They were in the company building, and many employees were passing by the conference room Hence, Derek helped Alessandra up first.
"I–I'm fine."
Alessandra could not care less about her pain. She hastily wiped the table and took out a cloth to wipe the laptop and phone.
"Stop! I'll do it!" Derek quickly shoved her away, making
her stagger a few steps backward.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Schwartz. I–I didn't do it on purpose,"
Alessandra apologized profusely.
For someone from a less well–to–do family, ruining
someone's valuables would only make their situation
worse.
She was hoping she did not have to pay for the losses,
but Derek examined his devices and said grimly,
"Ma'am, my laptop's motherboard is fried, and my
phone isn't lighting up. You've got to compensate me."
"I–I…" Alessandra paled, unable to form a complete
sentence. All she could do was bow and apologize.
She only wanted to earn some money to help lessen
Emmanuel's burden and give Mackenzie some jewelry.
To her horror, she had to compensate a huge sum
when she had not even gotten her salary.
This is just terrible! I'm sure Emmanuel won't let me
work anymore if he finds out about this.
"It's already happened. There's no use apologizing
now." Derek helped her up and added coldly, "I'm going
to send these for repairs now. I'll let you know how
much you'll need to pay when I find that out. Please
give me your phone number."
Alessandra was on the verge of crying, but she still
nodded and gave him her phone number.
At the same time, Beatrix was standing outside the
glass door. When she saw how pitiful Alessandra
looked, she wanted to help the latter out.
To Beatrix's surprise, Alessandra agreed to
compensate him. Hence, the former could say nothing.
After all, it was only right to compensate someone
after breaking their things.
After receiving her number, Derek could not help but
scold her a little before leaving to get his devices
repaired.
There were many important data in them which he
had put a lot of effort and time into. He was planning
to get Alessandra to compensate him for the
intangible losses as well.
Alessandra felt horrible when Derek left. Even so, she
still cleaned up the conference room.
After that, she clutched her abdomen and walked out
of the room.
The moment she saw Beatrix, she quickly put on a
smile and greeted, "Hello, Ms. Beatrix."
Alessandra did not want Beatrix to find out she was ill.
I'll be in trouble if she fires me because of that.
Hence, she pretended to look fine no matter how much pain she was in.
"Hello, Ms. Cadigan. Are you all right?"
Beatrix felt bad for Emmanuel's mother when she
gazed at the latter. Feeling worried, Beatrix said, "You
can take two days off if your body's in pain."
"No, no, no. I'm fine. I'm feeling great!" Alessandra
quickly waved her hand dismissively and forced a
smile.
The moment she straightened her back, she felt an
excruciating pain, which made her grimace.
"Ms. Cadigan, please go home and take a day off. I'll
make sure the manager doesn't deduct your salary.
End of discussion."
With that, Beatrix walked off.
5/8
That was all she could do to help the elderly woman.
After all, it was not her place to make Derek give up on
the compensation.
Just then, Mackenzie, who was at the headquarters,
dialed Derek's number to ask about a project's details.
She did not expect the call to not get through, and it
pissed her off.
She always requested her employees to maintain
smooth communication during working hours. No one
was allowed to be unreachable.
At that, she instructed Lexi to find Derek.
Half an hour later, Derek returned the call in a hurry. "M–Ms. Quillen, I'm so sorry. My phone was damaged by one of the cleaning ladies. I didn't turn it off on
purpose." He sounded a little panicked.
"Derek, is this your first day working at Terence Group?
Why didn't you make a report about your broken
phone right away? What if this affects the project's
progress?" Mackenzie scolded right away. She had
always been a strict person.
Derek swallowed his anger, not daring to retort. To him,
Mackenzie was like the queen of the company.
"I–I understand, Ms. Quillen. I promise this won't happen
again in the future. The project's data? Ah… They're on
my laptop, but I can't give them to you now…"
After enduring the scolding, Derek encountered a
second problem.
