Free Web NovelChapter 107: Chapter 107: Disturbance in the Hospital Ward
"Damn..." Lynn Preston looked furious. "They just use people up and toss them aside."
Milly shook her head. "Tell me about it. So what if she was a founding employee? In the end, she was just another sacrifice for the capitalists."
"Yeah." Lynn Preston agreed at first, then fell silent for a few seconds before asking, "But why would she tell you something so important? Did she want you to spread the word and get justice for her, or something?"
"Neither," Milly denied. "She only told me all this because she was drunk and wasn’t thinking straight."
"...Huh?" Lynn Preston didn’t understand.
Milly explained, "She didn’t know the studio was planning to fire her at first. It was only after I officially came on board and started taking over her projects that she realized something was wrong. She went upstairs to Mr. Sloan’s office to confirm it. Mr. Sloan’s reason was that she had leaked the studio’s confidential information to her husband, who worked at a rival company. That violated a cardinal rule, so the studio had to let her go."
"But she knew in her heart that it was just an excuse to pin something on her. The studio had simply used her up and wanted to turn around and get rid of her."
"She was unwilling to accept it, but there was nothing she could do. Because she *had* actually leaked the information, she had no choice but to accept her termination from the studio."
"The reason I know all this is because I took her out for a meal before she left, to thank her for showing me the ropes for a couple of weeks. She drank too much at dinner and got loose-lipped, spilling everything. But she didn’t reveal the most critical details, just the general gist of it—what I’m telling you now."
There was so much information in what Milly said that Lynn Preston was stunned for a full minute before she could slowly process it.
She pushed back a strand of her long hair and asked a seemingly insignificant question. "Which rival company did that woman’s husband work for?"
Milly frowned in thought, then let out a surprised "Oh!" "I think her husband worked at your brother’s company... what was it called... Preston Group, right. She mentioned it once by accident when she was drunk."
"But now... Preston Group is gone, so her husband must have gone somewhere else a long time ago."
"Ah..." Lynn Preston nodded, not showing much surprise. "True enough."
"Lynn, are... are you upset?" Only after spilling everything did Milly realize she might have said too much. She quickly nudged Lynn Preston to gauge her reaction.
Lynn Preston smiled nonchalantly. "I’m fine. It’s been months. My family and I have already come to terms with it."
"..." Milly scratched her head sheepishly, her expression turning awkward.
Lynn Preston had to reassure her again. "I’m really fine, don’t feel bad. By the way, have you ever secretly looked up the name of the company that ’plagiarized’ your studio?"
Milly said, "I have! But maybe the other company paid to have the story suppressed and the videos reported. All I could find was that a small company called Providence Inc. once had a plagiarism dispute with Azure Studio. But that little company went out of business three months ago. I’m still confused as to why they would target such an obscure company to generate hype."
"Providence Inc..." Lynn Preston repeated the name, a deeply sarcastic smile forming on her lips.
Providence Design was a subsidiary of Preston Group, spun off to specialize in design after Felix Preston and Sonia Quincy got married. Now that Preston Group was gone, Providence Design naturally went with it.
"Sigh," Milly heaved a long sigh. "It’s all the fault of those shameless capitalists. That woman was just an innocent scapegoat."
Lynn Preston feigned a sigh of agreement. "Yeah... Hey, Milly, do you know that woman’s name?"
Milly replied, "Her surname is Fuller. Her full name is Yvette Fuller."
"Yvette Fuller." Lynn Preston committed the name to memory—and to the recording app on her phone.
After they finished their meal and said goodbye to Milly at the mall entrance, she finally had a chance to take out her phone, stop the three-hour-plus recording, and save it.
She had to go back to work in the afternoon. Her original plan was to send the recording to Sonia Quincy first, but considering how chaotic the hospital was with people coming and going, and how Sonia had to both work and take care of Felix Preston, she wouldn’t possibly have time to listen to such a long recording. So, Lynn decided against it. ’I’ll wait until I get off work tonight. I’ll go to the hospital, get Evan Yates, and then bring up the recording.’
...
The hospital food was truly awful. Unwilling to let Sonia Quincy and the baby in her belly make do, Mrs. Preston took some time in the afternoon to go home and cook. She returned with several large containers packed with food.
"Sonia, hurry and eat more. You’ve lost weight these past two days." Mrs. Preston had made all of Sonia Quincy’s favorite dishes. The moment she opened the food containers, she started piling food into Sonia’s bowl, afraid she might eat even one bite less.
Sonia Quincy watched as the food in her bowl quickly piled up into a small mountain. Without even putting down her chopsticks, she quickly raised a hand to stop Mrs. Preston. "Mom, please, stop. My bowl is about to overflow."
Mrs. Preston brushed her hand aside and added two more pieces of sweet and sour pork to her bowl. "There’s still room. It can fit two more pieces of meat."
Sonia was both touched and exasperated. She wanted to stop her again but couldn’t bear to reject Mrs. Preston’s kind intentions. So, she could only let her mother-in-law continue piling food until her rice was completely hidden from view.
"There, eat up." Finally satisfied, Mrs. Preston smiled and told Sonia to eat.
The "rice" was now thoroughly buried. Holding her chopsticks, Sonia could only eat the toppings first. It was only after she had eaten more than half of them that she managed to dig out a couple of mouthfuls of rice from underneath.
"Sonia, have they found the person who crashed into Felix?"
Mrs. Preston had wanted to ask this question in the morning, but Sonia Quincy had been busy, and she never found the right moment to bring it up. Hesitantly, she had waited until now.
"..." Upon hearing the question, Sonia’s hand, which was picking up food, froze for a moment before resuming its normal movement two seconds later.
"Not yet. The police are working on it." She hadn’t figured out how to break the news to Mrs. Preston yet, so for now, she could only lie and buy herself some time.
"They haven’t found them yet?" Mrs. Preston’s brows furrowed tightly, her face clouded with sorrow.
Sonia said, "Mom, don’t worry. Felix was hit so badly, the other person can’t be in much better shape. As long as the police are looking, they’ll definitely—"
"BANG!"
Before Sonia could finish her sentence, the door to the hospital room was suddenly thrown open from the outside.
She and Mrs. Preston looked up at the same time, only to see several faces she least wanted to see standing at the door.
"Sonia Quincy, what nonsense were you spouting in front of Cecilia last night? How dare you wish death on Willow? Are you even human?"
Fiona Dalton—Cecilia Quincy’s biological mother and Sonia Quincy’s former adoptive mother—stormed into the room, bristling with rage, and pointed a finger at Sonia as she screamed curses.
"You’re pregnant! You should be accumulating good karma! Be careful, or all your viciousness will come back to haunt your child!"
