Chapter 348: Should Not Have Lied To Her
Wendy watched closely at how everyone’s expression changed but she remained unchanged as she sneered, "He is really willing to resort to any means to get what he wants."
"You can’t do that, Corrine. You are HG’s shareholder, and our profits are shared," Timothy immediately interjected. "HG is depending on you."
"Mr. Woods, what are you worried for? Why would I agree to help Michael Lucas?" Wendy waved her hand to reassure Timothy. She continued, "Speaking of shares, Michael called because he had heard about me becoming HG’s shareholder.
"The Moonlight project’s first collection had helped HG earn quite a tidy profit, but Michael did not take that seriously.
"Now that he knows the actual worth of the Moonlight project, plus how much HG paid to give me the shares, Michael must have assumed that HG did that to retain me.
"He realized that I have potential to create something that would be valuable, and so wants to pull me back.
"By the way, he also mentioned that if I really cannot go back to MC to help him, he wants to borrow money from me.
"Now is a crucial period for him and Christian Lucas. If Michael doesn’t have enough money, then MC might really be in trouble.
"Michael also said that if I don’t have that much money, I can sell my HG shares. He had even calculated it for me. A third of HG’s shares are worth about half a billion dollars.
"He asked me to treat it as lending him money. Once he has tided over, he will return the principal with interest.
"He even asked if I trust him. If I do, he will break up with Yonina Collins and remarry me."
Of course, Michael did not speak these words.
These were all made up by Wendy for them to hear.
When Wendy answered the call, she had not placed it on speaker.
To wrap the story up neatly, Wendy deliberately threw in a few keywords.
Such as whether to trust him or not.
All these were made up by Wendy.
"You can’t do that, Corrine. You mustn’t trust him," Todd quickly objected.
HG’s profits no longer mattered to Todd.
To him, whether Wendy stayed in HG or MC were both bad choices.
But when it came to work, Timothy was even more anxious than him. That was why Todd was not in a hurry to say anything.
Now that it was about her love relationship, Todd was naturally most anxious.
Wendy was once deeply in love with Michael.
Now, it was hard to say whether she still loved him or not.
If, just, if Wendy were to go soft and relent, that would be disastrous.
"Of course, I don’t trust him," Wendy said in anger. "I was silly to be duped by him once. The second time I was stupid.
"Why would I fall for it again the third time?
"Of all the timings to call me, he chose to call me after I had gotten the shares.
"He even knows how much my shares are worth.
"His motive is so clear that stupid as I am, I can tell.
"I just didn’t expect him to be such a person.
"He starts thinking of me the moment I have some shares.
"In the past, I thought he really loved Yonina, and my untimely return interrupted them.
"But seems like he is willing to break up with Yonina just to get my money.
"Yonina is pregnant with his child.
"Such a man really fills me with disgust."
"I didn’t know Mr. Lucas is such a person," Zen spoke her first words since arriving at the restaurant.
Zen thought Christian would be delighted to hear about all that was said.
"I did not expect that of Michal Lucas either," sighed Timothy. "I have met him once before, and I thought he was of good character, and also a very good businessman. Seems like I was wrong about him."
"After Corrine first went back, I had brought Leah to meet her. Actually, I had intended to find a suitable chance to tell her I love her," said Todd. "But I saw how good Michael was to Corrine, and I thought he would continue to be good to her. So, I decided to swallow back my feelings. You really can’t judge a book by its cover."
"Well, it’s good that now you and Corrine are together, and I can finally feel relieved," Timothy said with a smile. "I had wished for both of you to get together for so many years."
Todd looked at Timothy with mixed feelings in his eyes.
He did not feel happy after hearing what Timothy had said.
Timothy noticed Todd’s emotions and smiled awkwardly, "Let’s not talk about this. Let’s eat before all the food turns cold."
"That’s right. Let’s not talk about such depressing things," said Wendy. She raised her wine glass and said, "Today is a happy day. Let us all be happy."
At the table, Timothy was probably the only one who was truly happy.
...
