Love Contract
Chapter 41 Company Problems

After ending the call with Lucas, Mary scrolled through her contacts for William's name.

She texted him saying, "Text me back as soon as you see this."

No. She couldn't send him that! She deleted it and typed, "Where are you? Call me back."

This wouldn't work either. She deleted the message, typed another, and deleted it, over and over again. But she didn't know where to start with the questions, given that she had so much to ask him. Mary struggled to type a message for a while before giving up and flinging the phone aside.

He would probably come back tomorrow.

The next day, Mary went early to the company to keep track of the situation. The good thing was that rumors hadn't made their way around the company. The flip side was that William hadn't returned yet. She had no choice but to put many matters off.

Mary had been busy all morning. She had had no choice but to hold a temporary meeting for the senior officers of the company to explain the current situation and prepare them for what would most likely come. On the other hand, Mary went back and forth from the Public Relations Department to ask them to create more topics to shift the attention, and not to let the reporters get wind of William's disappearance.

"Mary?'1

It was almost noon. Mary was about to return to the CEO's office when she met Victor.

"Victor! Why are you here?" she asked, surprised.

"To sign the contract," he replied. "Looks like you're in a hurry. Are you too busy?".

"Yes, a little bit," Mary nodded. "You go ahead with your work. I'll need to leave.".

"Okay," Victor said. And as he watched her run into the elevator, a smile crept on to his face.

"Come back to your senses!" Jorge said, patting him on the shoulder. "Stop staring. It's time for us to go.". . Victor nodded, looking in the direction in which Mary had disappeared. "I've heard that the CEO is sick and can't meet everyone. He didn't show up at office yesterday," Jorge said..

Victor frowned. "Really? What kind of a serious illness is it that he can't come to office?".

"I don't know." Jorge shook his head. "But the senior officers are getting restless.".

Victor remained deep in thought for a long time as he walked. "Do you believe that William is sick?" he finally asked Jorge.

Jorge merely laughed. "How does it matter what I think? It's none of our business. Leave it be," he said..

Victor turned to look at Jorge, eyebrows raised. Jorge returned his look, smiling meaningfully. "You know what I mean."

When Mary returned to the 32nd floor, Jane watched her move about, her face tired. She was about to persuade Mary to have lunch and get some rest when Kevin came rushing in.

"Mary!" he gasped. "Something bad is happening!

"What's wrong?" Mary asked, frowning. .

"Something has happened to the construction site," Kevin said, his voice panicky.

"What has happened?" she asked again.

"A land project of our company is now at a stage where we need to tear it down. It was going well, but something bad has happened today," Kevin said grimly. "There is one family who doesn't want their house to be torn down and the whole family has been guarding the house. But the forklift has suddenly pushed the house to the ground. They are all buried underground!".

"What?" Mary said, shocked, fear chilling her from within. But she recovered quickly to ask, "Are they okay?"...

"The middle-aged couple just got some bruises, but the child and the old man are seriously injured. They have been sent to the emergency room. The staff of General Manager Office have rushed to the hospital," Kevin filled her in..

"I will go there. I need to go to the hospital too," Mary said, agitated..

"No, Mary!" Jane said hurriedly. "Their family will be very agitated at this moment. You may get hurt if you go there!"

"Yes, she's right," Kevin said, agreeing with Jane. "You'd better not go now."

Mary shook her head. "I can't not go! It's not that I'm going to flaunt my superiority. It's just that I have to go for the company's credibility, and for some private reasons as well."

"Then I'll go with you," Kevin said..

"Me too!" Jane said anxiously..

"Jane, no. Just stay here and wait for me. Call me if anything happens, okay?" Mary said..

Jane looked at Mary for a long second before nodding solemnly and saying, "Don't worry, I will. Jane saw Mary and Kevin off and when she made to go back inside, she found someone blocking her way. "Hello, beautiful lady!"

"Oh my God!" Jane screamed, her hand flying to her heart. "Vi-Victor?".

"That's me," Victor said, smiling mischievously and winking at her. "May I ask you a question, beautiful lady?".

Jane nodded. .

"Where is Mary going?" he asked, his tone casual, smile easy like a spring breeze..

Jorge's eyebrows shot up as he thought, 'Oh, my God. Victor has already mastered the handsome man trick.'

"To the hospital," Jane said shyly. "Something happened at the construction site. She's gone there to comfort the family.".

Victor frowned. He turned to Jorge and told him, "You go back first. I have to follow her."

"No!" Jorge said, grabbing his arm. "You need to mind your own business!".

