“Brettley. “
Fiona shot him a worried look from her spot on the hospital bed and said, “If you can’t reach a compromise with Ms. Bethan, just blame everything on Mrs. Collins and me. Don’t get into trouble with her, okay?”
Seeing how understanding Fiona was, Brettley let out a sigh and nodded. Then, he turned around and left the room.
Fiona leaned against the headboard and watched Brettley leave with a smirk. Her dark eyes were etched with smugness and triumph.
It turned out she had overestimated Bethan. She had thought Bethan was smart and calculative, but she was nothing more than a rash, impulsive woman.
‘How can she compete with me?’ Fiona thought to herself. ‘Sooner or later, Brettley Morrison will be mine! ‘
Outside the ward.
Bethan was sitting on a bench in the hallway. Shannon, who was sitting next to her, was checking the prices of Mrs. Collins’ dress with her phone.
Samson had left to send Arianna her lunch while Zayne sat next to them with his head lowered, engrossed in the news.
Mrs. Collins was perched on the seat across from Bethan. She lifted her head to glare at Bethan, then lowered it back down to look at her soiled dress, sighing at the same time.
After a while, the door opened, and Brettley strode out with a dark expression.
“Mr. Morrison! “
Mrs. Collins leaped out of her seat and approached him, wailing the moment she spotted him, “Help me! Your employees, including a tall boy who was here just now, bumped into me in the cafeteria and made me spill food all over my clothes! “
She tugged on her dress and exclaimed, “
Look at this huge stain!
“I wanted him to compensate me for the dress, but he refused to do so unless I took off this dress in public and gave it to him! Isn’t that disrespectful? He’s trying to take advantage of an old lady like me! Mr. Morrison, please help me! “
Brettley frowned and first glanced at the stain on Mrs. Collins’ dress, then at Bethan. “Did Samson do this? Where is he now?”
Bethan shrugged. “Arianna was hungry, so Samson went to get her lunch.”
Brettley snorted in indignation. “He’s the one who messed up, yet he expects the rest of you to clean up his mess for him? What a coward.”
“He’s not a coward,”
Bethan interjected coldly. “I told him not to come. I was afraid that he might lose his temper and upset your precious Ms. Blake again. I was worried that if that happens, you’ll threaten to fire all three of them again.”
Brettley narrowed his eyes but did not pursue the topic further. Instead, he turned around and glanced at Mrs. Collins. “Is that all?”
Mrs. Collins paused for a moment, then nodded in reply. “Yes. Ms. Blake and I are new to Banyan City, so we’re not familiar with this place. Besides, I was alone just now, while there were four of them, so I didn’t want to be taken advantage of and called Ms. Blake…”
She glanced in the direction of the ward and asked, “Speaking of Ms. Blake, where is she?”
“She’s getting some rest,”
Brettley interjected, then turned around to glance at Bethan again. “Were you there when all this happened?”
Bethan nodded. “Yes, I was.”
Brettley scoffed, and his expression turned cold immediately. “Then why did you let him get away with this attitude? He’s the one who bumped into Mrs. Collins, so of course he should compensate for the ruined dress.”
“Mrs. Collins is almost sixty years old now, and she’s Samson’s elder. Don’t you think it was very disrespectful of him to ask her to take off her dress in public?”
Bethan chuckled when she heard this. “Let me ask you this, Mr. Morrison. Mrs. Collins accidentally spilled food on her dress, so shouldn’t we just compensate her for the dry-cleaning fees? She refused to let us compensate for that and instead insisted we pay her full price for the whole dress. When we refused to, she called us poor and claimed we could never compare to Ms. Blake… Do you think it’s appropriate for her to say these?”
Brettley paused, then immediately turned around to glance at Mrs. Collins. “Is this true?”
Mrs. Collins’ expression darkened. She initially thought Bethan and the rest were just nobodies, that they would be frightened as soon as they came face-to-face with Brettley and pay the compensation.
However, to her surprise, the people she had gotten in a dispute with were none other than Brettley’s employees!
Moreover, she had thought Brettley would have her back and be supportive of her no matter what, simply because she was Fiona’s servant, but she was wrong.
Mrs. Collins bit down on her lip and said, “Mr. Morrison, I insisted because this dress is expensive. Even if they managed to clean it, it’d never be the same anymore! This dress costs fifty thousand dollars, and today is the first time I’ve ever worn it, yet it’s already ruined. I thought it was unfair, so I insisted they pay its original price! “
“Since Samson is willing to pay fifty thousand dollars, you have to give him the dress in return. What’s wrong with that?”
Bethan replied impassively. “Since your dress won’t be the same anymore after it’s cleaned, what about after you’ve worn it? It’s not the same as when it was brand new anymore , isn’t it?
