Chapter 319: Carried The Burden On Her Own
"You do understand me." Christian smiled lightly and gazed at Yonina’s body without mincing his words of praise, "Yonina, if you were a man, you would definitely be able to achieve greater success."
This statement may be an affirmation for others. After all, he was Christian who was extremely demanding of people. It was difficult to get Christian’s affirmation.
But when Yonina heard it, she found it extraordinarily ironic.
"What’s wrong with not being a man?" Yonina’s tone of voice was agitated. She immediately stood up and said, "What can a man do that I can’t do? What exactly about me, Yonina, is inferior to men? Why do all of you have a prejudice against us women?"
This point had a permanent sore spot in Yonina’s heart. Because her father always regretted not having a son. He always regretted that she was a woman.
Christian didn’t expect Yonina to react so strongly and was frozen for a moment.
"Take it easy," Christian said as he made a gesture for her to sit down. "I just said that off the top of my head."
"Oh." Yonina sneered, and her face sank as she said, "Christian, I’m in a partnership with you. I hope you still have more respect for me. If you want to rely on me to deal with Michael, don’t call me a woman at every turn."
"There are some things that can only be done by a woman," Christian did not want to argue with Yonina on this matter. After all, there was no point. He directly changed the topic back to the main issue and said, "What I want to talk to you today is what only a woman can do."
When she heard this, Yonina’s temper decreased.
She slowly sat back down under Christian’s signaling gaze.
"It’s been ten days since the last party, and I need you to tell the outside world that you’re pregnant," Christian said straightforwardly.
"What do you mean? You’re asking me to pretend to be pregnant?"
Yonina didn’t expect that Christian came to talk to her about this today. This method was really vicious and scary.
When Wendy sees the news of pregnancy, she will definitely be heartbroken. Even if there was still some love between her and Michael, it would be shattered by this news.
Once she was heartbroken, she would definitely want to leave Lake City. Then Christian’s purpose would be accomplished.
"Right." Christian didn’t reveal much, but simply said, "You should know the purpose of doing this."
Of course, Yonina knew.
Her eyes shifted down to the coffee in front of her.
"If you announce that you are pregnant, then Michael and the Lucas family will have to be accountable to you. As long as the public sentiment is appropriate, Michael is very likely to marry you. And Michael is also very jealous of me. He may also weigh the pros and cons of marrying you and then join forces with the Collins Group to deal with me."
"Aren’t you afraid that I’ll really work with Michael?" Yonina looked into Christian’s eyes and asked straightly.
Yonina’s words were testing Christian’s waters. She didn’t know how far Christian would go.
"Do you think I will be afraid of your cooperation?" Christian smiled with confidence and arrogance as he said, "The Collins Group’s economic lifeline is all in my hands.
Once I find out that you have any deviation, I can immediately put the Collins Group out of business. Michael thinks you gave him the drug and will only hate you for a while, so how can he cooperate with you? You’d better not think of doing that either.
Otherwise, I don’t know what I’ll do if I go crazy."
...
After she left the cafe, Christian’s words still echoed in Yonina’s mind.
He said, "If you want Collins Group to recover, if you want your family to be safe and sound, don’t think about what you shouldn’t do. By the way, I have a copy of the evidence of your father’s illegal fundraising abroad a few months ago. If there is no need, this evidence will not be seen by anyone. But if there is a need, then your father may have to spend the rest of his life in prison."
Yonina had always known that Christian was a ruthless person.
But she didn’t expect that Christian had evidence of her father’s illegal fundraising in his hands.
This matter was not even known to Yonina.
Yonina was skeptical of Christian’s words.
Christian did not panic and explained, "It’s normal that you don’t know anything because your father knows very well what kind of person you are. If you know, you will persuade your father to turn himself in. Even if you can’t be ruthless enough to report your father, knowing this matter will just make you feel more upset. However, you must be aware of your father’s failed investment in minerals a few months ago.
At that time, Collins Group was already drained by him, and there was no capital inflow. If he wanted to make a comeback, he had to raise money illegally abroad."
There was nothing wrong with Christian’s statement.
The fewer people knew about this kind of thing, the better.
Moreover, Yonina’s father’s investment in the minerals was known to Yonina.
At that time, Yonina’s father told her that someone had invested a sum of money.
Yonina asked who invested the money, but he did not mention a word.
At that time, Yonina doubted the source of the money because, after all, Collins Group was in a crisis and many people were protecting themselves, so who would invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Collins Group?
