Chapter 130 The Reed Family's Financial Chain Breaks
So after hanging up, she immediately called Daisy to tell her about Miley calling to ask about Philip's whereabouts, making sure she kept her mouth shut and didn't say anything careless.
Daisy agreed readily. "Don't worry, I'm swamped right now. I don't have time to deal with that old witch."
Shortly after hanging up, Daisy sent a WeChat message: "You totally called it. Right after you warned me, Philip's mom called."
Arabella quickly asked, "You didn't say anything, did you?"
"Nope, do you think I'm that unreliable?" Daisy replied. "I gave her a piece of my mind and hung up."
Arabella laughed and sent a thumbs-up emoji.
She thought that would be the end of it, but the next day, a coworker from the company called. "Arabella, did you piss someone off? Some woman has been coming to the company looking for you for the past couple days."
Arabella was stunned, somewhat uncertain. "I... don't think so?"
Though if she really thought about it, Cassidy, Rachel, and Jennifer all considered her a thorn in their side. The banner incident from before still hadn't been resolved—who was coming after her now?
Gillian was also confused. "She showed up yesterday. An older woman who's really well-maintained. Yesterday Faye ran into her downstairs and the woman asked about you. Faye was smart enough not to tell her anything. I saw her today when I went down to buy lunch too. She definitely doesn't seem friendly—think harder, did you accidentally offend someone?"
Gillian was transferring out at year-end. Arabella's position was now at the same level as hers—they were both junior supervisors. Faye now worked in Arabella's group, and the three of them had always gotten along well.
Arabella asked, "Did you guys take any photos?"
Gillian said, "Let me ask Faye."
Shortly after hanging up, Gillian forwarded a picture. With one glance, Arabella recognized the person in the photo as Philip's mother.
She'd tracked her down to her company?
Arabella couldn't sit still anymore. She took her work seriously and didn't want personal matters affecting the company. Philip's mother was unreasonable—if she got really worked up and actually caused a scene at the company, Arabella wouldn't be far from getting fired.
She still had two days of leave left, but Arabella couldn't stay put. She filed a return-to-work report and went back to the company.
When Gillian and Faye saw how quickly she'd come back, they both looked worriedly at her ankle. "Is it better now? Why didn't you rest a few more days?"
Arabella smiled and shook her head. "It's fine. As long as I can walk, it's okay. Our kind of work doesn't require much walking anyway."
Faye and Gillian nodded. That was true—sitting in an office all day wasn't exactly strenuous.
Arabella told them both, "If you run into that woman asking about me again, let me know. She's someone I know—there's just a little misunderstanding. I'll go clear it up."
Gillian frowned. "She's here to cause trouble for you, isn't she? You shouldn't meet with her."
That woman clearly wasn't easy to deal with. With Arabella's small frame and her ankle still injured, she'd probably get the worst of it.
Arabella smiled and explained, "It's okay, she's my friend's mom. She can't find my friend, so she's asking me about it. She won't do anything to me."
Hearing this, Gillian and Faye were still worried. They exchanged glances and decided that if Arabella really went down to meet that woman, they'd follow her.
If nothing happened, great. But if something did go down, at least she wouldn't be at a disadvantage.
They thought the woman had already come today and would probably come back tomorrow at the earliest. But unexpectedly, right after the afternoon shift started, the front desk called saying someone downstairs was looking for Arabella and threatening not to leave unless Arabella came down. The receptionist was in a difficult position and wanted Arabella to come handle it.
Arabella hung up and got up to go downstairs. Behind her, Gillian and Faye exchanged looks and quietly followed.
In the lobby downstairs, Miley was standing with her hands on her hips, hurling insults indiscriminately. She wore an exquisite haute couture dress with perfect makeup and lots of luxury jewelry. She should have looked like a glamorous rich lady, but right now she seemed more like a shrew.
"What kind of crappy company is this, keeping trash like Arabella? Don't think I don't know—all her business at this company comes from riding my son's coattails! You better hand her over quickly, or I'll have my son pull all his investments. Let's see how she survives at this company then!"
