Chapter 179 Encounter
Mindy took the earliest flight to Border Ridge City this morning.
After getting off the plane, she took a taxi straight to The Sherman Group.
The security guard stopped her and wouldn't let her in.
Mindy gritted her teeth and decided to go find Emma for help.
Late last night, Emma had forwarded Mindy the news about Elizabeth becoming chairman of The Sherman Group.
Mindy got angry just seeing the news.
The gap between her current life and her past was huge.
Before, when she went out, she was a Johnson family socialite, and most people would flatter her and go along with her wishes.
Now when she went out, she couldn't even enter luxury boutiques - she didn't have that much money to spend.
Mindy looked at the room she was living in now - simply decorated and not very spacious.
The Johnson family used to be an upper-class family in Silverlight City, but now they had declined to below third-rate status.
And all of this was because of Elizabeth. Timothy had been slowly crushing the Johnson Group to support Elizabeth.
Thinking about how Armando now had to bow and scrape, drinking and schmoozing for business deals, Mindy got angrier and angrier.
Elizabeth was nothing but trouble! Why did that troublemaker get to marry into the Sherman family!
Elizabeth was just a promiscuous slut!
The huge gap in lifestyle over these years had filled Mindy's heart with resentment.
Emma hadn't slept well last night, and being woken up early by a phone call naturally put her in a bad mood.
But when she heard Mindy's voice, she reined in her bad mood and asked, "Mindy, what's up?"
"Emma, I'm at your door right now."
"What?" Emma quickly sat up, now fully awake. She got out of bed, "Why did you suddenly come to Border Ridge City? Wait a moment, I'll have the housekeeper open the door."
She threw on a robe and walked out of the bedroom.
Seeing that Emma hadn't woken up yet, the housekeeper naturally wouldn't let Mindy in.
That's why Mindy chose to call Emma. The housekeeper opened the door, and Mindy walked into the living room. The first thing she said when she saw Emma was, "Emma, I want to see Elizabeth. Do you have any way to make that happen?"
Emma had the housekeeper pour a glass of milk for Mindy, then asked softly, "What do you want to see her for? Don't do anything stupid."
"Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. I just want her to leave our Johnson family alone and stop having Timothy target us."
If it weren't for Cecilia asking Manuel for help, the Johnson family probably couldn't even maintain a small company now.
"Emma, help me, please?" Mindy looked at Emma pitifully.
Emma was silent for a moment, then said bitterly, "Mindy, I want to help you, but look at my situation now. The Sutter family is in about the same situation as the Johnson family, and I was even sent to a mental hospital back then."
Mindy bit her lip, a bit disappointed. If worst came to worst, she'd just wait outside The Sherman Group for Elizabeth.
Seeing Mindy's disappointment, Emma said, "Although I can't really help you, I know that tonight the Sherman family is holding a banquet at the Hilton Hotel. They're going to introduce Elizabeth to people in their circle."
Mindy's eyes immediately lit up. She knew what to do now. "Emma, thank you. I'm leaving now."
Emma watched Mindy leave with a gentle smile.
Since she was already awake, Emma didn't plan to go back to sleep.
Emma returned to her room and put the blurry black and white photo from the table back in the album.
This black and white photo had been soaked in water for a while, then rubbed - the face of the woman in military uniform was now completely unrecognizable.
"Godmother, I'll come see you at noon. I don't know which dress to choose."
Emma called Freya.
Elizabeth had been working hard at The Sherman Group from morning to afternoon, buried in work.
At noon, Calliope had the butler Eugene send a nutritious lunch to Elizabeth.
Robbie reminded Elizabeth about tonight's banquet.
Elizabeth rubbed her temples, "Okay, I know."
The Sherman Group had been declining over the years. Jake didn't manage company affairs, and Vincent's management style was conservative, which led to the company's weak competitiveness.
"Is the dress ready?"
"Mrs. Sherman has already prepared your dress."
Elizabeth nodded. She turned off her computer and stood up, "Let's go."
The simple yet elegant blue dress gave Elizabeth a cool and refined air.
