Chapter 50 – His Second Chance Love: The Freezing Silence

At his words, my mind started wandering how did he know about this…

Soon, we arrived at Peakville Estate. I helped him down when we reached his house. It took a while for someone to answer the door, and it was a senior.

When he saw how drunk Nick was, he exclaimed, “Oh, Nick. Why are you so drunk? Thank you for bringing him home.”

I smiled politely and left Nick with him.

I wanted to walk back home, but Peakville Estate was a large residential area. Every villa had its own compound, so it would take me a long time to reach home.

Hence, I drove Nick’s car back home.

It was already midnight when I reached home. As I had to wake up early tomorrow, I parked the car downstairs. After that, I prepared to wash up before going to bed.

Alas, I saw Anthony waiting outside the door with a flickering cigarette between his fingers.

Frowning, I wondered why he was suddenly smoking outside.

At the sight of me, he put out his cigarette and glared at me. “Where have you been?”

“I had dinner with a friend.” I brushed past him and entered the villa.

He pulled my hand and brought me into his arms. The heavy stench of cigarette smoke burned my lungs. “Anthony!”

“Who did you have dinner with? Did you drink wine even though you’re pregnant?” he rasped.

The alcohol stench must be from Nick.

I felt uncomfortable in his arms, so I shoved him away. “I didn’t drink any wine!”

All I wanted was to sleep, but Anthony refused to back off. He pulled me to the Maybach and demanded, “This is a limited edition model. Sienna, you’ve found your next target, huh?”

What the f*ck?

I nearly cursed out loud and pushed him away. At his dejected expression, my anger heightened. “Anthony, please don’t judge me with that narrow mindset of yours. I’m not you, who has plenty of backups waiting for you.”

With that, I spun on my heels and returned to the bedroom.

After locking the door, I washed up and went to bed.

I fell asleep in no time.

It wasn’t until my phone started ringing incessantly that I got woken up rudely. In a daze, I stared at the ceiling blankly when my phone rang again. I was about to answer when the person hung up.

I wanted to go back to bed. However, it suddenly occurred to me that I was supposed to go on a business trip. I sat up abruptly as my sleepiness faded away.

“What’s wrong?” a hoarse voice rang out by my side.

Stunned, I swiveled around and saw Anthony going back to sleep. His arm was around my waist. How did he… Didn’t I lock the door?

Ah, after he kicked the door open back then, he must have prepared a spare.

I pried his hand off and took my phone. It had stopped ringing by now. Anthony must have been disturbed by it and switched it off.

After switching it on, a call came in. I answered, “Hello?”

“Ms. Stanhope, our flight is at 5 a.m. Shouldn’t you be prepared to go to the airport by now?”

Hearing Nick’s voice, I frowned as I inquired, “You’re going on the business trip with me?” Stacey told me about a representative from Harrison Credit would be coming along with me, but she didn’t specify who it was.

“Mm. Get ready and pick me up. You drove my car away last night!”

Glancing at the clock, I realized it was only 4 a.m. I couldn’t help but admire Nick’s professionalism. How could he wake up this early when he was in a drunken state just a few hours ago?

After hanging up, I packed up hurriedly and left with my luggage.

When I reached Nick’s house, he was yawning sleepily, his hair a messy nest. Coming to me, he said, “I’ll drive.”

There was no way I’d risk letting him drive.

“I’ll drive!” Peakville Estate was nearby the airport. Traffic was smooth, so we reached in less than half an hour.

Luckily, the queue was short. We got our boarding passes in no time and boarded the plane. Once we settled in, Nick got a blanket and promptly fell asleep.

It was a three-hour flight from J City to A City, so I had some sleep, too.

When I woke up, Nick was already freshened up. He told me, “We’ll be heading to the branch office to work first. Then, let’s go back to the hotel to get some sleep.”

Those words sounded weird coming out from him.

I didn’t think much and followed him out of the plane in a daze. The branch office sent a car to pick us up, so we arrived there shortly.

As a branch company, the operating model was more or less the same as Featherstone Corporation. Once we arrived, the president of the branch office, Howard Wrangler, chatted with us briefly.

We contacted the Finance Department and other relevant departments for a brief meeting. Then, Nick received the relevant documents from them. We left the branch office shortly after.

I glanced at the files in his arms and asked, “Aren’t you going to work in their office?”

“Not here,” he replied. “I ordered food to be delivered to our room. You can rest after you eat.”

I was startled by his attentiveness. Nevertheless, I gave him a nod.

Our rooms were booked earlier. The bellboy brought us to our room and said, “Your meal has been delivered. If you need anything else, please call the front desk.”

Although we booked two rooms, for our convenience, the lunch was sent to Nick’s room. We thanked the bellboy and entered the room.

We had an early flight and immediately started working upon arrival. I was exhausted and hungry after a few hours.

I ate my share and got up, preparing to leave the room to Nick. He looked at me and said, “You can rest here. I’ll leave after a while.”

As he was still eating, I nodded in acknowledgment. The room was a suite, where the living room and bedroom were separated.

I entered the bedroom and switched on the air conditioner. Plopping on the bed, the last thought I had before falling asleep was to take a shower after Nick left.

When I jolted awake again, there was a blanket covering my body. I could hear someone flipping through files in the living room.

Stunned, I jumped up and walked out of the room. Nick was sitting on the sofa, flipping through the files and typing on his laptop occasionally.

It seemed like he had been dealing with work the entire afternoon.

It was unhealthy to sleep right after a meal. I sat on the bed for a while with a bloated stomach.

After a long while, I exited the bedroom. Nick was sprawled on the table, engrossed in a document. He didn’t seem to notice I was awakened.

I poured a cup of water for him. “Why don’t you take a break?”

He looked up and nodded, seemingly in a daze. After taking a sip of the water, his gaze cleared. “You’re awake!”

I gave him a slight nod. Judging from the report on his laptop, I had to admit he was bold and efficient at work.

He soon finished the report and snapped his laptop shut. Leaning back on the sofa, he massaged his temples and shut his eyes. “Mr. Wrangler called earlier. He said he wants to buy you dinner later,” he uttered in exhaustion.

“Okay,” I replied. “Why don’t you take a nap in the room?”

Glancing at his watch, he shook his head. “It’s alright.” He paused briefly before adding, “The financial report for the branch office isn’t right. I wouldn’t have found out about it if I hadn’t looked closely. I think a manager embezzled the funds and made up a project to fool everyone else. A few million were gone. Take a look for yourself.”

I opened the accounts and read them carefully. The branch office was operated based on Featherstone Corporation’s operating model. As it was doing well in A City, Anthony gave the president a lot of power.

He rarely interfered in the business decisions here. I scanned the accounts and realized a construction project that seemed odd. In usual circumstances, a minor construction site accident wouldn’t cost millions. Even if they had to compensate the injured staff, it wouldn’t cost that much. Obviously, someone had ripped us off.

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