“Yeah,” Hayden mumbled in dejection.
A hint of helplessness flickered across Nicole’s face when she heard Hayden’s reply. “Didn’t I show you photos of your dad? Your dad is a jerk!” She never concealed Hayden’s parentage from him, and she had shown him photos of Joseph, but he never believed her. Whenever she showed him Joseph’s photo, he would retort, “There’s no way my dad would be so ugly! I’m so good-looking, so my dad has to be good-looking, too.”
Nicole was rendered speechless. Joseph was a philanderer, but he was by no means ugly.
Lifting his little face up, Hayden replied stubbornly, “That’s impossible! Mom, don’t you think that the guy just now is my dad? We look exactly alike!”
“Stop thinking about it, you little brat! I’m the one who gave birth to you, so I know what your dad looked like,” Nicole replied. Then, she warned under her breath, “Don’t call any random guy ‘Dad’ again from now on. Otherwise, I’m gonna leave you abroad and not bring you back.”
Hayden curled his lips. Despite his urge to retort, he didn’t make a sound for fear that his mother would really leave him abroad.
Nicole exited the airport with her son to hail a taxi. Since she would return to the country every year to visit her mother’s grave, she purchased an apartment in Goldwick. With a size of only 80 square feet, the apartment was anything but spacious, but it was big enough to accommodate her and her son.
She had just hailed a taxi and was about to shove her luggage into the trunk when she suddenly spotted a figure in the distance. That tall figure in black that gives off chilly vibes, isn’t he the narcissistic freak whom I’ve just met outside the airport washroom?
Standing beside the man was a tall and slim woman who looked strongly familiar to Nicole from behind. Well, to be able to pair off with such a freak, that woman probably isn’t of sound mind either, Nicole thought viciously to herself while withdrawing her gaze.
It was already getting toward evening when Nicole finished tidying up the house after returning home. Upon recollecting herself, she suddenly noticed that Hayden was strangely quiet today, and a bad feeling came to her. Heading over to the sofa, she saw Hayden doing something on the laptop on his lap. When she moved closer to take a look, she noticed that he was holding an ID card in his hand!
The man on the ID card was pursing his thin lips, looking stern with his black, steely eyes. Although it was just a photo, one could tell that he was very full of himself. I-Isn’t he the freak at the airport?! “Hayden, where did you get this ID card?” Nicole struggled to suppress her urge to swear. Since when did Hayden become so capable as to lift somebody’s ID card…
Upon hearing her words, Hayden closed the laptop with the ID card in his hand. Lifting his face up, he replied with a straight face, “I picked it up from the floor. I wanted to give it back to the man at first, but I didn’t since he was mean to us.”
Nicole looked down at the sofa, only to be rendered speechless by the sight of a black wallet placed beside Hayden. That guy seemed to have a bit of a background. If we don’t return the wallet to him right now, once he finds out about it, he’ll definitely assume us to be thieves. There’ll be no way for us to prove our innocence then!
She felt somewhat helpless. This son of mine really won’t give me peace even for a single day, she thought. She picked up the wallet from the sofa and flipped through it. Inside it were a dozen 100-dollar notes and quite a number of cards, from which she took out one that seemed like a business card.
The business card was very simple; it only had a name and a phone number. “Colton Gardner…” Nicole mumbled aloud. She couldn’t help feeling that she had heard of the name somewhere. No matter what, let’s return it first before anything else, or else we’ll get in trouble. She dialed the number on the business card.
It took a few seconds before the phone call was put through. “Hello?” A deep and chilly male voice greeted Nicole’s ear.
Feeling her skin crawl in an instant, Nicole explained, “Hi there, I found your wallet. I’m – “
“Are you the woman at the airport?”
Nicole was startled. She didn’t expect the man to have such a good memory as to recognize her from her voice alone. “Yeah, it’s me.”
Colton gave a chuckle, but his words were grim. “You’re quite crafty, aren’t you? Now you have a valid reason to meet me again.”
Upon returning from the airport, Colton found that his wallet was gone. It has to be the kid at the airport. He’s the only person I’ve come into contact with, he thought.
Nicole was instantly irritated by the man’s egotistical remarks. Struggling to suppress her anger, she explained, “You dropped your wallet yourself, and I’m kind-hearted enough to call you to return it to you.”
“Have it delivered to the Central Pavilion Hotel, or else you’ll suffer the consequences,” Colton said in a cold voice before hanging up right away. He didn’t want to say anything more than necessary to such a woman, but there were several cards in his wallet that were quite important, and it would be a hassle to have them reissued.
Nicole nearly went berserk when she heard the disconnect tone on the phone. What a f*cking screwball! How could he order me around like he’s entitled to do so?! She clenched the wallet in her hand, wishing she could just throw it into the toilet and flush it down.
Nevertheless, she forcibly fought back her desire to do so, not wanting to invite unnecessary trouble since she had just returned from abroad. Putting the ID card in Hayden’s hand back into the wallet, she asked worriedly, “Did you touch anything else in the wallet?”
Hayden looked totally innocent and harmless with his black, round eyes. “Nope. All I did was take a look at his ID card.”
