“Of course I have to.”
Theo sighed again. “Nigel told me everything. He told me what happened at the cocktail party and the cameras you found in your room. It must be tough for you to be there all alone. Brettley and Alice are back together now, so he’ll definitely stand on her side. If I ‘m not there for you, who else is?”
Bethan felt her heart skip a beat. She bit down on her lip and was speechless for a while.
It seemed that…in Sea City, the place she had lived in for 20 years, there was no one there she could rely on.
Bethan finally heaved a deep sigh and said, “Alright then… Thank you.”
Bethan was not as strong as she looked.
“Don’t worry, you have me now, “
Theo reassured her. The two talked for a little while more before they ended the call.
Bethan set her phone aside and lifted her head to stare at the ceiling.
After a while, she heard someone knocking on her door. She opened it and came face-to-face with Alice.
Alice handed a bag of food over to Bethan. “Brettley and I went out to buy breakfast, and we got you one, too.”
Bethan glanced behind her and saw Brettley standing by one of the windows in the hallway as he gazed at the scenery.
Bethan pursed her lips and shoved the bag back into Alice’s hands. “I’m not hungry.”
With that, she slammed the door in Alice’s face.
Alice’s voice rang out from the other side of the door, “Brettley, look at her! Why is she being like this? I bought her breakfast out of kindness, and she won’t even look at it!”
Brettley replied coldly, “Well, if she doesn’t want the food, I’ll have it.”
“You’re the best, Brettley.”
Listening to their conversation from inside her room, Bethan suddenly felt like laughing.
Theo was right. Brettley would always be on Alice’s side, but no one was on Bethan’s.
At 9pm, Lucas knocked on Bethan’s door. “Ms. Bethan, it’s time to go.”
Bethan put on her jacket, grabbed the materials Brettley had given her last night, and followed Lucas out of the door.
An RV was parked in front of the hotel. Bethan flung the door open and discovered that there were three people sitting inside: Brettley, Alice, and another man Bethan had never seen before.
Seeing Bethan’s arrival, Alice immediately grabbed Brettley. “Bethan, this is one of the designers from Walter Group. His name is Gavin. Hailey Walter sent him to join us on our field trip to the suppliers.”
She gave Bethan a gentle smile before she added, “Since the Walters have sent someone over to accompany us, they’re probably feeling bad about what happened that day at the party.”
“Yes.”
The man named Gavin pushed his glasses up on his nose and gave Bethan a once -over. “Ms. Bethan is such a charming woman. It’s no wonder the misunderstanding happened.”
“The butler who messed up the guest list was already punished. The only reason I’m here is to give Ms. Bethan a proper welcome here at Sea City.”
Gavin’s expression made Bethan feel uncomfortable.
There were two rows of seats inside the RV. Brettley and Alice were seated on one side, while Gavin occupied the other row of seats. Bethan contemplated for a moment before she finally sat in the same row as Gavin.
Feeling uneasy, Bethan deliberately chose the seat furthest from him, but Gavin was oblivious to this and instead approached her. “Ms. Bethan, I heard you’re one of the most gifted designers in the field of jewelry design. Is that so?”
The scent wafting off of Gavin made Bethan a little unsettled. She immediately shifted an inch over to get away from him, but Gavin scooched over as well. Finally, Bethan had no choice but to set down her documents on the seat between them to act as a physical barrier.
Gavin frowned and tried to pick the documents up.
“Stop, ” warned Brettley just as Gavin was about to remove the documents from the seat. Brettley glanced at him, then slowly closed his eyes. “You’re not allowed to touch any paperwork that belongs to Morrison Group.”
Gavin’s hand hovered in midair for a moment. Then, he drew his hand back somewhat sheepishly and said, “I apologize for that, Mr. Morrison.”
Brettley shot him a glance and removed himself from Alice’s grasp. He stood up and slowly walked over until he stood in front of Bethan. “Get up.”
Bethan furrowed her brows. She did not understand what Brettley wanted to do, but she stood up anyway.
Brettley gracefully lowered himself into Bethan’s seat and pointed at his original spot next to Alice. “You sit there.”
Bethan suddenly realized that Brettley was trying to help her. Although she did not fancy the idea of sitting next to Alice, it was still better than being next to that creep, so she let out an exhale, picked up the documents, and plopped down next to Alice.
The entire car was silent.
Alice clenched her fists at the sudden change. She deliberately asked Gavin to tag along to make Bethan uncomfortable ! However, she did not expect that Brettley, who usually hated interacting with strangers, would switch seats with Bethan to help her! Throughout the journey, no one said a single word.
