His tall figure disappeared in the dark corridor. The sound of his footsteps echoed, making Nicole very
angry and sad. Suddenly, her legs became weak, and she slowly collapsed to the ground along the
wall.
With one hand inserted into her hair, Nicole lowered her head and stared at the dark floor tiles, feeling
very annoyed and confused. She was confused what had happened just now and why such a thing had
happened. How could Lambert humiliate her like this!
Nicole glared at the office of Lambert, but she still didn't have the courage to fight against him. After
enduring for a while, she finally picked up her bag silently, slowly stood up with the help of the wall, and
silently escaped from the company.
Perhaps Nicole was just like a weak person in the past few years. Since her mother died, her father
abandoned her, and she was hurt by Lambert like that, she did not have the courage to face these
people, but quietly escaped. How much hatred had turned into blood in her heart! And she could not
resist it.
When Nicole didn't have enough ability to deal with these people, she could only choose to hide with
Layton and live a life full of hatred and grievance. So Nicole didn't go back to the A City after
graduation. Instead, she went to the C City far away. She wouldn't have come back if it weren't for the
fact that she needed to take care of Layton after high school and that Layton had been disliked by her
relatives and couldn't stay in other people's house.
Two years before Nicole came back, she didn't dare to contact any of her classmates for fear that
others would know her situation and that her enemies would take pleasure in her misfortune. However,
after Nicole endured for two years, Samuel finally broke the peace. Nicole met Lambert again at a
classmate reunion party, and a new disaster began.
Or maybe this was Nicole's fate. Maybe if Samuel didn't come to him, Lambert would also acquire the
E Venture Capital Company and meet Nicole. Perhaps Nicole hadn't met Lambert, and the mistress
and the daughter of the mistress would also come to Nicole and shamelessly beg for Nicole and
Layton' help. This was destined to happen. Nicole couldn't escape.
'But why couldn't I escape from being humiliated and hurt?'
Nicole thought in a trance, depressed. Nicole went back home and did nothing. She took a shower in a
hurry and went to bed without drying her hair. At night, she dreamed of her mother, her happy family
when she was a child, and the sudden appearance of the mistress and the daughter of the mistress
broke the peace, as well as the hurt of Lambert to her.
Even in her dream, Nicole cried. She recalled that she knelt down in front of the gate of Lambert's
house in the heavy rain, and Lambert was likely to be mocking her with Primrose upstairs. She felt that
it was a nightmare, an unforgettable and indelible injury.
Finally, Nicole was woken up by a ringing phone.
Nicole escaped from the nightmare. Although in front of her it was as dark as a dream, she finally
couldn't see her kneeling at the door of Lambert's house and crying. She felt depressed, but she didn't
cry miserably as she had in the dream. She finally escaped from the nightmare.
Nicole thought for a while and slowly picked up the phone on the bedside table. There were two missed
calls from Layton, and it was 3 o'clock in the morning now.
Nicole's phone had been set up to prevent harassment at night, but there was an exception, which was
her brother's phone number. No matter she was sleeping or not, as long as it was from her brother, it
would ring. However, this function had never been used by Layton. For so many years, Nicole had
never been disturbed by Layton at midnight.
Nicole had an intuition that something was wrong with Layton, so she called Layton back. But to her
surprise, Layton's phone was powered off.
"Powered off?" Nicole murmured, frowning. 'What's wrong with Layton? He just called me two times,
but his phone was suddenly powered off.'
But Nicole didn't think too much about it. She just thought that Layton had made a mistake again.
Layton often made the wrong call, so she covered herself with the quilt and went to bed again.
Nicole didn't have nightmares until dawn.
The second day was the first day that the human resources department of the E Group sent people to
assist Nicole in her work. She couldn't be late or ask for leave. On this day, Nicole got up a little earlier
than before. She dressed herself up neatly and went to the company with exquisite makeup.
When Nicole was browsing through her phone in the subway, she thought of the call from Layton last
night, so she called him back. However, the call failed or maybe because of the bad signal in the
subway. Nicole gave up. When she went to work and began to be busy, she forgot it again.
The HR department of the E Group sent a female colleague about 30 years old, called Ada Lin. She
was from the same industry as Nicole. Ada had been engaged in the human resources industry for
seven or eight years and had rich experience in salary reform. After a little contact with Ada, Nicole felt
it was a great honor, because she got to know Ada during this period and she learned a lot from Ada.
Nicole and Ada were busy until noon. When the HR manager invited Ada and the others to have lunch
outside, Nicole finally thought of Layton and called Layton again. But this time, Layton's phone was still
powered off, which upset Nicole.
Seeing that Nicole was absent-minded, the other colleagues asked, "Nicole, what's wrong with you?"
