Fueled by liquid courage, Charlotte Quinn bared her metaphorical fangs and readied to pounce.
Leah Sterling gasped.
Adrian Hawthorne was definitely not a pushover who would just stand there and take a beating.
Everyone in Corvin’s elite circle knew better than to provoke anyone in his clique.
Fortunately, the male escort next to Charlotte recognized that these men were not to be trifled with and quickly wrapped his arms around her waist to hold her back.
Leah finally let out a sigh of relief.
Standing nearby, the floor manager was sweating bullets.
He couldn’t afford to offend either side, so he could only plaster on a smile and try to smooth things over.
“Please, don’t be angry,” he pleaded repeatedly.
“Let’s keep the peace!
Harmony is good for business!”
Silas Sinclair was kicking himself for organizing this get-together in the first place.
What a mess this had turned out to be.
Adrian would surely make him pay for this later.
Putting on a miserable face, Silas pleaded with Leah.
“Leah, please, have mercy.
Just come with us, okay?” His posture was practically groveling.
Though Leah had a stubborn streak, she wasn’t the type to make things overly difficult for others.
She pursed her lips and was just about to stand up when Adrian shot her a frosty glance before looking away.
“Leave her be.
Let’s go.” Without giving her another look, he turned and walked away.
Even his retreating back seemed to radiate a biting chill.
Once Adrian left, the rest of his entourage quickly followed suit.
The floor manager breathed a sigh of relief.
He looked at Mrs.
Hawthorne.
Her relationship with Mr.
Hawthorne didn’t seem great, but she was still far above his pay grade.
“Mrs.
Hawthorne,” he quickly offered, “please let me know if you need anything at all.”
Pulling her dazed gaze away from the bar’s entrance, Leah glanced at the heavily intoxicated Charlotte.
“Could you help me walk my friend out?”
“Yes, of course.” Treating them like a walking disaster he was eager to see off, the manager hastily pointed at two of the male escorts.
“You two, help Mrs.
Hawthorne walk her friend out.”
Leah glanced at the expensive drinks covering the table and was just about to settle the bill when the manager asked, “Mrs.
Hawthorne, should I put this on Mr.
Hawthorne’s tab?”
Leah paused with her phone in hand.
She looked at the manager.
“Yes.” She then cast a glance at the row of male escorts and pointed at them.
“And include their hosting fees too.
Put it all on his tab.”
“Right away,” the manager replied politely, though inwardly he marveled at how wild these rich people were.
She was actually making her husband pay for her male escorts.
Just as Leah was about to leave, a deep, magnetic voice sounded behind her.
Samuel Sutton smiled teasingly.
“What about me, Leah?
Aren’t you going to play with me anymore?”
Hearing her name uttered in that tone sent a shiver down Leah’s spine.
“My apologies, Mr.
Sutton.
I mistakenly thought you were one of the escorts earlier.
I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“I don’t mind,” Samuel said with a lazy, careless smile.
“I do,” Leah said, meeting his gaze.
“I’ll be taking my leave now.
Goodbye, Mr.
Sutton.”
She turned and walked out.
Watching her retreating figure, a faint smile played at the corners of Samuel’s lips.
The moment they reached the entrance, Old Lewis stepped forward and opened the door to a Rolls-Royce Ghost.
“Mrs.
Hawthorne, please get in.”
Leah paused.
This was Adrian’s driver.
She quickly peered into the backseat, but Adrian wasn’t there.
As if reading her mind, Old Lewis explained, “Mr.
Hawthorne left in a friend’s car and asked me to stay behind to take you home.”
Given Charlotte’s current state, calling a cab would only complicate things.
Leah guided her friend into the luxury sedan.
Meanwhile, in the backseat of Silas’s Maserati, Adrian sat with an impassive expression.
His phone buzzed.
He lowered his eyes and unlocked the screen.
Sitting next to him, Silas leaned over and blinked at the notification.
“A charge from Night River?” he noted cluelessly.
“Wait, that’s not right.
I was the one treating everyone at Night River today.