After Wendy had hung up on him, Michael sat on his office chair and sneezed.
Soon after, he heard footsteps.
Someone had walked into his office without knocking. The only person to do that now had to be Yonina.
Her face was filled with worry. She looked at Michael, who was sitting down, and asked, "Did you hear about Wendy holding HG’s shares?"
Michael closed his eyes and rested his head against his chair, feeling a little exhausted.
Ever since Wendy left Lake City, Michael had thrown himself into his work and slept an average of four to five hours every day.
He was weary to the bone.
"Then, have you contacted Wendy?" Yonina asked in an anxious tone, supporting herself on his desk with one hand. "Didn’t you call her before? She didn’t believe you? Why did she end up going back to HG, get shares, and become one of their directors? That’s the highest level of power in the company. Why did she, instead, turn against us?"
Yonina’s words made Michael’s head hurt even more.
Michael let out an indiscernible sigh, sat up, and faced Yonina. "I just called Wendy. She seems... "
Michael paused and let his voice trail off. That made Yonina angrier.
She slapped the desk once and angrily said, "Things have already come to this! Can you finish what you wanted to say?
"Do you know that the project that we are fighting with Christian Lucas to bid for is about to start?
"Wendy is helping Christian earn money for him to use that money to fight with us?
"Michael Lucas, I had trusted you! You had promised me that you would beat Christian Lucas! You promised to help Collins Group get through this critical period!
"But now, your woman is fighting us?
"Michael Lucas, don’t you owe me one?"
"This was not the outcome I had expected. Yes, I had not thought carefully enough." Michael hardly ever apologized to anybody.
This was also the first time Michael had apologized to someone other than Wendy.
Michael had always been proud and conceited.
"So? What are you going to do?" Yonina asked. "I only want results. I don’t want your apologies."
"Moonlight project’s first collection was a huge success. But that doesn’t mean that the second collection will do as well," said Michael. "Besides, the project that we are bidding against Christian for might not be a lost cause. The current situation might seem to be stacked against us, but that doesn’t mean that we are completely defeated."
"I’m just so angry!" Yonina expressed what was on her mind. "If we are defeated by Christian Lucas, or by any other enemy, I would have no complaints.
"But the one who is dragging us down is your wife.
"Mr. Lucas, don’t blame me for being direct.
"If you hadn’t tried to coddle her so much and hid our relationship from Wendy, forcing her to hate you and leave Lake City, she wouldn’t have returned to HG. And we won’t be in this situation today.
"When you said back then that you wanted to lie to Wendy, I knew that it was because you didn’t want her to become involved in this and get hurt.
"Of course, I also know that this isn’t solely your fault.
"Because we didn’t know then that HG was actually owned by Christian.
"But the one who created this mess today is you, Michael Lucas!"
Michael had to admit that Yonina was right.
Today’s mess was his fault.
But that was not his intention. He had only wished for Wendy and the two children to be safe.
Yonina looked at Michael with his head bowed and silent, and she took a deep breath.
The anger she had felt earlier had dissipated after venting it out.
Yonina closed her eyes and tried to calm herself down before speaking. "Mr. Lucas, listen to my advice. Tell Wendy the truth.
"It might not be too late, to be honest with her now.
"I know you have the confidence to defeat Christian Lucas, but I don’t dare to gamble with you using Collins Group.
"Now, I am bearing the weight of Collins Group, and I have placed all my hopes on you.
"I hope that you will think through very carefully. Do not take our two companies as gambling chips."
"I will think through this matter very carefully," said Michael. He did owe it to Yonina.
"Christian Lucas contacted me yesterday. He asked me about the progress of your bidding," said Yonina. She paused for a while before going into business talk. "You should hurry your people to put together a fake proposal. Then, we’ll discuss a feasible way to make Christian Lucas believe us."
"All right," Michael nodded.
Yonina had said all that she had wanted to say. She would leave the details on the concrete next steps to Michael to decide.
In the heat of the moment, she had gone a little overboard earlier.
Yonina knew very well that Christian was not sincere in helping Collins Group and he was merely using them.
