30

“Hey! How can you boss me around like that?!” Although Nicole kept shouting behind Drake, he refused to let go, and she was pushed into the car just like that.




Fine! Drop me off, then! At least I can save up from the cab fare.




Once Nicole got into the car, she told Rey her address and proceeded to act as if she had fallen asleep since she didn’t want to talk to Drake.




Fortunately, Drake wasn’t planning to start a conversation as well, so the two of them sat by the opposite sides of the car in silence while staring at the night view outside of the window




About an hour later, they finally reached Nicole's place, and she quickly thanked Rey, saying, “Thanks, Mr. Osborne.”




Before getting out of the car, Nicole took a deep breath before she turned toward the man in the car, thanking him as well. “Thank you for tonight.”




Right then, Drake's gaze met hers before he nodded slightly, indicating that he had heard her.




Then, Nicole closed the car door and left while the car slowly drove away after making sure that Nicole had entered her apartment complex.




When she got home, the kids was already asleep, while Gerald stayed by the side of his bed to accompany them. 




When Gerald saw Nicole coming home so late at night, he took a card out of his wallet and gave it to her. “Nicole, there’s 2 million in this card, and I think that you should have it. You shouldn’t overwork yourself. If you’re tired, just resign and take care of the kids with this money!”




Upon hearing that, Nicole was taken aback as she could feel Gerald worrying for her.




 Nevertheless, she pursed her lips and commented, “Wanda would surely get mad if she finds out about this.”




“Well, I’m the one who earned this money, and no one can stop me from giving it to you.” Gerald Chapman placed the card in Nicole's hand. “Take it.”




Fathers often expressed their love in a silent manner. After doing so, Gerald didnt say anything and left with his briefcase while Nicole sighed. She knew that Wanda was the one who climbed into Gerald Chapman's bed back then and forced him to marry her once she got pregnant. That was the only reason why Gerald married Wanda after her biological mother's death. Although she

hated Gerald for doing so back then, she

had already let go of the past..




After showering, Nicole lay down by the kid's side before she leaned forward to plant a kiss on their pale forehead. Then, she got tired and fell asleep as well.




The next morning, Nicole vaguely heard her kid's voice calling out for her. “Wake up, Mommy. We're going to be late.”




When she woke up, she quickly jumped out

of bed as it was already 8.20AM, and the kid's class was going to start in ten

minutes. The sedatives from yesterday had

shut down her biological clock..




“I’ll send you to school right now.”

Nicole quickly brought the kids to hiskindergarten and sighed in relief. Then, she hurried to stop a cab to rush to work when she glanced at her watch and realized that

it was already 8.50AM.




When Nicole reached the company, it was already 9.40AM as she entered her office with a sour look on her face.




 Looks like my attendance bonus for the month will be gone now. Besides, the deal with John is definitely off now. I can’t believe I wasted so much effort on getting tricked by that man instead. Looks like I’ll have to be smarter about things like this next time.




At this moment, Felicia knocked on the door and came in. Before Nicole could say anything, Felicia grinned and said, “Nicole, good job for successfully negotiating the contract yesterday!”




"What? Is the deal on? Did John pay yet?".




“He transferred a hundred thousand over this morning as a deposit since the jewelry set that he customized is around 2 million, and everything will be ready for him by the end of the month.”




Nicole narrowed her eyes. What is John trying to do? Is he trying to compensate me because he couldn’t get what he wanted last night?







She felt disgusted at the thought of John’s face before she told Felicia, “You should get someone else to follow up on his case. I’m not interested in dealing with him anymore.”




"Since you've already finished your draft,

I've already gotten someone to do the

follow-up. By the way, you don't look wel.

Did you not sleep well last night?" Felicia.

asked in a worried manner.




“Let’s not talk about it. Something upsetting happened yesterday.”




 In addition to what John did to her last night, she really regretted taking the initiative to kiss Drake since he was Amelia's boyfriend, and Amelia was the person she hated the most in her entire life.




Around 11.00AM, Nicole went into the washroom, and she heard footsteps entering the washroom once she went into one of the toilets before the loud voice of a girl rang out.




 “Guess what I saw just now?”




“What?”




