Chapter 283 A Man's War
After way too many drinks, Lauren was totally done. She glanced over at Grant, who was just as wasted.
Lauren had puked a few times along the way, so she wasn't completely out of it.
Ethan, feeling bad for Lauren, scooped her up and carried her out of the restaurant. He got Grant a room and called a waiter to look after him. Then, he called a driver to take them home.
When Kimberly saw Lauren and Ethan stumbling in, reeking of booze, she was both pissed and worried. She helped Lauren to her room and changed her clothes. Lauren crashed hard after that.
It was super late, so Kimberly didn't grill Ethan, just sent him off to his room.
The next morning, Lauren woke up feeling like she'd been hit by a truck, especially her head, which was pounding.
She got dressed and headed downstairs, spotting Kimberly busy in the kitchen.
"Awake? Feeling like crap? Why'd you drink so much? Seriously, what were you thinking?" Kimberly scolded, giving Lauren a look.
Lauren laughed it off, "I only drank that much 'cause Ethan was with me. No way I'd do it otherwise. By the way, where's Ethan? Is he up yet?"
Kimberly's demeanor chilled. She felt a profound letdown in Ethan following Lauren's disapproval by the White family. "He took off early this morning," she replied.
Even though Lauren drank a lot last night, she remembered what Grant said. Still hungover and with a killer headache, she decided to chill for a bit.
Ethan woke up and briefly listened at Lauren's door. Not hearing anything, he left without disturbing her, heading to find Quentin about the plagiarism issue.
After Matthew got taken away, Quentin wasn't as down as before. He realized he wasn't cut out for a boring, stable life. What's the point of a dull existence?
More importantly, Matthew had told him he was proud of him. He couldn't let Matthew down.
Quentin decided to get back to work. The company's stuff was piled up like crazy, and he spent the whole day just dealing with paperwork.
He went full workaholic as used to be, crashing in the office and getting right back to work when he woke up.
Ethan didn't find Quentin at the Robinson Villa. Pissed off, he sped over to the Robinson Conglomerate.
Cecilia couldn't stop the raging Ethan, who stormed into Quentin's office.
Quentin was annoyed by the commotion outside. The door flew open, and seeing Ethan's furious face, he frowned, clearly annoyed.
"Quentin, feeling proud now? I took Lauren and Matthew, so you screwed my company's future. Don't you think that's low?" Ethan started yelling.
Quentin looked at Ethan calmly, his authority way above Ethan's. Cecilia was scared, feeling like she failed to stop the trouble-seeking Ethan.
Quentin coldly said, "Even a wild dog knows when to bite. I'm not one to mess with."
Ethan lunged, ready to punch Quentin, but Quentin caught his fist.
"Trying to hit me on my turf?" Quentin said, shoving Ethan aside with force.
Ethan, feeling totally humiliated, snapped, "Quentin, you're pushing it! Aren't you scared I'll spill everything? Let's see you explain that!"
Quentin just ignored him, not really getting a word Ethan had said since he barged in.
"Lauren's got some interesting taste in men. Not sure if I should laugh or cry at her choices," Quentin said, all chill.
Ethan, already fuming, felt even more humiliated by Quentin's laid-back attitude. "Watch your tone! You're just a hypocrite who won't own up to what you've done! You framed us for plagiarism. Watch out, or I'll find your weak spot!"
Quentin dropped the mocking look, staring coldly at Ethan. "You think I'm easy to push around? You poach my designer, then come here to insult me. You really think I'm that patient?"
His stare was so icy that Cecilia, standing nearby, was freaked out. She was scared she might get caught in the crossfire between Quentin and Ethan.
Ethan laughed arrogantly. "It's your fault for not managing your company well. Those people jumped ship to my place on their own. What does that have to do with me? Quentin, you're so narrow-minded. You bribed Dylan and framed me over something so petty. You're truly shameless."
Only then did Quentin get what Ethan was ranting about. He'd only found out about Dylan's visit to check out the company yesterday. The project was always handled by Noah, and Quentin had only seen it by chance while going through documents.
As for the project's importance, he had no clue, so there was no way he bribed Dylan or framed anyone.
Quentin felt it necessary to talk to Noah first about this, but there was no point explaining to the raging Ethan.
"I'm no saint. You better leave if you know what's good for you! Otherwise, I won't hesitate to call the cops to throw you out!" Quentin said coldly.
Ethan's face turned red with anger. From Quentin's attitude, he could tell Quentin knew about the plagiarism issue. Fine, Quentin was officially declaring war on him.
Ethan, seething with rage, pointed at Quentin but couldn't get a word out. Cecilia quickly stepped in, pulling Ethan out of Quentin's office.
The more Ethan thought about it, the more frustrated he got. He had hoped to get Quentin to admit to setting them up to clear his company's name, but he had underestimated Quentin.
Just then, he got a call from Lauren, so he hurried back to the company.
Lauren had planned to sleep more at home, but Richard and Elodie were too worried about the progress and kept bugging her. Lauren was woken up and couldn't sleep anymore. She also had some things to confirm with them.
She got dressed, grabbed her documents, and headed straight to the company.
Once all four were there, the meeting officially kicked off. Because of the seriousness of the plagiarism issue, any matters regarding the competition had to be kept on the down-low. So, they hashed everything out directly in Ethan's office.
Elodie had lost a lot of weight. She was too worried that her future would be completely ruined to rest well. Even though she could stay home, she couldn't sleep or eat properly, living in a constant daze.