Adrian, did they charge the wrong…”
Silas trailed off as realization struck.
His stomach dropped.
When he looked up, he was met with Adrian’s icy stare.
Silas forced a laugh and quickly tried to smooth things over.
“Oh, right!
This must be Leah’s tab from earlier.
She ordered some pretty expensive drinks…”
Silas cursed inwardly.
Expensive drinks, his ass!
They had all seen Leah’s table.
The few drinks she had ordered were nowhere near this amount.
This massive charge was clearly for the male escorts!
He wanted to slap himself.
No wonder Ian Sloan always told him he should just sew his big mouth shut so he could live a few years longer.
Still, he had to admit Leah had guts.
She was usually so quiet and well-behaved, but when she decided to go all out, she really didn’t hold back.
She had actually used her husband’s card to pay for escorts!
“If you can’t control your mouth, you should donate it to someone who can,” Adrian said coolly, locking his phone and turning his gaze to the window.
Since Charlotte had drunk way too much, she threw up twice after getting home.
Leah spent half the night taking care of her, and when Leah woke up the next morning, Charlotte was still dead to the world.
Leah decided to head back to Seaview Manor to change clothes, planning to pick up some breakfast for Charlotte on the way back.
Just as she stepped out of the elevator, she spotted the building’s cleaner emptying the hallway trash can, muttering something to herself.
Seeing Leah, the cleaner held out a bag.
“Miss, did you throw this away by mistake?
These look completely new.
Why toss them in the trash?”
Leah stared at the contents of the bag in stunned silence.
It was a bag full of treatments for bruises and sprains—pain-relief patches, analgesic sprays, and medicated oils.
The chaotic assortment looked as though someone had cleared out the entire first-aid section of a pharmacy.
“Did you?” the cleaner prompted again.
Jolted back to reality, Leah nodded.
“Yes…
It must have been thrown out by mistake.”
She wondered if it had been from him.
Carrying the bag of medicine into the apartment, Leah leaned her back against the wall and let out a long sigh.
The injury on her lower back seemed to throb with a piercing ache once more.
By the time she returned to Charlotte’s place, her friend was sitting on the sofa looking like a total mess, mascara and eyeliner smeared in dark circles around her eyes.
She looked like a ghost.
Upon seeing Leah walk in, Charlotte let out a wail, threw herself at her, and burst into loud sobs.
“I’m doomed!
I’m totally doomed!” Charlotte cried.
“I finally managed to secure the investment from Hawthorne Group, and now I’ve definitely blown it!” She looked up at Leah with a pitiful expression.
“Did I call Adrian Hawthorne an animal?”
“You also called him worse than a beast,” Leah replied dryly.
Charlotte clutched her head, looking as though she might literally shatter into pieces.
Leah sighed.
“Honestly, you’d probably be happier right now if you had just blacked out.”
Despite her emotional breakdown, Charlotte was a dedicated career woman at heart.
She quickly snapped back into action, making herself presentable in record time.
She then went out to buy flowers and gifts, fully prepared to march over to Hawthorne Group and beg for forgiveness.
“Do you want me to go with you?” Leah asked.
Charlotte shook her head solemnly.
“No.
I made this mess, and I’ll take the fall for it.
If you come along, who knows how Adrian might humiliate you?”
Meanwhile, inside the CEO’s office at Hawthorne Group.
The man sitting in the leather executive chair possessed an impeccably handsome face, but his deep, dark eyes were entirely devoid of warmth.
He casually lifted his gaze to look at Charlotte.
“Didn’t you say that just because I have some filthy money, it doesn’t make me a big deal?”
Charlotte wore an awkward, placating expression.
“Mr.
Hawthorne, I had too much to drink and completely lost my filter.
Please don’t take it to heart.
Please, forgive me this once.”
“Forgive you?” Adrian raised an eyebrow, a mocking smirk curling his lips.
“I can do that.
You were speaking up for Leah yesterday, so let her come and negotiate with me.
As it happens, I hear she’s the vice president of your company.”