“What do you want?”
Hayden thought that Joseph had released his grip on her, but before she could find her feet after she
was freed from his constraint, she was dragged by him into the meeting room again, her head spinning
like crazy due to the abrupt motion.
‘Bang!’ The thunderous door slamming sound reverberated around the room as she was pushed
against the massive conference table in an instant.
Hayden looked up with a ghastly expression on her face and shrieked while being overwhelmed with
shame and vexation, “What the hell are you doing right now?”
“Have some self-respect?” Joseph tugged at his necktie to loosen it and slammed his hands on both of
her sides, imprisoning her in his enclosure on the conference table. His countenance fell as he looked
at her in a condescending manner, “I’m curious now, do you always act nonchalantly and ask guys to
have some self-respect after sleeping with them?”
He was perplexed by the fact that he was the only one whom was still brooding on the ‘accident’ that
had happened that night after all these years.
Hayden turned her head to the side, pressing her cheek against the table to avert his intense gaze. His
action had fueled her chagrin and aggravated her anger as she hissed, “I’m sorry if you have taken to
heart the incident that night, or if it has rankled your mind since then. I’m afraid I have given you the
wrong impression as I do not have any feelings for you, Mr. Beckham. I’m not playing hard to get here,
so please let go of me now.”
“Alright.” Joseph’s hand slid down her waistline, snickering as he was fuming with rage, “Very good.”
A wave of shudder passed over her as his hand moved across her body, causing her to shiver
uncontrollably. Hayden’s face turned pale as she was struck with horror, “What are you doing? Get off
me.”
“Didn’t you say that you are not bothered by this kind of stuff at all? What does it matter to you then if it
is going to happen one more time?”
Hayden was stupefied upon hearing his mind-blowing words, and she instinctively put up a last-ditch
struggle to break free from his constraint right after his humiliating remark. However, she was kicking
the pricks as her feeble strength was futile in front of Joseph’s overbearing force on her.
Her action had instantly ignited all the fury in Joseph as his self-esteem was trampled on by her in such
a blatant manner. This was the first time that he had paid heed to a woman, but all he had gotten in
return was ‘it was all an illusion’, and that itself had brought disgrace on his ego.
A swift wind suddenly swept across him and soon after, a loud ringing slap resounded in the meeting
room. Hayden somehow had used her last strength to break free from his restraint as she glared at him
after delivering the slap.
Joseph froze on the spot as his actions were halted abruptly while an extremely distinct handprint could
be seen materializing on his cheek in just a few moments.
“You bastard!” Hayden pushed him away at once and fled the room in in a state of disorder and panic.
Joseph pulled over a nearby chair and proceeded to take a seat while caressing his swollen and aching
cheek long after Hayden had taken flight.
What had he done? Had he gone crazy?
...
After exiting from ST Group, Hayden went back to the hotel to request for a half-day leave to take the
afternoon off. She locked herself up in her room and slept for the whole afternoon with Joseph’s mad
reaction and behavior this morning still stuck in her head.
Despite being overwhelmed with rage by his actions, she realized that her heart was stirred with
budding emotions for him.
If not for the existence of the incident six years ago in which she was blackmailed, maybe——
She barred herself from continuing down her train of thought and forced herself to forget what had
happened by smacking her cheeks, and soon after she had drifted off to sleep. After waking up from
her long nap in the evening, she went out to pick Stella up from the kindergarten.
Alayna was lying on the couch beside Hayden with a sheet mask on her face when she asked, “You’re
going on a business trip to GX Town? Who gave the order? Isn’t Joseph trying to woo you? Where is
he going with his plan by asking you to go to a faraway place?”
Hayden averted her gaze as she lowered her head to pack her belongings, “It was arranged by the
company, and I don’t have any relationship with Joseph, so don’t be ridiculous and watch your tongue,
Alayna.”
Stella crouched down on her haunches beside Hayden’s luggage while she was eating a lollipop in a
silent manner.
“You will be in the care of your godmother while I am away, and you have to listen to her, alright? If she
is late to pick you up from school, stay in the kindergarten until she has come for you, okay?”
“Alright.” Stella nodded her lovely face as she asked, “Can I ask you a question though, Mommy?”
