"This is all your fault!" Adele yelled as she placed a painful slap on my cheek, yet despite the stinging sensation her palm left, my head could not grasp what happened as my whole body felt numb.
'How low must I get before they are satisfied?'
"You are the reason that he is suffering right now," Adele said, her voice dripping with venom, and her eyes glaring daggers at me. "I told you that that love and happiness you are so obsessed about will not bring you anywhere. Now, because of you, my son is fighting for his life."
I could not utter a single word after what Adele had said. No matter how hurtful her words were, I cannot let my anger towards her ruin my only chance of saving Ansel.
The hospital said that Ansel had to undergo surgery in order to survive the accident, but that surgery would require a huge sum as a deposit, and I don't know where I could get that huge amount of money in such a short period.
Except for Ansel's family.
I know they are not going to be that forgiving towards us. They have shown us multiple times the consequences of incurring their wrath, but right now, the only thing I could think of is how to save Ansel.
My knees are starting to ache from kneeling, but that is the least of my worries right now. I can handle the physical pain, and I can handle the shame of kneeling and begging in front of this woman just to save Ansel.
'But I don't think I will be able to handle it if I found out that this woman has something to do with this incident.'
"If you want us to help you and my foolish son, you would have to leave him," Adele said, her voice cold and almost lacking emotion. My eyes widened in disbelief at the disturbing words she just uttered. "You need to divorce him and vanish from his sight."
I wanted to scoff at her words right now. I can't believe that there is someone as heartless as her, that she could negotiate for her selfish interests even in this type of situation. Even right now, her son is fighting for his life, but before saving her son, the only thing occupying that head of hers is how she could dispose of me and make Ansel return to their family.
What a joke.
'But that joke is your last hope, Alina.'
"I—"
"You don't have time to think," Adele interjected, glaring harshly down at my kneeling figure. "You have to choose immediately if you want Caesar to survive, and if you really love him, you know which option to choose."
After saying those words, Adele finally left. Her last few words kept ringing in my ear, and the hatred that I feel for that family had only exacerbated. She knew that I don't have any other option but to ask for her help, and she cruelly exploited this chance to finally attain what she wanted.
'If you really cared for him, if you are truly want to act as a mother now, you would not even be here negotiating for your son's life. You would be by his side doing everything that could keep him alive.'
***
I plopped myself onto my bed after a very eventful day. I still could not wrap my head around the fact that I am now known as the ultimate villainess among the employees of the Chadwick Group, and now, another grave problem appeared.
'I can't really catch a break.'
When Paul briefly explained to us the problem with regards to the delivery of the pipes, I knew instantly that this problem would definitely cause a domino effect, and it would be a huge headache not just for the project team, but also for the other suppliers.
Since this project is in a larger scale, the suppliers could not just simply adjust the schedule in a short notice knowing that it might cause harm to their business, and since our company is one of those who would be directly affected by the said domino effect, I don't think that I would be able to sit still and do nothing knowing that the whole project would suffer.
Without the time difference in mind, I tried calling Luke, hoping that I could discuss the issue to him immediately and share my preliminary plan for the issue, and fortunately after a few rings, Luke finally answered.
"Alina?" Luke said, his voice rather husky, and I realized that I must have woke him up.
"I'm sorry, were you sleeping?" I responded, feeling guilty that I disturbed his sleep. He was quite busy for the past few days, especially since I am currently away, and even though he is a free-spirited person, he is the type who would not rest until he finishes his work, and by waking him up, I might have disrupted his only chance to rest for the day. "I'll call you again later."
"No, no," Luke interjected, his voice still laced with sleep. "I can talk right now."
"No, don't worry about it," I replied, and a hint of panic can be heard from my voice. "I can call you later."
I can call him again once I have finalized my strategy for the issue, and since he has a vital part in my plan, I wouldn't want to share my idea prematurely and risk being rejected. "It's quite rare for you to a call," Luke replied. "It must be important."
"Hey," I protested, my voice rising a bit. "I do call you from time to time."
"But it is always about business," Luke complained, and I could not help but smile unconsciously as the image of a whining Luke flashed before my eyes. "And I'm sure you disturbed my sleep because of work again."