Once Michael had collapsed, Christian would surely not allow Collins Group to survive.
So, Yonina was left with no choice but to work with Michael.
Strictly speaking, Michael had given Yonina a chance and a ray of hope.
Yonina did not say anything further. She turned around and prepared to leave.
At the door, she stopped, took a deep breath, and said, "I was overly anxious and spoke a little too harshly. I’m sorry."
Without looking back, Yonina walked out.
Michael was left all alone in his office.
This time, he carefully considered what Yonina had said.
It was no longer a question of whether to involve Wendy or not in this matter.
Wendy was already involved.
Whether she stayed in Lake City or returned to HG, Wendy could not escape from this situation with Christian.
Michael could not let Wendy help Christian to fight with Michael and Yonina.
Michael looked at his cell phone and decided to call Wendy again.
He called several times, but Wendy did not answer.
This was also what Michael had anticipated.
Michael’s lies had indeed hurt Wendy very deeply.
She probably would never want to answer his calls.
Recalling what Wendy had said, Michael’s heart ached even more.
...
Dinner was almost over, but Wendy’s cell phone continued to ring.
Everyone present could guess who was calling.
They all thought that it was Michael who would not give up trying to borrow money from Wendy.
Wendy did not answer, and everyone else around the table also pretended not to hear it.
Finally, Wendy turned her cell phone off.
After dinner, Wendy paid the bill, and they all went home.
On the way home, Leah looked glum and refused to say anything.
Wendy held Leah tightly in her arms, knowing exactly why Leah was so unhappy.
Wendy had not considered her children.
Wendy had purposely put on that act for Timothy and the others to see.
Leah had been missing her father, and having to listen to her parents fighting would have made her unhappy.
Sure enough, as soon as they reached home, Leah pulled Wendy’s hand, with tears in her eyes and her voice cracking, "Mummy, did you and Daddy fight again? Is Daddy never coming to see me again?"
Wendy felt very sorry to see Leah so sad and hugged her tight. "I’m sorry, Leah, today was my fault," Wendy comforted her. "But don’t worry, your Daddy still loves you. He will still come and see you when he has time."
"Really?" Leah asked, but the sadness on her face did not change.
"I promise you." Wendy put out her little finger, "Let’s make a pinky promise."
Leah believed her mother after Wendy put out her little finger. She smiled through her tears and also held out her little finger.
After getting Leah ready for bed, Wendy tucked her in.
After Leah had fallen asleep, Wendy washed up and went to her room.
She found her cell phone and turned it on.
As expected, there were many missed calls.
And they were all from Michael.
Wendy’s charade was not just for those at tonight’s dinner to see but was also for Michael.
She had guessed that after Michael found out she had gotten HG’s shares, he would finally be honest about his relationship with Yonina.
There was also a text message in her inbox.
It was from Michael.
The text message was a simple line, "I have something very important to tell you, could you return my call?"
Wendy had no intention of calling him back. She held her phone and played with it happily.
However, because Wendy did not call, Michael called her instead.
Wendy did not hang up but answered it.
"Mr. Lucas, why have you been calling me all day?" asked Wendy. Then she added sarcastically, "I guess you must have too much time on your hands."
"Wendy, I have to tell you something, so please don’t hang up yet."
Of course, Wendy refused to cooperate. She said slowly and deliberately, "Are you going to tell me that you and Yonina Collins are just acting, that everything is fake? That you want me to trust you and then not go back to HG? Am I right?"
"So, you knew?" Michael was taken aback that Wendy had known all along.
But he quickly recovered himself when he realized that there was something wrong with Wendy’s tone.
"Haha," Wendy laughed out loud. "Michael Lucas, you are too absurd. Are you making up this story because you’re afraid that I will gang up with Christian Lucas to fight you after I got HG’s shares?"
Wendy had found out a long time ago that Michael and Yonina were faking their relationship.
But Michael should not have kept it from her or lied to her.
Now that the situation has gone south, he was trying to explain to her?
Not so easy!