“Yes, you can. What is it?”
“Did you really break up with Joseph?”
Hayden’s countenance fell as soon as she heard Stella’s question, “Break up? When have we ever
gotten together?”
“You lived with him! Didn’t that count as being in a relationship?” Stella was bug-eyed as she looked at
Hayden while asking in a puzzled manner.
“You lived with him?” Alayna cried out in astonishment while her mask had almost fallen off from her
face, “When was this?”
“It was when you were away for a business trip, Godmother!” Stella distinctly recalled the details of
everything that had happened as she bewailed, “If you were not in a relationship with him, then why did
you move into his place previously, Mommy? And here I was being so happy for you for no reason at
all.”
Hayden was dumbstruck by her daughter’s remark as she retorted, “Don’t speak such nonsense. It was
all because of Freddie that the reporters had swarmed your place, so I had no choice but to take refuge
as Joseph’s.”
Doubt and suspicion were still written all over Alayna’s face after hearing Hayden’s counter, and after a
lengthy explanation, Alayna finally nodded reluctantly as she said, “Fine, let’s just say that you were
hiding from the reporters. I still think that there’s something going on between you and Joseph,
especially since both of you had already done it six years ago…”
“Cough, cough!”
It was Hayden’s timely and discreet cough that had stopped her from going on as Alayna was suddenly
reminded of Stella’s presence in the room and that some things were not meant for the child to be
heard. “You should go to bed, Stella. Hurry up and go back to your room now.”
“Like I want to stay here! Hmph!” Stella pouted her lips as she snorted, “The rich daddy that I’m looking
forward to having and almost managed to have is gone now. I’m so mad at you, Mommy.”
She stomped back to her room right after finishing her declaration of anger.
Alayna shook her head while watching Stella’s disappearing back figure, “When do you plan to tell her
that Joseph is indeed her father?”
“I haven’t thought about that yet.”
“She is already so fond of him even if she is in the dark. Aren’t you worried that she will want to go with
him when she knows about the truth?”
“That’s impossible. I know my daughter very well.”
“Wait, this is not right.” Alayna took off her mask as she said, “Are you a blockhead? Why won’t you
consider Joseph at all? Don’t you think it’s weird that he, an admirable CEO, has always look out for
Stella and yourself? It’s obvious that he likes you, Hayden. I’ve even asked Kevin about Joseph’s
cancellation of his wedding with that star, Viola, and it’s apparent that the reason is because of you.”
“If all of that is true, why is he sending me away to a faraway location on a business trip then? If that is
the extent of his love for me, I don’t think I can handle it.”
“Oh, come on!” Alayna twitched her lips as she continued, “He had already called off his wedding for
you, yet what he has gotten in return is you feigning indifference towards him. If it were me, I would
have fired you without a doubt.”
“Whose side are you really on?”
“Eh? That’s a good question.” Alayna giggled as she asked cheekily, “Whose side do you think I’m on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t you think that you are acting like you’re in a fit of pique? It seems to me that you are angry at
him, and both of you are acting like a young couple in love.”
Hayden’s expression froze as she was left dazed by Alayna’s remark for a few seconds, and she soon
flatly denied, “What nonsense. It’s nothing like that.”
Alayna was done with having to convince her of the contrary, so she just said, “Alright then. It’s not my
place to tell you what to do with your own love life anyway. There are some things that only you
yourself know best, and I just hope that you can see who the one that treats you well is. I’m off to bed
now, don’t stay up too late.”
Hayden was left alone in the living room after they had gone to their respective rooms. She sat on the
carpet and stared at her packed belongings as her brows were deeply knitted.
...
Viola had just gotten off work from the film set in the wee hours of the night and was chilling in the
nanny van when the bad news from her assistant had made her expression sank, “Only Caesar’s body
is found? What about that detective?”
“He’s been MIA till now, and all our previous searches were in vain.”
“Won’t you hurry up and speed up the search?” Viola’s face turned pale as she muttered, “We will be in
deep water if he were to get away and report to the police.”
“We have looked high and low for him, and we have even dropped by the inn that he was staying at,
but it was to no avail. The clerk mentioned that he had not gone back in the past two months.”
“…”
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda