Chapter 437: You Have To Decide Now
"I’m sorry, Wendy," Michael uttered each word from his heart.
"You don’t need to feel sorry," Wendy sighed. "At times like these, I’d rather you put energy into discussing what we should do next against Christian instead of wasting your effort on such a word."
"You mentioned that Christian might have back-up plans and it crossed my mind before too," Michael said. "I have been investigating Christian.
"Why he prioritizes the new project is, first, because he wants to defeat me, and second, because he wants to use this opportunity to clean his records.
"This new project is not a mere industrial project, but one supported by the government.
"If he succeeds at overseeing this project, he can ride on the success of this project as a cover-up of the other crimes that he had been involved in.
"That way, his cover would be perfect, and no one would suspect that someone who worked with the government had been involved in criminal activities overseas.
"By then, if we want to find evidence against Christian, it would be even more challenging.
"Therefore, I’m guessing that Christian’s back-up plan was to take the gamble."
Wendy nodded. She had thought about the same thing.
To defeat Christian, they had to root him up entirely.
They could not leave any stone unturned.
"I do think so too. That’s why I’d like to remain in Rheinsville City to dig around for more evidence.
"That way, we can surely defeat Christian," Wendy replied. "Do you remember Clement on HG Enterprise’s board of directors?
"Todd has found some information about his whereabouts and his frequented places.
"I’m thinking we might get a lead through him."
"Do be careful," Michael urged.
It was all he could say, knowing that it was futile to ask Wendy to return to Lake City.
"I will..." Wendy had not completed her sentence when she heard a voice at her door. "Aunt Zen, why are you standing by Mommy’s door? Why don’t you go in?"
It was Leah’s voice.
Shortly after, Wendy heard the sound of something shattering.
Alarmed, Wendy put her phone down and jumped from her bed.
She had a bad feeling about this.
She rose hastily and went to her door.
At this, Wendy realized that she had merely left her door ajar and did not close it completely.
Wendy hesitated for a split second before opening her door.
Looking down, she saw Zen squatting on the floor to pick up pieces of the broken plate with her bare hands.
Slices of fruits were scattered on the floor.
Since Zen was using her bare hands to pick up the broken shards, her fingers were bloodied from cuts.
Without lifting her head, Zen spoke with a forced lightheartedness, "I was thinking of bringing some fruits to your mommy but lost my grip on the plate and dropped it... Aunt Zen was too careless..."
"Aunt Zen, you’re hurt! There’s so much blood!" Leah exclaimed as she looked on.
Leah hurried away to look for the first-aid kit and mumbled, "Wait a while, Aunt Zen.
I’ll get some cream for you!"
Zen had really brought fruits over for Wendy.
At dinner, she had sensed the unusual atmosphere and wanted to ask Wendy about what happened in the day.
She had not expected to overhear Wendy on the phone with someone.
Zen did not knock and leaned closer to the door to overhear the conversation.
She did not expect to overhear so much.
Her heart was pumping as mixed emotions overwhelmed her.
....
Wendy looked upon Zen who was still picking up the broken pieces of china on the floor.
"Stop picking them. You’re hurt," Wendy said.
Zen seemed to be oblivious to Wendy’s voice as she continued to pick up the broken shards.
Her hands had been cut by the porcelain and were bleeding profusely.
Wendy frowned and stooped down.
Grabbing at Zen’s hand, she repeated herself with more force, "I told you to stop picking them!"
Zen only stopped when Wendy grabbed her hand.
Looking at Zen’s bloodstained hands, Wendy remained quiet for a while.
"How much did you hear?" she finally asked.
"I," Zen closed her eyes as a tear trickled down her cheek, "heard it all."
Wendy was about to respond when Leah rushed over with the first-aid kit.
Her tiny frame seemed strained as she dragged the large box.
The commotion drew the attention of Jake and Zess, and they hurried over as well.
Zess noticed Leah dragging the first-aid kit and helped her immediately.
She took it straight to Zen’s side.
Looking at Zen’s hand, Zess’s eyes widened in shock. "What happened here?"
Jake looked serious and thoughtful, but he did not speak.
"Let me take you to the hospital," Wendy suggested, seeing how deep the cuts on Zen’s hands were.
