The assistant’s voice was frantic.
“What do we do, President Lancaster?
If this keeps up, the company is really going to collapse!”
“The situation is already dire!
We either get Miss Shaw to come back, or we find a replacement for her, and fast!”
Jaden Lancaster’s phone nearly slipped from his hand.
The assistant knew all too well that the outcome was hanging by a thread.
In the sun-drenched zoo, the laughter of children, the cries of animals, and the chatter of tourists wove together into a vibrant tapestry of life.
Yet he felt as if he were standing on a desolate island, surrounded by surging waves about to swallow him whole.
Chase Sullivan was still tugging at his sleeve and Summer Sullivan was still murmuring questions, but he couldn’t hear a thing.
‘Lancaster Group, the company he had built from scratch and painstakingly managed for so many years… Was it all about to crumble away, piece by piece?’
And the woman who had once been the pillar holding up half his company was now far away in Kaelus, completely oblivious to his predicament.
“I’m on my way back to the office,” he said into the phone, his voice hoarse.
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
After hanging up, he looked at Summer Sullivan and his son.
He wanted to say something, but in the end, he only managed to force out two words:
“I’m sorry.”
As he turned to leave, he heard his son wailing behind him, and Summer Sullivan comforting the boy softly through gritted teeth.
Every step felt like walking on shattered glass, but he couldn’t turn back.
On the way to the office, he dialed Wynn Shaw’s number again and again, but it just kept ringing, unanswered.
Staring at the streetscape rushing past the car window, he thought about the woman who had always stood silently behind him, and what she truly meant to him now.
Though her work was all behind the scenes, she had won the absolute confidence of so many people at the company.
Wynn Shaw wasn’t just a pillar of the company; she was an indispensable part of his life.
The company needed him and Wynn Shaw, but he needed her even more.
Jaden Lancaster’s hurried figure disappeared into the zoo’s crowded throngs.
Summer Sullivan stood rooted to the spot, still holding the snacks she had bought for him and their son, the smile on her face slowly hardening.
All around her were heartwarming scenes of happy families on outings, while she felt like an abandoned clown.
“Mommy, why did Daddy leave again?” Chase Sullivan tugged at her sleeve, his small face streaked with resentful tears.
“He promised he’d stay and watch the dolphin show with me…”
All the frustration and resentment she had bottled up over the past few days came to a head.
Jaden Lancaster’s indifference, Rhea Shepherd’s contempt, all that damned company business… Why couldn’t a single thing go her way?
She had painstakingly planned this family outing, hoping to mend their relationship and show Jaden Lancaster the warmth of their little “family,” only for it to end so abruptly once again.
“I heard that bad woman Wynn Shaw’s name on the phone,” Chase Sullivan said between sobs, his childish voice filled with resentment.
“Everyone wants her to come back to the company.
Mommy, why don’t you work at Daddy’s company, too?
Then Daddy won’t always abandon us because of that bad woman.”
Her son’s innocent words struck her mind like a bolt of lightning.
‘Of course.
Why didn’t I think of that?’
‘What gives Wynn Shaw the right?
Isn’t it just her experience and competence at Lancaster Group that have Jaden Lancaster and the entire company so attached to her?
If I, Summer Sullivan, were to join Lancaster Group, with my brains and talent, could I possibly be less capable than that dull, boring Wynn Shaw?’
Once the idea took root, it grew wildly.
She could already see herself sitting in a spacious office, calling the shots, helping Jaden Lancaster through the crisis, and making everyone who had ever looked down on her see her in a new light.
‘Then, what would Rhea Shepherd have to say?
Would Jaden Lancaster still be hung up on Wynn Shaw?
Would the staff still think Lancaster Group couldn’t survive without her?’
“Chase, you’re a genius!” Summer Sullivan’s eyes lit up.
She cupped her son’s little face and gave him a big kiss.
“Why didn’t Mommy think of that?
It’s a great idea, a fantastic idea!”
She was so excited her fingers trembled, as if she could already see herself taking Wynn Shaw’s place at Lancaster Group, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Jaden Lancaster as they reigned over a business empire.
“From now on, Mommy will give you a better life and make sure everyone knows that your mother is second to none!”
‘Then, Wynn Shaw will have lost her only bargaining chip.
We’ll see if she still dares to put on an act for Jaden Lancaster, dragging me down into this pit of anxiety and insecurity.’
‘And as for that venomous old crone, Rhea Shepherd, she’ll probably have a fit when she sees that her precious son can’t live without me.’
Summer Sullivan’s mood instantly brightened.
***
He dialed Wynn Shaw’s number over and over, only to be met with the same cold, automated voice on the other end.
He couldn’t help but start sending texts, his tone gradually shifting from commanding to almost pleading:
“Wynn, call me when you see this.
The company needs you.”
“Things are really bad at Lancaster Group.
A lot of our long-time employees are resigning.”
“When the hell are you coming back?
Can you end your program in Kaelus early?”
“Wynn, answer the phone!”
“I’m begging you, please come back.
Just for a few days.”
Yet every message was met with silence, like a stone dropped into the ocean.
Frustrated, Jaden Lancaster loosened his tie and stared at the blur of the passing streetscape.
Wynn Shaw wasn’t just his capable right-hand woman at work; she was his emotional anchor.
In the past, no matter what crisis they faced, as long as he knew Wynn Shaw was by his side, he felt that any problem could be solved.
But now, she seemed to have truly slipped away, completely out of his grasp.
A faint, uncertain thought began to surface in his mind.
‘Could Wynn be ignoring me on purpose?’
‘I already convinced her to marry me.
How long is she going to keep throwing this tantrum?!’
***
At ten o’clock that night, Jaden Lancaster dragged his exhausted body back to Lancaster Villa.
A full day of emergency meetings and damage control had yielded little result.
In fact, two more core teams had submitted their resignations.
Innovatech Capital had sent formal notice of a suspension of cooperation, and the company’s stock price had fallen another five percentage points by closing.
He collapsed onto the sofa in his study, rubbing his throbbing temples.
Suddenly, his phone screen lit up—it was a reply from Wynn Shaw.
Jaden Lancaster’s heart gave a violent lurch.
He snatched up the phone like a madman.
It was a single, brutally short sentence: “Can’t.
Busy.”
Not a single wasted keystroke.