Chapter 237

Chapter 237

Justin fell silent.

Gwen continued. "Speaking of which, you really should thank me. If I hadn't shown up in time back then, you'd have already been rolling around in bed with Lynn."

"That's not—" Justin tried to defend himself.

"Justin, stop making excuses to lie to me. You know better than anyone how disgusting the things you did were. What I hate most now is that I ever met someone like you in this lifetime. Not only did you waste so many years of my life, you made my child suffer so much too."

"Someone like you deserves to die alone, never finding anyone who loves you."

Gwen hung up immediately after saying that.

She felt thoroughly disgusted.

When she'd heard Justin say those things just now, her mind had flashed through everything she'd done for him in the past.

For Justin's sake, she'd learned to cook. During those months of pregnancy, she'd spent every single day taking care of Evelyn and Vivian.

They'd decided she was a sparrow trying to climb the social ladder, so they'd done everything possible to wear her down.

She'd believed love could overcome all obstacles—until Lynn appeared. Only then did Gwen understand that Justin had never loved her from the beginning.

Justin stared at the disconnected call, his face pale.

He really did know he'd been wrong.

In the past, he hadn't known how to cherish the people around him. He'd pushed away the person who loved him most, again and again. And now he had the audacity to suggest starting over with Gwen.

No wonder Gwen was angry. Those words were truly too much.

"Mr. Sterling," his assistant walked over, looking anxious. "Public opinion online is getting worse. Several shareholders just tried to withdraw their investments."

Justin couldn't be bothered with any of that. He only wanted to know what he needed to do to win Gwen back, so he didn't want to deal with anything else. "Let them withdraw if they want. The stocks are right there. As long as they can sell them, of course they can do whatever they want."

"Nonsense!" David appeared out of nowhere, having just heard what Justin said.

Furious, he pointed at Justin's nose and cursed. "How did I raise such a useless waste of space? Just a few things happen and you fall apart like this—how are you supposed to manage the company in the future?"

"Will this company even still exist?" Justin laughed coldly.

Classified files had been sold to competitors. Contracts they'd been negotiating had all been terminated because of his damaged reputation.

Right now, The Sterling Group was like a donkey missing its last piece of straw. If even the slightest thing went wrong at this point, it could crush the entire company.

David understood better than anyone that the situation was serious now. But he refused to accept it.

He couldn't accept that the company he'd painstakingly built was about to be destroyed in an instant, nor could he accept that it was all being destroyed by his own child's hands.

"Justin, if the company really is destroyed in your hands, I don't mind dying with you."

Hearing this, Justin finally deigned to look up at his father.

He laughed coldly. "I've always been this useless. Don't you know that yourself?"

"Back then, my grades couldn't have gotten me into such a good program. You threw money at it to get me in. After graduation, you forced me to run the company. You knew perfectly well I never liked any of this."

He finally understood—he'd never actually liked Lynn from the beginning.

The reason he'd been attracted to Lynn was because in his eyes back then, Lynn had always been free.

That kind of freedom he'd never possessed, so he'd unconsciously wanted to get closer, mistaking it for love.

He'd thought he'd found his true love in life, never realizing Gwen had been the most brilliant, passionate red rose of his life.

Justin stood up, looking down at his father, who was half a head shorter.

"The company is beyond saving. If you can accept that, transfer out whatever assets you can while there's still time. Otherwise our whole family will end up in debt."

Saying something like that was utterly irresponsible. David couldn't help himself—he raised his hand and slapped Justin hard across the face.

But after hitting him, he realized Justin's words weren't entirely unreasonable.

He absolutely couldn't live in poverty. So at a time like this, he really did need to transfer assets out. But doing so would naturally hurt other people.

So what?

What did other people's fates have to do with him? He only needed to look out for himself.

David turned and left, lost in thought. But Justin understood his father was just as selfish as he was. He'd definitely taken those words to heart.

He'd most likely leave the country. Before that happened, Justin had to take Gwen with him.

Gwen was his wife. They were the ones who were meant to be together.

Meanwhile, Susan showed up at Gwen's studio holding two concert tickets.

"Gwen, please come to the concert with me! Charlie's on break and Cora's looking after him anyway. I've been looking forward to this concert forever, and no one's willing to go with me."

In the past, Gwen might have agreed without hesitation. But now that things with Zachary were going so well, suddenly going to another city felt wrong.

So she looked over at Zachary, who was sitting not far away.

Sensing her gaze, Zachary looked up and smiled gently. "You don't need to worry about me. You and Ms. Andrews have been good friends for so many years. I support it."

Susan grinned. "Exactly! Gwen, you can't forget your friends just because you've got a man now. I've been your most loyal supporter all along!"

Gwen laughed helplessly. "Fine, fine, fine. I'll go. When?"

"This weekend! Don't worry, I've already booked the flights and hotel in advance. You just need to come with me."

Since Susan had already arranged everything, Gwen couldn't possibly refuse. She nodded. "Okay."

Susan beamed and hugged Gwen. "Perfect! I spent big money on these floor seats. It would've been such a waste if you didn't go! I'm going to figure out what to wear to the concert right now. We're going to dress up and look absolutely stunning!"

Gwen had no interest in looking stunning, but seeing how excited Susan was, she didn't want to rain on her parade.

She walked to the other side and continued sketching designs.

Susan watched for a while before suddenly saying, "Can't you have Mr. Quinn model the menswear you're designing?"

"Yeah," Gwen hummed. "Once the garments are finished, I'll have Zachary help me try them on. I've also just designed some new womenswear—I'll need your help with that too when the time comes."

Susan waved her hand, indicating no problem. "Absolutely!"