"You’ve gone through a pretty good fight, Mr. Gu." William beamed with pride at Jonas. "Now people scurry to their seats when they see even your shadow approaching."

Jonas gave him a brief but grateful smile. He had been so busy with the affairs of the company especially the acquisition case, and he had never taken a proper rest. He was exhausted, and it showed on his face.

"Thank you for your hard work this time around as well," he said to William. "It’s my treat tonight; go ahead and choose whatever restaurant you like." His voice had grown hoarse, and he rubbed his throat uncomfortably before taking large gulps of water.

"Understood, Mr. Gu. We’ll make sure to find an excellent place to express your gratitude. By the way, Mr. Gu, may we bring any family member with us?" It was not an unprecedented request; William had always been thoughtful of the employees that were assigned to the CEO office.

Besides, after working for Jonas for so many years, he knew that despite the strict and rigid demeanor of his boss, Jonas was always generous to the employees.

"That’s all right. Just add it to the overall tab, I’ll take care of the total expense."

That made the secretary pause. "Won’t you be joining us, Mr. Gu?"

As it was supposed to be celebratory dinner, he had, of course, assumed, that the boss was coming.

Jonas shook his head. He had been living in the company for a long time. He missed Melinda very much.

It was only one of the myriad emotions he had been finding himself caught up in recently. Only one of the new feelings that he had never encountered before in his life.

"Very well, Mr. Gu." William took care of the rest of the minor paperwork as Jonas rushed back home to his wife.

Meanwhile, Yulia’s sanctions still weren’t lifted, and she remained grounded at home. Although, thankfully, she was no longer confined to her own room, and could now freely walk around the mansion.

This was one such occasion when the young woman decided to take a stroll around the grounds, her cat in her arms. It was autumn now, and there was a biting chill in the air.

Yulia wore an expensive looking vest over a light dress, looking every bit as upper-level socialite. She headed towards Melinda’s villa.

Due to her miscarriage in the past, Melinda had grown overly sensitive to the cold, and would usually fall ill in colder weather. These days she kept inside and wore thick layers of clothing, her regular walks in the yard abandoned.

It was just as well, because she had also been busy recently. Her new book had been completed, and she had been absorbed in the last phase of editing. She also had to make negotiations with the publishers and the periodical office.

She had already received a tiny bout of fame with her first book, but the recent controversy with Emily made people pay more attention to her. Needless to say, she had gained more fans, especially from within the city. Hence, her editor was quick to draw up plans to hold a book launch event for her. And they wanted to brand her as a well-known author.

"Melinda, are you busy?" Yulia barged into her sister-in-law’s villa with her cat.

Melinda was on a video call with her editor, discussing the book launch event. She quickly said her goodbye and ended the call.

"What’s up?" She gave the younger woman a tight smile. Lately, Yulia would drop in by her villa at the most random times for the most random reasons.

Melinda couldn’t tell if she actually cared for her in particular, maybe her husband’s sister was only bored of her confinement. But the fact that Yulia kept on showing up brought her much discomfort and always sent Melinda on edge.

"I don’t understand why you stay cooped up in your villa," Yulia drawled as she glanced around the room, her right hand stroking the cat in her arms. "The weather is rather nice today. Why don’t we go take a little walk outside?"

dying to get out of the mansion. Already she had lost track of the

anyone whose influence could grant her even just a brief escape, it was Melinda. If she were to

thanks. I have a lot of things to do. Why don’t you just go ahead and have some fun on

Melinda paused at that. Perhaps the younger woman only meant outside at the yard? It had completely slipped Yulia mind that she

more warmly. "Well, we have everything we could possibly want in this mansion. If there’s anything else you wanted, I’m sure you can order someone and it would be brought

nothing to be done about it, anyway; she didn’t know what else

feeling embarrassed for herself, and so

rebuffed so easily, even after lowering her pride and coming here to

indeed, so I won’t bother you any longer." In her frustration, Yulia’s fingers dug

in the air towards Melinda, and its claws were visibly out. The cat landed on her with a hiss, leaving

quickly jumped out of her seat and out of the way as the cat whipped a hurricane among her files,

commotion, its ears perked up and it opened its eyes. It stalked the other cat,

warily. Her fat cat turned to her, and Yulia's black kitten took that opportunity to

paper-strewn floor, Yulia was also eyeing Momo with caution. It was then that Jonas came into

gaze quickly flew to his wife. Upon seeing her torn sweater, he rushed over to her, thinking she might

her arm and made a whole show of inspecting her body where the claw marks were, asking repeatedly if she was in pain. It took him a while, under much of

keeping watch over you," Jonas grumbled, and the cat in question gave him a look as if daring him into a

Yulia spoke up, her face growing pale at the

cat, it’s still young and quite playful. I apologize." Her words, however, fell on

Did

For a moment she

thinking she was feeling a little hot under her extra

and curling it around his finger. "I have time to rest for

but to be a witness to such a scene left a sour

everyone else seemed to fade into background. Their display was making her nauseous, and she made

turned to her then, his surprise evident on his face. "Why are you still here?

room without another word. It was true

in high regard, even more so than his own granddaughter. It

ago played in her mind. She had really reached a new low

she’d humbled herself enough to come to Melinda and even act nicely, only to be dismissed

dismissed a second time, by her own brother

again she began surfing the internet. She was never

to have lain low in recent weeks, and her media appearances seemed to

young men, all of whom were now popular names in show business. Sadly, their

bear such a situation; she was probably fuming ever since Jonas cut her off. Melinda was at the bottom of the mess she had to face, and Yulia knew she just needed to remind

other perfect candidate for a partner in crime besides Emily. The enemy of an enemy was a friend,

for the actress’

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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