Chapter 78 The Calm Before the Storm
"Rebecca, what do I have to do for you to let me go?"
On the other end of the phone, Azalea's voice was full of resentment.
Rebecca looked confused. "Azalea, you're the one who picked a fight and provoked me. You're the one who made nasty assumptions. From start to finish, you've been causing trouble, and now you're trying to shift the blame?"
If she had known it was Azalea calling, she wouldn't have even picked up.
Disturbing her sleep early in the morning and ruining her mood.
Rebecca hung up with a click.
When Azalea called back, the phone was always unreachable.
Realizing she'd been blocked, Azalea's eyes turned red as she grabbed a pillow from the bed and started pounding it furiously.
Yesterday after leaving the ski resort, except for Jack who was taken away by ambulance, the others didn't even bother with the second half of their planned get-together and rushed home in a hurry.
After that, the Facebook group chat hadn't stopped buzzing.
Someone said their family's beauty salon got raided by the commerce bureau, which found a bunch of violations and tax evasion, and it got shut down.
To reopen quickly without causing too much damage, between back taxes and other fees, it would cost at least 20 million.
Someone else said a supplier they'd worked with for years called their family saying they couldn't continue supplying due to shortages, unless their company settled all the outstanding payments first.
Never mind how much the payments were—just the supply stoppage alone meant the factory couldn't operate normally, losing millions every day it was shut down.
Looking at the screen, it was full of "what do we do?"
Everything happened so suddenly that the adults hadn't even figured out what was going on yet. They were all guessing whether they'd gotten in some big shot's way in business and were being targeted.
Once they figured out what really happened, the consequences for those kids would only get worse. Ending up like Jack was just a matter of time.
The Gray family was eerily quiet.
Last night when she got home, her father was gentle and her mother was mild—everything was just like before.
In fact, because she came home to see them during Halloween break, her parents were especially easygoing, urging her to hang out with friends and have a good time. Otherwise, once she went back to school in a few days, she wouldn't see her friends again until Christmas.
Peter wasn't someone to mess with to begin with.
Let alone Frederick.
Mr. Windsor, famous in elite circles for being vengeful and ruthless.
Thinking that this was the calm before the storm, and that soon the family would be thrown into chaos, Azalea's heart kept sinking.
Why had she been so stupid?
Why did she have to provoke Rebecca!
Although she hadn't heard that Mr. Windsor was married with kids, just seeing how that little boy depended on him, you could tell he must be precious to the Windsor family.
What's more, she'd never heard of Mr. Windsor giving anyone a kind look, but with Rebecca, his eyes were full of warmth and accommodation.
The Gray family was in for disaster!
She hadn't dared close her eyes all night. Thinking about how the Gray family was about to face catastrophe because of her, Azalea was terrified.
And now, Rebecca wouldn't even give her a chance to make amends.
There was movement downstairs.
From the sounds, her father was up, making breakfast in the kitchen. He'd eat and then head to the office.
Her mother's high heels clicked.
Today was Monday—there was a shareholders' meeting at the company this morning.
"Azalea..."
Her mother's voice called from downstairs. "Your father and I are heading to the office. I'll call you later to go out for lunch!"
Footsteps.
The sound of the car starting and driving away.
Everything went quiet. Azalea went downstairs with a blank expression.
As if possessed, she turned on the TV to the financial news channel.
At nine o'clock sharp, the stock market opened, and financial experts began analyzing the day's trading.
Staring at the rising and falling red and green lines without blinking, she heard the expert's surprised voice saying that the Gray family's stocks, which had always been steady and strong, dropped right at opening. Rough estimate: losses over a hundred million.
Azalea sank into the sofa, eyes vacant.
Those other people had just chimed in to mock Rebecca a few times, and their families lost tens of millions each.
Jack had it worst—not only did he lose three teeth, but the hand he'd grabbed Rebecca with was nearly broken.
And the Gray family paid a price of a hundred million.
Did Rebecca really have that much pull?
What exactly was her relationship with Frederick?