Robbie, wearing a khaki suit, had brought in a professional makeup team to do Elizabeth's makeup.
At six o'clock, Elizabeth headed to the hotel.
This was the first time Elizabeth had seen Timothy in five years.
Timothy's temples were graying. At thirty, he looked mature and steady. His features, which used to look casual and lazy, now looked sharp.
Timothy's gaze at Elizabeth was as affectionate as ever.
Looking at Timothy, Elizabeth felt like she'd been through so much.
She thought of that lunatic Jake, thought of Seraphina still in Jake's hands.
Elizabeth collected herself and greeted him with a smile, like meeting an old friend, "Thank you, Mr. Robinson, for coming to tonight's banquet. Please, come in."
There were more guests arriving behind Timothy.
He didn't want to make things difficult for Elizabeth, so he responded in a hoarse voice and walked into the banquet hall.
Joe came with Timothy tonight. Joe smiled at Elizabeth, then quickly followed Timothy into the banquet hall.
Mira got out of the car and walked over. Mira glanced at Elizabeth, then looked at Timothy who had already entered the banquet hall. Mira really thought Elizabeth's private life was messy.
"Ms. Penrose, hello. Should I call you Mrs. Sherman? Or continue calling you Ms. Penrose?"
Elizabeth smiled appropriately, "Ms. Collins, you can call me Mrs. Sherman."
Mira smiled and nodded, then walked into the banquet hall.
Elizabeth waited until all the important family figures had arrived before preparing to enter the banquet hall.
"Chairwoman Penrose, Freya is here."
This was really unusual.
Freya and Russell almost never attended banquets, and Freya, whose health wasn't great, rarely went out to socialize with women from noble circles.
Emma also got out of the car with Freya.
Emma intimately held Freya's arm as they walked toward Elizabeth.
Elizabeth smiled, "Mrs. Nightingale, hello."
Freya smiled gently, "Mrs. Sherman, hello."
Emma smiled and greeted Elizabeth graciously, "Mrs. Sherman, long time no see."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Ms. Sutter, long time no see. Please, both of you, come in."
Emma smiled and walked into the banquet hall with Freya.
Elizabeth turned to Robbie, "Let's go. I'll go find Mrs. Sherman first."
Calliope was waiting for Elizabeth in the lounge. They would appear in the banquet hall together shortly.
This banquet had assigned seating.
Which family sat at which table had all been arranged.
There were two head tables, and the rest were not head tables.
The Robinson family, the Collins family, the Sherman family, and the Nightingale family were all at the same head table.
The other head table was for families not from Border Ridge City.
After Freya sat down and saw Timothy, she said coolly, "How rare, Timothy came tonight too."
Timothy said nothing.
After Freya took Emma from the mental hospital that year, she went to Timothy to demand an explanation.
Timothy had only coldly told Freya, "You're meddling."
This remark made Freya very angry.
What happened on the top floor that year wasn't known to people from other families.
Freya didn't know exactly what happened either. She only knew that Timothy had sent Emma to a mental hospital because of some woman.
Emma didn't say much about that woman either, and Freya was afraid of hurting Emma's feelings, so she didn't ask.
Freya said softly, trying to persuade him, "Tommy and Jane have always wanted you to spend time with them. No matter what, the children are innocent."
Freya had attended Tommy and Jane's kindergarten parent activities several times and saw that other children had both mom and dad there, but Tommy and Jane never had their father attend. It broke her heart.
Emma gently pulled at Freya and shook her head, telling her not to bring up Tommy and Jane.
Timothy sneered coldly, "I've already said, Tommy and Jane are not my children."
Freya frowned.
People in their circle actually didn't believe what Timothy said. They just thought Timothy didn't want to acknowledge Tommy and Jane.
If they weren't Timothy's children, why would Manuel give Robinson family shares to Tommy and Jane?
Whether it was the Robinson family or Jake, they all kept Tommy and Jane's true parentage a secret.
Emma was also smart - she would never publicize Tommy and Jane's complicated bloodline.
This led everyone to assume by default that Timothy just didn't want to acknowledge Tommy and Jane.