Chapter 13
“Martin?” Alessa called out to him again as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, but his expression was still as cold and unfeeling as they were a second ago, sending her into a sudden panic.
He asked icily, “Why did you do something like this?”
She was at a complete loss. “What are you talking about, Martin?”
At the next moment, he lost it and roared, “I asked, why did you do something like this? Why did you frame Jasmine?”
Alessa was taken aback by the sharpness of his tone, but she
was utterly dumbfounded when she heard Jasmine’s name.
“She’s just a freaking assistant. What’s the big deal? Martin, why are you this mad? Weren’t you the one who told me she’s just an assistant?”
Her righteous tone caught him off guard, making him feel
deflated.
What she said was true. He was the one who made Jasmine leave. So, what was he getting so worked up about?
Alessa walked over, intending to hug him. “Calm down, Martin. How about we go get some lunch?”
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As he heard her tender, lilting voice, he grew more irritated. Jasmine’s miserable expression was the only thing he could see in his mind. He had chosen to hurt her over and over,
instead of placing his trust in her.
How disheartening must she have been when it happened?
The longer he thought about it, the more difficult it was for him to breathe. He didn’t even have the patience to be friendly anymore and pushed Alessa away.
“Go eat your lunch on your own. I’m not in the mood.”
It wasn’t a hard shove, but Alessa stumbled several steps
backward, her expression one of utter disbelief.
Martin had been giving in to her every whim and fancy for the past few weeks, yet he just shoved her for someone else’s sake. What was worse, he did it for Jasmine, an assistant who had
resigned.
Alessa’s emotions suddenly erupted. “Martin, what are you doing? How dare you treat me this way for Jasmine’s sake? She’s just an assistant! What’s next? Are you going to break up with me and win her back?”
Alessa’s words made Martin feel terrible. He wasn’t sure what
he was doing either. Where did the discomfort come from? Why would he feel awful?
Shouldn’t he be glad that Jasmine left? After all, they
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shouldn’t even have had a relationship to begin with. But now,
all he could do was clench his fists and do his best to bring his
emotions under control.
“I’m just worn out. Go ahead and have lunch on your own.”
Alessa grunted and ignored him: She turned and left in a huff.
Martin swept his eyes across the mess in his office and felt a headache coming up. He didn’t ask anyone to bring him lunch. Instead, he buried himself in his work, trying to forget it all.
He toiled away into the night and finally solved every mess that haunted Quinlan Group. Ironically, Alessa stirred up most of them, and almost all of his company’s annual profit went
down the drain to minimize the damage she did.
Martin sat upright, leaned on the chair, and took a deep breath. The sky had turned dark. He checked his phone again,
but there were no new texts.
He felt hollow, and an inexplicable exhaustion and loneliness rose in his chest. He was the only person left in Quinlan Group now, and he couldn’t help but call out Jasmine’s name.
This was the first time Martin had said her name out loud ever since she left. It was like a curse or something. Once he said it, he couldn’t stop his memories about her from surfacing.
In the past, Jasmine had always stayed with him at work, no matter how late it got, making sure all arrangements were
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made.
They would go at it in front of the floor–to–ceiling window in his office. She would blush out of shyness, looking utterly
beautiful and adorable.
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And her eyes were as innocent as a puppy’s. Every time he had his way with her, they would gleam with tears. She had no idea that it was expressions like this that turned him on even more.
More and more memories flooded into Martin’s mind. He couldn’t control it any longer. Picking up his phone, he dialed
Nora’s number.
er dozens of seconds, which felt longer than a lifetime for
is call was finally picked up, and he couldn’t wait to “Nora, you know where Jasmine went, don’t you?”
Nora smirked. “Martin, aren’t you in love with Alessa? Why are you still looking for Jasmine?”
He gulped, gripping his phone with trembling hands. “I know everything now. Alessa staged every single incident. I…”
He trailed off momentarily before he went on, “I want to bring Alessa along and apologize to her. She can come back here, and I’ll make sure Alessa doesn’t target her again. I—”
Before Martin could finish, Nora sneered, cutting off his self- righteous apology. “Save it. Jasmine doesn’t need your
precious apologies anymore, and you won’t see her again for
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the rest of your life!”
Then, she abruptly ended the call.
As the dead tone echoed in his ear, a surge of regret and powerlessness rose in Martin’s chest. In a fit of anger, he hurled his phone to the floor.
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At the next moment, he heard his office door opening, and he shot to his feet, thinking that it was the woman he had missed so desperately.
“Jasmine!”
He cast a hopeful glance at the door.
