Chapter 48
Elizabeth's POV
Alexander gave me a strange look, then said to Charles, "Set up a desk for her here, then take her to complete the onboarding procedures."
I stood to the side listening, my eyes unconsciously falling on Alexander.
"What are you looking at?" He asked.
I answered almost instinctively, "Nothing, just didn't expect things to be so formal. A bit surprising."
Alexander looked at me with a somewhat speechless expression. He waved at Charles, signaling him to take me through the procedures.
I obediently followed Charles out. As it turned out, the moment we left that office, the atmosphere outside was even more tense than inside.
Countless gazes shot toward me like spotlights.
Scrutinizing, probing—all kinds of purposeful stares were focused on me.
Charles seemed to notice my discomfort. He turned slightly, blocking some of the attention for me.
"Mr. Harper, what's going on?" I leaned closer and asked quietly, my eyes full of confusion.
Several of those gazes even carried obvious hostility. I could clearly feel it, and my heart began to feel uneasy.
"Don't worry, they're just a bit curious about you," Charles reassured me.
He took me to complete the onboarding procedures, then led me back to the top floor. Along the way, those stares didn't decrease—they only multiplied.
It wasn't until we walked back into the office, shutting out those external gazes, that I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"What's wrong? You look like you were almost eaten alive."
I looked up to meet Alexander's teasing face and quickly walked a few steps closer.
"Mr. Windsor, I think your company is a bit scary."
Alexander raised an eyebrow at me, seemingly waiting for me to continue.
"There are too many people in your company, and they look at me in all sorts of ways—some curious, some full of hostility. Are there enemies of yours in your company?"
After I finished speaking, Alexander visibly froze for a moment, but the look in his eyes quickly returned to calm.
"How did you figure that out?"
"A few people's gazes were clearly different from those who were just curious. They were wary of me. I've only just appeared by your side, and they're already this guarded. Other than being people targeting you, I can't think of any other possibility."
The outside world had always rumored that internal struggles within the Windsor Family were severe. Alexander stood at the pinnacle of power, naturally making him a target for everyone's ambitions.
Many things had to be guarded against, I understood this clearly.
After hearing my words, Alexander looked at me with an expression I couldn't read.
"As long as you can help me block those who want to hurt me, whatever you want, I can give you."
My expression was somewhat exaggerated. "Are you sure? You think I can block them?"
Looking at his incredibly serious expression, I even began to doubt myself—was I too lacking in confidence, or did he think too highly of me?
"I admit I'm a bit sharper than most people, but I don't think I'm at the level where I can help you resist danger."
Most importantly, I didn't want to put myself in any danger.
Being by Alexander's side would definitely expose me to many dangers I couldn't imagine.
Although I initially only saw the child in my belly as a bargaining chip, after all, this was a life being nurtured from my own body.
Not just for myself, but also for the child in my belly, what I needed to ensure most was our safety.
Alexander glanced at me lightly, his eyes carrying emotions I couldn't understand.
"What are you afraid of? I won't let you get hurt either."
These words sounded calm, but taken alone, they were enough to cause misunderstanding.
Except the person saying this was Alexander, so I couldn't possibly misunderstand him as having any other meaning.
When he said he wouldn't let me get hurt, he mainly meant he wouldn't let the child get hurt.
"Well, I'm benefiting from the child's favor," I casually responded.
Alexander frowned slightly. At this moment, Charles came in with people to set up the desk and chair, quickly arranging an office area for me in the corner of the room.
"Thank you." I casually thanked them and naturally sat down.
This position was indeed quite suitable. Working in the office gave me a long-lost feeling.
Just then, my phone rang. It was a call from the Smith Group headquarters.
I made a shushing gesture and answered the call directly, my face showing undisguised excitement.
Was the result I'd been waiting for finally coming?
Sure enough, as soon as the call connected, Aiden's urgent voice came through. "Where are you? Elizabeth, where are you?"
I couldn't help but find it amusing.
After the ugly scene we made last night, where did Aiden get the confidence to think we could still communicate as if nothing happened?
"Where am I? Don't you know?"
Last night, Alexander was the one who took me away, so of course, I was with him now.
Aiden should be crystal clear about this. Asking like this now was just playing dumb.
Sure enough, there was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, then he sighed and said, "Elizabeth, I'm calling about company business this time. Can we put personal feelings aside first?"
"Are you joking? I resigned from the company ages ago. What does company business have to do with me?"
As expected, in Aiden's eyes, I was just a complete tool.
He only thought of me when the company really had problems. Even before, I never got my share of company dividends.
I was clearly the one who made the biggest contributions, yet he acted as if I owed him something.
"Elizabeth! The company is in trouble! It's that partnership you were in charge of before—it's fallen through now!"
I shot back directly, "So what if it fell through? What does it have to do with me?"
Aiden's anxious tone wasn't enough. He should be more urgent, more distressed.
After a brief silence, Aiden finally started shouting.
"Elizabeth! These were all projects you were responsible for before! Now that there's a problem, you have to take responsibility! Otherwise, don't blame me for suing you!"
"Sue me? What are you going to sue me with? What crime have I committed?"
I laughed coldly. "On the other hand, all these years I've done so much for the company—have you really given me the compensation I deserved? Are you sure you want to take me to court?"
If it came to that, I could completely countersue him!
Aiden instantly understood what I meant. He seemed to remember how unfairly he'd treated me, and fell completely silent.
Just then, an urgent shout came from the other end of the phone.
The voice was familiar—it was Aiden's assistant.
"Mr. Smith, this is bad! Another partner wants to terminate their contract!"
"What did you say?"
His voice was indeed more urgent than before. I was somewhat satisfied.
Aiden's voice kept coming through the phone. "What do these partners mean? What's the reason? I damaged the company's image? What did I do to damage the image?"
I added from my end of the phone, "Are you an idiot? Don't you know what you've done?"
He'd just made headlines because of his scandal with Bianca, and he even dared to publicly acknowledge his past with Bianca.
But the fact was, I was his legitimate fiancée. By doing this, wasn't Aiden publicly admitting to cheating during our engagement and keeping a mistress?