But there was nothing else happening at that time, so Yonina forgot about it and was busy trying to save Collins Group.
However, how did Christian have the evidence in his hands?
Yonina was getting scared of Christian.
He seemed to be more powerful than she had imagined.
When she walked out of the cafe, Yonina’s back was covered with cold sweat.
She must be more careful and must not let Christian know that she and Michael were cooperating.
Yonina went back to Michael’s office.
At this moment, Michael, with his head down, was working on a document.
Seeing that it was Yonina, Michael just raised his head and lowered it again, and said, "A new assignment?"
"Yes." Yonina’s hand hanging at her side, clenched little by little, and her expression was grave.
"Just say it." Michael signed and moved the document in front of him to the side.
He then stood up and went to sit on the sofa.
Yonina came back to him personally, which meant that the new assignment was not simple.
"Christian wants me to announce to the public that I’m pregnant," Yonina said directly.
As expected, Michael’s hand that intended to carry a glass of water paused when he heard these words.
"He’s really ruthless," Michael sneered.
"What do you plan to do?" Yonina asked.
"It’s come to this, so what else can I do?" Michael looked down and hesitated for a moment before continuing, "It’s a good thing Wendy left Lake City. At least Christian won’t target her, and I’ll fight this battle on my own."
As Yonina listened to Michael’s words, she suddenly felt some heartache and some envy for Wendy.
Other people had someone to protect them, but she was the only one who carried the burden from the beginning to the end on her own.
...
Todd stayed at Wendy’s house for two days, and he was completely healed from his injuries.
He had been away from Rheinsville City for so long that he still had much business to attend to.
Over dinner, Todd brought up the subject and said, "Corrine, I’m healed, and I want to go back to Rheinsville City tomorrow. Do you want to come back with me? It’s not convenient for you to go back to work at MC in this condition. Why don’t you come back with me?
"Whether you go to HG or come to Lewis Design Company, or if you don’t want to go, it’s better to rest in Rheinsville City for a while. Or maybe, Timothy and I can invest in you and let you start a new design firm? As long as you want to, anything is fine."
"I... " Wendy bowed her head and was about to say something. Leah blinked her big eyes and asked, "Uncle Todd, you’re going back?"
"Yes, you and Mummy and Jake are coming back with me," Todd smiled and spoke to Leah.
"I don’t want to go back." Leah immediately shook her little head and said, "I want to stay here and wait for Daddy to come back from work. If I leave, Daddy will be unhappy if he comes home after work and doesn’t see me."
"When Daddy is done, you can come back," Todd gently persuaded Leah. "Look, Leah, now your daddy is so busy that he doesn’t even have time to come home, so it’s a waste of time for you to stay here, right?"
"But..." Leah was still very dependent on Michael, her father. She was a little reluctant as she said, "But I still want to stay here."
Todd was a little helpless and had to look at Wendy.
After all, it was Wendy who would make the decision to go back or not.
"Corrine, what do you think?" Todd asked her.
"Didn’t the doctor say that you should go back for a check-up in a few days?" Wendy pursed her lips and said without daring to look Todd in the eye, "Wait until you have been examined and are sure you are okay before going."
Wendy didn’t say who was going.
"Corrine, will you stop avoiding the question?" Todd shook his head and advised Wendy, "What are you doing staying in this sad place? Do you want to wait for Michael to turn back? Or do you want to see what happens to Michael?"
"I... " Wendy didn’t know.
She just had a breakdown and didn’t know where to go from here. Rheinsville City was not her cup of tea, and those years in Rheinsville City were full of memories of her working her butt off.
Lake City was indeed a sad place to stay.
She simply didn’t know what she was going to do.
"Mummy, let’s go to Rheinsville City together," Jake said as he took his place next to Wendy. He reached out his little hand and held Wendy’s hand tightly. With maturity all over his childish little face, he said, "I’m old enough to take care of you and Leah."
"Jake, why do you want to go to Rheinsville City too?" said Leah, blinking her big eyes in confusion. "Aren’t we going to wait for Daddy to come back?"
"Daddy... " Jake was tempted to say that daddy wasn’t coming back, but looking at Leah, who was still so young, Jake didn’t want to upset her. He said, "Daddy will pick us up when he’s done."
Jake looked at Wendy and didn’t say anything as he got out of his chair, went to the couch, and picked up his phone.
Jake then opened his phone, swiped to a news page, handed it to Wendy, and said, "Mummy, take a look for yourself and then decide if you want to go to Rheinsville City."
