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3
"You don't need to worry about what I mean. All you need to do is go back and ask your old man. If you really want this divorce, I welcome it anytime."
I glanced down at my watch and turned to go.
But Logan blocked my way.
"I don't need my father's nod to get a divorce. You think I'm three years old? My business is mine to decide!"
Since he had no shame about it, I'd say it plainly.
"This marriage was easy to make and hard to break. If you want a divorce, your father has to come tell me so on his knees. You can't carry that weight."
Logan froze, wiped a hand down his face, and laughed with loud contempt.
"Did I hear that right?"
"What did you say? Come on, say it again."
I looked at him, perfectly calm. "This is a consequence you can't handle, Logan. I'll give you one chance. Keep those people far away from me, stop letting them come and disgust me, and we can still make this marriage work."
Shock and disbelief crossed his face, and he let out a few dry laughs.
"Belinda, oh, Belinda. When it comes to putting on a show, you really are something. Backed into a corner like this and still keeping up the act. If you ask me, why bother with finance at all? Go be an actress tomorrow. Your acting's better than half those people onscreen."
"I don't have time to play around with you. Frankly, once the divorce agreement is signed, your Fox family can delist."
Logan stepped forward, narrowed his eyes, and picked up my employee badge. He looked at it for a long moment, then threw it in my face.
"Big talk, huh? Damn it, working at the Lambert Group's given you a real sense of superiority, hasn't it? The number one conglomerate in Nightport City. Even Mr. Lambert would toss me a compliment or two if he saw me. Who do you think you are? A lackey at the Lambert Group, that's all. If you told me your last name was Lambert, I might look at you differently. But you're just the company's lapdog. How are you any different from the watchdog guarding the gate?"
"If my father hadn't damn well insisted I get married back then, you think I'd have actually wanted you? He was in a hurry for a grandson, so he promised me eighty million if I married you. Belinda, are you even worth that eighty million? What a joke!"
The more Logan talked, the angrier he got. He threw his cigarette on the ground and crushed it under his heel.
Katherine nodded, playing the wronged one. "Sister-in-law, you really don't know your place. You don't even know yet that Mr. Lambert and the Fox family are planning a deep partnership, do you? The only reason you have the position you do is that the Lambert Group's giving the Fox family face."
I nodded. "Good analysis. But you've got it backwards."
I scrolled through my call log and dialed the number at the top.
"Wayne Fox. I don't care what you're doing. Be here on your knees with a divorce agreement in five minutes."
I hung up and sat down on the bench by the roadside.
I looked at my watch. "You still have five minutes to change your mind."
"What are you playing at? You have my father's number? You're really going to keep up this act? You almost had me, though. Too bad my father's in meetings all afternoon. He won't even pick up for me, his own son. Belinda, you think you've got that kind of pull?"
"Yes, actually. A little."
Logan propped his cheek on his hand and gave a cold snort.
"Fine. Five minutes, is it? I'll wait with you. I've got all the time in the world. Let's see if you can really summon my father here today!"
Logan sat down on the bench across from me and crossed his legs.
Katherine sat beside him, bandaging the cut on his head.
"Man, don't stoop to her level. Soft-hearted woman's nonsense, nothing worth talking about."
"Man, don't you see you're falling right into her trap? She's just stalling until the employees are back at work, so she can make up whatever she wants. Plain and simple, she's afraid of losing face. She's just buying time."
Once the lunch break ended, the crowd that had gathered to watch had thinned to almost nothing.
Logan looked at his watch and sneered. "About time now. Well? This person you mentioned, where is he?"
I glanced down at my watch. "Twenty seconds left. What's the rush?"
Logan had clearly run out of patience.
"Belinda, I don't have time to sit here shooting the breeze with you! Once I get out of the hospital, I'll make you pay for this."
Clutching his head, Logan turned to get in the car.
Behind him, the screech of hard braking came from the roadside.
Katherine turned first, then grabbed Logan's arm in a panic. "L-Logan, that's, that's Mr. Fox's car…"
