Chapter 47
“she really comes from poverty. All her previous jobs were arranged by Clayton. Her resume just looks fancy. She doesn’t have any real skills,” Valerie
Valerie and Mia were distant relatives. The last time Valerie had come to Mide Commerce with Clayton, it was to ask Mia to mediate and keep Stride Commerce working with Clayton. Valerie hadn’t expected to run into Audry and have such an embarrassing encounter,
To prevent Audrey from being hired, Valerie had told Mia about Audrey’s violent tendencies and history of assault, encouraging her to spread the word in the work group
Vaderie hadn’t anticipated that Paul wouldn’t care at all, Mia had only verbally opposed Audrey’s hiring today, but she ended up getting fired.
“Are you sure she can’t do anything?” Mia asked.
“I’m sure.” Valerie replied.
Mabreathed a sigh of relief. Once Paul realizes Audrey is all show and no substance, he’ll ask me to come back. And then, I can use the situation to negotiate a raise,” she thought to herself.
“Alright, let’s leave it at that for now, Mia said.
“Wait, Mia,” Valerie quickly called out. “Could you put in a good word for Blackthorn Legal? Clayton used to have a great partnership with Stride Commerce. All those negative stories are just smear campaigns by rival law firms.”
Mia snorted. I’ve just been fired. How am I supposed to help Clayton?” she thought. But she didn’t want Valerie to know that Paul had let her go to hire
“I’m about to go on a business trip. Let’s talk when I get back Mia said before hanging up the phone.
I saw Valerie sitting dejectedly at the front desk. He walked over. “You said yesterday that you had a relative at Stride
Clayton came out of his office and s Commerce who could help?”
Valerie quickly stood up. “I just called her. She agreed to help, but she’s currently working on a project out of town. We’ll have to wait until she gets
back”
Disappointment flickered in Clayton’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything. He went over to ask Emilia how many cases they currently had. Emilia answered honestly. It felt like the law firm was crumbling.
Previously, many magazines had endorsed Blackthorn Legal, praising Clayton’s competence and integrity
Ever since the Ashwood Mental Hospital scandal broke, almost all the media had turned against him.
They accused Clayton of being a hypocrite, calling him a shelter for criminals and labeling him as deceitful and dark.
Long–term partners had almost all terminated their cooperation with him, and the cases that came in were the small ones Clayton used to turn down.
“Take them,” Clayton said with a furrowed brow
Valerie followed him into the office. “Clayton, Riley must be home by now, right? She’s still so young she must be terrified.”
Clayton hadn’t expected Valerie to follow him in He glanced out at the reception desk. “With no business coming in, the front desk is even unstaffed? That’s already a mess, he thought to himself
Valerie, with her eyes cast down, didn’t notice his displeasure. “If Riley hadn’t gone to bother Audrey for my sake, Audrey wouldn’t have pursued her so relentlessly. It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have come back at all.”
Clayton, preoccupied with his own troubles, didn’t have the energy to comfort her. He casually replied. “Since you’re already back, what’s the point of
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Chapter 47
saying that?”
Valerie was taken aback, feeling that his attitude toward her had become much colder
Her eyes flickered. “Audrey might just be angry. If you just coax her a bit, she might agree t
to reconcile.”
“We will reconcile,” Clayton said with certainly.
Valerie immediately felt a sense of crisis, “Clayton actually wants to reconcile with Audrey? That’s absolutely not going to happen, she thought.
Emilia knocked on the office door, holding a document in her hand.
“You can go First.” Clayton waved Valerie out of the office, he didn’t want her to know the current state of the law firm.
Valerie thought he was about to discuss the reconciliation with Emilia and slowly shuffled toward the door.
Emilia quietly watched Valerie, determined to wait until she let before speaking
Eventually, Valerie gritted her teeth and closed the door behind her. “Just you wait. Once I marry Clayton, you’ll be the first one I fire, Emilia, she thought.
“Just had a consultation for a criminal case,” Emilia said, handing the file to Clayton.
Clayton had always represented victims as their attorney, but this case involved defending a criminal Given Clayton’s usual practice, he would have refused, but times were tough now.
He was even taking on the smallest cases, so this one was definitely on the table. The defense fee for this case was quite high, and Emilia wasn’t sure what Clayton would decide, so she came to ask.
Clayton’s face darkened as he looked at the case. “Let me think about it.”
Audrey had originally applied for a secretarial position, but after seeing her abilities, Paul wanted her to take over Ma’s Project Team Two.
for the secretary position,” Audrey said.
“I’m sorry. Tapplied for the
Paul interlaced his fingers and placed them on the table, smiling as he asked, “The pay and benefits for a project manager are much better than those for a secretary. Why wouldn’t you want that?”
Audrey’s eyes flickered, and her grip on her backpack tightened slightly. “I still want to start in the secretarial department”
Paul called over the head of the secretarial team, the same person who had brought Audrey the laptop earlier. “Edana, Audrey is with you now.”
“Alright, Audrey, this way, please,” Edana Conan said.
Audrey nodded at Paul and followed Edana out. Paul, lost in thought, let out a sly smile.
On her first day, Edana had Audrey familiarize herself with the company’s business categories and client list
Audrey picked it up quickly. After a simple lunch at a snack shop downstairs, she returned to the office and received a notification from Edana. “Audrey, get ready to go meet a client with Mr. Gibson.”
“Me?” Audrey pointed to herself, thinking. 1 just started today, and I’m already meeting a client with Mr. Gibson?‘
Seeing her confusion, Edana explained, “it was originally scheduled for someone else, but her mother fell and she had to take a sudden leave. This lunch meeting was set up a while ago. Em allergic to alcohol, so it has to be you”
Edana seemed sincere, and the other secretary hadn’t returned after lunch. The unrealistic thought that had briefly crossed Audrey’s mind was quickly pushed aside. “Okay”
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Chapter 47
An hour before the scheduled lunch meeting, Paul walked out of his office and snapped his fingers at Audrey, who quickly gathered
Yommie House was a distinctive restaurant. When Audrey followed Paul into the private room, two men were already talking inside. They looked at Audrey with teasing glances
wasn’t entirely their fault for jumping to conclusions. The Gibson family had made their fortune through most rebellious of the sens. Somehow, he had started doing legitimate business later on
Although his income was now from legitimate sources, his reputation as a womanizer remained unchanged:
than–reputabl
and Paul was the
They knew Faul’s secretaries, and seeing a yoħig and attractive girl with him, they assumed he had found a new romantic interest.
“Mr. Gibson, who is this?” un asked.
Paul casually pulled out a chair and sat down, smiling “She’s the new secretary at my company, Audrey. Have a seat.”
Audrey nodded politely at the two men and sat down next to Paul,
Their conversation revolved around a large shipment of goods, too big for one company to handle alone, but cooperation seemed risky due to mutual district
Audrey listened quietly, noting that the main seat was still empty Clearly, someone with more authority hadn’t arrived yet.
About half an hour later, the door to the private room opened. Everyone around the round table quickly stopped talking and stood up to great the
newcomer.
Audrey felt a chill run down her spine, and the overwhelming presence made her fingers tremble uncontrollably.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
