Caleb Lawford, When We Meet Again, Will You Still Recognize Me?
13: Chapter 13: Ruby Grant Comes Knocking!
Caleb Lawford, When We Meet Again, Will You Still Recognize Me?
“Ruby Grant?
Ceci’s crying!”
The sound of her child crying and Ms.
Pound’s anxious calls snapped Ruby Grant back to her senses.
She looked down at her daughter, who was wailing in her arms, scared by how tightly Ruby had been holding her without realizing it.
She quickly loosened her grip, filled with self-reproach.
She tried to soothe her daughter, but her voice came out in broken, choked sobs.
Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she bit down hard on her lip.
The room wasn’t cold, yet her entire body trembled.
Tears of despair streamed from her beautiful eyes, her expression a twisted mask of anguish, caught somewhere between a sob and a laugh.
She swept Ceci into her arms.
“I’m going to ask him to his face.
Why would he do this to me?
Haven’t I lost enough?
Will this only be over when I give him my life?” she cried in anguish.
The moment she spoke, Ruby Grant shot to her feet, grabbing a baby carrier and strapping Ceci into it.
“Ruby Grant, where are you going with the baby?”
By the time Ms.
Pound realized what was happening and ran outside, the slender figure was gone.
“What’s going on?” Ms.
Pound murmured.
Outside, a sudden clap of thunder boomed!
A shiver ran through Ms.
Pound.
She looked up to see dark clouds hanging so low they seemed ready to crash to the earth, and a sense of dread washed over her.
The women who had just been gossiping fell silent, exchanging bewildered glances.
They couldn’t understand why Ruby Grant had reacted so strongly.
‘It’s not like they’d said anything terrible, had they?’
‘They’d only mentioned the richest man in Kincaid…
Caleb Lawford, right?’
On the street, Ruby Grant’s figure weaved through the rain and mist.
She had only one destination: the place she used to work, the magnificent and imposing Lawford Group tower in Kincaid.
She was going to see Caleb Lawford.
She was going to demand an explanation!
A year and a half might not seem like a long time, but it wasn’t short, either.
The pain and torment of life in prison were enough to change a person completely.
Ruby Grant’s face was unchanged, but her heart had grown numb and still.
‘Time flies…
Caleb Lawford, when we meet again, will you even recognize the woman I once was?’
Meanwhile, in the president’s office at the Lawford Group, the man’s expression turned icy after he heard what had happened.
“Are you saying a cleaner stole my grandmother’s ring?”
Ben Linden replied, “Don’t worry, President Lawford.
As soon as we knew it concerned your grandmother, the police assigned an officer to handle the case personally.
According to her maid, Annie, the item has already been found.”
“It’s just…” Ben Linden rubbed the bridge of his nose, finding the whole thing rather bizarre himself.
“The police weren’t the ones who ultimately found your grandmother’s ring.
It was another cleaner.”
Ben Linden recounted what he’d heard.
“She set a trap and caught the thief herself, recovering the item for your grandmother.
Because of that, your grandmother has taken quite a liking to her.”
“What’s more, you’ve met this cleaner before.
She’s the one who was splashed with water that time—the one with the baby you later made a donation to.”
Caleb Lawford remembered.
‘So, it was her.’
He stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, his tall, imposing figure lost in thought.
He remembered that woman.
When he’d gone to the prison to pick up his wife, he’d seen her on a bus, sitting by the window, her head bowed as she gently soothed a small baby.
Then, they had met again by chance when his car had splashed her with filthy water.
She hadn’t cared about herself; her only instinct was to shield the infant in her arms.
He’d found his mind drifting back to that moment ever since.
He couldn’t understand it.
He’d seen every kind of woman imaginable, so why did she have such an effect on him?
The world was full of pitiable people and sad stories, yet on some strange impulse, he had arranged for a donation from his personal account.
He even broke precedent by making a separate donation of supplies to all the cleaners, just to improve her circumstances.
And now, for the third time, she was on his mind.
Just from hearing her story from someone else, that seemingly ordinary yet remarkable figure surfaced in his memory.
Caleb Lawford reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose.
The last person to get under his skin like this had been Ruby Grant.
“What’s her name?” He asked, then immediately waved a dismissive hand.
“Never mind.
She’s just a cleaner with a baby.
Since she helped my grandmother, call her supervisor on my behalf.
Put in a good word, make sure a single mother and her child don’t get pushed around.
Consider it her reward for helping my grandmother.”
“Understood.” Ben Linden then remembered something else and added.
“Regarding the supplies you donated last time, the district supervisor said that the cleaner recorded a thank-you video.
