Free Web NovelChapter 339: Trouble In Love
Blinking away the tears in her eyes, Wendy Stewart breathed deeply. From the bottom of her heart, she uttered, "Thank you, Todd."
Wendy loosened her grip on Todd as she conveyed her words of thanks with utmost sincerity.
"You don’t need to thank me. You never have to," Todd looked endearingly at Wendy. She was always so beautiful. The difference was that she was now no longer beyond his reach.
"Good...Good morning, Ms. Swift and Mr. Lewis," greeted an employee who walked by.
Passers-by noticed how intimate Corrine and Todd seemed and were a little hesitant to interrupt them.
Another employee tugged at the one who greeted the couple and whispered, "Why are you even bothering them with a greeting? Read the atmosphere, will you!"
That made the one who greeted them flush in embarrassment.
Wendy smiled warmly and waved at the employees.
Flustered, Todd ruffled his hair.
"I’ll head off now," he said with a smile, "Let me know before you knock off so I can pick you up."
"No need..." Wendy did not finish her sentence when she was interrupted by the hushed discussions of nosy employees walking past them. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"After five years, Mr. Lewis and Ms. Swift are finally getting together."
"This is too sweet! He’s bringing her to and from work? Oh, what must I do to snag such a thoughtful boyfriend!"
"Dream on, Mr. Lewis is an extinct species of good men. There’s no one like him. Just see how long he waited quietly by Ms. Swift’s side."
.
.
.
Now Wendy regretted her impulsive hug with Todd.
At home, she did not know how to respond to Todd’s mention of marriage.
On the way to the office, she kept mulling over how she was indebted to Todd and wanted to talk about this head-on with him.
She had overlooked how it was rush hour and forgotten about the sheer human traffic at the entrance to the office building.
Looking down to avoid the gaze of the other employees, Wendy made a beeline for the lift.
The lift lobby was crowded at this point and those who looked on at Wendy smiled and congratulated her.
Wendy’s head remained bowed as she mumbled brief words of thanks.
She took a shortcut into Timothy Woods’s office.
Timothy was already ready with coffee when she entered. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Seeing that Wendy had arrived slightly out of breath, he teased, "You two are progressing quite quickly, I see."
"It’s enough that I’m teased by onlookers, Mr. Woods. Must you join in the fun?" Wendy pouted.
"I’m not teasing you," Timothy responded, "It’s been so many years and everyone knows how much Todd has cared for you. Haven’t you noticed yourself? These people were sincerely happy for the both of you."
At Wendy’s silence, he continued, "Corrine, let’s forget about the past when you returned to Lake City and got back together with Michael.
"Now that your relationship with Michael has become so complex, don’t think about getting back together with him.
"No matter how you see it, Todd is a good partner for you.
"Even if you don’t believe in him, you should trust my judgment of people.
"I have chosen to be a mentor to you and Todd. No one else. How could I misjudge someone I picked personally?"
Wendy kept her eyes on the ground, her fingers interlocked. She was a bag of mixed emotions.
In everyone’s eyes, Todd was deeply loyal to his love for Wendy.
She was aware of how much she owed Todd as well.
A sense of debt owed undeniably weighed on Wendy Stewart’s heart.
However, that sense seemed to differ from how others perceived what they believed to be between Todd Lewis and herself.
Wendy could feel the pressure others were placing on her to get closer to Todd.
It seemed as though everyone believed that Wendy and Todd should be a couple, as though it would be unfair to the years of silent love that Todd had showered upon Wendy.
Wendy was clear that she was indebted to Todd.
This feeling left her in agony.
Her gaze remained on the floor as she smiled and joked, "Mr. Woods, are you trying to matchmake the two talents you groomed?"
"Well, that would only succeed if I had good judgment of character!" Timothy Woods responded before he pointed to the coffee on the table and continued, "I ground the coffee beans myself. Let me know what you think about the flavor."
Wendy glanced over at the thick aromatic black coffee.
In the five years that she worked at HG Enterprise, she did enjoy her coffee strong.
During that time, she was numb to many things due to the bitterness in her heart.
It seemed as though only extremely strong black coffee could fuel her.
Today, she no longer enjoyed such coffee.