Nicole shoved the wallet into her handbag with a nod before taking out her cell phone to order a takeout for Hayden. Staring at her son, she said in all seriousness, “Thanks to you, Hayden, I’ve got to leave home in a while and won’t be back until about three hours later. Can you manage on your own?” The journey back and forth from here to Central Pavilion Hotel would take two hours. Considering the time she would be spending at the hotel, it would take about three hours before she got back.
“Yes, I can.” Hayden nodded with a hint of determination in his eyes.
Nicole instructed, “Well then, Hayden, just go to your room to sleep if you want to after finishing your dinner. I’ve tidied your room.” What a bad year for me, getting into so much trouble as soon as I came back.
Hayden nodded obediently while responding in a childlike voice, “Yeah, I got it, Mom. Just go, or else it’ll be late when you come back.”
Somehow, Nicole felt like Hayden was eager for her to go. It’s probably just my imagination…
Meanwhile, at Central Pavilion Hotel, a group of people were having an animated conversation when one of them suddenly recalled something and said, “If my memory serves me, Gardner Corporation is gonna partner up with Ms. Lisa of F&M Apparel. Wouldn’t it be the icing on the cake? With Ms. Lisa taking the helm, Gardner Corporation will definitely strengthen its position as the leading enterprise in expanding the fashion market.”
Colton replied impassively, “Mm-hmm.”
“Isn’t it said that Ms. Lisa would be arriving in the country today? Did you get to meet her?”
Upon hearing the question, Colton turned his gaze to Queenie, who was next to him.
Queenie had thought that this was nothing important, so she didn’t expect the subject to be brought up. Having no other choice, she said with a tight smile, “Nope, I didn’t. Something came up, so I missed the opportunity.”
Colton’s voice turned chilly all of a sudden. “What happened?”
Startled by the man’s frosty eyes, Queenie hummed and hawed for a long time before uttering, “Well, you happened to be on the same flight today, so – “
However, Colton had always been strict in keeping business-related matters and private affairs separate. “You’re the one who asked for the job of assistant, and now you’re not even capable of something as simple as picking someone up.”
Queenie felt somewhat hurt. “I just thought that you – “
Colton interrupted her before she could finish her sentence. “As an assistant, it’s your most basic professional duty to keep work-related matters and your private affairs separate!”
Suppressing the urge to retort, Queenie hung her head low and clasped her hands with all her might, not daring to speak.
Colton didn’t spare her feelings at all, though. “Now that you’ve taken up the job of assistant, you have to do your duty.”
“Understood…” Queenie replied in a whisper.
Colton’s expression was still somewhat frosty, though. Resting his slender fingers on the table, he continued, “F&M Apparel’s annual dinner will be held at the Crown Hotel half a month later. You’d better not mess that up.”
Meanwhile, Nicole arrived downstairs at the hotel by taxi. After paying the taxi fare and getting out of the taxi, she entered the hotel lobby and called the pompous man.
It took an eternity before the phone call was finally answered. “I’ve arrived at Central Pavillion Hotel. Please come down to collect your wallet, or I’ll leave it at the hotel’s front desk,” Nicole said quickly, fearing that the man might once again think she was having designs on him.
“Bring it upstairs to Room 816,” Colton said before hanging up right away.
Be patient! Nicole clutched the cell phone in her hand with all her might. I’ve got to be patient! Now that I’ve arrived at the hotel, the matter will be over once I hand the wallet back to that guy!
After taking the elevator to the eighth floor, she quickly found Room 816. Thanks to her good manners, she knocked on the door and didn’t open the door and go in until she heard a voice saying, “Come in,” from the inside.
Inside the room were a dozen men and women, but Nicole spotted Colton sitting across from her at a glance. Dressed in a suit and a pair of leather shoes, he sat bolt upright, drawing her gaze at once with his commanding presence. Well, this freak is bad-mannered and domineering, but his looks and demeanor are indeed out of the ordinary…
Suddenly, a shrill cry snapped her out of her reverie. “Why are you here, Nicole?!”
Seeing Queenie next to Colton, Nicole was wholly surprised for a moment…
Nicole hurriedly withdrew her gaze, then walked up to Colton before handing his wallet to him. “Here’s your wallet, Mr. Gardner; please check and see if there’s anything missing from it. If there isn’t any, I’ll be leaving first,” she said, all in one breath.
However, just as she was about to leave, Queenie called out to her, asking, “Why are you here, sis?” Isn’t Nicole supposed to have disappeared completely? Why is she here all of a sudden, showing up before Colton with his wallet in her hand no less?! A vicious gleam flickered in her eyes. She happened to be looking for an outlet to vent her spleen after having been reprimanded by Colton just now, and here Nicole was, coming right to her!
Nicole froze at Queenie’s words. Not wanting to have anything to do with the Andersons, she wore a distant smile, saying, “Sorry, but you took me for the wrong person.”
Just when she was about to leave, Queenie shouted loudly from behind, “It’s been five years since you left, sis. Dad misses you a lot. Can you please come home when you’re free?”
As soon as Queenie said that, a buzz of gossip immediately broke out from the crowd.
“So this is the Anderson Family’s illegitimate daughter?”
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