Filed to story: The Return Novel (Natalie & Bryce) PDF Read Online Free
Once Natalie understood the gist of Tony’s basic situation, she felt more positive about him. He was a good prospect and potentially a gem. She asked him about his normal working schedule as well as his work schedule for the past few days.
She noticed that Tony was angry when he answered her. He said, “I haven’t had any kind of work schedule. Ellington hasn’t accepted any jobs for me these past few years.”
His anger and frustration boiled over. Ellington had done this to him—held him back, made him doubtful, and prone to anger.
Natalie was surprised for a moment, but she too felt angry. She had no idea that Tony had been hidden away for so long. She asked, “What about your normal living expenses? What have you done for money?”
Tony clenched his fists tightly, then tried to relax. He gritted his teeth and muttered, “I’ve been out doing part-time jobs all this time.” Natalie frowned when she heard this. Surely that can’t be right. Doesn’t the company give artists a base salary? That’s what’s written in the contract.
Tony’s face darkened, and she immediately understood the situation. It seemed that Ellington had not only refused to accept any jobs for Tony but hadn’t even paid his base salary. This was unbelievable. Natalie said, “This is too much. Let me investigate this.” She quickly took out her phone and called Mark Ellington.
Ellington didn’t know Natalie’s phone number, so he answered unsuspectingly. As soon as the call connected, she demanded, “Listen, Ellington. You’d better pay Tony all the salary you’ve held back from him, or I’ll go directly to the higher-ups to report that you’ve been stealing an artist’s salary.”
Ellington was already fuming, and Natalie’s threat redoubled his anger. He yelled into the phone, “Who do you think you are? How dare you interfere in my business? Go take a running jump!” Although Natalie was very angry, she somehow found the humor in the situation and started to laugh.
“All right, I hope you won’t regret this.” She hung up, then called Gary Willis, the head of the department.
Ten minutes later, Ellington called her back, sounding like he was seething with anger. He said, “Just remember this, lady. If you dare to offend me, you’ll suffer for it.”
Natalie brushed him off. “Do as you please.”
She wasn’t concerned at all. She knew that she was just doing her job. After hanging up, she waved at Tony and said, “Your base salary for the past year has been sorted out. I’ll send it to you in a few days.”
Tony was amazed. With his little sister being seriously ill, he needed plenty of money for her medical fees. Although his base salary was less than $30,000 a year, that salary would at least ease the immediate cost burden. Tony was used to keeping his emotions hidden, but Natalie’s help with his salary had touched him.
He said softly, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
She shook her head. “You don’t need to thank me. I’m your agent now, so it’s my job to fight for your rights and interests. From here on, all of your daily necessities, including food, housing, clothes, social media accounts, friends, and dealing with the outside world, will be arranged by me.
As for problems or needs that crop up unexpectedly, you can tell me about them, and I’ll help you deal with them.” She looked hard at him before adding, “Do you have any issues with this arrangement? If not, we’ll have a good basis for cooperation.” She stretched her hand out to shake on the deal.
Tony looked at Natalie’s serious expression. He compared this with Mark Ellington’s threatening, wielding expressions and felt secure about her intentions. He relaxed as he shook Natalie’s hand and said, “Here’s to happy cooperation.”
Natalie nodded in satisfaction and told him, “That’s it for today. You can go home to rest. I’ll see you tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. Don’t be late.”
Before he left, Natalie gave him her contact details. After Tony got out onto the street, he realized that everything felt quite surreal, like it was all a dream. What Natalie had said and done was going round and round in his head.
He still couldn’t believe that this was happening, and he still doubted himself. Why had she chosen him? Was he worth anything? He had been hiding for so long that he had started to lose faith in himself. He had almost given up.
Once Tony had left, Natalie started organizing all the information in her office. Then she researched some online resources because she was not 100% familiar with the company. She had to inform herself about things as fully and as quickly as she could. After finishing these tasks, she accessed Tony Babel’s personal account.
She managed to log in, change the password to keep Ellington out, and sort out a number of things on Tony’s account. By the time she raised her head from the screen, everyone else had gone home. She looked out the window and saw that it was already dark, sighing. She realized it was time to go home.
On the drive home, she bought a cake for Liam to celebrate his enrollment at the Academy and to celebrate her own success in securing a job. When she got home, Bryce wasn’t there. There was a strange feeling in her heart, but she couldn’t quite place it. When dinner was about to start, Bryce arrived suddenly.
Natalie was surprised for a moment, but she didn’t show it. She greeted him with just a few words, but he didn’t seem to be his usual self today. He looked at Natalie and asked, “How was your day? How did work go?” He rarely took the initiative in showing concern for other people, let alone show interest in their day. He’d actually surprised even himself by asking such a question. He lowered his eyes to hide the confusion dancing there.
“It’s all good,” she replied. “No issues. I can look after myself.” Bryce nodded and didn’t comment further. The dining room suddenly became very quiet. Mrs. Perkins felt something was not right.
Awkwardly, she asked Bryce, “Mr. Bryce, Liam will be going to the academy again tomorrow. Do you want to drive him there with Mrs. CLA?”
Liam looked up from his cake when he heard Mrs. Perkins’s question. His face was smeared with buttercream.
He looked at Bryce with hope in his eyes and said, “Dad, will you?” Bryce frowned, then his expression changed very subtly, but he didn’t answer straight away. Observing all this, Natalie felt embarrassed and awkward.
Although the two of them were married, Bryce had no obligation to humor her son. So she quickly said to Liam, “Daddy is very busy with work. I will take you to school.”