Free Web NovelChapter 26: Chapter 26: She’s Backed by Her Sister-in-Law
"..."
Jack Sullivan held both hands in front of his face, staring at Sonia Quincy with a wary, dumbfounded expression, saying nothing.
Sonia Quincy didn’t press him. She picked up Lynn Preston’s bag from the chair, pulled Lynn around, and started to leave. As she walked, she looked back to warn him, "Tomorrow morning, I’m coming back with Lynn to submit her resignation. You’d better find someone to calculate her wages right now. Make sure that paystub is in Lynn’s hands by tomorrow."
"If you dare to drag your feet and brush me off, I’ll come to this office every single day and watch you work!"
"...You... you..." Jack Sullivan had never met anyone as unreasonable and domineering as Sonia Quincy. He reflexively took two steps to follow, but the menacing expressions on Felix Preston’s and Evan Yates’s faces made him retreat.
"What? Was my wife not clear enough?" Felix Preston’s cold gaze landed on him, his question light but chilling.
"..." Jack Sullivan didn’t dare to answer.
Felix Preston recalled what the man had said, and his lips curled into a contemptuous smirk. "The Preston Family did go bankrupt, but like my wife said, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. No matter how far the Prestons have fallen, it’s not our place to be walked all over by a petty supervisor from a small company."
"..." Jack Sullivan timidly averted his gaze, not daring to utter a single word in response.
"I, Felix Preston, may be poor, but I’m not dead. If I really wanted to deal with you, I still have the means and the connections." As he said this, Sonia Quincy had just walked up to his side. Felix smoothly wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her protectively into his embrace.
"You’d better listen to every single word my wife said. If you dare to play games or make things difficult, I’ll show you just how much power the Preston Family still has."
Not wanting to drag it out, Felix Preston turned to leave with Sonia in his arms after saying his piece.
"Wait!" Lynn Preston suddenly yelled, turning and running back to her workstation to rummage through it. "I haven’t taken my tissues and trash bags! I paid for these myself. No matter how cheap they are, I’m taking them all with me! I’m not leaving a single crumb behind!"
"Y-You don’t have to be like this..." Jack Sullivan finally spoke, his eyes glued to the jumbo pack of tissues in Lynn Preston’s hands.
"Why not?!" Lynn Preston snapped at him irritably. For fear of losing her job, she had been a total pushover and put up with his abuse ever since she started, never daring to offend Jack Sullivan.
But now that she’d made up her mind to quit, she naturally had nothing left to fear. Under Jack Sullivan’s gaze, she stuffed her jumbo pack of tissues and trash bags into her bag and, for the first time, cursed him back.
"I bought all this myself, so of course I’m taking it with me now that I’m resigning! You were always mooching my tissues at work, and now that I’m leaving, you’re still eyeing them? Jack Sullivan, what the hell is wrong with you!"
"You—" Jack Sullivan opened his mouth to retort, but he inadvertently met Felix Preston’s dark, predatory gaze.
Felix Preston had gentle features and a low-key demeanor, which at first glance might lead one to believe he was good-tempered. But his good temper was reserved only for those close to him. Toward disgusting scum like Jack Sullivan, he could be frighteningly ruthless.
Jack Sullivan was terrified by his glare and knew better than to say another word, promptly shutting his mouth.
"Crappy company!" Lynn Preston finished packing her things, slammed the drawer shut with a BANG, and yelled, "Go bankrupt already!"
"Let’s go, Lynn." Evan Yates saw she was done and gestured for her to follow.
She trotted over to Evan Yates’s side, then turned to look back at the nauseating office and shouted with glee, "This feels amazing! No more waiting on people—"
SLAM!
The car door closed, and sitting in the back seat, Lynn Preston suddenly didn’t feel so gleeful anymore.
"Brother, Sister-in-law, I’m unemployed."
Felix Preston started the car, steering with one hand as he pulled away from the office building.
"Losing your job is normal. You just have to find a new one."
"But I can’t find a job." Lynn Preston slumped dejectedly against the seat, turning her head to watch the dazzling, chaotic neon lights outside. "Everyone knows the Preston Family went bankrupt. The family was on top in Aethelburg for a whole decade. Now that we’ve fallen, there are plenty of people eager to kick us while we’re down. Those companies that used to resent the Prestons, the ones we had conflicts with—as soon as they see me at an interview, they start with the mockery and scorn..."
"They won’t hire me, and they even incite other companies to shut their doors on me, too. Before I got this job, I went to over fifty interviews. But every single time, they rejected me because of who I am."
"Jack Sullivan is a disgusting creep, but he was the only one willing to let me stay and work. The Preston Group is gone. If I don’t work, I can’t support myself and Mom. That’s why, even though I knew he was targeting me, I didn’t dare say a word."
Lynn Preston’s words were spoken softly, but they landed in Felix Preston’s ears with the weight of a thousand pounds. That weight settled heavily on his heart, making it difficult for him to even breathe.
He took a deep breath, his lips parting as if to say something, but not a single word came out.
The Preston Group had flourished under his hand, and it had also been destroyed by it. He hadn’t just ruined himself; he had ruined his family.
"I..." He wanted to say he was sorry, but he suddenly realized that an apology right now would only make everyone feel worse. And so, after a moment of thought, he kept his mouth shut.
"..."
Silence flowed through the car as suffocating vines of tension grew, slowly creeping up everyone’s ankles.
None of the three spoke, each lost in their own tangled thoughts.
"Alipay transfer received: twenty thousand."
A cold, mechanical female voice suddenly rang out, shattering the silence in the car.
"Huh?" Lynn Preston frowned, pulling her phone from her bag to glance at the screen. Her eyes instantly widened.
"Sister-in-law, why... why did you send me money?"
Sonia Quincy put her phone away, a faint smile on her face. "What else would I send money for? It’s for you to spend, of course. This twenty thousand is what I made from selling the necklace today. Take it and use it as a job-hunting fund."
"No, I can’t take this!" Lynn Preston unlocked her phone, opened Alipay, and instinctively went to transfer the money back to Sonia Quincy. But when she tried, she discovered that Sonia’s Alipay account had already blocked her.
"Sister-in-law, what are you doing?" She sat up straight and leaned over Sonia Quincy’s seat, her eyes filled with anxiety. "Quick, unblock me! I can’t take your money."
Sonia Quincy crossed her arms and stared straight ahead. Hearing this, she shook her head and said, "I’m not unblocking you. Just accept the money and don’t even think about returning it. I’m your sister-in-law; it’s only right that I support you while you’re looking for a job."
"If you feel bad about taking it, then just keep a good record of this debt. When your future nephew or niece is born, you can pay it back to them."
"I..." Lynn Preston was choked up by her words, suddenly left with no reason to refuse.
"...Just take it." After a few seconds, Felix Preston suddenly spoke.