"No need. They’re mere superficial cuts. There’s no need to make a trip to the hospital," Zen responded, tilting her head and taking slow breaths to hold back tears that fell despite her efforts.
Wendy grabbed Zen by the wrist and helped her to her feet as she said, "Even if you don’t want to go, think about the child in your womb. If these cuts became infected, they would be difficult to treat because of your condition."
"Wendy," Zen looked up at Wendy with a tear-streaked face and said, "the baby I’m carrying is Christian’s..."
Zen reminded Wendy about that fact.
"I know that," Wendy replied.
"Then why do you still care about this child?" Zen had overheard Wendy’s conversation and knew where she stood when it came to Christian Lucas.
Shouldn’t she wish that something unfortunate happened to his child?
"The child...is innocent," Wendy paused for a moment before continuing, "Moreover, this is your child too, and you’ve given your all to protect this child."
At Wendy’s explanation, Zen began to weep uncontrollably.
"Let me help you disinfect your wounds first," Wendy went on as she opened the first-aid kit and took out a piece of gauze and the antiseptic solution. "It might hurt, but bear with it for a while."
By now, Zen was used to the pain on her hand.
She watched as Wendy gently dabbed the soaked gauze on her hand and continued to cry.
After she had generally disinfected Zen’s wounds, Wendy repeated herself, "Come on, let’s go to the hospital."
"Mommy," Leah looked up at Wendy with worry written all over her face, "will Aunt Zen be okay?"
Wendy ruffled Leah’s hair tenderly and comforted her, "She’ll be fine. Go to bed.
Mommy will send Aunt Zen to the hospital to get her hand checked out. I’ll be back soon after. don’t worry."
Leah nodded.
Wendy strutted ahead, took her car keys, and put on her jacket before heading out of the door.
After a moment’s hesitation, Zen trailed behind her.
In the car, Wendy ignited the engine and headed towards the hospital.
"Does HG Enterprise really belong to Christian?" A teary-eyed Zen asked Wendy only after taking a deep breath, as though mustering her courage.
Wendy briefly grunted in acknowledgement.
Zen had long guessed that Christian was somehow related to HG Enterprise.
However, she had never dared to mull over the matter.
...
When Zen had suspicions about where Christian’s funds for DR Group had come from, she had already looked through his computer in secret.
At that time, she did not find any information about it.
However, Christian had subsequently instructed her to be by Wendy’s side and had gotten her into HG Enterprise.
The flow of events were so smooth that Zen had believed that HG saw her potential as a designer.
Yet, she was only recruited into the company as a mere assistant to Wendy.
After that, HG met with a crisis, and another series of events took place.
Timothy Woods had been suspicious of Wendy at many occasions.
While Christian had an apparent thorough understanding of what was happening at HG and seemed especially concerned about the company.
Putting the puzzle pieces together, Zen had sensed that HG was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.
In addition, Christian had something to do with HG.
Zen had believed that as long as she kept her mind off the matter, she would not be involved in the chaos.
However, she had heard about it all that day and regretted it.
She could no longer deceive herself that she was not involved.
"So, you created the crisis that HG is facing right now?" Zen probed again.
Wendy once again briefly grunted in acknowledgement.
"Both you and Michael had known about it earlier and linked up to deal with matters against Christian... Is that it?" Zen seemed to have some difficulty articulating that question.
"Didn’t you overhear it all?" Wendy kept her eyes on the road as she responded, "There’s no need for you to be surprised. Haven’t you been working for Christian this whole while?"
"You..." At Wendy’s reply, Zen shook as she forced out a response, "You knew?"
Zen thought that Wendy had been ignorant of the fact that she had been selling her out.
By the way Wendy made such a level comment about knowing what Zen had been doing left Zen utterly surprised.
"Yes, I’ve known," Wendy uttered impassively.
"Since when?" Zen’s eyes widened, and she had paused for a long while before she asked.
"Early on, I don’t remember when." Wendy tried to recall and continued, "At least from the time you came to live in my house, I knew you had a hidden agenda."
"Then why did you let me stay?" Zen was in disbelief when she realized that Wendy had known so much. "Were you just going with the flow?"
