Filed to story: My Gorgeous Wife is an Ex-Convict Novel by Anastasia Marie
“Zoe is injured and hospitalized.” Grace relayed the details of the news to Jay.
“Isn’t that good?” he retorted.
“I just feel that everything you say is accurate,” she said. “Like when you said that the projection ads of Sean proposing to Lily would be taken down, they really were removed. This time you said that Zoe would pay the price for tripping me down the escalator and she really had an accident. Well, I don’t know that I’d call it an accident, since someone physically broke her leg.”
She thought about it and said, “I feel as if whatever you say will come true.”
Jason’s face was smooth as a lake for many seconds, then his lips curved into a crooked smile. His expression somehow exasperated and amused. “Sometimes, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry with you,” he mumbled.
“Huh?”
He smiled fully. “Then if whatever I say will come true, do you have a wish that you would like to come true?”
“Me?” She shook her head and said, “I don’t have dreams I wish to come true.” She thought to herself, Because I clearly understand that those dreams are beyond my grasp.
“Do you not want to find a benefactor?” he asked. “If you did that, no one would bully you, and everything you wish for could be easily attained.”
She chuckled lightly. A benefactor? That was such an antiquated term. The most a girl could hope for these days was for some sugar daddy to pay her rent, and Grace had no desire to be anyone’s mistress.
“No, I don’t think there will be any benefactors in my future,”
she said lightly.
“What if there could be, what would you need?”
She shrugged. “If I can make sure I have enough to eat, a place to sleep and clothes to wear, that would already be great. But, brother,” she said gently, “These ‘benefactors’ you speak of, they want young, pretty things to keep under lock and key. And have you forgotten that I’m a street cleaner? What man would ever take a liking to me?”
“What if a man really did take a liking to you?” he asked.
She bit her lip lightly. “Relying on someone else is not as good as relying on yourself. Only when you rely on yourself can you not be disappointed.”
Jason nodded as if understanding. “Ah, I see what you think. And bigger expectations lead to bigger disappointments.”
“Yes.”
She had learned that lesson well after the accident, when she lost her family, boyfriend, job, and all the friendships she’d had previously.
“But I really want to be your benefactor, sister,” he told her. “What should I do?” He arched his brow slightly and studied her calmly.
“If it’s Jay…” She smiled and continued, “Then, all right. I’ll wait for Jay to be my benefactor.”
“Why would you be willing?” he asked, trying to peel back the layers of what she was thinking and feeling.
“Because Jay would never disappoint me. Because…” She paused and continued, “No matter what, you would never abandon me, right?”
He responded with a low chuckle to her question. “You’re right. I would never abandon you, Sister.”
***
At night, only when Jason saw that Grace was deeply asleep did he step out of the rental unit. He walked toward a house not far from Grace’s apartment.
However, unlike Grace’s cramped rental, this suite was wider,
brighter, and much bigger. The decor was rather exquisitely done as well.
Terrence Klein was waiting for Jason in the room. When he heard knocks at the door, he immediately opened it to welcome his boss.
Terrence had not expected his boss, who usually paid no mind to anyone, let alone lowering himself to look after someone, would buy a house in the housing estate to look after Grace. Terrence knew his boss did this to manage his workload. This house was essentially a mobile office, allowing Mr. Reed to facilitate handling his business affairs while Grace slept.
Terrence gave an account of the day’s company matters. As he rattled off the events of the day and went through his agenda, he couldn’t help but wonder why his boss hadn’t brought Grace back to the hospital if nothing more than to gain a few hours away from her.
Jason listened to the briefing while quickly giving out instructions. He then ordered Terrence to contact the high-level management of their overseas branches for a web conference.
Therefore, after just a moment’s time, the high-level management of their overseas branch companies appeared on-screen one at a time and they began their meeting.
However, it seemed as if the high-level management were very curious about the backdrop of Jason’s current location. After all, despite the exquisite decoration of the room, it was still relative to an ordinary citizen. Compared to Jason’s usual location, one could describe the room he was currently in as
“substandard” – and one of the executives even said so.
“Sir, where are you right now? The background…looks like a… unexpected hotel.”
That was a diplomatic way of saying it.
Terrence glanced sharply at his boss, wondering how he would handle the inquiry.
Jason simply replied, “Don’t ask such unnecessary questions. Continue with the meeting.”
Terrence could only chuckle drily. He knew the reason why his employer was holding an international meeting in such a place, but what could he say? That it was because a woman had rented an apartment in this small housing estate, so the boss had temporarily moved his entire working location here?
As for the decor that made the room look like a moderately-priced hotel… Terrence internally shrugged. He’d spent an entire day looking for this house in this small housing estate. Then, he’d offered a price twice its market value to force the owner to sell it and completed all the formalities at the fastest speed possible.
It was a bloody miracle he’d closed on the location, vacated it, cleaned, painted and managed to get any furniture into the space. Let alone handling decorations.
Halfway through the meeting, Jason’s phone suddenly rang. However, the phone that rang was not the one he usually used but the one Grace had bought for him.
Therefore, the foreign high-level management saw the man, who was surrounded with such mystery and affluence, suddenly answering a call on an old-fashioned and cheap phone. It appeared as if even the tone of his voice had become gentler.
Of course, the high level management team couldn’t actually hear what Jason said because he’d muted. The high-level management could only privately discuss Mr. Reed’s purpose in using such a phone and wonder about who he was talking
Terrence even received private messages from some of the high-level management staff, who were clearly fishing for gossip.