Sophia had considered several possibilities. She thought that Victor couldn't find a temporary companion and that he happened to run into her, so he made an impulsive decision to bring her to the party. However, Sophia never expected Victor to be so outrageous!
She was indeed his employee, but she was not an object. She didn't allow others to treat her as a gift to be given away!
Feeling insulted, Sophia clenched her fists and said, "Mr. Hastings, did you even ask me before making this decision?"
Victor's sharp gaze finally fell on her angry face. He smiled slightly, "Is $100,000 enough?"
$100,000? Sophia found it amusing and wondered if he thought she was someone who would sell herself.
Harry, who had been watching them, noticed Sophia's pained smile. Although he didn't know why Victor wanted to publicly humiliate a girl, he believed Victor's actions had indeed gone too far. Just as Harry was about to intervene, he saw Sophia take out a bank card from her bag.
"Just right, I have $100,000 here. Mr. Hastings, is this enough for compensation?" Sophia said, as she grabbed a glass of wine from a passing waiter's tray and splashed it on Victor.
In an instant, the whole party fell silent!
The guests' eyes were all focused on Sophia. They felt shocked and amazed!
"Who is that girl?"
"Oh my god! Has she gone crazy? How dare she offend Mr. Hastings! Is she looking to be killed?"
Everyone was stunned by Sophia's actions, even Victor didn't expect this seemingly pretentious woman to dare to do something so audacious!
The atmosphere around them tensed in an instant. He grabbed Sophia's wrist, suppressing his anger, and asked Harry, "Where is the guest room?"
In confusion, Harry panicked and said, "On the third floor. You can take the left elevator up."
Victor forcefully pulled Sophia and went upstairs, leaving behind a group of dumbfounded guests who stood rooted to the spot.
"What's going on? Where is Mr. Hastings taking that girl?"
"Does anyone know what's happening?"
They all looked at each other, and finally, their gazes fell on David. David felt uncomfortable under their burning stares and hurriedly ran upstairs!
In the room, Victor angrily locked the door and forcefully pushed Sophia onto the bed. Impatiently glancing at the wine stain on his clothes, he commanded her, "Clean it up!"
Defiantly, Sophia climbed off the bed, feeling very aggrieved. "Don't you have hands? $100,000 should be enough for you to take your clothes to the dry cleaners."
"Sophia, you're asking for death!" Victor exuded a terrifying chill.
Sophia sneered and said, "You can bully me, but I can't fight back? Let me tell you, I am an employee of the Aadelha Group, and I am not obliged to accompany you for social engagements. Even if I quit, it is not your place to humiliate me!"
Suddenly, Victor laughed. His refreshing laughter was as pleasant as the birdsong in March. "If you can afford a five million dollar penalty, you can leave anytime."
"What five million dollars?" Sophia was taken aback.
Victor held her chin with prominent knuckles and said with an evil tone, "Do you think the Aadelha Group's salary is so easy to get? When you joined, didn't the manager tell you that if you voluntarily resign during your employment, you have to pay a penalty?"
As long as an employee doesn't get fired by their leader, they have to pay a high compensation fee if they voluntarily resign during their contract period. Sophia had heard about it when she joined, but the HR manager had reassured her that the Aadelha Group was a large company and wouldn't enforce it strictly. If an employee really wanted to quit, they would still show mercy and let the employee go, so Sophia didn't pay much attention to it at the time.
She didn't expect Victor, as a CEO, to actually pick a fight with her, a newly hired employee!
Sophia felt angry and frustrated, but she couldn't refute him!
Seeing her appearance, furious but hesitant to make a move, Victor felt extremely pleased. His fair fingers brushed against her red lips. "Tell me now, do you want to quit?"
"You jerk!" Sophia cursed him under her breath.
Victor remained unruffled and charmingly smiled. "Since you're not quitting, then think about how you're going to clean my stained clothes."
He slowly unbuttoned his shirt, one by one. In front of Sophia, he took it off, revealing his well-defined and sexy chest muscles. Then he threw the shirt, mixed with the fragrance of alcohol, into Sophia's arms and turned to enter the bathroom.
His shirt was hot. Sophia's heart was racing. Except for that one night, this was the first time she had seen a man without clothes on!
Sophia listened to the rushing water in the bathroom. This familiar feeling made her whole body heat up. Her heart rate was also fast. She felt like she must be going crazy.
The shirt in her hand felt like a hot potato. She wanted to throw it away but didn't dare to. She could only stare blankly at the lit bathroom. She wondered, 'What should I do now? Should I take his shirt out to dry clean it?'
As she wrestled with herself, the bathroom door opened.
Victor walked out wrapped in a white bathrobe. He was still wet from the shower, with water dripping from his disheveled hair. As he towel-dried his hair, he gave his shirt a cold glance, looking displeased. "Did you clean my shirt?"
"You were in the bathroom, so I couldn't clean it," Sophia awkwardly shifted her gaze away from Victor. "I took it to the dry cleaners."
"Hand wash it," Victor said as he approached, pinching her chin. His warm breath sprayed onto her face. "Now you can personally wash my shirt, just like how you personally splashed me with wine earlier."
Sophia pushed his hand away. "Fine, I'll wash it clean. Don't touch me!"
He scoffed disdainfully.
Sophia walked into the bathroom with the shirt. Thankfully, the wine stain wasn't large. Sophia dampened the shirt with water and tried to clean it, but found that it wouldn't come off. She opened the warm water and soaked it again, but she still couldn't rub off the red wine from the clothes.
Victor stood coldly by the bathroom door, watching it all indifferently. "If you can't clean it, then take off your dress."
"I can definitely clean it," Sophia said, taking the soap and washing the shirt several more times, but she truly couldn't get rid of the stain! She felt a bit overwhelmed. Sophia heard movement behind her and quickly turned to look, thinking someone was going to strip her clothes off. It was David who walked in.
"Mr. Hastings, here is the shirt you wanted," David said.
Sophia instantly smiled. David brought the shirt over, which meant she didn't have to wash it anymore. She happily turned off the water.
"Is my shirt clean?" Victor asked casually.
Sophia's smile froze on her face. She pointed at the shirt in his hand. "Don't you already have a shirt to wear?"
"What does that have to do with you?" Victor asked.
Sophia sadly walked back. Even though Victor had changed into his new clothes, he didn't leave and just watched her. Sophia couldn't escape. When she finally finished washing and drying his shirt, Victor disdainfully threw it into the trash can.
"Deduct a month's salary from you," he said without hesitation, walking away!
Sophia caught up to him. "I already washed your shirt clean. Why are you deducting my salary?"
"I don't like things touched by women," Victor replied.
Sophia felt extremely surprised.
She thought he was really over the top!