Chapter 42
After a few days in the hospital, Elena had to repeatedly assure Jared that she was truly fine before he allowed her to be discharged.
The car came to a stop in front of a Lumorian-style residence. Elena stepped out and glanced at Jared, asking, “Mr. Pittman, this is…”
With a smile, he replied, “Mr. Miller prepared this for you. Actually, he bought it years ago, but he could never bring himself to tell you.”
“Dad…” she murmured.
Her gaze softened as she looked at the well-kept courtyard in front of her. Her bedroom was ready in advance, with every necessity neatly in place. A vase of lilies stood bright against the windowsill.
For no reason, she thought of the bouquet of lilies Alexander had brought when he visited her in the hospital. She walked over to the window, raised her hand, and lightly brushed a petal.
Just then, her phone chimed with a message. It was from Alexander.
“Do you like the lilies?”
Her eyes flickered. She typed back, “Are the lilies in my room also from you?”
“Yes. Lilies calm the mind and ease the heart. I thought they’d be good for you.”
“Thank you. I really like them,” she replied.
“That’s great,” he wrote.
At this point, Elena had no idea what else to say. She stared at the chat window until the phone screen
dimmed on its own. In the black reflection, she noticed herself smiling.
Before she could even make sense of that reaction, a call came in from a colleague.
“Ms. Miller, you were discharged today, right? There’s a meeting with our partners this afternoon. Mr.
Riggs asked you to come in.”
“Got it,” she replied calmly.
Today’s meeting was indeed important, and she had already planned to attend. Though she dreaded facing Justin, she had decided to see the project through, Business, after all, could not wait.
Meanwhile, in Justin’s office, the person who had just called Elena set down the phone and glanced nervously at Justin.
“Mr. Riggs, Ms. Miller said she’ll come this afternoon,” he said.
“Okay,” replied Justin with an indifferent expression. “Did she say anything else?”
“No.”
“You may go now.”
The staff member let out a quiet breath of relief and hurried out of the office.
Inwardly, he muttered to himself, “For days now, the atmosphere in the CEO’s office had been suffocating. Ms. Miller was hospitalized, and Ms. Riggs hadn’t shown up either.
“Every morning, Mr. Riggs came in foul-tempered, and everyone worked under a cloud of fear, terrified of making even the smallest mistake.
“And then there’s Mr. Riggs himself… If he wanted Ms. Miller here, why not call her directly? Why make me do it? Could it be because of what Ms. Riggs did to Ms. Miller that he feels too guilty to face her?”
Elena arrived at the company after lunch. The moment her colleagues saw her, they all seemed to breathe easier. Before this, they hadn’t realized it, but after the past few days, they finally understood just how important she was to the entire office.
She had just set her bag down, not even taken a seat yet, when the internal line rang.
“Ms. Miller, come to my office,” Justin ordered.
Elena ignored him.
