The three men who walked out of the meeting room shifted their gazes over to me. With a slight raise of his brows and purse of his thin lips, Jared muttered a few words to Joseph, causing the latter to glance at me before taking his leave.
Ashton’s gaze darkened as he stared at me. I had a feeling that he was about to unleash his wrath on me.
I hurriedly stood up upon thinking about Caleb. “I’m more than willing to compensate for all the losses incurred for the past two days, Mr. Fuller.”
Ashton frowned while remaining silent. Instead, it was Joe who began to cause a stir. “You’re incredible, Ms. Stovall. This is a project worth a few billion, and you’ve managed to incur your own husband a loss of over ten million in just two days! You’re being far too generous!”
His words were dripping with sarcasm.
Seeing Ashton remain silent with a grim look on his face, I rolled my eyes at Joe. “You sure are a nosy one, Mr. Quinn.”
Pfft! Jared stifled his laughter. With his hands in his pockets, he looked on with innocent eyes as though completely uninvolved.
Joe cast him a glare before turning to me, looking dour. “What makes you think you can talk to me like that, Scarlett Stovall?”
I really had no intention of wasting my breath talking to Joe. The guy never had anything nice to say to me because he thought I was always getting in between Ashton and Rebecca.
Still, we had known each other for a long time, so I chose not to mince my words. “Are you a king who has time-traveled to the future, Mr. Quinn? If so, I’m afraid only the likes of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar would have the privilege of talking to you. You’re from that era too, after all.”
Joe’s face flushed red in anger and he no longer held back his words. “Even a dead man has more right to talk to me than you do! To think you’d be wicked enough to kill off your own child—”
“Joe,” Jared cut the man off sternly. “Ashton and Ms. Stovall have some matters to discuss. I’ve made a lunch reservation, so let’s head over and wait for them there.”
Then, he turned to me. “I believe you haven’t had lunch either, Ms. Stovall. Why don’t you and Ashton join us later?”
Before I could turn down his offer, the man left, dragging Joe along with him.
Only Ashton and I remained inside the large office. Unsure of how he intended to deal with the matter related to Caleb, I decided to break the ice. “I’m responsible for what happened. I stayed home to recuperate after the surgery and couldn’t stop thinking about the child, so I completely forgot about Dr. Ludwick.”
Ashton remained gloomy and silent, so I continued, “I know I’ve caused unimaginable losses to the company. I’d be more than willing to resign—”
“Is that how you intend to solve this issue?” Ashton suddenly asked. His voice and eyes were so chilly that I felt goosebumps.
“Yeah.” I had it all planned out—now that I had a reason to quit, I could finally leave J City.
The tall man stood in front of me, letting out a cold chuckle and engulfing me with his frosty presence. “You got rid of the child, signed the divorce papers, and now, you’re about to quit your job. What are you up to, Scarlett?”
My palms began to turn sweaty. I instinctively stepped backward, only to feel Ashton grab me by the waist. “Are you planning to leave J City?” he demanded, glaring at me with his sharp eyes.
“No!” I immediately denied it. “Haven’t you been wanting to sign the papers? Now that I’ve signed them, you’re finally free to be with Rebecca. What is there not to like about that?”
“Fine!” The man’s smirk turned even more frigid as his grip on my waist tightened. “You know how much I hate it when others do as they please, Scarlett. Do you think I’d let you off so easily after you killed my child?”
“But you didn’t want the child.” I frowned, feeling increasingly bewildered. “Rebecca kept using it as leverage, so I figured I’d take things into my own hands instead of being coerced into getting an abortion!”
The air in the office grew even more chilly. As Ashton narrowed his eyes, I had a feeling that this man standing in front of me was like a vicious lion—one wrong move and he’d shred me into pieces.
“You’re a smart one, aren’t you?”
I didn’t know what he meant, but I certainly understood it wasn’t a compliment.
“Well, since you’ve already gotten rid of the child, that’s fine. We’ll just have another one.”
With that, he walked away. I remained frozen in place, staring at him in a daze. Perhaps these would have been words of encouragement if they came from a loving husband, but coming from him, they were nothing but crude.
“What are you waiting for? Let’s go,” he remarked coldly, turning back to glance at me.
In a moment of confusion, I merely grunted a response and trotted over to him.
Ashton took me to a huge courtyard with a restaurant within it. Upon entering the yard, a woman in a fancy gown walked toward us. “This way, please, Mr. Fuller.”
Then, she brought us past the yard into a room. There, I spotted Jared and Joe having a chat over some tea.
