That familiar voice, carrying a distinct, alluring Portellis accent, stunned Zoe Lancaster for a moment. She hurriedly turned to look at the person, and a surprised smile immediately bloomed on her face. "Jules Yates!"
The man standing before her was tall and long-legged, with strikingly handsome and deep-set features. A hint of dissatisfaction lingered at the corners of his eyes. "You didn’t answer my calls, Buddy. Are you really that busy?"
Zoe’s previously awful mood dissipated by more than half. "I’ve had a lot going on lately. Why are you in Kingsford? Weren’t you filming in Portellis?"
Jules Yates. There were probably very few people who didn’t know who he was. Having taken home the Best Actor award last year, he was the youngest in the industry to achieve the title and was currently at the absolute height of his career.
She had gone to Portellis to visit her mother when she was a teenager and met Jules at the hospital. That was over a decade ago. Later, Jules entered the entertainment industry. With his packed schedule, they were lucky to see each other once every year or two.
Jules was about to say something when his eyes suddenly narrowed. He cupped Zoe’s face, his tone growing much more serious. "Have you been crying? Who bullied you?"
Zoe averted her gaze. "I haven’t..."
"Buddy, do you think I’m blind or just stupid?" Jules let out an exasperated chuckle. "Are you going to tell me or what?" He frowned. "Don’t tell me it’s your estranged husband?"
Only a handful of people knew about Zoe’s marriage. Crystal Hayes was one, and Jules Yates was another. Back when Jules found out she had gotten her marriage certificate, he nearly air-dropped a cannon all the way from Italy to blast her into oblivion. He had been so furious that he ignored her for half a year. He firmly believed her husband was a scumbag who had conned an innocent young woman into a shotgun marriage, and he had constantly scolded her for being blinded by love.
Since then, his opening line whenever they spoke was always, "Did you get divorced today?" He harbored a deep grudge and massive objections against her husband.
Now, seeing her cry, his lips curled into a smirk. "Divorced? Or widowed? Pick one of the two."
Zoe’s scalp tightened. She knew exactly what Jules was like. If she told him the truth, he was fully capable of storming into the Hawthorne Group headquarters and live-streaming himself beating someone up.
"No..." her lips moved slightly.
Jules looked visibly disappointed. "What a shame..."
"Can’t you wish something good for me?" Zoe wanted to roll her eyes.
Jules sneered. "You actually dared to get married. What good is there to wish for?"
Zoe was left speechless. Honestly, ever since she got married, she hadn’t had a single day of peace. Of course, she could only swallow the bitter pill herself. "It’s just some issues with my job. I’m unemployed now. I sent my resume to a few companies, but I was rejected by all of them."
Jules slung an arm around Zoe’s neck, speaking in the tone of a wealthy tycoon. "Come be my assistant. I’ll pay you two hundred grand a month. Let your daddy take care of you."
Zoe immediately kicked his calf. "Get lost!"
Jules pulled her into his car. "Come on, I’m serious." It wasn’t like he couldn’t afford to support her.
Zoe knew he wasn’t joking, but she was perfectly capable of working. Furthermore, her mother’s medical care would be a heavy burden in the future. Jules treated her as a true friend; she couldn’t just become a leech.
"No way. With my level of beauty, your fans would think you’re using company funds to keep a girlfriend. I’d be cursed to death."
Jules scoffed. "Heh. So much for our bond. I think you’re just afraid that husband of yours will get jealous."
Zoe laughed and swatted him. "Stop joking around."
Jules checked the time. He had to rush to an announcement soon, so he could only compromise. "Since you don’t want to do that, how about this: go to my family’s company here in Kingsford. I’ll give my brother a heads-up. You can take your pick of any position."
A light bulb went off in Zoe’s head. That was right! Simon Hawthorne had cut off her escape routes only because those local companies didn’t dare to offend him. But Jules’s family was the Yates family of Portellis! The Hawthorne Group couldn’t interfere with them.
"I’ll go for an interview! But don’t actually pull any strings for me; it wouldn’t be fair to the others. Whether I get the job or not should depend on my own skills." Hope surged in her heart, and her eyes brimmed with bright, radiant laughter. "If you actually meddle, I’ll be really mad at you, got it?"
