Paul couldn’t help but laugh. Maisy must be out of her mind.
“And another thing,” she continued, undeterred by his mocking tone, “Skylar must have badmouthed the Williams family to Mr. Martin, which is why the Martin Group refuses to work with us now. Our company has taken a huge hit and might even go bankrupt.”
“I need to get to the bottom of this. I hope Mr. Martin will give me the chance and time to clear things up,” Maisy declared with unshaken confidence.
Paul chuckled again, amused by her persistence. “Ms. Williams, how did you find out where Mr. Martin was?”
Maisy froze, a flicker of panic crossing her face. Her usual composure cracked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said quickly, trying to recover. “I just happened to run into Mr. Martin today. There’s no rule saying I can’t come to this city or stay at this hotel, is there?”
Maisy was starting to feel the weight of Paul’s suspicion. How had he figured out that she had tracked down Joe’s whereabouts through someone else? No wonder Charles had warned her not to underestimate Paul. It seemed that no one Joe kept around was ordinary.
“Really?” Paul asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Do you think I can’t trace your information to whichever private detective you hired? It won’t take long before someone tells me.”
Paul’s smile faded as his tone turned cold. “Don’t act like a smartass. If you harass Mr. Martin again, the Williams family will be doomed.”
Maisy’s face drained of color as Paul’s words hit their mark. “You!”
Paul looked at her with disdain, seeing right through her. “Did you really think no one would see through your intentions?” he asked, his gaze unbothered. He was finding Maisy’s attempt at manipulation almost amusing at this point.
Maisy, flushed with humiliation, didn’t know how to respond. Her plan had been uncovered far too quickly.
“You’ve all been deceived by Skylar!” Maisy snapped, her voice trembling with fury.
Paul wasn’t interested in continuing this farce. Maisy’s shallow tricks might have fooled others, but trying them on him and Joe was a joke. The fact that he had kept his composure instead of knocking her out was already commendable.
He turned and walked toward the elevator, leaving Maisy standing there, dejected and defeated. Her attempts to regain control were falling apart.
Maisy stood there, flabbergasted. She couldn’t believe this was the outcome after all the effort she had put into flying over and waiting all day. It seemed like nothing was going according to plan.
Furious, she bit her lip, seething with resentment. “Skylar, I swear I won’t let you have the last laugh. So what if Joe is backing you now? The Williams family still prefers me. Soon, Janine and her sons will come around to favor me too, and you’ll end up all alone, suffering.”
In a fit of frustration, Maisy took out her phone and opened WhatsApp. Finding Janine’s number, she couldn’t help but send a voice message with a condescending sneer.
“Mom, I’ve realized how wrong I was. I’ve thought things through. You gave birth to me, and I was ungrateful. Please forgive me. I know it might be hard because of Skylar, but I won’t blame you. If you have time this weekend, I’d love to visit you.”
Although Maisy didn’t receive an immediate response, she remained confident. After all, she was Janine’s biological daughter. She didn’t believe Janine could ignore her for long.
After a few minutes of silence, Janine finally replied. She agreed to meet.
Back at the hotel, Paul returned to his room and took a quick shower. Though he was exhausted, sleep eluded him. Pulling out his phone, he sent a message to Skylar.
“Maisy somehow found out where Mr. Martin was and followed him to the hotel. She might suspect you’re with him, but she doesn’t know that you two are married.”
Skylar frowned as she read Paul’s message. Maisy truly was like a stubborn, annoying leech. But Skylar would be happy to help if Maisy wanted to dig her own grave.
“Mr. Ziegler, can you recommend a reliable private detective?” Skylar texted.
“I’ll send you his number right away. When you call, just mention you’re my friend, and he’ll take care of everything,” Paul responded promptly.
“Alright, thanks,” Skylar replied before closing WhatsApp and calling the private detective.
“Hi, I’m Mr. Ziegler’s friend. He recommended you to me. I need you to look into someone for me.”
After hanging up, Skylar leaned back on her bed, her mind wandering back to her past life.
After her paralysis, when she had been bedridden and unable to move much except for her hands and head, Skylar had grown weaker over time. She had barely eaten and often skipped meals, making her frail.
During that time, Maisy had tormented her, bragging about all sorts of scandals. Maisy and Christopher had even engaged in their intimate acts in front of her, taking pleasure in her suffering. They had given her strange drugs, ones that Maisy had bought from shady bars.
Eventually, Maisy had become entangled in drugs herself. Skylar couldn’t help but wonder—had Maisy started using drugs in this life yet? She had originally planned to wait until the Williams family went bankrupt before giving Maisy that final push into prison, but now Skylar had decided to take action sooner. She would start by exposing Maisy’s illegal drug purchases, sending her to ruin, step by step.
What frustrated Skylar was that, in her past life, Christopher and Maisy had been madly in love, even up to Skylar’s tragic death. But now, things were different. In this life, Christopher was relentlessly pursuing Skylar, while Maisy seemed to have no connection with him.
It was clear that Skylar’s rebirth had altered the course of others’ lives as well.
Later, at the airport, Maisy saw Joe while waiting for her flight. For a moment, she considered approaching him, but when she saw Paul giving her a cold stare, she quickly decided against it. Paul’s words from the previous day were likely what Joe wanted to say to her.
“Fucking Skylar!” Maisy muttered under her breath. “You must have slandered me to Joe just to make him hate me! Just wait and see. I’ll make sure you lose everything.”
Meanwhile, Alexander received a call from his butler, prompting him to hurry home.
The butler was worried about Caleb, who hadn’t left his room for days. Caleb had only allowed people in to deliver meals and clean up before shutting them out again. Today, he had even refused both meals and cleaning services. Concerned, the butler had called Alexander.
Alexander had been busy all day, brushing it off by saying Caleb wouldn’t die just yet. But after finishing work, he decided to return home.
He knocked twice on Caleb’s door. “Come in,” Caleb’s voice called from inside.
Alexander opened the door, entering with the butler behind him. They were both shocked by what they saw.
Caleb was lying on his bed, reading a book. Several more books were scattered across the bed around him.
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