"Where were you?" That was the first thing Beatrice asked Andrew as soon as he entered his office.
When she ca to the company, she had multiple thoughts and questions, and even when she knew the answers to them all, she wanted to hear them from his mouth.
Why? She thought he loved her, too. It was true he was recently obsessed with Elara, but she thought it was temporary because the woman left him, and he found out she was so big shot after she left.
But before Elara was ever in his life, he had loved her. He even expressed guilt for sleeping with her like that, but didn’t outwardly reject the idea of engagent.
Then why did he leave her in the hall all alone to turn her into the laughing stock of the century?
Before the engagent, every headline about her was full of praise about how she was such a versatile actress and how good she looked on the screen.
But this one incident completely changed the netizens’ perspective.
The sa people who were praising her were mocking her now, calling her a gold digger who slept with the investor to marry him and reap benefits, and while it was true, was that the main reason?
She slept with him because she loved him and wanted him. Not because she wanted to reap those benefits. But ever since she t him, she had only seen one dream: marrying him, and for that she kept going, playing tricks, crossing hurdles, and even risking her dignity ti after ti.
Was loving and wanting a man that big a sin?
She lost herself in this ga of wanting him, and in the end, what did she get?
Plain humiliation.
Beatrice’s eyes welled with tears when Andrew ignored her and walked to his table.
"Are you not going to answer ?" Beatrice stood up from the couch.
"After making a laughing stock of before the entire world, you don’t think I deserve to know what you were doing when you were supposed to be at that banquet exchanging rings with ? Do I really deserve this, Andrew? After how you forced yourself on , and I kept quiet about it. This is what I deserve?" Beatrice asked.
Andrew, who thought ignoring her would make her leave, looked at her sharply at the ntion of that night.
"You don’t know where I was?" He asked before he walked to her.
"You don’t deserve it, Beatrice. I know that too. And I will compensate you handsoly with whatever you want, but I won’t marry you," Andrew declared, seething through his teeth before he turned and grabbed his file, ready to leave for the eting.
However, he had only taken a step when Beatrice rushed forward and grabbed his elbow.
"Why? Why won’t you marry ? You once loved , didn’t you? What has changed now? I wasn’t the one who proposed this engagent. It was your grandfather who wanted to look righteous. How can you even say that after making the laughingstock?" Beatrice asked, her tears flowing freely while her eyes depicted how angry she was.
Andrew scoffed.
He snapped his hand free from her grip before chuckling darkly.
"Do you want to know why I won’t marry you? Fine. Here is the reason: I won’t marry you because I know you have been selling company secrets outside. How do I know that?" Andrew’s words made Beatrice freeze in her place.
At the sa ti, Jason walked into the office with a yellow file containing all the information from the emails used to send it to Cooper, as well as testimonials from people who testified to having worked for her.
Andrew threw the papers in her face before telling her that the file for the Paradise project on the table was a fake. And after they replaced it, she was the only one who entered the office.
And guess what? The file was gone right after she left.
He would’ve definitely missed it if he hadn’t planted there himself just to catch the culprit. He thought the plan might not work since anyone stealing directly from the CEO’s office would be stupid, but who would have known she would still dare to do so?
Beatrice stood there frozen in her place. All the evidence was right before her. There was nothing she could say to deny or rebuke the statents.
"Be grateful that I am not revealing this stuff to my family because I don’t want them to look at you with disgust and treat you just like how they treated Elara all this ti. And it’s not because I love you, but because of our years of friendship. That’s the most I can do for you. Will any sane man marry you after knowing all this?" Andrew asked.
Though he acted tough, even Jason could see how much it broke him to know that the person he had always trusted and backed, just because Beatrice saved his life once, had betrayed him in the worst way possible.
Maybe this was what Karma looked like.
Miss Elara trusted him with her life and happiness, and he betrayed her. Even though he never slept with Beatrice when he was married, what he did was nothing less than cheating.
And now he has been betrayed by the sa woman he chose over his wife.
Jason sighed.
Andrew was about to ask Beatrice to leave his office and not return to the company when the door opened, and Williams walked in.
"Grandpa, what are you—" Andrew couldn’t complete his sentence when the old man walked to him and slapped him hard.
Though Williams was old, he packed quite so energy in that slap, making him stumble back. The secretary quickly supported him.
Andrew’s face whipped to the side as a ringing sound echoed in his head.
He placed his hand on his cheeks, which stung, and couldn’t help but close his eyes.
"You rascal! How dare you make fun of Lloyd’s reputation? I built this empire brick by brick, gave it all to you, and this is how you repay ? By turning our family into a joke before the entire nation?!" Williams raised his voice.
The employees who were passing by stopped for a few seconds, watching the scene in shock.
Andrew stood there, knowing what he did was wrong, and in his actions of revelation, he ended up hurting his family. But he was hurting too.
"Grandpa, you don’t know why I did that. I’ll explain it to you all," Andrew said, but Heather stepped inside the office and glared at his son.
"What would you explain, you bastard?! You already know your grandfather has high blood pressure. Must you anger him like this? What was so important that you couldn’t co to your own engagent? Don’t tell you are still not over that bitch!" Heather shouted.
Andrew’s fists clenched at his father’s sentence.
"Grandpa, please don’t be angry. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have—" Beatrice started, but the old man raised his hand to stop her from speaking further.
"I don’t care what happened or what is going through your head. Since you didn’t co to the engagent and spoiled the girl’s reputation, you will make up for it. Marry her tomorrow," Williams said, and Andrew looked at her in utter shock.
"Grandpa! What are you saying? How can I—?"
"You are not willing? You should’ve thought about it before sleeping with her! Do you think our family would leave a woman in disgrace because our n couldn’t keep it in control? If you made a mistake, take responsibility for it! I could never protect Elara, but I won’t let you destroy another woman for your selfishness," Williams said.
He then turned to Heather to ask if there was a problem.
Seeing his father in anger and knowing how the old man still had the final say in the family business, Heather nodded in agreent.
"You can register for marriage tomorrow, and we will hold a grand ceremony later. You have already consummated the marriage beforehand, either way. It’s better to do it before she ends up pregnant and her image is ruined more," Heather said.
Andrew shook his head in disbelief. It almost felt like the entire world was standing against him, the walls were closing in on him, and he stood there helpless, suffocating even in the spacious room.
"Dad, how can you?" Andrew asked his father, looking at everyone, hoping for at least one person to take his side.
If Elara had been here, he would’ve never let him feel like this. The thought crossed his mind, and a whimper left his mouth.
He turned around to hide his tears and pain from everyone, everyone who didn’t care about him.
"I won’t tolerate any mistakes this ti. If you fail to register the marriage tomorrow, you can say goodbye to the family business and na. Don’t expect to be lenient. I won’t allow you to make fun of our legacy anymore," Williams said, and then, without waiting for a reply, he turned around and left.
Heather left to follow his father while Beatrice looked at Andrew.
"Andrew, should I talk to—"
"Just fucking get out!" Andrew shouted, making Beatrice tremble in shock before she left, afraid he would really lash out at her.
As soon as he was alone with his secretary, Andrew fell on his knees, tears finally rolling down his cheeks.
Jason looked at his boss and felt a deep sense of sympathy for him. But then again, he brought this upon himself, didn’t he? Jason sighed.
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