[Serena, I already know about the forum incident. As long as you co ho, I will imdiately step in to help clear the rumors for you.]
The sound of running water echoed, and Serena Sinclair lay in bed, breathing softly.
She glanced at her phone screen, where a ssage from Adrian Lockwood had appeared.
Serena looked speechless.
Not to ntion that they were already divorced.
Even if they weren’t, Chloe Lynch still lived in the Lockwood Villa.
What was Adrian Lockwood thinking?
Did he want both won to serve one man?
Just the thought of it was nauseating.
Serena tapped on the screen, marked Adrian’s ssage as spam, and tossed it into the trash bin.
On Monday, as soon as Serena entered the elevator at the company, she sensed sothing was off.
The elevator, which could hold more than ten people, had been full of cheerful chatter just a mont before.
The male colleagues were talking about where they spent their weekend.
The female colleagues were sharing what they ate and discussing today’s lipstick colors.
But the mont Serena entered, everyone fell silent.
Serena understood instantly.
The elevator stopped at the 60th floor, and Serena stepped out.
As the doors closed, she caught the words, "That’s Serena Sinclair."
Serena’s heart sank.
Moving forward, she overheard gossip in the office.
"That S, isn’t it her from our departnt, Serena Sinclair?"
"It must be her! Last week, we saw her husband and son at the company entrance. They looked like a happy family; who knew they’d already divorced, and she abandoned her husband and child!"
"Honestly, beauty is a woman’s most powerful weapon! Most divorces end in bad terms, but even her ex-husband cos to pick her up with their son after work. Remarkable, really..."
"And the rumor about her hooking up with the Boss, could that be true too?"
"..."
No one responded.
Yet they all exchanged looks.
They simultaneously thought of the recently increased morning and afternoon teas.
And the group chat for The Springs Resort team-building, where Wyatt Hawthorne had tagged Claire Carson saying,
He had taken Senior Sinclair along on his way.
Serena entered the office amidst this strange silence.
"Good morning, Engineer Sinclair!"
"Morning, Serena..."
The familiar greetings were as usual, and the group dispersed like startled birds.
Serena politely responded and went to her workstation to sit down.
Then, she received a note from Snow.
"Serena, don’t take it to heart! I’m with you!!!"
Serena felt both moved and guilty.
She shared a cup of coffee she brought from ho with Snow.
It wasn’t yet work ti, so Serena sipped her coffee, ate breakfast, and browsed through the local forum and Weibo.
The forum was peaceful, as if the chaos from that night was just an illusion.
On Weibo, one could still find gossip about the forr socialite S with multiple affairs.
But both entertainnt accounts and paparazzi in Aethelgard skillfully avoided ntioning the Hawthorne Corporation and the Crown Prince.
The gossip was trending, and the comnt section was filled with all sorts of speculations.
Many guessed it was her, after all, the murder case involving Selene Sumrs had been sensational, linking it to her seed obvious.
She imdiately thought of Evan Cole’s mother and called Evan.
The phone rang once, but the work group started buzzing, notifying the whole departnt of a eting.
Serena hung up and took her notebook to the conference room.
"The key projects for the fourth quarter are shown in the PPT..."
The screen displayed six project design proposals, Claire Carson signaled her assistant to distribute the materials to everyone present, "Design Departnt One and Two will be divided into six groups in total. We will et on Friday to present the designs. You can discuss how to divide the groups."
Next was a detailed analysis of each project.
When the eting concluded, it was already noon, and everyone was famished, heading straight to the cafeteria after dropping off their things.
Checking Weibo again, all the gossip she had browsed a few hours earlier had vanished.
Evan Cole had called on her phone.
Serena called back.
"Serena..."
As soon as the call connected, there was a noisy background, Evan said in a low voice, "I’m at the airport, heading back to Veridia today. I won’t be coming back."
"Safe travels!"
Serena hesitated for a long while and softly asked, "Evan, I wanted to ask..."
She wanted to ask Evan whether the leaks on the forum were orchestrated by his mother.
Before Serena could finish, the call was disconnected.
In the cabin, Evan Cole looked at his mother beside him, his face darkened, "Mom, what are you trying to do?"
"That’s what I should be asking, Evan, what are you trying to do?"
Turning off the phone wasn’t satisfying enough.
Mrs. Cole angrily attempted to remove the phone’s SIM card but lacked the right tool.
The restroom door opened, and Mrs. Cole got up, threw Evan’s phone into the trash bin.
Evan was stunned.
Mrs. Cole angrily reprimanded, "You were doing well working in Veridia, but for Serena, you insist on transferring back to Aethelgard. And what do you gain from it?"
"Not only did you make a wasted trip, but you lost the position of departnt head, and also embarrassed —made a laughing stock at the hospital."
The more she spoke, the more aggravated she beca. The pain flared up at the back of her head and shoulders where she fell.
Mrs. Cole said furiously, "What’s so special about Serena Sinclair? I see her as nothing but a jinx..."
"Eleanor Holloway!!!"
Evan shouted, attracting looks from all around.
Mrs. Cole was taken aback.
"What goes around, cos around! You’ve been a doctor all your life, don’t you know retribution exists in this world?"
Never in her dreams did she expect to be cursed by her own son one day.
Mrs. Cole’s face turned crimson.
Evan turned to look out at the runway: "I don’t like studying, nor do I want to study dicine, it’s because you told that only through hard work, becoming soone influential, could I control my destiny and get what I want."
"I listened to you, and as you wished, I studied hard, beca a good doctor, but what was the result?"
He turned back to Mrs. Cole, his eyes vacant, "All I ever wanted was Serena Sinclair."
Mrs. Cole was left with her mouth half-open, eyes widened in shock.
For a mont, she wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for her foresight back then, early enough to sever Sun Yueqing and Serena Sinclair’s sentint.
Or to regret it, knowing her son’s intention, yet still persisted in sending him for supplental lessons because of his rapid academic progress.
Which ultimately led to today.
Flashing through her mind was Serena’s joyful "Evan" during their first eting.
And the subsequent chain reaction after Mrs. Cole’s intervention.
Evan knew that he and Serena would never have a chance in this lifeti.
"My retribution is already here!"
Evan’s face darkened further.
Thinking back to Serena’s hesitant words on the phone a mont ago.
And his mother’s secretive phone calls in recent days, along with the money spent like flowing water.
Evan looked at Mrs. Cole again, his gaze as dark as if to drag her into the endless Abyss, "You better have done nothing. Otherwise, you just wait; your, mine, our family’s... retribution is coming soon!"
???
Was he threatening her?
Her son whom she raised to adulthood, threatening her because of Serena?
The two and a half-hour flight was a mix of anger and hatred for Mrs. Cole, wishing ti could turn back.
Had she known it would co to this, not even Selene Sumrs’ fa in Aethelgard or even globally would have convinced her to send Evan for lessons with them.
Full of disappointnt in her son and hatred for Serena, Mrs. Cole felt a stabbing pain in her chest.
The plane jolted as it landed at Veridia Airport.
As soon as the phone was turned on, alerts started ringing from all directions.
Calls.
ssages.
Text ssages.
Seeing the overwhelming 99 , it was as if the curses were being fulfilled, Mrs. Cole’s face turned pale.
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