Free Web NovelChapter 68: Chapter 68: Just Your Dodder
###Chapter 68: Just Your Clinging Vine
Her legs had gone numb from squatting, and she couldn’t help but ask, "What would you like to drink?"
The middle-aged client saw Mr. Hawthorne’s dark expression and didn’t dare leer at Nina Wainwright anymore. He quickly said, "Can’t you see he doesn’t like you? Just get the drinks and stay out of the way!"
Women were important, sure, but the business deal they were about to discuss was far more so.
Men of their status had seen all kinds of beautiful women... and while this waitress was indeed a stunner, even a stunner wasn’t more important than money.
Nina Wainwright stood up. Taking the drinks menu and a tray, she backed away to the liquor cabinet by the door. She selected three popular bottles of liquor and placed them on the tray, then added two glasses before carrying it all back to the coffee table.
Even the way her long, fair fingers held the glasses was filled with an aesthetic grace.
But Zachary Hawthorne continued to radiate a chilling aura, and the middle-aged man beside him didn’t dare to stare at her.
The moment she finished pouring the drinks, he said impatiently, "Get over to the side, quick!"
Nina Wainwright got up and went to stand by the liquor cabinet. She tried to force herself not to look at Zachary Hawthorne, but she couldn’t help but watch his expression.
Zachary Hawthorne held his glass but didn’t drink from it, swirling the liquid with a grim look on his face. "I’ll need to reconsider this partnership. That’s all for tonight. You can go."
The middle-aged man started to speak again, but Silas Sinclair quickly stepped forward. "Mr. Hawthorne doesn’t wish to discuss this further right now. We’ll schedule another time with you."
"I’ll be waiting for your call, then." The middle-aged man stood up, but as he turned and saw Nina Wainwright, something suddenly occurred to him.
’Could it be that he’s taken a fancy to this wine girl?’
’But my staring was too offensive to her... so it set him off?’
Nina Wainwright felt a knot of nervousness in her stomach as she watched the middle-aged man sizing her up as he walked out.
’Zachary Hawthorne had said he wouldn’t interfere with her life anymore.’
’But they were still husband and wife, not yet divorced. For her to be selling wine in a club, and for him to catch her in the act... a man with his intense pride must be absolutely furious inside.’
The door to the private room closed. Silas Sinclair was the first to speak. "Miss Wainwright, do you work here?"
Nina Wainwright hummed in affirmation, but her eyes involuntarily drifted to Zachary Hawthorne, who was radiating a low, oppressive energy.
"Couldn’t you find a job anywhere else? Did you have to come to a place like this?!" Zachary Hawthorne slammed his glass down on the coffee table. "Nina Wainwright, do you have to debase yourself like this?!"
"I’m doing an honest job. How is that debasing myself?" Nina Wainwright couldn’t help but ask.
"A clerical job, something like that—couldn’t you do that?" Zachary Hawthorne shot to his feet, his voice a cold interrogation.
Nina Wainwright saw that his gaze was bone-chillingly cold.
’Zachary Hawthorne had no idea. She had no work experience; even a clerical position wouldn’t be offered to her. Besides, those jobs required a physical exam, and one exam would reveal her pregnancy. No one would hire her then.’
"Do you think I’m embarrassing you?" Nina Wainwright asked him. "Didn’t you say you wouldn’t interfere?"
"So if I don’t interfere, you just let yourself sink this low?!" Zachary Hawthorne asked, restraining his fury.
Nina Wainwright looked him in the eye. "Every industry needs people to keep it running. I haven’t sold myself, and I haven’t abandoned my principles. How exactly have I sunk low?"
"You think you can emerge from the mud unstained?" Zachary Hawthorne sneered, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "If you really want a divorce, just say so. Don’t do these things just to disgust me!"
Listening to his harsh words, Nina Wainwright felt a sense of irony. freewebnøvel.com
’She was the one doing something disgusting? To disgust *him*?’
