hapter 44 He Doesn’t Even Like Women
Candice froze.
He clearly said he’d been “obsessing over it,” but to her ears, it sounded more like… he’d been missing her.
Her cheeks flushed red.
“Uh… thank you for your concern, Mr. Clemens.”
“I care about all my subordinates.”
Charlie’s expression was calm and composed.
Jerry blinked: All of them? Really?
The atmosphere suddenly became oddly awkward, a delicate tension filling the room…
In the end, it was jerry who broke the silence, smiling as he continued discussing the factory issue.
“Miss Hale, you’re sharp–your guess was about eighty percent correct. Very impressive.”
“What’s the other twenty percent i got wrong?”
Candice asked curiously, eager to move past the weird moment,
“You mentioned the two ghost workers–well, they really were ghosts. They’re dead Edward killed them.”
“They’re dead?”
Candice was stunned
She had guessed they might be relatives or friends of Edward’s, but murder victims? That hadn’t crossed her mind
Jerry nodded. “Crazy, right? it turned into a homicide case, None of us saw that coming ”
Candice pieced it together:
“I see… that’s the leverage Nick had on Edward. No wander he was so confident Edward wouldn’t talk and was even willing to
take the fall for hun.“
Falsifying payroll and kidnapping were serioas–but murder? That was a whole other level.
“Those two really were factory workers–part of the original bald A married couple. But less than two weeks after arriving, they got into an argument with Edward one night, and he ended up thing them. Claimed it was an accident, a moment of rage.”
*Nack found out and came up with the idea to take their continued existence he even created a story about them getting bajured on the job
To get the others at the factory to cooperate, he promised they could split the couple’s salaries.
That’s how Nick got everyone under his control—and made them work for him.”
gry wasn’t his real goal. Nick had much bigger ambitions
He used his wife’s brother’s name to open a so–called new energy company, and got Edward to help him steal R&D data.
He do robezzled raw materials, got the accountant to cook the backs, and the workshop manager to cover for them.
It’s hurrying. We thought we were dealing with a minor breach but the entire system was noted from the inside.”
Candice felt bez skin can be listening to it
dn’t be staple, but she hadn’t imaged sortiething this massive lurking ar
Chapter 44 He Doesnt Tren Like Women
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She couldn’t help looking at Charlie.
Are you going to do a complete internal purge over here?”
If things were this rotten in the factory, there had to be insiders at headquarters too–otherwise, it wouldn’t have been so easy to smuggle things right under Jessica’s nose.
“We definitely will,” Charlie nodded.
“This branch has always underperformed. I’d already been planning to restructure.
Now there’s a perfect excuse. Not a bad thing, really.”
Π
The way he said it, Candice suddenly felt like some sort of royal hound sniffing out corruption for the crown prince.
Sniffing everywhere, biting where it hurt.
Just then, Kyle entered the room.
His face was already gloomy, and upon seeing Charlie again, it darkened to a whole new level–like he could drill through the floor.
“Mr. Clemens, why are you visiting someone else’s wife every day? What exactly are your intentions?”
Candice inhaled sharply.
“Kyle, what is wrong with you?!”
Charlie, on the other hand, remained calm.
“I came to check on my subordinate’s recovery–after all, she got injured because of me.”
Technically, nothing wrong with those words.
But somehow… something felt off.
Kyle’s forehead veins bulged.
“Get this straight–she’s my woman. Alive or dead, she’s mine. Anyone who tries anything with her–I’ll kill them.”
Charlie listened with a faint smile on his lips.
He didn’t say a word, but the look on his face was strangely amused–like he’d just heard a joke.
Kyle caught the subtle meaning behind the smile, and his rage intensified.
Jerry was practically sweating bullets.
“Mr. Jackson, you’ve seriously misunderstood. We’re just here for a simple visit–nothing more.
And as for our president–he’s not some playboy. He’s a respectable gentleman, I swear! He would never go after Miss Hale!”
Charlie gave Jerry a cool, sideways glance.
Candice was mortified. Her head throbbed with secondhand embarrassment.
She didn’t care to explain things to Kyle–but she couldn’t let Charlie be falsely accused either.
“Kyle, stop being ridiculous. The president has absolutely no interest in me.
He doesn’t even like women!”
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Charlie:
Jerry
‘‘
That final sentence brought the entire world to a grinding halt.
After a beat, Charlie gave her a look that was both exasperated and aintly amused.
“Miss Hale, thank you for spreading the word on my behalf.
I should really reward you for this.”
With that, he stood up and walked out.
Only then did Candice realize what she’d said.
She scrambled to fix it, calling after him,
“I didn’t mean you like men–I just meant-”
Bang!
The door shut.
Candice clamped her mouth shut.
Kyle squinted suspiciously.
“Charlie’s gay? He doesn’t look it.”
Candice’s temple pulsed.
“Kyle, we’re done. Even if you keep dragging your feet on the divorce paperwork–we’re done.
Stop calling me your wife. Stop calling me your woman.
I don’t belong to anyone–I belong to myself.”
“Unless I die, we’ll never be done.”
Kyle’s voice turned cold and hard, like he wanted to carve the words into her bones.
He wanted her to know–his determination ran deeper than hers.
She was determined to leave.
But he was just as determined to never let her go.
The next morning.
Jerry came to settle the hospital bill, completed Candice’s discharge, and arrived with a driver to pick her up.
Honestly, he was under a lot of pressure.
But he braced himself and went in anyway.
“We don’t need to take his plane. Our family has a private jet too,”
Mr. Jackson said flatly when he heard Jerry had come to take Candle to the airport.
He waved them off. “We’ll go ourselves.”
Candice ignored him.
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She got out of bed and asked Jerry to bring her wheelchair over.
Kyle got up and grabbed the handles of the chair.
Candice immediately snapped,
“You want to argue? Or throw hands?
My leg just healed. Do you want me to tear it open again? Would that make you happy?”
Kyle froze.
He didn’t want to fight. And he would never lay a hand on her.
His voice softened.
“Taking our own plane is the same. No need to trouble others.”
Candice’s expression was blank.
“There is no ‘our‘ anymore. You’re the outsider here.”
Her words stabbed him right in the chest–sharp, bloody, and merciless.
In the end, he didn’t dare fight her. He was afraid the struggle would reopen her wound.
But he insisted on pushing the wheelchair–and tagged along in the car to the airport.
He wasn’t ready to return to Vanclyn yet.
He had wanted to take her somewhere no one could find them, to rediscover what they’d lost.
VIP Lounge at the Airport.
Charlie glanced at Kyle, who had come along uninvited.
“Mr. Jackson, trying to hitch a ride?”
Kyle, shameless as ever, replied,
“Yes. And if Mr. Clemens is feeling stingy, I don’t mind paying for my seat.”
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