It was simply too bitter. The taste seemed to eat away all the joys and hopes in life.
Wendy shook her head politely as she explained, "I’ve stopped drinking black coffee for some time."
She had matured significantly since then and no longer needed external stimulation to work against the numbness she felt.
Her refusal made Timothy uncomfortable.
Trying to brush past the topic, he laughed awkwardly, "That’s true, you have Todd now, so you have no need for such strong coffee!"
With that, Timothy called out to his assistant, "Bring in a cup of juice."
The juice arrived shortly after and Timothy offered it to Wendy with a smile, "Have some sweet juice."
Wendy responded with a gentle word of thanks and brought the cup to her lips.
The juice was a mixture of sour and sweet flavors.
"Mr. Woods, I’m here for the project we discussed," Wendy’s politeness quickly turned into a solemn business-like expression.
Her quick change in attitude was also due to her fear that Timothy would continue talking about Todd and her.
She preferred to keep her relationship with Todd private.
"That’s right. The soft launch of the Moonlight collection has begun and it has been very well received so far," Timothy spoke about this with much satisfaction.
"You weren’t able to attend the meeting with the board of directors so you probably don’t know that the votes were unanimous on producing three times more of the first season’s designs and doubling the retail prices on them.
"Tripling the quantity and doubling the retail price?" Wendy’s brows were knitted slightly. She was taken aback and could not fully wrap her mind around the situation.
She had taken a step back from the company for a while due to the matter with Michael Lucas and would only focus more attention when the project called for it.
Yet, she realized that this meant that the line’s soft launch had experienced unprecedented success.
"You probably haven’t heard but this is the reason why I had repeatedly asked for you to come back to HG Enterprise to follow up with the Moonlight collection.
"Corrine, the clothes you designed have reached a new high!" Timothy bellowed, "The factory has also begun urgent production. You need to quickly come up with the designs for the second season!
"If nothing goes wrong, the Moonlight collection will set a new sales record amongst luxury brands and HG Enterprise’s share prices will triple!"
Wendy was heartened to hear the good news from Timothy.
After all, it was her dedicated leadership that led her team into such success.
Their success was her success.
Despite her troubles in love, she was finally enjoying wins in the marketplace.
"Corrine, I’m really glad you agreed to come back to follow up with the Moonlight collection.
If we had to change the design team and the second season’s quality doesn’t match up, sales would not be too drastically affected, but it would be difficult to regain customer confidence in the third and fourth collections," Timothy Woods described the situation plainly.
"One could even say that you are now the hope of HG Enterprise."
"Whether HG can experience continued peak performance would depend heavily on you."
Timothy Woods would not have been able to imagine this happening years ago when Christian Lucas got him to save someone from Lake City.
At that time, he had believed that Christian was merely exaggerating the extent of things.
He was managing HG Enterprises just fine in Rheinsville City when Christian told him to save Wendy Stewart personally.
He had even been specifically instructed to groom Wendy with all he had.
Timothy was reluctant at first.
He had always prioritised his design career and made an exception when he noticed the gift in Todd Lewis whom he had brought up.
He had never intended to groom anyone else.
Because of that, Timothy had argued with Christian several times.
It took Christian issuing an ultimatum to get Timothy to mentor Wendy.
Christian had a good eye for talents.
All those years Timothy spent on Wendy was long paid in full and over a hundred times more to HG Enterprise.
Timothy was now thankful that he had relented to Christian’s insistence.
Otherwise, HG would not enjoy its present glory.
"I’m just doing my part," responded Wendy with joy, "after all, I was given this platform and opportunity by HG and by you, Mr. Woods."
"Name your reward, Wendy," Timothy said confidently.
"It’s a collective effort, so the company should reward my team accordingly," Wendy smiled as she spoke, "I don’t need anything personally. Just give the rewards to the rest of my team."
Wendy was no longer lacking in finance.
At first, she had worked hard, day and night, and dragged her team to do so along with her, just so that she could return to Lake City sooner.
This was a reward owed to her team.
"Both you and your team should be rewarded with-" Timothy was cut off by the sound of Wendy’s cell phone.
She looked over at the series of numbers that flashed on her screen.
At one glance she knew who had called since she had memorized the number.
It was Michael Lucas.