I chuckled a bit, talking to Luke like this felt like a breath of fresh air after the stressful weekend and the pile of problems that would not just go down. "I promise I'll call you more frequently."
"You better," Luke replied sternly. "Now, why did you call?"
Now that Luke had asked, I suddenly don't know where to start. Luke does not know about my past with Ansel. Although he knew about my previous marriage, he does not know the identity of my ex-husband, and though I can't hide the fact forever, and the topic may come up sooner or later, I can't seem to gather enough courage to tell him the truth through the phone.
And I still don't know how I would tell him the fact that my reputation within the Chadwick Group may not exactly be that good.
"One of the project team members made a mistake with placing the order for the pipes," I started recounting what Paul had said earlier at the office. "The pipes are supposed to arrive by next week so the construction can proceed to the installation. The member had entered the same day but the year that he entered was next year, so the whole project is supposedly delayed for almost a year."
"Wow." Luke breathed out. I had the same reaction as him earlier. It was surely an honest mistake on the part of the member who made the purchase requisition form, but even though it was purely a mistake, he could not erase the fact that he just placed the entire project in jeopardy.
The procurement department can also be held liable for this mistake because of their negligence, but they immediately washed their hands off of the issue and placed the blame entirely on the project team.
"So what will happen?" Luke inquired, and I'm pretty sure that he is also thinking about the possible repercussions on our part.
"Well, the project manager called the supplier, and they said that it might be possible move up the delivery time, but only by six months," I recounted, but from what I heard earlier, the supplier is not entirely sure if it is truly possible to move the delivery time by that much. "And the project team does not have enough slack time to accommodate such a long delay."
"Damn, that would be a huge headache," Luke said while sighing exasperatedly. "What should we do? What did the other suppliers say?"
"They haven't notified the other suppliers yet," I replied. The team might have a meeting first before they inform the suppliers regarding the matter. Not all suppliers would be affected by this issue, but for those that will be affected, the team might need to prepare a compromise for each of them. "And before we make a move, I want to consult with you about my plan."
"Sure," Luke said nonchalantly. "What's your plan?"
"Before I tell you," I said, pausing for a few moments in order to calm my nerves. I'm scared that Luke would react badly against my plan, and I can't have him refuse as I really need his help in order to execute my idea. "Please promise me you will listen to me until the end before you make your decision."
***
Luke was extremely hesitant about my plan after I told him about it, but instead of rejecting it right away, he said that he would take his time and think about it before making his decision.
And for me, that is all that matters.
But despite the fact that I made this plan on my own to help the project team, my chest is still filled with apprehension as they might reject the hand that I'm extending for them. They may not want to accept help from someone they could not trust, and especially not from someone who is known by the entire company as the gold-digger ex-wife.
'But still, I want to help them.'
Based on the past few meetings that we had, I knew how much they treasured this project. They were all passionately working for it in order to see it come to life in two years, and I honestly don't want to simply sit back and do nothing when I knew that there is something I could do to help them.
And I was also once in the position of the member who made the mistake. Although our situation was quite different, I knew how stressful it was to be placed in a tight spot and know that you might have ruined a huge opportunity for the company.
Right now, I just need to wait for Luke's approval of my plan before I could relay it to Paul.
***
I took a bath after finishing the remaining work that I was not able to finish last weekend, taking my time in the tub in order to wash the exhaustion away from my body. I have finished almost all of my pending work during the weekend since I wanted to distract myself from the issue of my past with Ansel. Now, for the next few days, I don't have much work left to complete, and I could use the time then to execute my plan concerning the matter with the project team once both Luke and Paul agreed to it.
As I was blowing my hair dry, my phone suddenly rang. Since Luke said that he would call again after he wakes up, I thought that he was the one who was calling, but instead of his name, an unknown number is flashing on my screen.
I am not really fond of answering calls from an unknown number, but seeing that it might be from a client, I hesitantly pressed the answer button and placed the phone near my ear.
"Hello, good evening," I greeted using my usual business tone. I don't know who the person from the other line is, and since it might be a business call, I don't want to risk sounding unprofessional.
"It is a good evening indeed," a familiar voice said from the other line, and hearing her voice instantly made me curl my hand into a tight fist. "Did you like my present?"
And once I heard those words, I immediately knew what Christina meant.