"I’m working right now. If you’re angry, wait until I get home to talk about it." Nina Wainwright didn’t want to argue with him anymore, choosing to treat him simply as a customer.
Zachary Hawthorne strode forward and grabbed her wrist. "Have you no shame? You’re a married woman, working in a place like this—"
"Zachary, why don’t you ask how many married people work here? The waiters, the cleaning staff, the kitchen help... I don’t think I’m any more noble than they are. When I needed money, I still had to come to you, hand outstretched, and be at the mercy of your moods," Nina Wainwright said in a low voice.
"Wasn’t what I gave you before enough? It was you who kept bailing out your family, time and time again," Zachary Hawthorne said coldly.
"Then what do you want? If you want to control me, then don’t say things like that. But when I go out to work, you act as if I’ve committed some heinous crime." Nina Wainwright was growing impatient.
’Others hadn’t even had the chance to trample on her dignity.’
’But Zachary Hawthorne was already so eager to do it himself.’
Nina Wainwright didn’t want to fight him head-on.
She knew all too well the consequences of provoking his anger.
"Find any other job you want, but don’t let me see you here again. Do you even know what kind of place this is, that you dare to come here!" Zachary Hawthorne finished speaking and turned to leave.
Nina Wainwright wanted to argue, but in the end, all she felt was an overwhelming sense of helplessness.
With deep exhaustion in her eyes, she glanced at Zachary Hawthorne and turned to leave.
"I’m talking to you!" Zachary Hawthorne roared from behind her.
"I’m going to quit," Nina Wainwright said calmly. "I’ll start looking for a new job tomorrow. Are you satisfied?"
’In her marriage with him, aside from compromising time and time again, what right did she ever have to resist?’
Zachary Hawthorne strode to her side, pinning her against the door. "You’re resentful, aren’t you?" he asked in a cold voice.
"I have nothing to be resentful about. Whatever you say, I’ll do it," Nina Wainwright said, her eyes looking at him without a ripple of emotion.
Zachary Hawthorne stared into her eyes, a sense of helplessness toward her welling up in his heart. "Nina, do you have to push our relationship to an irreconcilable point?"
"Am I the one pushing it to this point? I still remember when Luna Sterling had just come back. You couldn’t wait to go to her, leaving me behind even when I begged you not to, and not just once. But I don’t want to dredge up the past right now. I’m tired," Nina Wainwright said with immense calm.
’She had cried, she had begged, but he still chose the other woman.’
Zachary Hawthorne’s hand, which was resting on the door, clenched into a fist. "If I make you quit today, are you just going to find another similar job tomorrow?"
"I don’t know." She had no idea what kind of job she would find tomorrow.
Anyway, she’d figured it out. Zachary Hawthorne might say he wouldn’t interfere, but the moment he saw her working, he would find any excuse to humiliate her, to force her to quit, to go back to being his clinging vine, dependent on him for the rest of her life.
"Fine, do whatever you want. I said I wouldn’t interfere, and I won’t. If something happens to you, don’t call me again!" With a sullen face, Zachary Hawthorne pushed her aside, opened the door, and left.
After he was gone, Silas Sinclair asked Nina Wainwright, "Is there something wrong with your health? Is that why you need money for a doctor?"
Nina Wainwright looked at him, completely baffled. "What are you talking about?"
"The maid said... you’ve been using sanitary pads constantly," Silas Sinclair said, a little embarrassed. freewebnovёl.ƈom
It wasn’t his place to say such a thing, but since Zachary Hawthorne wouldn’t bother, he had no choice but to ask.
He couldn’t afford to be held responsible if a real problem arose later.
"The last one just hadn’t completely cleared up," Nina Wainwright replied, her face a mask of calm.
Silas Sinclair cleared his throat. "If there really is something wrong, don’t hide it. Mr. Hawthorne may be angry, but he wouldn’t stop you from spending money if you’re sick."
"Thank you. Can I continue working here?" Nina Wainwright wasn’t sure what Zachary Hawthorne’s true attitude was, and she was afraid he would go back on his word and cause trouble for her boss here.
