Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Victor Yates lectured Sam Yates, while the middle-aged man stood off to the side with a cold expression, watching.

Sam Yates, who had probably never been outsmarted by a woman before, stared at me bitterly. "Jane Cooper, you’re really something!"

Of course I am, I thought. I flinched slightly, then lifted my head and looked Sam Yates straight in the eye. "You won’t get back at me by not paying my salary or firing me, will you?"

At this point, it was almost impossible for me to keep working at Sam Yates’ company – unless Sam stepped back and a new boss who had no grudge against me took over. But I wasn’t afraid. My sights had never been set on wealthy second-generation heirs.

What I wanted was to stand at the very top of the pyramid, looking down on everyone else.

Sam Yates suddenly seemed to think of a way to threaten me. "You’re fired –"

"Sam Yates, where are your manners? Not only can you not fire her, but you also have to make it up to her," Victor Yates interrupted, grabbing Sam Yates by the collar.

Even though Sam Yates hadn’t dragged me into the car in front of a crowd, it had been close enough. And even if there weren’t many people around the villa area, the high-definition cameras would have captured everything.

"This woman is cunning – this is all her trick!" Sam Yates argued.

"You pushed her to the point of wanting to die with you, and you say she tricked you? What could she possibly gain from this?" Victor Yates looked at his brother in disappointment.

Sam Yates had no reply.

The middle-aged man turned to me. "Get in my car. I’ll take you and Lydie back to rest first. I’ll make sure you get compensation later."

This man exuded the aura of someone in power. His eyes were sharp and commanding – Sam Yates didn’t dare to meet his gaze. His identity was obvious.

He was Edward Yates, the father of the three Yates brothers.

"Lydie and I can take a taxi back. I didn’t actually lose anything – my shirt just lost a couple of buttons, and it’s not worth much. I just hope Mr. Yates won’t make me pay for the car repairs because of my reckless behavior. Thank you for your jacket – I’ll have Lydie return it to you after I get it dry-cleaned," I thanked Edward Yates and turned down his offer of compensation.

If I asked for compensation when I hadn’t actually lost anything, wouldn’t that make me seem shallow?

"It’s hard to get a taxi here!" Edward Yates glanced at me, then turned to Lydia Lin. "Lydie, don’t you think so?"

"Uncle Edward, Victor Yates can drive us back later. I’m sorry – I panicked earlier," Lydia Lin apologized to Edward Yates.

I stood quietly to the side. In reality, I wasn’t being ungrateful. Getting Edward Yates to drive us back would have been nice, but it would have ruined my next plan.

Edward Yates agreed to Lydia Lin’s suggestion and told Victor Yates to drive us back. He nodded at me, and before getting into his car, he said, "I’m attending a cultural exhibition in a few days. If you want to return the jacket, you can come with Lydie."

I didn’t have to go out of my way to create a "chance encounter" – the opportunity had come right to me. I pulled the suit jacket tighter around me and bowed slightly to Edward Yates. "Okay, I’ll take it to the dry cleaner tomorrow."

Edward Yates left, taking several of the luxury cars with him and leaving only one behind.

Victor Yates left Sam Yates standing next to his BMW 7 Series and walked over to us. "That brat refuses to admit he’s wrong. He keeps saying the other person has ulterior motives – but I think he’s the one with an agenda."

"Vic, this is my new friend, Jane Cooper," Lydia Lin didn’t let go of me as she introduced me to Victor Yates. "Can you give Jane an invitation to the cultural exhibition? Uncle Edward told me to take Janie with me."

Victor Yates nodded at me in greeting, but didn’t offer to shake hands – not that I had a free hand anyway, since I had to hold the jacket tightly around me. He drove Lydia Lin and me back to the apartment.

Sam Yates, who was sitting in his BMW waiting for the tow truck, stared at me angrily.

"Mr. Yates doesn’t seem convinced," I waved at him through the car window.

Lydia Lin pulled my hand back. "The car has tinted windows – he can’t see you. So you’d been planning this all along? And you told me to relax? What if something really bad had happened to you?"

"Nothing bad was ever going to happen. First, I chose an intersection with few cars. Second, there’s no river nearby. Third, the driver (meaning Sam) was wearing a seatbelt. The worst that could have happened was me flying out of the car. I even thought – if I’d broken a bone, I could have sued him for paid leave. Mostly, I just figured I wasn’t that unlucky!" I’d even thought about how to save myself if Sam Yates had stuffed me in the trunk or tied my hands behind my back.

After saying that, I leaned my head on Lydia Lin’s shoulder. I was scared too – scared of dying, scared of getting disfigured.

"You thought everything through," Victor Yates said in surprise after hearing my explanation. "Weren’t you afraid of accidents?"

"I didn’t have time to be scared. I just wanted to tell Sam Yates that I had no interest in him at all – but he wouldn’t believe me," my body was still shaking uncontrollably. "Do you think he’ll get back at me?"

"He dares not!" Victor Yates’ voice turned stern. "We don’t usually interfere with who he dates – as long as it’s consensual, it’s fine. But this kind of behavior? Absolutely not!"

"You’re just putting on a brave face. You’re shaking like a vibrating massager," Lydia Lin teased me now that she’d relaxed.

"Hey, you’re enjoying my ‘vibration massage’ – I should charge you for this," I held onto Lydia Lin tightly, wondering why Sam Yates had shown up so coincidentally.

I thought about it, but couldn’t figure it out.

"Jane Cooper, Miss Cooper, right? You don’t have to worry about your job – Sam Yates won’t fire you. I’ll tell him to give you a raise later. My father probably mentioned compensation to you earlier – I hope you’ll think about what you want," Victor Yates’ voice turned formal and businesslike – completely different from Sam Yates’ fake polite demeanor.

"Don’t worry about it – just give Janie an invitation to the cultural exhibition. I’ll take her to see Uncle Edward then," Lydia Lin said.

Probably everyone in the Yates family, including Lydia Lin, thought I’d use the jacket return as an excuse to negotiate with Edward Yates for compensation.

"It’s in my bag – help yourself," Victor Yates didn’t mention the compensation again. He dropped us off at the apartment. I got out first, and he talked to Lydia Lin for a few minutes in the car before driving away.

When we got home, Mrs. Lin still hadn’t come back, and Mr. Lin was dozing off in the yard.

Lydia Lin pulled me into my room. "You crazy girl – weren’t you scared of dying? Do you know how terrified I was when I saw that determined look in your eyes?"

"That was me trying to reassure you!" I took a bottle of juice that was almost at room temperature out of the insulated box and pressed it against Lydia Lin’s scrapes. "I had a backup plan, too. I just didn’t want to say it in front of Victor Yates. If I couldn’t stop Sam Yates by fighting him, I would have pretended to give in. Then, when I had him wrapped around my finger, I would have kicked him where it hurts the most."

Lydia Lin winced in pain. "Let me tell you – the cultural exhibition is your best chance to ask Uncle Edward for compensation. How much money are you planning to ask for? I’ll help you push for more. Uncle Edward even planned this – he wouldn’t have asked for the jacket back otherwise."