This time, she wanted to earn a job opportunity entirely through her own hard work. She had her own worth.
Jules mocked her without holding back. "Refusing to take a shortcut just to stick to your principles. See? You married a useless husband, and now you still have to go out and work. Bring him out next time. I really want to see what kind of deadbeat you’ve been hiding for so long."
Zoe was utterly speechless. She wished he would just stop roasting her. He was such a handsome guy, but unfortunately, he was cursed with that mouth of his.
Jules had only come to Kingsford to shoot a commercial and wouldn’t be staying long. Because she rear-ended his car, he was already over an hour late.
After seeing Jules off, Zoe submitted her resume directly to the project department of Azure Drive Company, a subsidiary of the Yates Group. Her resume was actually quite impressive. Right after graduation, she had entered the top-tier public relations department under the Hawthorne Group. Adding her various other advantages—from graduating from a prestigious university to her excellent academic record—she was about eighty percent confident.
She had always felt that Jules was her lucky star. Back then in Portellis, she had no family or friends. She couldn’t speak the local dialect, and the discrimination against Mandarin speakers there was quite severe, so she endured a lot of dirty looks. At that time, Jules’s father was critically ill, and he was crying his eyes out in the hospital. Perhaps it was out of mutual sympathy, but she gave him a handkerchief embroidered by her mother to dry his tears. From then on, he would often come looking for her to hang out.
As for the saying that there was absolutely no pure friendship between a man and a woman... well, there was some truth to it. Jules had briefly harbored a crush on her for two years. But that romance died the year they turned sixteen.
She had accidentally barged into the men’s restroom and caught Jules doing his business. At the time, she genuinely saw him as just one of the guys. Having learned about human anatomy in biology class, and likely because she simply hadn’t hit that romantic awakening yet, she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. She even seriously evaluated him with one sentence: "Your stream is pretty weak."
The sheer destructive power of those words—as Jules would later describe it—was that in her eyes at that very moment, he might as well have been a eunuch. It dealt him a devastating blow. That heart-fluttering puppy love died a very swift and tragic death.
So much so that later, whenever Jules started dating, he would subconsciously compare the girl to her. If there was even the slightest resemblance, he would absolutely refuse to date them. He still hadn’t shaken off that psychological trauma.
Even now, Zoe felt pretty guilty about it. Of course, that didn’t stop her from thinking that men were truly fragile creatures.
Having submitted her resume, Zoe felt much more relaxed. As for the outcome, she would leave it to fate.
New Year’s Eve.
The pre-holiday projects were basically wrapped up, and the documents that needed to be reviewed and signed were finalized. On this day of family reunions, there were still quite a few employees in the corporate tower who hadn’t been able to head home yet, leaving the building brightly lit.
Closing the file, Simon Hawthorne took off his glasses and tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose. He had been working around the clock for the past few days and was only just now getting a moment to rest. He checked the time. It was past seven in the evening. The Hawthorne Residence had already called twice to remind him to head back for the reunion dinner.
He stood up and pushed the door open.
Linden immediately stepped forward. "Mr. Hawthorne, are you heading back to the Hawthorne Residence?"
Simon stopped in his tracks, his deep eyes flickering slightly. "What has she been up to these past few days?"
It was obvious who he was asking about. Linden hesitated, swallowing hard before speaking slowly. "The Madam..." He paused. "She submitted her resume to Azure Drive."
In an instant, a chilling frost seemed to dye Simon’s eyes.
Linden broke into a cold sweat. Everyone in the industry knew that Azure Drive and the Hawthorne Group were fierce competitors. The two companies had clashed countless times, both openly and secretly, over numerous bids. The Madam was openly slapping Mr. Hawthorne in the face.
She would rather go to Azure Drive than stay by Mr. Hawthorne’s side. What a fierce woman. Did she really not understand what Mr. Hawthorne meant by all this?
Simon lowered his gaze. Gripping a metal lighter in his palm, his hold slowly tightened. His tone was cold and ruthless. "Zoe Lancaster...
"Have I been spoiling her too much?"