Chapter 3

I nodded.

He let out a visible sigh of relief. “Good, that’s good.”

I was completely speechless. “Mr. Beaumont, that’s not the point.

“The point is, why are you giving me this money?”

He raised his head and looked at me.

His eyes were dark, concealing something I couldn’t quite read.

After a long pause, he finally spoke, “Because I owe you.”

I froze. “Owe me?”

“Mm. I’ve owed you for many years.”

My mind spun rapidly.

I genuinely couldn’t recall ever meeting this multi-billionaire boss of mine.

I let out an awkward laugh. “Mr. Beaumont, are you sure you haven’t mistaken me for someone else? I’m twenty-two years old, and I’ve lived in Oakhaven my entire life.

“I came straight to work for this company right after graduating from college. We’ve never met before, have we?”

He looked at me quietly and said, “We have.”

My heart squeezed. “When?”

Instead of answering, he pushed the bag of cash back in front of me. “Keep it. There will be more every day from now on.”

I frowned, not daring to take it. “If you won’t give me a reason, I can’t and won’t accept it. To me, this isn’t a small sum of money.”

“Then consider it your bonus.”

“But the company doesn’t have a bonus policy like this.”

“It does now.”

His tone was indisputable, leaving me zero room for refusal.

Right then, a knock sounded from outside the door.

A moment later, Rachel Brooks walked in holding a stack of documents.

“Mr. Beaumont, regarding the 2:00 PM meeting…”

Mid-sentence, her eyes caught the visible cash peeking out of the paper bag on the desk, and she visibly froze.

She darted a glance at Damian, then at me.

She looked as if she wanted to say something, but hesitated.

In the end, she said nothing and silently backed out of the room.

In that instant, I became even more certain: she knew the reason.

That afternoon, the internal company forum blew up.

Someone had snapped a picture of me holding the bag as I walked out of the CEO’s office and posted it online.

The headline read in bold letters:

“SHOCKING! Cash Deal Caught Red-Handed in the CEO’s Office!”

The comment section below refreshed rapidly:

“What’s going on? What did I miss?”

“Is Juliet Collins being sugar-babied? Is that actual cash in the bag she’s holding?”

“No way, isn’t Mr. Beaumont famous for keeping his distance from women?”

“Haven’t you guys noticed? She’s a new hire, but she became a permanent employee after just one month.”

“The more you think about it, the scarier it gets. Our company has never had a precedent like that.”

The more I read, the angrier I became. Just as I was about to close the page, an anonymous comment suddenly popped up:

“If I were you, I’d resign immediately.

“The more you know, the more dangerous it gets.”

I stared at that line of text, feeling a sudden, inexplicable chill in my chest.

Just then, my phone vibrated.

It was a text message from an unknown number.

It contained only a single sentence:

“Go to the Southside Children’s Home at seven tonight. You’ll find out why he’s giving you money.”

The sender was unidentified.

Instinctively, I dialed the number back, but the phone was already switched off.

I stared at the text message on my phone for a long time, torn inside.

In the end, curiosity won over reason, and I went to the place mentioned in the message.

Before heading over, I searched for information online and found that the Southside Children’s Home had been abandoned for many years.

Looking at the rusty iron gate and weathered walls in front of me, a wave of regret washed over my heart.

Right then, a swing in the courtyard creaked loudly as it swayed in the wind.

Feigning bravery, I pushed the iron gate open.

If it hadn’t been clearly written on the news sites, I never would have believed that Damian had any connection to a place like this.

Stepping inside, the courtyard was eerily quiet.

There was only an elderly woman with silver hair watering flowers in the yard.