Chapter 44: Open Threats
"Do as grandma said. Stay here."
Just as she was trying to find a way to refuse, she heard Henry's voice. She turned and looked at him with dissatisfaction in her eyes, reluctant to let him make the decision for her.
"Unless you don't want to?"
Henry's jaw was tight with a hint of cruelty. He waved the briefcase in his hand, which made Luz's expression darken. He was threatening her again.
The old lady felt hopeful again and said with a smile, "Luz, look, Henry thinks the same too. You can stay with her with Logan. I'm old now and I don't know how much longer I have. My dying wish is for you and Logan to accompany me, then I'll die happy."
In the end, she simply pretended to be miserable. As long as she could keep the mother and daughter here, she could do anything.
"Grandma, don't say that. You're in good health."
Luz knew what the old lady was thinking, but she still didn't want to hear her talk about death.
"There is a group of reporters waiting outside the company today, so I came to pick you up. By the way, there's someone from the Carver family waiting for you downstairs."
She was furious at being threatened openly like this, but there was nothing she could do about it.
"What does the Carver family have to do with Luz? I heard that they have already passed down the business to the next generation. What's his name again, Declan Carver?"
"Grandma, the general manager of the Carver family is called Declan. We... are acquainted."
She tried hard to lie and looked away from Henry's face. Everything he said had the potential to be true, even if he meant it as a joke, so she could only bow her head in the face of his threats. She already felt guilty of not being able to return Declan's kindness with love, she couldn't let the Carver family get involved in this as well.
"I know. I heard that you're now Henry's secretary. That's great, you can be together all day then. How sweet."
The old lady winked as she spoke, which made Luz very embarrassed. Sweet? She only felt the pressure and irritation.
The name "Henry Maynard" seemed to hold a kind of magic that made it hard for her to remain calm.
"I'll get someone to bring your luggage over tonight. Do you have any objections?"
Seeing that she had obediently compromised, Henry didn't feel happy at all. She really loved that man deeply. In order to protect Declan and the Carver family, she could do anything.
"I have no objection."
The words were difficult to get out. Even if she had had objections, she couldn't voice them.
She secretly cursed herself for being incompetent. She wanted to find an excuse to go upstairs but was stopped by Henry.
"Haven't you had enough sleep?"
His ambiguous tone made her blush and her heart beat faster uncontrollably. She remembered that he had teased her with the exact same words in the past after he had once again tormented her for the entire night. It made her want to crawl into a hole out of embarrassment.
At that time, she had thought that he loved her, or at least he liked her. But now, thinking about it, it was just a disdainful mockery.
"I'm going to get my bag."
She shook off the big hand on her arm and said distantly. She couldn't do anything about his threats, but she could control her heart.
Henry looked at his hand, which had been shaken off. His expression tightened in anger. How could she be angry with him?
"You little brat, what kind of expression is that? Luz is staying, so do your best to woo her back. If you don't, I'm going to slap you with my slipper, you hear me?"
The old lady had seen their interaction and was perplexed. It was going to be hard to get these two back together.
Hearing this, the coldness on Henry's face warmed up. "Grandma, I'm your grandson."
Luz must have cast a spell on his grandmother. She had loved her eight years ago and arranged their marriage, now, after so many years, she's still pampered her.
"So what if you're my grandson? If you don't do what you're supposed to do, I'll beat you up all the same. Henry, you've missed seven years. You've only got so many seven years in your life. Another seven years and she'll be leaving you for good. Think about it."
After talking with her grandson for a while, the old lady turned around and left. Henry's expression changed into one that was overbearingly cold. Let her try to leave him again. He will break her legs! Luz dithered a little before going downstairs again. Henry was no longer in the living room when she finally went down, to her relief, but it didn't last long. He was waiting for her in the Maybach outside. Taking a deep breath, she took her bag and went out. When she reached out to open the door, she found that the door had been locked.
She was very frustrated. What was Henry trying to do? He was the one who forced her to go to work with him, but he locked the door.
In the car, Henry raised his eyebrows at her before unlocking the door. "I don't like slow secretaries."
That made her feel better. So what if he held a press conference? As long as they are at work, she was only his secretary. As for after work... she'd do her best to stay away from him.
She had barely gotten in when the car sped off, not waiting for her to close the door properly. Luz paled with shock. Henry Maynard was an absolute assh*le.
When the Maybach arrived at MR, the reporters had been sent away by the security. Henry had said what he wanted to say in the press conference. There was no way he would be giving out any more information if he didn't want to.
"Morning, Mr and Mrs Maynard." When the guard saw them, he immediately went forward to open the door for her. She was a little taken aback by the attention, and the way he addressed her made her even more awkward.
It had been a long time since she had heard someone call her that. Actually, now that she thought about it, not a lot of people addressed her in that way anyway.
She reined in her bitterness and followed Henry up to their offices. Naturally, they attracted a lot of stares on the way up.
"Mr Maynard, if there's nothing else, I'll go back to my office."
If she stayed beside him any longer, she would have a mental breakdown from all the attention.
Henry just snorted faintly. The two of them went back to their own office respectively. Luz was just thinking that she could take a breather when she noticed that the blinds between their offices had been rolled up.
She should get Linda to add blinds on her side of the office too.
Otherwise, she would be the only one who had no choice in her privacy.
Just as she was about to lower her head and ignore the gaze from the next door, someone knocked on the door. "Please come in."
"Secretary Boone, there's someone asking for you outside. It's the general manager from the Carver family." When Linda mentioned the identity of the guest, Luz's expression darkened.