Brettley closed his eyes and pretended to be taking a nap, while Gavin was so scared that he did not dare say a word.
Alice kept sneaking glances at Bethan out of the corner of her eye. Bethan was busy scribbling some notes in the documents as if none of this had happened.
Around 10am, the RV arrived at one of the Walter Group’s factories. As soon as the car stopped, Gavin leaped out of the vehicle and poised himself next to the door. He had one hand on the door handle while the other extended toward Bethan, intending to help her out of the car. “Ms. Bethan, please.”
Bethan frowned. She did not want to accept his offer, but out of nowhere, someone shoved her from behind. Bethan lost her balance, and her entire body was thrust in Gavin’s direction.
Gavin immediately grabbed her, and his hands wrapped around her waist. The scent of his body made Bethan nauseous, and she tried to get away from him, but his grip on her was too tight. She twisted herself around and slapped him across his face. “Let go of me! “
Gavin immediately loosened his grip on her and backed away. He stared at Bethan with a stunned expression, clutching his face.
Bethan turned away and hastily wiped herself off with a tissue.
“I’m so sorry, ” said Alice as she hopped off the RV with an apologetic look on her face. “I stumbled just now and accidentally bumped into Ms. Bethan. “
She glanced at Gavin. “What happened?”
Gavin, still clutching his face, scoffed. “Ms. Bethan almost fell just now, and I grabbed her without even thinking twice, but she must’ve thought I was being handsy, so she slapped me.”
Alice frowned and glanced at Bethan, who was still rubbing at her clothes with a tissue. “Ms. Bethan, Gavin was just trying to do you a favor… Aren’t you overreacting a little? Why don’t you apologize to him?”
Bethan laughed at Alice’s words and shot her a glance. “You want me to apologize?”
Alice deliberately bumped into her and made her fall right into Gavin’s arms. He took advantage of her, yet she was supposed to apologize instead?
“Yes, you should apologize. “
Alice pursed her lips and was about to say more when Brettley hung up his phone and got out of the car. He had been taking a phone call, so he did not notice what went down outside. He glanced at Gavin, who was rubbing his swollen face, then at Bethan, who was cleaning herself with a tissue. “What’s wrong?”
Alice immediately grabbed onto Brettley’s arm. “
When I was getting out of the car just now, I accidentally bumped into Bethan, and she fell. Gavin grabbed her to break her fall, but she thinks Gavin was trying to take advantage of her.”
With that, Alice pointed at Gavin’s swollen cheek. “
Look. She slapped him right across his face, and now she’s trying to clean herself up… Aren’t you being a little disrespectful, Bethan? I asked her to apologize to Gavin, but she refused to…”
Brettley frowned at that. He shot Bethan a glance. “Is that true?”
Bethan paused and lifted her head, meeting Brettley’s gaze directly. “Yes. Are you going to make me apologize to someone who just took advantage of me, Mr. Morrison?”
Gavin was displeased to hear that. He glanced at Bethan and said somewhat bitterly, “I was trying to help you. What makes you think I was trying to be handsy?”
“He’s right, “
Alice piped in. “Brettley, the Walters sent Gavin over to give us a tour, but now, Bethan has made the situation awkward. At best, people would think Ms. Bethan is feisty and just trying to protect herself , but if word gets out, some might think the Morrison Group and the Walter Group have a rivalry ! This can be easily settled with an apology, but why is she so reluctant to do so? I don’t understand.”
Bethan knew Alice was trying to coerce her into apologizing to that creep by talking about the impact of her actions on the company. However, she still refused to do so. Bethan narrowed her eyes and tossed the tissue into a nearby trash can. “I won’t apologize.”
Bethan was not an arrogant person. She was willing to be Brettley’s maid and employee , all for the sake of saving her child’s life. However, she refused to apologize to Gavin because she knew that if she did so, he and Alice would take this win and try to irritate her even more.
Besides, Bethan knew that Gavin’s motive was not to take advantage of her. Instead, he and Alice would go out of their way to make her uncomfortable and upset her.
“Bethan, it’s just an apology. It’s not like you’ll lose anything. “
Alice rolled her eyes. “It’s just a simple sorry, but if you don’t do so, Brettley will have a hard time explaining this to the Walters… “
“Yes, “
Brettley interjected before Alice could finish her sentence. “It’s just a simple sorry.”
He shot Bethan a glance, then turned around to look at Alice. “
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.