was the fox who led Corbyn astray, and Holly thought that Corbyn was the bitch who led Dean astray.

He guessed all mothers probably thought that way.

Knowing that Veronica seemed to be quite vocally opinionated about his relationship with Dean, Corbyn said, "It's not that bad… I haven't lost my head yet."

"You say you haven't lost your head? So tell me why you keep pretending to be small and pitiful whenever you're with Dean!"

Veronica rapped sharply on the desk and continued, "You know I hate watching you belittling yourself. Also, you need to brush up on your acting skills."

"Fine, then I won't act pitiful or belittle myself anymore!" Corbyn exclaimed, puffing out his chest as he straightened his back. "And I am now telling you 'unpitifully' to please stay out of my fucking business, okay?

"Why didn't you bother getting involved back when I got bullied at school before? You never stood up for me back then, so don't fucking act like a loving mother with me now!"

"You? Got bullied? Who was the one who nearly drowned his classmate in the toilet bowl?" Veronica demanded, her tone rising. "You said I never stood up for you? If I hadn't intervened back then, Toiletman would have killed you outright!"

Both Corbyn and Veronica had long forgotten the name of the classmate whose head Corbyn brutally held underwater in the toilet bowl. They only ever lovingly referred to him as "Toiletman" now.

Long story short, one of Corbyn's classmates hadn't liked him when he first transferred to the school. At first, the bully had only called Corbyn rude names and made fun of him. However, the bullying gradually escalated.

Toiletman had then locked Corbyn in a bathroom stall and then hosed him down from the outside. Corbyn finally erupted like a volcano and kicked down the partition door to the next stall before charging at the bully.

He had then grabbed Toiletman by the head and stuffed his head into the toilet bowl, holding him there as he struggled.

The other students passing by didn't dare to do anything to break them up. None of them even dared to step into the bathrooms, choosing only to watch the showdown from outside the stalls and admiring Corbyn's pluck.

Toiletman had been known for being a bully at school with a number of lackeys and loyal puppies behind him. Since Corbyn had dared to plunge his head underwater, he'd sworn revenge on Corbyn and planned to gather some of his seniors to teach Corbyn a lesson.

Although Corbyn knew how to defend himself, he still couldn't possibly face off against so many opponents at once. If he were to be cornered by these seniors, he would then have been in major trouble.

Luckily, Veronica heard about Corbyn's case and had quickly resolved the problem without him knowing.

Nonetheless, Corbyn didn't buy her story. He still blamed her for placing him in the boarding school and subjecting him to bullying.

Most importantly, Corbyn had been targeted by the bullies ever since he first transferred into the school, yet Veronica had done nothing about it. She didn't even ask him about school or comfort him during the bullying saga.

It was true that Veronica barely had any time for Corbyn back then. If she had a bit of spare time, it would all be used up to silence and settle with the other students who got beaten up by Corbyn.

Corbyn would constantly get into fights every other day, yet Veronica never once talked bad about him or scolded him for it. She'd even done everything she could, whether through actions or monetary means, to clean up after Corbyn each time.

Frankly, she thought that she was already doing a hell of a good job as his mother!

Veronica and Corbyn continued arguing about the incident. Every time someone brought this topic up, the floodgates would open, and the duo could continue arguing for hours over this.

Corbyn blamed Veronica for being absent and not paying any attention to him, resulting in his many problems and difficulties when growing up alone.

Meanwhile, Veronica countered that she was too busy working to even bother about him. What little time she had, she would then have to use it to clean up after him. Didn't that count?

While arguing, Veronica also purposely let slip that the list of people whom Corbyn had gotten into fights with since young was long and basically endless.

Corbyn didn't back down from his mother either. He retaliated, "What, did you think I wanted to fight them on purpose? Don't you know that an action first happened for every reaction that followed after that?

"And don't you know how much my hand hurt when I punched them in the face?"

As Corbyn continued firing bullets at Veronica, he had absolutely no idea that Dean was just one door away in Veronica's office's waiting room. He had overheard everything Corbyn and Veronica were shouting at each other.

Of course, this was all part of Veronica's plan.

Dean would never have believed her if she only told him that Corbyn was vile and wicked. She wanted to let Dean hear and witness Corbyn's true nature while he quarreled with her. It was only through this that she was able to expose Corbyn and reveal his deceit.

After quarreling for a long time, with Corbyn expressing practically all of his dissatisfaction with Veronica, she finally cleared her throat and smiled at him.

"Alright, I'm not going to continue arguing with you anymore. You're my son, and as your mother, I should be more forgiving and tolerate you more often."

Then, Veronica opened the door to the waiting room and spoke to Dean. "You can come out now."

Dean walked out of the waiting room.

Corbyn froze completely when he saw Dean walking out of the room. It felt as if he'd just been struck by lightning. He could feel the numbness spreading from the top of his scalp down to the tips of his toes.

Veronica grinned again and said, "You're both living together now, right? Then, you may leave together too. I won't be seeing you out."