"Do you want to hear the truth?" At this point, Wendy had pulled the car to a stop at the red light as she looked at Zen out of the corner of her eye.
Zen’s eyes remained red and puffy as her astonishment and fear were written all over her face.
When Wendy saw Zen nodding in response, Wendy said, "Part of the reason was to go with the flow since I knew that you were someone sent by Christian.
"If you stayed by my side, you could give Christian prompt updates about me. In that way, if I wanted to let Christian know about something, I could simply use you to convey it to him."
"What about the other part?" Zen’s lips were quivering as she struggled to utter this question.
"Because I didn’t want to see you being forced to abort your child," Wendy responded honestly.
"But you knew that I was following Christian’s orders!" Zen covered her mouth to control her agitation somewhat as tears streamed down her cheeks.
The traffic light now turned to green, and Wendy drove again.
With a light laugh, she responded, "Zen, I’m a mother myself. I was almost forced to abort the pregnancy then as well. Because of that, I can relate to how you feel about the child you’re carrying.
"As mothers, our children are our life. Although I don’t know a lot about that man, Christian, I know enough to tell that he is someone who could murder his own child.
"I cannot stand aside to watch you fall into such a terrible circumstance."
...
"Oh, Wendy..." Zen’s eyes were red and swollen as she continued to cry.
She swallowed with difficulty and remained silent for a long while.
She could not imagine that the person she had been betraying had been considerate of her.
She had believed that her acting was good enough to fool Wendy.
She did not consider that Wendy had actually treated her as a friend and did not wish for her to be met with a tragic situation.
Zen’s lips trembled. After a long time, she finally managed to speak, "I’m not worth it, Wendy..."
"Yeah, you’re not." Wendy smiled weakly as she continued, "You didn’t just betray me once. If not for you being pregnant, I would not have kept you with me this time."
Wendy was speaking honestly about this.
It was as she had told Zen... she had merely been uncomfortable to stand by watching Zen being forced by Christian to abort her pregnancy.
Back when she was pregnant, Michael had forcefully placed her on the operating table.
She was no stranger to that fear and despair.
She did not wish for Zen to experience that.
While she was able to escape from that place, Zen might not be so fortunate.
Zen cared so much for this child. If she were to lose it, it would be no different from her losing her own life.
"I’m so...sorry." These were the only words Zen could utter after another long pause.
"What’s happening today? Several people are apologizing to me." Wendy shook her head as she recalled Michael giving her an apology over the phone earlier.
’Sorry’ was the most useless phrase in this world.
Suddenly, Wendy heard a resounding slap.
Turning to look, she saw Zen slapping her own face.
"What are you doing?" Wendy was still diving and could not afford to stop Zen.
"I know, I owe you too much, and this slap is insufficient to repay my debt fully.
"Still, if I don’t even do this to repay you, I would feel too uncomfortable," Zen cried.
"Wendy, whether you believe me or not, I’ve been in much turmoil.
"Each time Christian asks me to report to him about you, I try to resist, but I have no way to go against Christian’s wishes.
"I’m really worried that Christian might try to force me to abort the pregnancy.
"Many times, I’ve dreamed that Christian came back to Rheinsville City and pushed me onto the operating table."
As Zen finished her statement, she slapped herself forcefully once more.
Wendy believed that Zen was speaking the truth at this point.
Unfortunately, the truth meant nothing.
It didn’t change the fact that Zen betrayed Wendy.
Zen had fallen in love with Christian, and that naturally placed her against Wendy.
At the sound of Zen slapping herself, Wendy winced. She ultimately did not wish for Zen to be harmed.
She had just been treated for the cuts on her hands, and she was pregnant.
That led Wendy to respond, "No need to apologize to me. You should be worried for Christian. He’s now not in the position to take care of himself, and, in no time, he will face his utter defeat."
At Wendy’s words, Zen stopped slapping herself.
It was true that Christian was on the verge of failing.
He had been a man she was in love with for many years.
Despite knowing that he was doing wrong, she continued to follow his wishes.
Now, he was on the verge of downfall because of Wendy and Michael.
Wendy’s face fell when she heard Zen grow quiet.
Taking a deep breath, Wendy spoke gravely, "Zen, now is the time for you to make a decision."