Now that my assistant is willing to pay its original price, what’s wrong with you taking it off and giving it to him so that you’ll stop degrading its value?”
The color drained from Mrs. Collins’ face as soon as she heard this.
Meanwhile, Brettley furrowed his brows.
He was not familiar with Marianne at all. He knew her simply as Mrs. Collins, the servant that looked after Fiona. He had always thought that she was a kind and understanding person just like Fiona, but…
Brettley furrowed his brows and turned around to glance at Marianne. “Mrs. Collins, since you demanded them to pay full price in compensation, it’s only fair they demand this in return.”
He rubbed his brows in frustration and added, “If you think this dress won’t be the same as a new one anymore, even after it’s cleaned, then I’ll ask Lucas to buy you a new one. Let’s just settle this right here and right now. I’m feeling a little tired of this.”
Marianne bit down on her lip and glanced at Bethan and the rest. She could not help gritting her teeth as she said, “But Mr. Morrison, this has nothing to do with you at all. Why would I let you buy me a new dress?”
She pointed straight at Bethan. “She should be the one to do so! “
With that, she lifted her head and gazed down at Bethan in a contemptuous manner. “But I guess you can’t afford it anyway. That’s okay. I don’t need you to buy me a new dress. All I ask is that you bow and apologize to me in front of Mr. Morrison, then I’ll let this slide.”
When she heard this, Bethan chuckled, arms crossed at her chest, and stared at Marianne. “Even though I’m having financial difficulties now, it doesn’t mean I can’t afford to buy a five-hundred-dollar dress. I’m just not willing to, that’s all.”
“What nonsense ! “
M arianne immediately pointed at Bethan and roared, “This dress is worth fifty thousand dollars ! M s. Blake was the one who gifted it to me! How dare you even say it’s worth five hundred?”
She was so agitated that her entire body started shaking. “It’s enough that you insulted me, but how can you insult Ms. Blake, too?”
“This dress is indeed worth only five hundred dollars, “
Bethan interjected coldly. “It’s either you’re lying, or your precious Fiona is. Either way, one of you is lying about the dress’ actual price.”
Marianne was glaring at Bethan so hard that her eyeballs might fall out at any moment. “What do you mean I ‘in lying? That’s impossible ! Ms. Blake won’t lie to me either ! No wonder you were so unwilling to let this matter go. You were just waiting for an opportunity to insult Ms. Blake as well! “
The more Marianne thought about this, the more confident she was about her guess.
This was a matter that would be easily settled with money. However, not only did Bethan refuse to pay the compensation, but she also even insisted on letting Mr. Morrison settle this dispute instead.
The only plausible explanation was that she wanted to insult Ms. Blake and drive a wedge between her and Mr. Morrison!
As soon as she arrived at this conclusion, Marianne shot Bethan a murderous glare, then looked at Brettley. “Mr. Morrison, you should fire this woman! She’s no use to you at all, and if you continue to let her stay at your company, she’ll find other ways to get rid of Ms. Blake! “
“What’s this? Just now, you wanted to fire my assistants, and now you want to fire me as well?”
Bethan curled her lips into a smirk, then raised her eyebrows and glanced at Brettley. “What do you think, Mr. Morrison?”
Brettley furrowed his brows slightly–he never expected things to turn out like this. Initially, he thought Mrs. Collins had gotten into a dispute with a stranger, but to his surprise, it was Bethan.
He also never thought Bethan would be this stubborn and unforgiving, but he knew all too well why Bethan acted like this.
It was not because of Marianne’s outrageous demands, but…because of Fiona.
Brettley let out a sigh when he thought of this. Since when did Bethan become such a jealous and unaccommodating person? Did she not know what the consequences of hurting Fiona were? Did she not know Fiona was going to save Nigel?
“Bethan.”
Brettley shot her a somewhat helpless glance and said, “Can’t you let go of this?”
“I can’t.”
Bethan stood up. “When Fiona insisted my assistants were plotting something against her and deliberately poured coffee on her, why didn’t you choose to let it go for my sake? How dare you ask me to let this go, now that Fiona’s servant is insulting me right to my face and even attempted to scam my assistants by making him pay fifty thousand dollars for a five-hundred-dollar dress?”
She sneered, looked directly at Brettley, and added icily, “Do you think I value your ego? Well, news flash: I don’t.”
The entire hallway fell into silence.
Shannon, Zayne, and even Marianne stared at Bethan in shock. None of them would have guessed, not in a million years, that she would say something like this to Brettley.
She did not even bother sugarcoating her words at all.
Brettley’s expression darkened. “Bethan! “
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.