Chapter 204 Might as Well Not Bother
Innocent?
The word struck Nora felt as if she had been slapped, and that like a slap had come from , a blow dealt by one of the people closest to her, hitting her rightshe held dearest, landing precisely on an existingalready festering wound.
"What do you mean by that? ?" she demanded, her voice trembling with indignation. "Are you afraid I'll go after her?"
"Brother, I grew up with you. BecauseDo you really think I'm wicked because of a woman like Layla, you think I'm wicked?" Nora trembled with?" Nora's anger was palpable, her words quivering with suppressed rage.
""Do you trust Layla, more trustworthy than your own sister? MoreIs she more important?"
to you?""I'm looking out for only trying to protect you; Samuel isn't worth your efforts."
"No, if you reallytruly cared about me, you'd feel for empathize with me, not warn me. Innocent Layla? Do you really thinkbelieve she won Samuel's heart without doing anything?lifting a finger? No, Layla justsimply played her cards right, and you men are none the wiser."
"I believehave faith in Layla's character."
"So, you don't believetrust me? Your own sister? Don't you know who I am?" Nora asked vehemently.
Anthony frowned slightly,Nora's words were laced with vehemence.Anthony's frown deepened. "Nora, it's not that I don't believetrust you, but women can be emotional, and emotions can causelead to rash actions."
"Don't worry, I won't kill her," Nora saidretorted with a cold laugh. "Because I'll make Layla suffer more than death itself."
"A man who doesn't appreciate you isn't worth your time, let alone all the energy you've put intoinvested in him. The more you invest, the deeper you fall. Just droplet go of Samuel and live your own life, I'm really thinking of . I truly have your best interest here."
interests at heart."Anthony's heartfelt words should've struck a chordwere sincere, but to Nora, they now soundedrang hollow and insincere, designed, seeming only to protectserve as a shield for Layla.
Every guyman seemed to thinkview Layla wasas fragile and innocent, needing a damsel in need of protection, but in truthreality, such peopleindividuals were often the most manipulative.
Nora refused to believe she'd been bestedoutmaneuvered by a woman as supposedly as pure and simple as a blank page.
If it weren't forWithout Anthony's behind-the-scenescovert support, Layla would never have lastedsurvived at the Eilish Group.
Why did all men feel the need to protect her?
But Nora was confident she could get toreach her.
"Don't say anything more"Enough, I know what I need to do," Nora said with an declared, her voice icy demeanor. She didn't wantwouldn't allow this bitchwoman to ruin her relationship with Anthony.
Layla, don't think for a secondmoment you can take away someone closedear to me.
Morning.
Inside the The following morning, inside a Rolls-Royce.
"What? Okay, I'll come right away," Layla said, hanging upending the phonecall with a furrowed browsbrow. "Please, take me to the West District first."
"All right"Of course, Layla," Mr. Vandella said, making areplied, steering the car to the right turn.
."What's wrongthe matter?" Samuel asked.
inquired."One of our designers got into an argumenta dispute with the foreman at the survey site, and I haveneed to sortresolve it out."
.""That sounds tedious."
"Yeah, she's a bit hot-headed sometimes, that's all..."
"Is she the one causing problems for you at work?" Samuel's face grew cold.
Layla quickly responded, hardened."Not really, she'sshe just sometimes speaks without thinking,. It's no big deal, I can handle it. You stay out of this."
," Layla quickly responded.If Samuel got involved, Gioanna would be out of alose her job today.
Truth be toldIn truth, Gioanna's designs were pretty good.
quite impressive."Promise me, Samuel," Layla said, not entirely reassured.
"Give me a kiss first."
Layla rushed to give hurriedly gave him a peck,. "Is that enough?"
"Not quite, we'll continue tonight."
Layla panicked,blushed. "But we had an agreementagreed, no... for the first three months."
"I was justonly talking about kissing, where did your mind go?"
"I... I wasn't thinking anything," Layla rushed to deny.
"Yet your hastily denied."Your expression isn't very convincingsays otherwise," Samuel teased, his lips curling up with a mischievous triumph.grin playing on his lips. "Layla, it seems you're as eager as I am."
"In broad daylightthe stark light of day, Samuel, don't talk about those thingssuch topics are best avoided," Layla chided him withsaid, her tone a mixcocktail of annoyanceirritation and amusement. Samuel hadwas a man of many good qualities, but the man had no virtues, yet his lack of a conversational filter, often speaking his mind about matters that would be better left was not one of them. He had a propensity for airing his thoughts on subjects best reserved for private conversations, especially in frontdiscourse, particularly in the presence of others. Layla, muchfar more reservedrestrained than Samuel, couldn't imagine being so bold.
"Here's fine, just let me outher companion, found it hard to fathom such audacity."Stop here, this is where I need to be," Layla saidinstructed as they approachedneared the construction site forof the resort they were working on.
