My CEO Husband Says I'm Irreplaceable

Chapter 111: Chapter 111: Are You Human or a Ghost?

"What a shame."

She had such a bright future, yet she destroyed it all in a moment of greed and wishful thinking.

’But that has nothing to do with me.’

Everyone has to take responsibility for their own choices.

Jared Hawthorne chuckled. "Miss Grayson, you have a kind heart. You’re so compassionate, I thought you would pity her."

"Compassion like that is for saints. My brain is working just fine; I don’t pity just anyone."

...

「The next day.」

Vesper Grayson had just walked into the office.

"Sister Vesper!"

Dolly Hughes ran up to her, her face flushed with excitement.

"You’re here so early?"

"An employee should naturally arrive before the boss. Sister Vesper, I never realized you were so incredible! Why were you hiding your talents back in Ashmore?"

She just smiled faintly without answering.

"Keep up."

She led her into the elevator and they went upstairs.

Aaron Sawyer was already waiting at the office door. When he saw her approach, he immediately bowed.

"Eldest Miss, you’re back."

"Mm."

"Here are the venue options for the banquet and the guest invitation list. Please take a look."

He handed a file to her.

Vesper Grayson picked it up and glanced through it, a small smile playing on her lips. "Mr. Spencer, I trust your work. Let’s go with this."

Then, a thought occurred to her and she added, "This is Dolly Hughes. She’ll be my assistant from now on. I’ll have to trouble you to show her the ropes, Mr. Spencer."

Dolly Hughes, quick on the uptake, hurriedly bowed to Aaron Sawyer.

"Mr. Spencer, I’ll be in your care."

Seeing that she was reasonably sharp, Aaron Sawyer smiled. "Since you’re with the Eldest Miss, I’ll certainly guide you well. Come with me. I’ll get you acquainted with the office and the daily workflow."

During lunch, Dolly Hughes told her about the situation back in Ashmore.

"Zephyr completely belongs to Zenith now. After President Lockwood was forced out of the company, he sold his house in Repulse Bay, and now his whereabouts are unknown."

Vesper Grayson’s expression was indifferent. "Missing?"

"Yeah, no one’s seen him anyway. One time on my way to work, I passed by Repulse Bay and saw movers carrying things out. I went over to ask and found out he’d sold the house."

She had sold the Repulse Bay house back then, and later Luke Lockwood had bought it back. After all that, it still ended up as a part of the past that couldn’t be held on to.

Just like her relationship with Luke Lockwood, it had fallen apart in the end!

...

After Mandy Grayson returned from Portclyde, she locked herself in her bedroom all day, refusing to step outside.

Day after day, she stared at the overwhelming flood of criticism and curses online. Her mental state gradually neared collapse, and she rapidly lost weight.

When she learned she had been completely barred from the Chinese Medicine Association, the final line of defense in her heart shattered.

Unable to see a way out, she leaped from her bedroom balcony late one night.

Fortunately, it was only the third floor, a limited height. Her fall was also cushioned by some tree branches, so she only ended up with a broken leg.

The Grayson Family rushed her to the hospital overnight. Somehow, the news leaked, and reporters swarmed the hospital entrance, refusing to leave.

Mitchell Grayson had to expend a great deal of effort to barely disperse the crowd.

Charles Grayson’s back was slightly stooped, his aged face etched with exhaustion. He spoke in a heavy voice.

"Mandy, things have come to this. Why don’t you hold a press conference to apologize?"

Mandy Grayson lay on the hospital bed, her face as pale as paper. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, and she couldn’t even be bothered to show a hint of emotion.

Hearing those words, she merely twitched the corner of her mouth into a self-mocking smile.

"Apologize?"

Her voice was hoarse and dry, filled with the weakness of a prolonged illness. "If I apologize, will they let me go? Will the curses online stop? Will the Chinese Medicine Association take me back?"

A string of questions fell, and the hospital room was instantly plunged into dead silence.

Charles Grayson looked at his granddaughter’s listless, utterly despondent state. His throat bobbed, but in the end, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything harsh.