The engagement party in Lake City should have almost ended by then.
Why would Michael Lucas be calling her?
Without a second thought, Wendy ended the call.
Seeing how Wendy canceled the call, Timothy asked casually, "Why aren’t you picking up? If you have something on, we can discuss the details later. I’m guessing it would be a long chat about the second season of the Moonlight collection.
"It’s a spam call," Wendy’s frown quickly turned into a smile as she continued, "Let’s discuss the details now."
After all, it was her intention to return to work.
Since the sales for the first season of the Moonlight collection were so good, she wanted to make use of the opportunity to go further in the design industry.
As Wendy finished her sentence, her phone rang again.
It was the same number.
Timothy laughed, "You should pick that up. I have some other matters to attend to, so we can pick up our chat when I come by a little later."
He could tell that it was not someone random calling Wendy.
If it were really spam, Wendy would not have hesitated hanging up at all.
He could also tell from the look on her face that something was not right.
It was obvious that she knew who the caller was.
With that, Timothy stood up and left the office.
....
Before Michael Lucas punched the number on his cell phone, he was mentally prepared.
He had guessed that Wendy Stewart would cut his call.
Now that they were in two cities - Lake City and Rheinsville City, it would not be easy to meet up either.
If Michael traveled over to Rheinsville City to look her up, it would be too obvious.
Christian Lucas still did not know that they had uncovered him as the hidden authority in HG Enterprise.
If Michael went to Rheinsville City and sought Wendy out, it would put Christian on his guard.
Michael even hesitated before he made this call.
Since things had come to this, he had no way to turn back.
He could no longer allow Wendy to return to work at HG Enterprise or rake in profits for Christian.
However, he could not let her in on the truth either.
He knew that many could not understand his actions.
Even Yonina Collins had urged Michael to tell Wendy the whole truth - perhaps then, she might stand on their side against Christian.
However, Michael would not take the gamble.
To gamble against Christian’s tactics and how low he might stoop was something Michael would never risk.
If five years ago, Christian could arrange to have Wendy kidnapped, then five years on, he could arrange for an accident to take Wendy’s life.
To bring Wendy into Michael’s battle against Christian meant to risk putting her life in peril.
It might even cause their twins to be dragged into danger as well.
His younger brother was capable of doing anything.
The only way to keep Wendy and the children safe was to keep her out of the eye of the hurricane, out of Lake City.
"Why isn’t she picking up?" Yonina frowned in annoyance.
Michael put his phone down, he had seemingly given up on getting the call through.
Looking down, he smiled as he mumbled, "Perhaps, not picking up is a good thing."
"What good thing?!" Yonina yelled, furious.
Michael was reluctant to call. Yonina had strongly urged him to call before he decided to dial Wendy’s number.
"I know what you’re thinking," huffed Yonina, "You clearly want Wendy to stay far from the chaos here and hold to her hatred towards you while being safe in Rheinsville City.
"But have you considered that if you did succeed, all would be well. If you failed, we all know the kind of person Christian is.
"If we fail, we not only face bankruptcy but our very lives would be in danger!
"If something happened to you and Wendy learned of the truth someday, how do you think she would feel? How would she live on in peace?"
"My only wish is for her and the twins to live a peaceful life. I’ve lost them once, I don’t want to go through that again," Michael’s head remained bowed as his eyes grew watery.
He was deeply afraid.
With a snort, Yonina continued, "Michael, you mentioned it yourself. Wendy’s not the kind of woman who would cower behind you. Moreover, we aren’t telling her the whole truth, all we’re telling her is that Christian is the unrevealed boss of HG Enterprise.
"She hates Christian too. If she knew that HG belonged to Christian, wouldn’t she stop working for the company?
"You need to know that HG is riding on Wendy’s Moonlight project and its stock prices are increasing.
"By the time they gather all their investments, Christian would use that sum against us!
"You have to consider it carefully. At that point, we would have utterly lost, and when Wendy learns about that, wouldn’t it devastate her?"
Michael no longer responded.
Yonina continued, "Michael, you may think that you’re doing this for her benefit, but it might be the very reason that we lose this battle of our lives against Christian.
"Of course, it could also be the very last straw that breaks Wendy down!
"Think carefully about it yourself."