"Derek, you have one hour. If you don't send me the
data in time, you can pack your things and leave."
Mackenzie hung up angrily.
Everyone in Terence Group knew how terrible Mackenzie's temper was. Not only was she indifferent, but she was also
heartless.
She hated people who came up with excuses for their
mistakes more than anything else.
Derek was furious, thinking it was all Alessandra's fault.
D*mn it! I must rip her off! I won't rest until I get my
money!
In the meantime, Alessandra was still panicking even after arriving home. She wondered if she should tell her
children about the incident.
After asking the neighbors, she found out it would cost
at most a few thousand to fix a computer and a
phone.
Hence, she thought of borrowing money from others.
Perhaps this can be resolved. I don't want to make my
children worry again.
Soon, Derek's call came.
"What? Twenty thousand?"
Alessandra almost passed out from shock when she
heard the number.
"Mr. Schwartz, h–how could it be so expensive?"
"Hmph! Expensive? I can't retrieve the data from my devices, which affects the company's project. We could
lose tens of millions, and I haven't even taken into
account that amount! If you're not willing to pay, I'll file
a police report. We can settle this in court."
Derek vented all his anger on Alessandra.
He purely focused on scaring her. It intimidated her to
the point she did not dare to argue. She could only
agree for the time being and promise him she would
find a way to compensate him.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
Roselynn came back just in time to see Alessandra in a
daze. The latter's eyes were red, and she looked as
though she could faint at any time. Seeing that,
Roselynn hurried over to check on Alessandra.
At first, Alessandra did not want to tell her. Thanks to Roselynn's incessant questioning, however, the former
finally opened up and recounted the entire incident.
She even teared up helplessly when she reached the
end of the story.
"What? Twenty thousand for repairs? He's clearly
extorting you! That's no different from robbing
someone."
Roselynn instantly exploded with anger, and she gave
Emmanuel a call.
Emmanuel had just gotten off work and was about to
head out for his part–time job. He, too, lost his temper
after learning about the incident from his sister.
Twenty thousand was more than enough for Derek to buy new devices. The compensation did not make
sense.
"Tell Mom not to worry about it. I'll help her think of
something," he promised.
Emmanuel felt frustrated after hanging up.
I can't cough up twenty thousand now, but I can't
borrow money from Mackenzie either. Otherwise, she'll
think I married her just to scam money out of her. Wait.
J
Isn't that icy woman an executive at Terence Group's
headquarters? Perhaps she can help lower the
compensation amount if I ask for her help. That way, I
can help Mom pay that man.
That night, Mackenzie returned home at the same time
as Emmanuel got home from his part–time job.
There was a strong tension between them due to last
night's events.
пырты
Despite knowing the truth, Mackenzie could not help
but think he was stupid. The mere sight of him
infuriated her.
"Ms. Quillen, I need your help with something,"
Emmanuel asked politely.
"What is it? Do you need money to treat another
woman?" Mackenzie questioned coldly, only to regret it
instantly. Why do I sound jealous? Will he get the
wrong idea and think I'm jealous?
"No!"
Emmanuel could not be bothered about what she
thought. He recounted the situation and asked, "Could you help me talk to Mr. Schwartz and make him lower
the compensation to a reasonable amount?"
Mackenzie kept quiet the entire time while secretly
shaking her head.
What a coincidence. The cleaner who broke Derek's
laptop and phone was Emmanuel's mom? That's my
mother–in–law. And I scolded Derek so terribly because
of the trouble she created.
"Can you help me with this, Ms. Quillen?" asked
Emmanuel when there was no reply from her after a
long time.
"Huh?"
That was when Mackenzie snapped out of her
thoughts.
Emmanuel frowned. Did she not hear a word I said? Or
is she pretending not to hear me because she doesn't
want to help? Did I just waste my time explaining the
situation to her?
In the next second, Mackenzie uttered coldly, "I'll help you put in a few words, then. I've got to warn you, though. It won't necessarily work."