“I was lucky enough to take the same elevator as President Butler just now, and I saw a love bite on his neck! Oh my God! I can’t help but wonder which woman would be so fortunate enough to give him such a huge hickey!”....













Another woman chimed in with a jealous tone, commenting, “Wow, they really went all in! I bet it’s his girlfriend! You know, the one who came to the company and got slapped by Nicole?”




“I can’t help but wonder about Nicole's background, since she managed to get out unscathed after hitting President Butler's girlfriend.”




“I guess President Butler was unwilling to fire her because of how pretty she is.”




“Do you guys think that President Butler likes her?”




“It is possible. Maybe her position in the company will change once she gets into his bed.”




“Damn! I want to have her beauty, too! President Butler won’t even spare any glances on ordinary employees like us.”




Right then, Nicole, who was still in the toilet, knew well that she was the person who left a hickey on Drake's neck.




As for her possibly getting into his bed, she could give them a definite answer. Never! Never in a thousand years!




After the group of gossip girls left, Nicole came out of the toilet and returned to her office before her landline rang.




“Hello.”




“Come to my office for a while.” Drake's unique magnetic voice rang out.




Before Nicole could say anything, he hung up, causing her to sigh as he was the person that she didn’t want to face the most today.




Maybe he has something to discuss with me regarding work. At the thought of that, she started heading to the elevator.




When Nicole reached the entrance of the president’s office, she knocked before entering the office to see Drake reading through a document on the couch. He glanced at her before he continued reading the document.




“Why did you look for me?” Nicole asked.




"Is vour body alright now? Drake started

scanning her up and down while Nicole

replied in a tense manner, "I'm fine now.

Thanks for asking.".




She frowned. Did he ask me to come up here just to say these to me?




“You don’t have to worry about me, President Butler. I’ll head back to resume my work now.”




Then, Nicole wanted to tum around and

leave.




Suddenly, Drake asked, “Do you like Nigel?”




Upon hearing that, Nicole turned around abruptly. “What’s your relationship with Nigel?”




Despite that, Drake refused to answer her and asked again, “Do you like him?”




Without any hesitation, Anastasia answered, “Of course I like him.”




Nigel had been a great help to her and the triplets, so she had already thought of him as her closest best friend. Nonetheless, she didn’t notice that, because of her answer, the facial expression of the man sitting on the couch behind her darkened. Slowly, a thoughtful look appeared on his emotionless face.




“Then, it’s better if you don’t mention what happened last night to him,” Drake gritted his teeth before reminding her.




On the other hand, Nicole was stunned. Why would I tell Nigel about something as private as this? Still, I can now assume that Nigel and this man know each other.




"Don't worry. I won't mention this to

anyone for the rest of my life.".




Then, her gaze landed on the visible hickey

on the man's neck, right beneath his white

shirt..




“Leave now then!” Drake instructed coldly, as if he was trying to kick her out while she turned around and left.




After the door was closed, the man on the couch closed his eyes and frowned.




During the meeting, Felicia praised Nicole for being able to seal a deal worth two million while all the other designers cheered on her despite being secretly jealous.




_____




Meanwhile, at the Chapman Residence, Amelia was eliminated from the modeling competition due to her height. The young lady didn’t have enough money to fuel her living expenses. As she was used to living luxuriously, she had to rely on Wanda to support her financially, as Gerald only gave her ten thousand every month for her allowance.




“Mom, can you find an excuse to get Dad to give me more allowance for the month? I got my eyes on a Louis Vuitton bag, and I really want to have it for myself.” Amelia pulled on Wanda's hand and whined.




Unable to resist Amelia's whining, Wanda stood up and said, “I’ll go look around to see if your father left any cash at home.”




After entering the master bedroom, she opened the safe where Gerald usually kept his cash to see a stack of cash in it,




 unsurprisingly. However, there was also a document file next to the stack of cash.




 Curious, Wanda reached out for the file and skimmed through it before a shocked look appeared on her face.




Hubby actually bought a commercial housing with two rooms and two living rooms in a high end residence located in the city center that cost about 8 million without telling me about it? Could it be that it’s for someone else other than us?




As expected, Wanda immediately got pissed off when she saw the ownership of the household.




The house was actually bought under

Nicole's name..