Chapter 107 Playing the Part
Adeline was deliberate in her actions.
This man was full of lies, claiming he wanted Adeline to return, yet deep down, he probably wished she'd vanish for good.
But by saying this, she gave him the perfect excuse to drop the act without any pretense.
The air in the office fell silent for a few seconds.
After a moment, Jasper cracked a wry smile. "That's an idea."
Adeline was just mad at him, certainly not out of love.
Since she was unwilling to come back no matter what he did, Adeline's suggestion was indeed a plan.
If he was obliged to engage in pretense with a woman, he was at least relieved that the one in front of him wasn't distasteful to him.
Moreover, he acknowledged his misstep from the night before.
He had wrongfully used her as a substitute for Adeline without owning up to his actions.
He was willing to provide her that opening if she wished to linger near him, cloaked in that façade with intentions of prying into his confidential business dealings.
Let it be his amends for the lapse in judgment that night.
With that thought, the man sighed and looked intently at Adeline. "But I have a condition."
A hollow laugh escaped Adeline. "Please, Mr. Foster, do tell."
"Public displays only."
The expression on her face twisted. "Public displays?"
"Mhm."
His gaze was calm and deep as he met her eyes. "Since it's about coaxing my wife to meet me, we only need to act in front of others."
"Behind closed doors, we're just friends."
Adeline's brows furrowed deeply.
At this point, what was he still pretending for?
But something was better than nothing.
Being by his side in such a role was much better than just being an employee.
She took a deep breath and looked at him with a smile. "Alright."
Watching her forced smile, Jasper dropped his eyes to the papers in his hands. "Tomorrow; I'll have Ryan arrange to bring you and Bennett to stay at Blue Bay."
"I'll also announce that you're my new girlfriend. Be prepared."
Maybe because his fiancée had been Molly, Adeline had been reluctant to show up before.
With Adeline as the replacement, she was bound to react somehow.
"Will this be on TV?"
Adeline asked flatly.
"Yes."
Jasper glanced at her. "Why else would I collaborate with you if not to make a scene and catch Adeline's attention?"
"Then please, play it on a loop on the TVs in the mental hospital too."
She smiled, maintaining her gaze on him. "Since Mr. Foster didn't want to listen to me about dealing with Molly, surely you can fulfill this simple request, right?"
Jasper's hand paused while flipping through the file.
His eyes on her grew colder. "How do you know?"
To outsiders, Molly was supposed to be studying in Australia.
"That's for Mr. Foster to ponder."
Adeline spun elegantly to open the door, her voice laced with skepticism, "Can we trust everyone Mr. Foster has guarding the place?"
How could Molly have reached out to Helen three times for help if there wasn't someone on the inside working with her?
The concern in the woman's words caused Jasper's brow to furrow deeply.
Once she had left, Jasper picked up the phone and called Ryan into his office.
"Replace everyone on Molly's detail."
Ryan blinked in surprise. "Did they screw up?"
"You could say that."
Jasper flipped through a report indifferently. "After you relieve them, leak some info that we're looking to hire back two from Molly's old guard for a job."
"See who jumps at the opportunity first and vet them thoroughly," he added.
With a moment's hesitation, Ryan caught on to Jasper's plan.
The man took a deep breath and turned to leave.
"Wait."
Jasper pointed at a document on his desk that a spill had marred. "Get someone to dry this out and continue having experts analyze it."
Ryan was puzzled. "It's pretty messed up. Are the experts going to be able to do anything?"
The man raised his eyes coolly. "There's always a way."
And for some reason, Jasper couldn't shake off the feeling that even though the words were blurred, they seemed more reminiscent of Adeline's handwriting.
…
"Scarlett, stop crying."
Upon returning to the design department, Adeline found Scarlett comforted by Lucia and the others.
Centered amid the group, Scarlett, dabbing at her tears, sobbed, "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"The boss sent me to apologize to Adeline, so here I am."
"When is she coming back anyway?"
Lucia sighed, wiping Scarlett's tears away while murmuring, "Just wait a little longer."
"That woman, she's playing her cards close to her chest – staying away this long, she's probably off seducing the boss."
The words spurred Scarlett into an even more frantic crying fit.
Gasping between sobs, she said, "It's my first day, and I was doing my job just fine… I thought she was pretty. I liked her face too!"
"That's why I wanted to sit next to her."
"It was just nerves that made me spill the coffee and then knock things over."
"I didn't mean it… I don't understand why the boss was so angry…"
Through her tears, Scarlett questioned, "Do you think she'll forgive me?"
"No, she won't."
The cold clarity of the response cut through the room just as Scarlett finished speaking.
Heads turned swiftly to find the source of the icy retort.
Adeline's slender and lofty frame drifted gracefully into the office. "The kid's got some chops," she remarked offhandedly.
"You could go places in the show business with that ability to turn on the tears."
Her detached voice resonated with an aloof, relaxed elegance that seemed almost otherworldly.
Everyone was struck dumb.
So was Scarlett.
But she quickly snapped out of it.
"Adeline, I swear it wasn't on purpose."
Tears streamed down her face as the woman stood up. "You're just so stunning; I got nervous around you. That's why..."
"Can you forgive me?"
"The boss asked me to apologize and win your forgiveness."
"Otherwise..." She grew more upset as she spoke, tears breaking through again, "Otherwise, they'll have me apologize in front of the whole company at tomorrow's meeting, and if I slip up again, I'm fired!"
"But it's not like I made a grave mistake like you; I just wasn't careful..."
The sight of Scarlett's plaintive eyes was too much for Lucia, who frowned and glared at Adeline. "It wasn't on purpose. Aren't you going to let it go? Enough already!"
"Scarlett's my junior. If you want to stay in the Foster Group and be a designer, you'll forgive her now!"
"Otherwise, you're going to regret it!"
Adeline arched an eyebrow.
She settled back at her desk with elegance, draping her long legs casually across the surface and leafing through some documents with a smirk. "What, trying to strong-arm me at work?"
"No wonder the Foster Group's jewelry hasn't sparkled in years."
"All your energy goes into these shenanigans."
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