Lauren’s lips twitched, until her face contorted into a hideous expression.
They shouldn’t have adopted Natalie in the first place! Even as a child, she had always stolen the limelight from Cassie.
As an adult, all she did was to go against the Quinn family.
If Lauren had known that things would turn out like this, she would have just left Natalie to die in the cold.
“No, please don’t hang up, Mr.Walton!” she cried out in a hurry.
“Let’s continue with this discussion.Please tell me what we need to do so that you’ll continue working with us.” The man snorted derisively.
“Do honestly need me to spell it out for you? Don’t you have any idea what you’ve done wrong at all? Our cooperation was built upon integrity, something that the Quinn family is painfully lacking.”
Then he hung up the phone before Lauren could say anything else.
Lauren’s blood boiled after she hung up the phone.She gritted her teeth for a while before bursting into tears.
“Ah! Natalie is out to destroy us! George, you’d better man up and do something before it’s too late. Mark my words.I will divorce you and leave with Cassie if the Quinn family goes bankrupt.Don’t expect me to languish in poverty with you!”
The events that led to Natalie’s adoption replayed in her head at this moment.
“I told you not to adopt a child, but you refused to listen to me. Your parents accused me of being infertile and made my life a living hell because we were childless.I was forced to adopt that child.She turned out to be a jinx who has made it her point of duty to destroy us.It’s all your fault.! didn’t do anything wrong, so I won’t suffer with you here!”
The bankruptcy news took Cassie by surprise.
She sprang to her feet and asked anxiously, “Mom, what did you just say? We are on the verge of bankruptcy? How come? I thought we are extremely wealthy.”
She had been busy living a carefree life, so she knew very little about her family’s current financial situation.
The death of George’s father had dealt a huge blow to the Quinn Group.
George was a pushover, so he couldn’t run the company like his father.
It was harder for him because all the senior executives left with their loyal subordinates one after another.
Even now, he didn’t know what to do.He just curled up in the corner of the sofa like a child.
After a while, he said, “Let bygones be bygones.We can’t undo what has already happened.Let’s focus on the issue on the ground.What should we do now?”
This question added fuel to Lauren’s anger.
As her hand which was holding the teacup shook, she shot him a cold glare.
“What else can we do? We need to give Natalie the money in public, so everyone would know that we are honest people.” “Mom, do we really need to give her the money? Don’t you think that bitch has gotten enough from us? I am notin support of it!” Cassie angrily stamped her feet and added, “She’s always winning against us!”
“If we don’t give her the money, what else can we do? I honestly don’t know if Natalie is winning because she has a powerful person backing her up or that we just have ill luck. How come Mr.Walton find out?”
Lauren sighed and rubbed the comers of her eyes.
She was so stressed that more wrinkles appeared on her face.
When she was done with the massage, she looked at Cassie and said, “My dear daughter, you must marry a good and wealthy
man.Natalie is so arrogant now, and this is really driving us crazy.Fortunately, we still have you. You are our only hope.Don’t let us down.By the way, your relationship with Jason is going well, right?”
“Yes, Mom.Our relationship is blissful. Trust me, I won’t let you down.”
Cassie quickly took a sip of her coffee to hide the guilt on her face after lying.
She was yet to tell her mother that Jason had dumped her.
The same person who put her family in this mess was also the reason why he broke up with her.
“Oh, you are a good child.Keep up the good work.”
Lauren heaved a long sigh and slammed the cup on the table.
Sheer resentment filled her up as she thought about her adopted daughter.
She wiped her tears and spewed, “Natalie is such an ungrateful bitch! After everything we did for her, she wants to repay us with
wickedness.Why did she open our family affairs to the public? Does she want me to commit suicide or die of a heart attack before she would be satisfied?”
George was still in that fetal position.
“I’ll give Natalie the money tomorrow and then talk to Mr.Walton about the cooperation.Let’s wait and see if things would pan out,” he said sheepishly.
Lauren glared at him unwillingly.
Losing the family’s fortune was one thing she could never accept.
The thought of being poor scared her out of her wits.
‘Aargh! We are about to lose everything because of that jinx, but we still have to give her the money.She must be very happy now!’ It began to rain heavily outside.
The downpour was accompanied by thunder and lightning.
Lauren wiped her t her fists tightly.
A murderous expression replaced the sadness on her face in a trice.
‘Natalie, you will not go scot-free!’ She made up her mind to teach her adopted daughter an unforgettable lesson.
In the design department of the Larson Group Considering it wasn’t working hours yet, most employees were having breakfast.
“Why did you take the day off yesterday?”
Gerda munched on her sandwich and inadvertently glanced at Natalie.
“Well, I had something private to deal with,” Natalie mumbled.
She recalled the passionate kiss she shared with Sebastian on the sofa last night.
They had been kissing for quite a while.
Her lips had become numb after it.
Natalie quickly brushed the thought away as her cheeks became hot.
Gerda arched an eyebrow and studied her face.
Seeing Natalie giggle like a teenage girl, she understood what had happened.
“Oh, you went on a date? Quinn, please control yourself.We are in the company now.Don’t laugh like a crazy, lovesick woman.” Natalie immediately pursed her lips to suppress her smile.
“Oh, come on.Stop talking nonsense.”
Gerda didn’t want to argue with her.
The sudden commotion downstairs caught her attention.
She looked out of the window and asked curiously, “What’s going on? Why have so many people gathered downstairs?”
Many workers were standing by the window, staring downstairs.
Natalie also joined them to see what was going on.
Her eyes widened; she was taken aback for a moment.
In the middle of the curious crowd stood George and Lauren.
Natalie quickly ran downstairs.
Seeing her come out of the building, Lauren quickly rushed to her, carrying a kraft paper bag.She looked depressed and indignant.
Natalie frowned at her.
“What are you doing here?”
Strangely enough, both George and Lauren were wearing ordinary, wrinkly clothes, unlike their usual expensive ones.
They didn’t look wealthy and extravagant like they usually did but looked like two peasants who had just come out of their farm after work.
Lauren looked much older than usual.She looked like she was in her fifties or sixties, probably because she deliberately wore haggard makeup.
The dark circles under her eyes and her wrinkly face made her look pitiful.
