chapter90
chapter90
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She was determined to go down with him, reckless and desperate.
Damian never expected Claudine to be so agitated.
He gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands.
“Claudine, are you fucking crazy? Let go of me!”
“Yes, I am crazy! You should have expected this the moment you all started treating me like a fool!
“Damian, I hate you, go to hell!”
Claudine, fueled by some unknown strength, grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it violently to the side.
“Bang!”
With a deafening crash, the car slammed into the roadside guardrail, thick white smoke billowing out.
The airbags deployed, and Damian was jolted by the massive impact, his mind blank for a moment.
When he regained consciousness, he ignored the searing pain in his body and immediately turned to check on the woman beside him.
Claudine hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt when the car crashed; she was thrown forward with great force and was now completely unconscious.
“Claudine!”
Seeing Claudine covered in blood, Damian felt a fear he had never known before.
“Claudine!”
He immediately dialed emergency services and pulled Claudine out of the smoke-filled car.
At the hospital.
Damian waited outside the emergency room.
His shirt was already soaked in blood, and he looked nothing like his usual dignified self. Staring at the crimson stains on his hands, all he could think of was Claudine’s unconscious face.
His phone kept vibrating, but he had no desire to check it.
When Lindsay arrived after receiving the news, she was startled to see Damian at the emergency room door.
“Mr. Barrette! Are you alright?”
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chapter90
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Damian sat dejectedly on a chair outside the emergency room. Hearing Lindsay’s voice, he simply waved his hand.
“This blood isn’t mine, it’s Claudine’s.”
Lindsay glanced at the emergency room light, then looked back at Damian.
Even though the timing was bad, as his secretary, she had no choice but to speak.
“Mr. Barrette, someone filmed you, Mrs. Barrette, and… Ms. Lavigne. The video is already online, and the board is asking you to come back for a meeting to handle it.”
Damian took the tablet from Lindsay’s hand.
The video happened to be playing the moment when Claudine slapped him.
At the time, when he was slapped, he hadn’t noticed Claudine’s expression. Now, he saw that she was trembling all over, her emotions clearly unstable.
He furrowed his brows.
Even now, Damian couldn’t understand why Claudine had lost control over a seemingly trivial exam.
He tossed the tablet aside.
“Contact the PR department and have all the videos taken down immediately. The rest can wait until Claudine wakes up.”
Lindsay put away the tablet.
“Mr. Barrette, perhaps you should go home and clean up first. There are reporters outside; you can take my car if you
want.
“Also, Ms. Lavigne wants to come see you. Should I let her in?”
Damian said, “Not now, don’t let her make things worse. Notify the staff at Belmont Villas not to take Darla out these days, so the reporters don’t target her.”
Lindsay replied, “Yes, Mr. Barrette!”
Scenes of Claudine lunging for the steering wheel kept replaying in Damian’s mind.
He had never imagined that one day Claudine would be so reckless, willing to risk her life.
He turned to glance at the direction of the operating room.
“Find out why Claudine was so determined to attend today’s PhD interview.”
Damian had always thought Claudine wanted to compete with Audrey out of jealousy, which was why she decided to vie for the only PhD spot.
But now, he felt certain he was missing something important.
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chapter90
For Claudine to risk her life, it couldn’t be just simple jealousy.
Lindsay was surprised.
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“Mr. Barrette, you didn’t know? Mrs. Barrette is an auctioneer, and she was applying for a cultural relics restoration program because it’s required for her job.”
Damian was stunned.
“Auctioneer?”
Lindsay hadn’t expected Damian to be so unaware of Claudine’s profession and field of expertise.
She took out her phone and found a highlight video online of Claudine hosting an auction.
“The white sculpture you asked me to bid on before, Mrs. Barrette was the chief auctioneer at that event. That’s when I found out.
For an auctioneer of Mrs. Barrette’s caliber, advancing to the next level requires obtaining certain professional certifi-
cations.
Judging by today’s news, did Mrs. Barrette miss the interview because of you?
“I heard that Prof. Nixon is a national treasure in the field of cultural relics, and he hasn’t accepted PhD students for many years. This year is his last time recruiting.
For Mrs. Barrette, such an opportunity must be extremely rare.”
Damian watched the woman in the video.
He recognized it as the day he had taken Darlene to the auction.
He remembered Claudine chatting with Roberto at the time.
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