It’s been sent to your email.
The PR department is asking if you’d like them to do an interview or run a story on it.”
Hearing this, Caleb Lawford’s lips pressed into a thin line.
“That won’t be necessary.”
He clicked the mouse a few times, then rose to his feet.
His tall frame was ramrod straight, his demeanor cool and proud as he strode into the conference room.
Ben Linden slowly closed the office door, plunging the vast room into silence.
The only light came from the faint blue glow of the still-active computer screen.
On Caleb Lawford’s computer, an email sat silently in the trash bin.
Then the screen went dark, and it was plunged into oblivion.
After the meeting, Ben Linden called the district supervisor for South Street and relayed President Lawford’s instructions to give special consideration to the cleaner and her daughter.
After hanging up, Ben Linden thought for a moment.
He worried the supervisors wouldn’t actually do anything and would just keep exploiting their staff.
So, he scrolled through his contacts and made another call to the cleaner’s direct superior—Vince, the man who had sent the thank-you video.
Meanwhile, Vince had just finalized his promotion and was storming into the female staff dormitory, looking for Ruby Grant to settle an old score.
He didn’t find her, but his phone rang.
It was a call from Assistant Linden himself.
He answered with an obsequious smile.
“Assistant Linden, to what do I owe the pleasure?
Does President Lawford have some special instructions for me?”
The voice on the other end was laden with meaning.
“Supervisor Shaw, President Lawford does have instructions for you.
That female cleaner on your street and her child…
our president is personally looking out for them.”
“Don’t let anyone bully that mother and her child.
Look out for them.
If you handle this well and our president is pleased, he might just put in a good word for you with the district leadership.
Maybe even get you another promotion before you retire.
Do you understand?”
Vince was stunned silent for a long moment, as if he’d been hit by a stroke of unbelievable luck.
He finally stammered out a promise, “Please, tell President Lawford not to worry!
Everything’s fine!
From now on, she’s like my own sister!
Her child is my own niece!
I swear I won’t let anyone mistreat either of them!”
The moment he hung up, his knees gave out, and he collapsed onto the cold floor.
A cold sweat drenched his back, soaking through his cotton jacket in an instant.
‘Ruby Grant has some kind of secret relationship with Caleb Lawford?
The donation wasn’t some random act of pity for the cleaners.
He was doing it all for Ruby Grant from the start!’
‘He should have realized it sooner.
Why else would Ruby Grant have gotten that extra money when no one else did?
Back when he heard from the other cleaners that a luxury car had splashed her, he’d just assumed the driver felt sorry for her and that’s where the windfall came from.’
‘Who knew the man was actually interested in Ruby Grant!’
‘That Ruby Grant…
even with the scar on her face and a kid in tow, beneath that bulky jacket was a waist so slender you could wrap your hand around it.
Her face, bare of any makeup, had its own unique charm.
Some rich guys just love that fragile, damsel-in-distress type!’
‘If he had known Caleb Lawford had his eye on her, he never would have tried anything.
But he’d already tried to force himself on her.
Even though he failed, if word got back to Caleb Lawford, he’d be in deep trouble!’
‘When that happened, he wouldn’t just lose his new promotion as a supervisor; he’d be lucky to keep his old job!’
A sudden thought made Vince’s heart clench.
Clutching his phone, his face darkened.
His voice was ice as he questioned the other women in the dorm again, “I’m going to ask you one last time.
Where did Ruby Grant take her baby?”
Back in the office, Ben Linden hung up the phone, satisfied.
He looked up just in time to see the president holding a white porcelain cup, sipping coffee and watching him with an unreadable expression.
Ben Linden rubbed his nose, silently wondering.
‘I followed the president’s orders, didn’t I?
I didn’t misinterpret his meaning, did I?’
A moment later, the president looked away, the corners of his lips twitching into a slight smile.
He seemed to be in a good mood.
Ben Linden felt a surge of pride.
‘See?
That’s what the president wanted!
She’s a single mother with a child; what’s wrong with exaggerating a little?
The important thing is that those people know that the mother and daughter are under President Lawford’s personal protection!’
“And the person I asked you to find?” Caleb Lawford asked, his voice frigid, his long fingers wrapped around the coffee cup.
‘Ah?
President Lawford must be talking about his wife.
We have a lead!’ But before Ben Linden could answer, the phone in his hand suddenly rang.
The hesitant voice of a receptionist from the downstairs lobby came through the line.
“Assistant Linden, there’s a strange woman here.
She won’t answer any questions, she just keeps saying she wants to see President Lawford.
Oh, and she’s holding a baby…
it looks like it’s only five or six months old!”