She walked straight toward the study room to bid her grandfather goodbye. And on her way there, she almost bumped into her stepmother who stormed out of the study room all of a sudden. "I knew this would be a waste of time. Problems, more problems," She was grumbling to herself and didn't see Hailey.Hailey quickly stepped to the side and sighed. There was no doubt the woman just had a fight with her grandfather. Hailey couldn't make her presence conspicuous in the narrow hallway and it didn't take seconds for the woman to spot her. "You— You daughter of a vixen. It's your fault, all your fault! Who knows what stupid advice you've put in your grandfather's head? You're just the same as that woman. Now that she's back, I wonder if you're going to join hands and bring this family down once and for all." Her tone was low and filled with anger. Hailey was really tired already. And she prayed more than anything that the woman would leave her alone. And luckily for her, the woman didn't
Hailey shut her eyes and tried to assure herself that the woman was just angry. She didn't need to be affected by her words. "Tell me the truth, Hailey..." The woman blocked her path again before she could walk away. "Are you sure you are not seeing her already? And she is not teaching you all these tricks?" "I'm afraid you're thinking too far." Hailey was having a hard time keeping still. If only she could push past the woman and walk away. But that would bring more harm to her. "Whether I am thinking too far or not does not matter." Her stepmother chuckled darkly. "Because you see, Hailey. She was never a threat to me and whatever you do now will not threaten me." Then she grabbed her arm and lowered her voice, her eyes glinting with something Hailey could attest to as evil. "Didn't you know how I dealt with her? She thought she was smart enough to get engaged to your father. She thought that would earn her his love. However, her wish of marrying him never came true. I did that i
Kendrick sat on a chair, his eyes fixed on the wide screen. His fingers drummed on the chair's armrest with an impatient but measured beat. It had been hours. The meeting was going on forever. Something that could have been sent to his computer to have a look, the foreigners desired that they were present, so he'd voice out any gray areas and they'd give a clear explanation. Kendrick didn't need further explanations. An investment with prospective success wouldn't take him long to spot. And he definitely wouldn't have to seek questions more than required in order to know what was right for his company. This was the third meeting today. He hadn't even signed some papers yet. And he hadn't even spoken to her yet. Would she be mad? "Relax, Buddy. If you don't stop glaring at the screen, I'm afraid we'll have to compensate some damages."A whisper came from his side and Kendrick frowned. A nuisance.He looked sideways at the guy beside him and directed his glare at him. His unwanted c
Devon didn't mind getting ignored by Rosslyn. If better, he was enjoying the drama going on between him and his assistant. "Your Boss wants to be left alone, now stop bothering him." He slowly pulled her back to his side. Rosslyn freed herself again. And after another confused look in Kendrick's direction, she said, "Have a great night, Sir." Then she disappeared into the opposite suite. Kendrick returned his focus to swiping his card on the door. "You're acting too suspicious," Devon whispered. "I can tell you're eager to call it a day soon in order to communicate with your wife." He laughed. "If you keep at this, Buddy. I bet Rosslyn will find out soon.""If you haven't divulged it yet." Kendrick pushed the door open. Maybe he was just wasting his time hiding from his assistant. He'd even tell Hailey not to call him first in case she happened to be with him at that time. But his blabbermouth of a friend. Kendrick wasn't confident that Devon hadn't told her already that he had a
Maybe he should have given the Butler a call first. Now he'd interrupted her sleep. But he couldn't hang up, he had woken her up already. And it seems like she didn't glance at the contact's name."Hailey." Kendrick didn't need to be asked if she had been waiting for his call the whole day. And what felt like guilt started surfacing. "Go back to sleep, I'll call you tomorrow.""Huh?" Hailey sounded confused for a while. Then Kendrick could hear shuffling from the other end. "Kendrick, is that you?" She cleared her throat. "I wasn't sleeping, I was only taking a nap.""Really?" Kendrick glanced at his wristwatch and frowned. "Yeah," Hailey answered. "I wasn't asleep."Kendrick shook his head and settled well on the bed, by leaning against the headboard. How could she take a nap when it was nighttime already? And who was he to dampen her hope when she seemed so eager to keep the phone call going? "So it's not nighttime yet." Kendrick decided to stall for a bit. "No, it isn't," she
"Good to know." Kendrick was somehow happy. He'd prefer she didn't go anywhere these days and stayed all day at home. When she surprised him by saying she would no longer go to the diner, he'd never been more relieved. She had told him she knew her limits, maybe this was her limit. Had she started feeling some discomfort? He studied her expression. Yesterday, while she was at her grandfather's, she didn't sound well. And in the night when they made a call, she wasn't as open as now. She didn't even speak to him about his investment again in her father's business, which she might have undoubtedly learned yesterday. He'd had his assumptions that something was bothering her. Otherwise, was she experiencing pain? And could he wait until he went back to find out whatever it was? Wouldn't it be too late at that time? There were only two days left. Two days before he'd land in the other city. That was already far enough. "Did anything happen at your grandfather's?" She wasn't expectin
Her smile faded and her lips parted. Which had him wonder, had she done that on purpose? Had she been distracting him with questions intentionally to shove the topic aside? And why didn't he see that coming in time? A few seconds trickled by, she only blinked at him. And he held her gaze, in case she wanted to look away. "Kendrick, I..." She trailed off, her voice was a whisper. And Kendrick listened on waiting for her to continue. "Actually, it's nothing serious." She gave him a harmless smile. "My Grandpa's call was only to tell me something intangible. We only discussed stuff. It turns out he missed me."She was lying again. Kendrick couldn't stop his glare. From her earlier statement, she had admitted that something was bothering her. She even asked if he could read her. Now she was saying nothing happened at her grandfather's? Ridiculous. "I don't want to know what you discussed with your grandfather, Hailey," he muttered. "I want to know what is bothering you and what happen
"Well, Good night, Buddy." Devon laughed again. "And in case baby Mama calls, tell her how grateful I am to have her come into your life. Her presence is like the light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Without her, you would have remained a walking corpse." Okay, Devon was going too far. Did he mean he had been a living corpse before meeting Hailey? Kendrick rose to his feet and pushed the guy out of his room. Then he locked the door and came back to sit on the bed. A sigh left his lips and he put the phone to his left ear. "Hailey?" He called out, and he could hear her soft breathing from the other end. "That was Devon. Don't mind his words," he cleared his throat and said. Why was he feeling awkward? He frowned. It wasn't as if he was guilty of anything. Whoever Devon was talking about, Kendrick couldn't recall her name. "Oh..." Hailey only made a sound. "Did you go on the trip together?" "No, he tagged along," Kendrick explained. Then she made another sound again. Her voic