Chapter 7

William actually called to threaten Emily!

How could he have the nerve?

I stood at the door, feeling all kinds of emotions churning inside me.

"William, if I'd known you were this kind of bad guy, I never should have introduced you to Layla!"

"Whatever! Go ahead and fire me if you want!"

As Emily hung up, I quietly closed the door, as if I'd never been at her place.

I didn't want Emily to know I'd overheard her conversation with William and end up in an awkward situation.

The cold wind cut through me as I walked downstairs aimlessly.

I'd known William for ten years. I knew too well the fakeness and coldness hidden beneath his gentle appearance.

To maintain a good reputation at the company, William always presented himself as approachable and easygoing, often fighting for benefits for regular employees.

Once, he even argued with a department manager over a regular employee's two-thousand-dollar bonus, claiming he'd started from the bottom and would never tolerate bad practices within the company.

But in reality, I knew William still carried that rich kid's arrogance and self-centeredness in his bones.

Once, outside his study, I accidentally overheard him calling the HR manager, telling them to find some excuse to fire someone who'd been gossiping about him behind his back.

So I knew his threat to fire Emily was no joke.

Even if he was afraid of damaging his image and didn't dare openly fire a key employee, he'd use his company connections to make things difficult for Emily and force her to quit on her own.

I knew his tactics for getting rid of people all too well.

I just never imagined that one day he'd use these dirty tricks on Emily.

After all, Emily wasn't just my best friend—she was also his classmate and good friend.

They'd known each other longer than I'd known either of them. Emily had played matchmaker in getting William and me together.

Now, this two-faced man was turning his blade on his own friend. It was truly heartbreaking.

I sat down by the flower bed downstairs, thinking seriously about my past with William, trying to figure out when he'd become so despicable and shameless.

But after thinking it through, I suddenly realized he'd never actually changed. I'd just been so blinded by love that I'd overlooked all these obvious flaws.

Sure enough, every woman fell victim to love.

The only silver lining was that I was still young and had room for mistakes.

But what I needed to do now was leave Emily's place and not drag her down, making her lose the job she'd worked so hard at for five years, just when a promotion and raise were within reach.

Watching the night deepen, I secretly decided to pack up and leave first thing in the morning, not causing Emily any trouble.

After sorting out my thoughts, I went back, acting like nothing had happened.

I unlocked the door with my key, and before I could say anything, I heard Emily calling from the kitchen, "Why are you back so late? Go wash your hands quickly —I made your favorite beef stew today!"

My heart warmed, and my nose tingled with emotion.

So, that was the understanding between best friends.

Emily would rather face the pressure of losing her job than hurt my pride.

I couldn't let my problems hurt her.

"Layla, what are you thinking about? Come eat! If you don't have two bowls of rice today, you're insulting my cooking skills."

When I didn't respond, Emily came to the entrance wearing her apron and holding a spatula.

She acted like nothing had happened, joking around like when we were kids, making me treasure this precious friendship even more.

At the dinner table, we both avoided any topics about William.

Emily asked about my job. I thought for a moment and replied, "The interview went well. I even ran into someone I knew from my internship. After the training's done, I can start working."

"There's training? Is it at the company or one of those closed-door ones?"

"Closed-door. I have to go first thing tomorrow morning."

"How long is the training?"

"They said half a month."

Afraid Emily would see through my lie, I was about to change the subject when my phone suddenly rang urgently.

I glanced at it—an unknown number.

My strong sixth sense told me it was William calling.

Emily looked at it and held out her hand. "I'll take it."

I hesitantly handed over my phone. Emily decisively hit answer and turned on speakerphone.

Sure enough, William's arrogant voice came through. "Layla, that's enough. Come back home. We'll live like before. You'll always be the Brown family's daughter-in-law."

Emily rolled her eyes and, mimicking my voice, asked, "What about that woman?"

"Layla, that woman and I are just playing around. You're the only one in my heart. If you don't like her, after she has the baby, I'll give her some money and send her abroad. She'll never appear in our lives again."

"As for the baby, it's just to deal with my parents. You know they've been pressuring me about having kids these past two years. I'm so tired of it. This baby can be like a toy—once it's born, I'll hand it over to my parents to keep them busy."

"This child will see you as their mother. I won't let anyone know who the birth mother is, and I won't let this child take away our children's inheritance."

Suddenly, there was a sound of a glass falling on William's end, followed by Olivia's choked sobbing. "William, what are you saying? When we were just having sex, that's not what you said. You promised you'd let me have this baby and give them the best resources!"

"Shut up!"

Emily and I looked at each other, both seeing disgust in each other's eyes.

That bastard William really kept breaking new ground in shamelessness.

How had I never noticed before that he was so shameless—going to his mistress for comfort while telling his wife "you're the only one in my heart"?

It was absolutely disgusting!

Emily couldn't help but curse. "William! You bastard! Don't ever call Layla again!"

She hung up indignantly, her chest heaving with anger. "I must have been blind to think William was someone worth trusting!"

"Layla, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I never thought William was this kind of person. If I'd known, you couldn't have paid me to introduce you two!"

Emily's face was full of guilt. Unable to let go of her anger, she turned and opened the wine cabinet, taking out her treasured red wine.

"That bastard William will get what's coming to him!"

"Layla, come on, let's drink away our troubles tonight."

I took the wine glass and drank with her.

I could tell that although Emily said she wasn't afraid of William and didn't care about being fired, she was actually deeply reluctant to give up this job.

After all, she wasn't from a wealthy family, and she had parents to support.

Plus, Emily had nearly five thousand dollars in monthly mortgage payments. If she left the Brown Group, it would be hard to find another job with salary and benefits that could cover all her expenses.

After several rounds of drinks, Emily went from cursing William to pouring out the pressures from her work and life.

I listened quietly, letting her lean on my shoulder as she gradually fell asleep.

I didn't sleep all night. When the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon, I quietly pulled my suitcase and wrote briefly on a sticky note: [I'm off to training. I'll probably be really busy this month and might not be able to reply to your messages right away.]

I took one last look at Emily sleeping soundly on the couch, then carefully closed the door.