Nicole stood up and left the table. "I'm sorry. I have to make a phone call outside. You eat first."
The HR manager was a little unhappy to see that Nicole ignored Ada during the meal. But seeing that
Nicole looked nervous and a little anxious, he didn't say anything more.
Outside the restaurant, Nicole called Mr. Xu, the head teacher of Layton, but Mr. Xu said, "I didn't see
Layton go to school this morning. By the way, Miss. Lin, I was about to tell you about this. It's the ninth
time that Layton has skip classes. Layton has violated the discipline again after I warned him many
times and threatened him with punishment. He really ignores the authority of the teacher! If he still acts
like this in the future, I can't teach him. You can take him back! "
Nicole panicked and pleaded, "Mr. Xu, please give him one more chance! He called me two times last
night, but later his phone was turned off. I don't know what's wrong with him. I'll apologize to you when I
find him. Please give him another chance! "
"Where else can he go? He is always hanging out with Justin, hanging out in night clubs, fighting. He
doesn't look like what he should be in the high school. Everything he has done is enough to punish
him!"
Embarrassed, Nicole begged again, "Please give him another chance. Maybe there's really something
wrong this time, and I'll look for him again..."
She had begged for a while, and Mr. Xu finally let it go. After hanging up the phone, Nicole was
helpless and depressed. She hoped that the teacher could know the situation of the students. At least,
as the head teacher, he should take care of them when he heard that his students had lost. However,
Mr. Xu scolded her and then ignored her, which was really disappointing.
Since Nicole couldn't get the whereabouts of Layton, she was even more worried. 'Layton couldn't keep
his phone charged all the time and he always kept the phone in his hand. Something must have
happened to Layton.'
With what happened at noon, Nicole couldn't focus on her work in the afternoon. Nicole forced herself
to work hard for the whole afternoon. At about 3 o'clock, she finally received a call from Layton's
classmate.
"Hello, are you Layton's sister?" A young boy over the phone said.
"Yes, I am. What's wrong?" Nicole frowned. On the one hand, she was happy to hear the news about
Layton. On the other hand, she was worried about how Layton would ask his classmate to call her
instead of himself.
The young boy hesitated for a while and suddenly said in a sobbing voice, "Please, come here. In the
People Hospital, Layton was beaten. In the process of running for his life, he.... He caught a car
accident!"
When Nicole heard the three words "a car accident", the whole world was dark, and her mobile phone
almost fell to the ground. Her mind went blank for a moment, and then was replaced by the strong
anxiety. At this time, Nicole couldn't bear anything else, and she wanted to pack up and leave
immediately.
In fact, Nicole couldn't stay there any longer. No one could work at ease when the only family member
was still in danger. So after hanging up the phone, she immediately went to see the HR manager.
When Miss. Li heard that Nicole was about to ask for leave, she was surprised. She widened her eyes
and asked, "The group meeting is going to be held soon. You have contacted with Ada and the
headquarter of the AI Group. Mr. Lambert attaches great importance to this meeting. You are the key
person at the meeting, but now you want to ask for leave at this time. Are you kidding?"
With her phone in her hands, Nicole said in a trembling voice, "My brother had a car accident. I haven't
been able to contact him since last night. I have to go to the hospital!"
"It..." Miss. Li was also surprised, but then frowned. She was in a dilemma, "But... But this meeting is
very important. Mr. Lambert has attended it. You can't leave now, can you? Can you wait a little longer?
We'll talk about it after at least an hour. When everyone sees you, we've roughly discussed the
important things. At that time, if you ask for leave, no one will stop you!"
"My brother had a car accident!" Nicole was out of control.
Miss. Li was stunned for a while and then explained awkwardly, "We all understand your feelings. We
all understand what happened at your family, but the meeting is about to begin and everything is ready.
This meeting is very important and specially held for you. How can you suddenly leave? How can I
explain it to the leader of the group?"
Hearing that, Ada, who was standing next to them, seemed to understand Nicole very much.
Regardless of her identity, she stepped forward and said, "How about I give this speech on behalf of
Nicole? After she told me the situation this morning, I have a general understanding of it. If there is
anything that needs to be added, she can write a report after she comes back."
Miss. Li cast a reproachful glance at Ada and thought, 'It's none of your business. The AI Group
internal business has nothing to do with you. You are just a grass-roots employee in the human
resources department of the E Group. Just participate the meeting. Don't get involved here!'
However, before Miss. Li could say anything, Nicole had already ignored her. She held Ada's hands
and said gratefully, "Thank you, Ada. I'm leaving now!"
Nicole went back to her seat, packed her bags and was about to leave. Miss. Li went up and asked,
"Are you leaving like this? I haven't agreed you to ask for leave yet!"
Nicole said angrily and coldly, "If you don't agree, fire me!"
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