Chapter 29
il what Valeistina said wat true, and Clayton transferred Valerie from the front desk to be his assistant, then that would prove there was societi going on between them. He wouldn’t go that far to shield her unless there was something to hide.
Clayton looked at Envis again, in the past, whenever they had difficult female clients, Emira had always been the one to step in, sirve he figur tended to empathize with each other more than men.
Emilia kept her eyes down. She let Valentina shove past her and walk straight up to Valerie without doing anything to stop her
Valentina stopped in front of Valerie and serl, Ms. Patterson, it’s because of your that Leo’s Astrewood Mental Hospital got dammed by netizens and placed under investigation by higher ups.
“That’s why our relationship got exposed to the public and why I got chased down by Alice over finances. All of this happened because you schemed against Mr. Patel’s wife.
“Looks like breaking two of your fingers still didn’t teach you a lesson. They should’ve gone for your face instead let’s see how you’d seduce anyone with that messed up.”
“What did you just say Clayton’s gaze turned icy.
Valerie clung to Clayton’s sleeve and choked back tears as she said, “Lot it go. It’s all my fault.” She then turned to Valentina and pleaded, “Me Wright, I’l pay double for the consultation fee, okay? I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Oh? So you didn’t tell Mr. Patel, huh?” Valentina gave Clayton a look like he was an idiot. “Did Ms. Patterson tell you it was Mrs. Patel who broke her fingers!”
“Ms. Wright, I already apologized. Please, just drop it,” Valerie begged
“You don’t want me to say it? That just makes me want to say it more.” Valentina jabbed a linger at Valerie’s hand and then turned to Clayton. “Mr. Patel, her fingers were broken by Loo’s people.
“It’s because she flashed her diamond ring and bragged to Leo that she was about to become your wife. Then she asked Leo to give Mrs. Patel a little warning just to scare her off”
Clayton snapped his head toward Valerie. Her face, already pale and drawn, went completely pasty. Her lips trembled as she staggered back, her eyes rolling back before she actually passed out
ved at the Astoria Hotel, Clayton had already gone through two bottles of beer.
By the time Carson arrived at
Carson pulled out a chair and sat down, tilting his head to glance at Clayton’s lace, which looked somewhere between frustrated and angry.
Out of all their close–knit group, Clayton was usually the most emotionally steady. He rarely lost control and never drank to drown his sorrows. But today. he clearly looked upset.
“Is Audrey really that sick?” Carson asked cautiously,
“What did
id you say?” Clayton looked up, his eyes bloodshot.
Carson paused, then picked up a bottle and poured himself a drink. “Valerie’s daughter was sick, and you were running all over the hospital with them Sure, Audrey just had a polyp, a minor procedure, but she still had to go get her meds alone.
“I get that the Patterson family did a lot for you and you want to repay Valerie, but don’t you think you’ve treated Audrey a little too coldly?”
Clayton leaned forward and knocked a fork off the table. “What polyp? When did she go to the hospital?”
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Carson looked at him and thought, So you really didn’t know. His let out a sigh, 21 ran into her at the hospital today when She said the was there accompanying a friend, but you know..
He didn’t finish the sentence, but Clayton got what he meant.
Audrey was an orphan. In Ironhaven, her life revolved around either going to work or going home to take care of Clayton,
She had so relatives, no close filends, no social life of her own. So even though the’d said the was there for a friend, they all assumed the sick one Audrey hersell.
Carson had gone to ask the department about it. It turned out it was cervical polyps. It was nothing too serious–but even “nothing serious” was still something.
And as her husband, Clayton should’ve at least been there for her, but from the looks of it, he hadn’t myen known
Carson added, “Is Audrey still mad you sent her to Ashwood Mental Hospital? Mier she got out, she went to the hospital for an exam. The nurse said she had multiple bruises all over–obvious signs of abuse.”
“She got examined?” Pain flashed across Clayton’s eyes as his lists clenched tight.
Carson was halfway through his beer when he set the glass down and gave Clayton a skeptical look. “Ashwood Mental Hospital is getting slammed online. That’s your way of standing up for Audrey, huh?”
Clayton thought, ‘Standing up for Audrey?‘ His chest tightened again.
He knew full well that Audrey had suffered at Ashwood Mental Hospital, but all he did was end the partnership with them. He hadn’t actually done anything for her.
It was Audrey who exposed the fact that Leo had an illegitimate child.
Clayton pondered, ‘But could Audrey really have stirred up that much attention all on her own? Could she have redirected everything toward Alan, and even dragged Blackthorn Legal into it? Obviously not. But somehow, she made it happen
“You really didn’t do anything?” Caked, confused. “Then what were you even doing after getting Audrey out?”
Clayton had been busy cutting ties between Blackthorn Legal and Ashwood Mental Hospital, salvaging the firm’s reputation, acting as Valerie’s daughter’s guardian, and forcing Audrey to apologize.
He thought, ‘No wonder Audrey’s so set on getting a divorce. She must’ve been completely heartbroken. That’s why she looked at me with that cold, mocking stare,”
hot to his feet, nearly knocking over the chair behind him. He grabbed his briefcase and headed for the door.
Clayton suddenly shot to
“Hey, you were the one who asked me to come. What’s this about?” Carson called out.
Clayton ignored him and walked out of the private room, caught a cab, and went straight to Audrey’s place. He had to explain everything to her. He believed their marriage shouldn’t be changed by outside interference.
Just as he reached the entrance to her complex, Clayton got a call from Valerie.
“Clayton,” she said, “Luna’s throwing another random tantrum. I can’t calm her down at all. Can you come over? I don’t know what else to do.”
One foot out of the taxi, Clayton stared at a specific unit deep in the complex for a few seconds before pulling his leg back in
“I’m coming now,” he said and hung up, then told the driver to head to Hightower Hornet
Carson looked at the full table of food and shook his head helplessly. He’d have to foot the bill now–might as well make good use of it instead of letting
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it all go to
He called two more friends to join him at the Astoria Hotel. When he stepped into the hallway to pick them up, he happened to see Audrey walking into
the private room across the hall
Carson quickly made his way over. The door to the room was slowly closing, and inside, the laughter of teens dufted out
“Thank you all so much for today. Order whatever you want, Brooke said, finally remembering to thank the two girls after Audrey nudged her in the leg
There had been a quit at school today, conducted via an online video system. Ivan’s math score had jumped by more than thirty points. The teacher as well as his classmates suspected he had cheated.
The teacher had said, “It’s just a little quiz and it doesn’t count toward your final grade, Cheating’s pointless, don’t you think?”
One student had chimed in, “Only your math score went up. Everything else is still at the bottom of the class. That’s obviously suspicious
The teacher’s livestream was filled with noise and chatter, Brooke happened to walk in to bring her son some fruit and caught the sneers and mockery from the teacher and classmates. Her first instinct was to scold van.
She figured it was okay if he couldn’t do well on the test. But what she couldn’t tolerate was pretending to know how to solve the problems and cheating
Just before Brooke could lecture Ivan, a girl muted d the other students” mics, and her voice came through loud and clear, “hean vouch for Ivan. His scones
are legit.
“The tutor helping him is the same one who teaches me and Elise. She’s seriously amazing”