He had been competitive and proud his whole life, earning respect in his field. But now, in his old age, he had to bow his head and admit fault alongside his granddaughter, all while facing the endless scrutiny of the public.

Mitchell Grayson stood to the side, his brows tightly furrowed, not saying a word.

With how things had escalated, a simple apology was no longer of any use.

But Mandy had worked so hard to get into the Chinese Medicine Association. He couldn’t let her hopes be dashed.

Mandy had real skills; she wasn’t some fraud just seeking fame.

She had just made a mistake in a moment of weakness.

"I’ll go find President Walter Grant. He knows what Mandy is capable of. He can’t just give up on her without giving her a single chance!"

...

「A suburban villa district.」

A black sedan slowly pulled up in front of a detached villa on the southeast corner.

"President Sloan, this is the place."

A tall, burly bodyguard stepped forward and handed her a file.

Shiloh Sloan glanced at the file and gestured coolly. "Go knock. Once this is handled and the final payment is in, dinner’s on me tonight."

The bodyguard went up and knocked. A long moment passed with no sound from inside. The doors and windows were shut tight.

"President Sloan, there’s no response from inside."

"Break the door down." Shiloh Sloan’s tone was calm, without a ripple of emotion.

She had specially picked this bodyguard from an underground fighting ring. Not only was he powerfully built and skilled in combat, but he was also an expert lockpick. With his help, debt collection went much more smoothly.

Receiving the order, the bodyguard turned, retrieved his tools from the trunk, and got to work deftly.

The moment the door opened, a strange smell assaulted their nostrils.

"What’s that smell?"

Shiloh Sloan waved a hand in front of her face. The farther she went inside, the stronger and more pungent the odor became.

"It smells like rotten eggs..."

"No, it’s mercaptan."

Her expression changed abruptly. She immediately grabbed the bodyguard and pulled him back outside.

"Call the police!"

The bodyguard hesitated. "We can’t call the police. We broke in, which is illegal..."

"If you don’t say anything, who’s going to know?"

"...Good point."

The bodyguard immediately dialed 911. The police arrived quickly and carried the unconscious, foaming-at-the-mouth couple from the living room onto an ambulance and rushed them to the hospital.

She’d come to collect a debt but had unexpectedly saved two lives.

’What kind of mess is this!’

’They’re not afraid of dying, but they’re afraid of paying back money?’

After giving her statement, Shiloh Sloan had Quentin Stone head back first while she went to a bar for a couple of drinks before returning to Whispering Breeze Lodge.

As she was passing through a quiet alley, a large, clammy, ice-cold hand suddenly gripped her ankle.

She froze, a chill shooting up her spine to the top of her head.

Slowly, she lowered her gaze. In the dark, unlit alley, a man was lying on the ground, his face obscured.

"Are you... human or a ghost?"

"Every injustice has a perpetrator! Go after the one who harmed you..."

Shiloh Sloan struggled desperately and actually managed to break free, taking off at a dead run.

She sprinted all the way back to the entrance of Whispering Breeze Lodge in one breath, clutching her chest and gasping for air.

As she was changing into her soft slippers, her gaze unintentionally swept downwards and froze.

Blood!

On the ankle the man had grabbed just moments ago, there was a stark, bright red, bloody handprint.

’The man was injured.’

After hesitating again and again, she ultimately couldn’t just leave it be. She couldn’t just watch someone die and do nothing.

She dug a flashlight out of a cabinet, grabbed a taser to carry for self-defense, and headed back to the alley.

From a distance, she could see the man still lying motionless in the same spot, a wretched figure.

Half of his body was submerged in a puddle of cold, stagnant water. His messy black hair was soaked through, plastered to his pale, bloodless cheeks.

His clothes were torn in several places, stained with mud and dark red blood. He was curled up weakly, without even the strength to lift a hand. Only the faint rise and fall of his chest proved he was still alive.

Shiloh Sloan walked over and kicked him a couple of times.

"Hey, are you okay?"

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