جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 440

SHANTAL's P o V~~~   "That  would be when I did not know about your illness."Aunt Mathilde told me with a smug smile pasted on her face. Meanwhile, it took all my self-restraint not to lose my cool at that moment; but in my head, I was already pulling out her hair. "You are in no condition to carry out your duties."She added as though she was not satisfied yet upon seeing  my reaction."But that would not changed the fact  that  I earned a lot of money for this company"I replied to her in a matter of fact tone. However, despite of my quick response, the other party was still able to come up with something to refute me."But what do you think the world would think about your illness once they learned about it?"She asked me and without even waiting for my answer, she continued speaking."I am sure it would cause

SHANTAL's P o V~~~ Internally I was screaming my lungs out, but outside, I tried to maintain a straight face as much as possible. That was despite the fact that my blood was already boiling and I was nearly reaching the limit of my patience and I am not sure how much longer I could keep this going."Anyway, what do you think about voluntarily resigning from your position?"Out of blue, I heard Aunt Mathilde opened up a suggestion for me with the audacity of wearing a kind smile on top of it as if I did not know her real intention better. However, this time, I decided that I would no longer tolerate any of her poor acting. I rose to my feet, almost knocking the chair behind me then without looking back at her, I left.The moment I stepped out of her office, I knew that I already screwed up my one and only chance. But there was nothing I could do anymore but to just let out an exasperated sigh.

As soon as Shantal was away, Mathilde did not dare waste another second of her time and she dialed someone's number without delay. Someone answered the phone call right after its first ring and the moment Mathilde heard the sound of someone picking up the line, she no longer waited for the other party to say a word."Hello. I just called to check how was my tip progressing on your end."She said flatly as she walked back inside her office. Meanwhile, contrary to Mathilde's nonchalant if not emotionless approach, the person on the other end of the line, on the other hand sounded quite enthusiastic when he answered."I just got the article via email today."The mystery man answered and he almost sounded like he was speaking with a lisp when he said his reply. His inflection was quite weird as well, and in lay man's terms voice, it could be said that he seemed to own a gay voice. This guy who owned a vocal cadence which was relatively a pitch higher than the

 Mathilde had just started making the call when Jodi arrived at the office. "Hello. I just called to check how was my tip progressing on your end." Jodi heard her mom said over the phone and the instant she heard the other party said that, her instinct ticked her right away that her mom was up to no good. That was despite the fact that she could not hear much from the conversation because it was more of the other person on the other end of the line that was speaking and from where she was standing the feedback of the phone's speaker was not that much of a use to her. She could only make a word or two at  most out from its incoherent sound. It was also at this time that she realized how her mom was unaware of her presence and she let it stayed that way. She did not do anything to make her existence known to her mother and instead, she chose to stay silent; listening to the conversation, hoping she could eavesdrop. Meanwhile,

   "I don't want to live like this anymore. If this is the kind of life you wanted to live, then by all means, do it. But count me out because the last thing that I ever wanted to happen was to have anything to do with any of this treachery." Jodi declared with conviction. But instead of  her statement to cause her mom's will to  waiver, the other party seemed to feel more determined than ever. "Oh my dear child, look how much you have grown into a lady? You have no idea how proud I am for being able to raise an ardent woman such as you. As expected, you never failed me. Your actions never disappoint." It was unsure if Mathilde stated it as some form of sarcasm but before Jodi could even process in her mind everything that her mother just told her, Mathilde already added, "But are we not a team? Don't be like this to mommy. Hmmm??? Trust me, this is wh