"This is the last time," Victor said, gritting his teeth, and broke free from Jorge's grip before striding away..

Jorge sighed. How could he believe this was the last time?

"Oh, my God!" Jane breathed out, still staring dazedly at Victor's back.

The AJ Group had originally wholeheartedly cultivated actors and actresses. But the real estate industry had flourished in recent years and the board of directors wanted to get a share. So they had separated parts of the investment for real estate development. There were still a lot of things to do since it was just the beginning and there was not enough time to deal with a lot of problems.

William had an ambition where he wanted to set up a new real estate development company within the year, but no one had expected something like this would happen at such a critical moment.

As they made their way to the hospital in the car, Mary prayed that no one lost their life in this accident.

The moment the car stopped at the hospital gates, a swarm of reporters rushed out from nowhere and surrounded them, shoving cameras and microphones in their faces.

'I underestimated how well-informed the reporters are,' Mary thought.

"Mrs. Lan, what do you want to say about this accident?"

"Did the accident cause any casualties?" "Mrs. Lan! Why do you think this happened?"

"Why didn't the CEO of the AJ Group show up? Are there any secrets you're keeping?".

They pelted questions at them, left, right, and center, and as Mary looked around at the eager faces, she felt her stomach plummet. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, trying to keep herself together, afraid that she'd explode under the pressure.

Kevin was trying his best to keep the reporters at bay. "If you have any questions, you can ask me later. Mrs. Lan is not here on behalf of the company this time."

"Mrs. Lan, please say something!"

"The CEO hasn't shown up yet. Is he trying to escape?"

Mary tried to squeeze through the crowd. She knew nothing. Why couldn't they stop forcing her?.

"We're sorry about this accident. We'll address this during the press conference." Kevin calmly answered the questions and led Mary towards the doors.

But Mary suddenly fell to the ground, defenseless in the crowd.

She didn't know what she had stepped on, or if someone had deliberately tripped her up and made a fool of her. As she fell, she seemed to bump into someone's camera.

She lay on the ground, thinking about how tomorrow's headline was about to be something like, "Wife of the CEO of the AJ Group Falls at Hospital." It was better for her rather than the company to be in a

mess.

The crowd dispersed, but the lights began to flash at Mary.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Kevin yelled, trying to block the flashlights..

"Mary!" a voice shouted from beyond the crowd.

The reporters turned, their eyes widening instantly. "Hurry! It's Victor!"

"Why is Victor here?".

The reporters went into a frenzy. They alternated between taking pictures of Mary and then of Victor.

"Victor, can you explain why you are here?"

"What's the relationship between Victor and the CEO's wife?"

"Who was Victor calling out to?"

The crowd automatically parted for Victor, but continued to ask questions as they stood aside. Victor quickly made his way to Mary's side and pulled her to her feet. "Are you okay?" Victor asked, looking worried..

"I'm OK," Mary said, smiling..

The reporters became even more excited at this and closed in on them, surrounding Victor and Mary.

"Stop filming!" Kevin said angrily, grabbing the camera nearest him and throwing it to the ground. "I said stop filming!".

"What the hell? Are you trying to hit me?" the reporter said, annoyed. . . .

"Am I trying to hit you? Of course I am! I am going to hit you!".

Kevin was six feet tall and wasn't afraid of a reporter. He was about to throw a punch when a frantic voice sounded.

"Madam!

Kevin!"

Several people rushed out of the hospital gates. It turned out they were from the General Manager Office and had rushed out the moment they had heard that Mary had been surrounded by reporters at the gate. They hadn't expected the situation to be so bad!

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!" The security guards rushed over, pulling Kevin away from the reporter.. "All right, all right! There has been a misunderstanding," a manager from the AJ Group shouted so that the reporters could hear him. "Ask me if you have any questions. Don't make things difficult for Mrs. Lan."

"Let's go, Kevin," Mary said, pulling on his sleeve. "Don't make any trouble. Let's go in.".

"They have gone too far!" Kevin said, angrily rolling up his sleeves..

"Ignore them," Victor said, a hand on Kevin's shoulder as they entered the hospital, protected by the security guards..

But the reporters behind them didn't turn off their cameras, pointing them at Mary and Victor.

The wife of the CEO having an affair with an actor of his company was a hot topic!

"Mary, are you okay?" Kevin asked..

"I'm all right," she replied, her voice still shaken.

"Your clothes look crumpled and torn and you have wounds! Don't you feel them? Look at yourself!" Victor said, frowning. . .

Mary looked down at her dust-covered jeans. Her knees were bruised and her arms were grazed, but she smiled wonderingly as she said, "I am really injured."