Chapter 93 Whose Person Is He
Selena's POV
I stared at the long string of zeros on my phone screen, feeling a bit breathless.
Within just a few minutes, two hundred million dollars had appeared out of nowhere in my bank account.
My parents, in the most direct and brutal way possible, told me they had my back.
And Royce Sterling, in an equally domineering way, announced his presence.
The phone screen lit up again. This time, it was a video call request from Royce.
I stared at his constantly flashing avatar, hesitated for a few seconds, and finally swiped to answer.
His ridiculously handsome face appeared on the screen.
He seemed to have just showered. His black hair was still damp, casually falling across his forehead.
He wasn't wearing a suit, just a dark gray V-neck cashmere sweater that revealed his sexy collarbone.
The background wasn't his home, but the lounge in his office.
This late, and he was still at the company?
"Finally willing to answer?"
"What do you want?"
"I missed you," he said matter-of-factly. "Wanted to see you."
My heartbeat skipped.
"You've seen me. Can hang up now."
"Don't," he chuckled softly. "Let me look a bit longer. You must be tired from being at the company today, right?"
His gaze felt like it could penetrate the screen and land on me.
"I'm fine."
"Those pieces of trash—I've already had my legal team handle them," he picked up a glass of red wine beside him and swirled it gently. "That gambling website won't survive the night either."
A massive, professional money-laundering network hidden in the depths of the dark web was, in his words, like an ant he could crush with his bare hands.
"My own business, I'll handle myself." I stubbornly emphasized.
"I know," he took a sip of wine, his deep eyes never leaving me. "But I'm your fi-an-cé," he said the word deliberately, syllable by syllable. "Cleaning up trash for you is my honor."
I hated his matter-of-fact tone.
What I hated even more was that my heart actually felt a damn bit of warmth because of what he said.
"I need to sleep." I didn't want to keep going with him.
"Sleep with the video on." He made an unreasonable demand.
"Are you crazy?"
"I really miss you, Selena." His voice suddenly became very soft, very gentle. "Let me watch you, okay?"
The devil's whisper.
And somehow, I didn't hang up.
I put my phone on the nightstand, screen facing the ceiling, then lay down and pulled the covers over my head.
I could feel that on the other end of the call, his gaze never left.
--
The next morning when I walked into the office, Anna had already made coffee and was waiting for me.
"Selena! Good morning!" Her face radiated an almost fanatical excitement.
"Morning." I set down my bag and took off my coat.
"Selena, you're now the idol of our entire company!" She handed me the coffee, her eyes shining like two stars. "You have no idea how satisfied everyone was after you dealt with those parasites yesterday! Everyone's saying you're the queen who came to save Hart Group!"
I took a sip of coffee and said nothing.
"And people have even started a betting pool in the break room!" Anna said mysteriously, leaning in.
"Betting on what?"
"On when you'll send the mastermind—the person who set up Mr. Scott and the others—to prison too!"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Put a bet in for me," I pulled out a few hundred-dollar bills from my bag and handed them to her. "Within a week."
Anna's eyes lit up even more. "Yes, my queen!"
"But..." She pocketed the money, then said with some concern, "I heard from people in legal that the person behind Mr. Scott has deep connections at headquarters. Might not be easy to deal with."
"No matter how deep the connections, they're still just connections," I said lightly. "As long as they're human, they have weaknesses."
"Exactly!" Anna nodded vigorously, then laughed gossip-style again. "Boss, you're so amazing, I think only Royce is good enough for you!"
I glanced at her. "Is your workload too light? Need me to add some more tasks?"
"No no no! I'll get to work right now!" Anna shrank her neck in fright and turned to flee.
Just then, a low, amused male voice clearly came from my phone sitting on the desk.
"I think your assistant has excellent taste."
Anna's steps froze instantly.
The office fell silent.
I had forgotten.
The video call from last night—I never hung up.
Anna's neck turned toward my phone at an extremely slow, extremely stiff pace.
On the screen, Royce sat behind his desk, leisurely watching us.
Today he wore a perfectly tailored black suit, his hair combed without a strand out of place. He looked completely like someone in power.
At the same time, I saw his office door being pushed open.
A man in a suit and gold-rimmed glasses walked in, holding a document, apparently about to report something to him.
When that man saw what was on Royce's computer screen, his expression matched Anna's exactly.
Shocked, dazed, as if witnessing some wonder of the world.
"Mr. Sterling?" Anna's voice shook like a leaf in the wind.
"Good morning, Miss Anna. Thank you for the compliment." Royce even politely greeted her.
"Good morning! Mr. Sterling!" Anna responded like a robot with its switch flipped, bowing a full ninety degrees with a booming voice. "You... You can rest assured! I swear! In this life, the next life, and the life after that, I will loyally serve Selena until death! Eliminate all enemies for her! Never betray!"
What was she doing? Pledging loyalty?
Watching her fawning appearance, looking like she wanted to kneel and take an oath, I felt the vein at my temple throbbing.
I rubbed my temples and spoke helplessly.
"Anna," I looked at her, "who exactly pays your salary?"