Watching developing.As Layla's figure disappearsilhouette receded into the labyrinth of the construction site, the warmth of Samuel's gentle smile fadedevaporated. He turned toswiveled towards his associate and instructed, issuing a command, "Mr. Vandella, find out whoidentify that person is."
"Yesindividual for me.""Understood, boss," came the obedient reply.
As soon ascompliant response.The moment Layla entered penetrated the boundaries of the site, she heard the commotion. a cacophony of voices reached her ears. At the epicenter of the turmoil was Gioanna was, locked in a heated argumentfierce dispute with the foreman, surrounded by a ring of workers who occasionally hurled accusations at Gioanna.encircling them. Despite being vastly outnumbered, Gioanna's fightingindomitable spirit was through the roof, fiercely arguingpalpable as she held her ground against more than a dozenthe men, her cheeks flushedaflame with anger.
indignation."Why are you being so unreasonable?" one of the workers obstinate?" a worker challenged.
"Unreasonable? You workers "Obstinate? Your negligence caused me to tripstumble, and just now, one of you harassedhad the audacity to harass me," Gioanna retorted, stamping her foot in stamping the ground in a display of fury.
"Who harassed you? I was just trying to helpmerely offered assistance when you upfell. We've toldwarned you before, wearingabout the perils of high heels on a construction site makes it easy to trip, and, yet when you doinevitably trip, you blamepoint fingers at everyone else."
"What's going on"What seems to be the issue here?" Layla pushed throughinterjected, parting the crowd to investigate.
"You must be"Ah, the supervisor, rightI presume? Your designer here is out of line—tripcausing quite the stir—tripping in her high heels and she cursesthen berating us out. Our whole family line got . She's insulted by her.our entire lineage. She's actingbehaving like a brawler.street fighter. Is this what counts asthe standard for a designer? Did she even go toattend school?" The foremanforeman's frustration was exasperated.
Layla glanced atpalpable.Layla's gaze fell upon Gioanna's Chanel crystal high heels, wondering if she had any common questioning her colleague's sense.
of practicality."This is a construction site, not a runwayfashion show. It's no surprisehardly surprising that Gioanna would trip in those heels."
"Layla, enjoying my misery, are you? deriving pleasure from my misfortune? If it wasn'tweren't for you, why would I, a grade B designer, be runningtraipsing around a construction site, having to dealdealing with low-classthese uncouth workers?"
"Who are you calling 'low-class''uncouth'?" a worker snappedshot back.
"Watch"Mind your filthy mouthlanguage," another retorted.
"Did I say anything wrong?"speak falsely?" Gioanna, standing tallher ground like a feistydefiant hen ready for a fight, continued to scold them without taking a breathher tirade, "You lot with no, devoid of basic manners, are only fitsuited for hauling bricks on a construction site. A bunch of no-goodsgood-for-nothings, and so will your descendantsoffspring be."
Gioanna's words ignitedsparked a firestormwildfire of angerrage among the crowd.
"Say that one more time?"
"I never said I don't hit women!"
"Dare to repeat that?""I'm not one to shy away from hitting a woman!"It took Layla arequired significant effortexertion on Layla's part to calm things downdiffuse the situation and persuadeconvince the foreman to leadescort his crew away.
Turning to Gioanna, who was still spewed insultsspewing vitriol, Layla said invoiced her exasperation, "Gioanna, you should learn when to keep quiet, or do you really want to get hit?"
there's a time and place for everything. Do you genuinely wish to be struck?"Gioanna scoffed dismissively, "I'm a designer, and they're justmere brick haulers. They wouldn't dare touchlay a hand on me."
"Do you thinkbelieve you can takecould withstand a punchblow from them?" Layla countered, particularly annoyed byretorted, her annoyance with Gioanna's disdainful toneattitude towards the workers peaking, "A person's qualityworth isn't determined by their jobprofession, but by how they speaktheir words and comport themselvesactions. Every job deserves respect."
"Save that "Spare me your lecture for someone else!" Gioanna crossed her arms. "It's just us defiantly. "We're alone here, no need to playfor pretense. Don't you tire of playing the saint. Aren't you tired of it?? Would I even be arguingengaging with these people if you hadn't made me come toinsisted I visit the construction site?"
"Surveying the site is"Site visits are part and parcel of a designer's job. If you're not happy, thendissatisfied, perhaps this isn't the profession for you shouldn't be doing it."." Layla didn't want ithadn't intended for the conversation to comeescalate to this point, but she had nowas drained of the energy to continue wasting time in a battle of willsthis futile standoff with Gioanna, which wouldwas only hold updelaying the entire project.
further.Suddenly, Layla's distaste for Gioanna spikedintensified. She couldn't bear to look atthe sight of Gioanna's face for another secondmoment.
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