Arabella understood—the Reed family was really desperate. Otherwise, with Miley's face-conscious personality, how could she embarrass herself like this in public?
Still, she was a good friend's family member. No matter how bizarre, she wanted to save face for the other party. So she walked over and said, "Mrs. Reed, there are a lot of people here. Let's go outside to talk."
Unexpectedly, this comment only emboldened Miley further. Seeing her, Miley immediately pounced like a cat catching a mouse, grabbing Arabella's arm and saying harshly, "Arabella, you finally showed your face! I thought you were planning to hide like a rat! Tell me, where exactly did you hide my Philip? What are you really up to?"
It was work hours, so there weren't many people in the lobby, but even so, passersby who heard the commotion gathered around—about a dozen people watching the drama unfold.
Arabella couldn't help frowning. "Mrs. Reed, I don't know where Philip is or what happened to him. But I think if he really encountered something bad, you should call the police first, right? But you haven't called the police. Instead, you have time to bother me, which means you can confirm he's safe—you just can't find him. So I reasonably guess he must have left you some information. Since he chose this path, why can't you respect his choice?"
A flash of guilt quickly crossed Miley's eyes.
Philip had indeed left a letter, but it only said he was going to pursue his own future and asked the family not to look for him.
But with the engagement between the Reeves and Reed families approaching, how could they not look for him?
If the engagement couldn't proceed smoothly, not only would they offend the Reeves family, but all the previously negotiated terms would be void. What a huge loss that would be!
"My son has always been obedient to me. It's only after hanging around with you people that he became so rebellious! We arranged such a good path for him, but you had to mess it all up. Arabella, what exactly do you want? Quickly tell me where Philip is—it's not too late to fix everything!"
The anxiety in Miley's eyes was overflowing.
Since she wasn't afraid of making a public spectacle, Arabella cared even less. Facing Miley's interrogation, she still had only one response: "I don't know where he is. If he was determined to leave, how could he possibly tell me? After all, even you thought to come question me if he disappeared—how could he not think of that?"
Miley was somewhat suspicious. Could it really have nothing to do with Arabella?
But if even Arabella and Daisy didn't know, where could Philip have gone?
She glared at Arabella viciously. "You really don't know?"
Arabella's expression was calm. "I don't know."
She rarely lied, and lying made her nervous. But this time, for Philip's sake, she even convinced herself of what she was saying.
"You..." Miley pressed her lips together and said coldly, "Come outside with me."
Arabella asked, "Is there something else?"
Miley didn't answer, just walked outside with a stern face.
Arabella hesitated for a moment, then followed.
Miley led her to a coffee shop outside the company. She ordered two coffees and looked at Arabella across from her with disgust, but had to suppress her revulsion as she said, "Do you know what situation the Reed family is in right now?"
Arabella shook her head. "I don't know."
Miley couldn't swallow this response. Fire flared up in her heart. She gritted her teeth and took a sip of coffee before continuing, "Philip's father's investment failed six months ago. The Reed family is now drowning in debt! The entire Reed Group is barely staying afloat on loans, but we can't make next month's loan payment. Once the loans are called in, our entire family will be ruined!"
Arabella's heart jumped. Philip had never mentioned this—no wonder Miley couldn't even care about her image anymore.
As if seeing through Arabella's thoughts, Miley snorted displeasedly. "Philip doesn't understand company matters. He's naturally playful, so his father and I decided to let him do whatever he wanted. The family could afford it anyway. Life is only a few decades—his happiness was more important than anything. We originally planned to hand the company over to professional management after we're gone, so he could live comfortably for the rest of his life. How could we have anticipated this disaster?"
She looked at Arabella, and beyond the disgust in her eyes was a mother's worry. "I admit, I've never liked Philip getting too close to you people because you're a bad influence on him! He's been obedient since childhood, never going against us. But only when it came to being friends with you did he disobey us, and not only that—he talked back to me, and later he even told us he liked... liked men! If it weren't for you people, how would my Philip have turned out this way?"
"Arabella," Miley pressed her lips together with a hint of pleading, "please help me. Tell me where he went. I know he doesn't like the Reeves girl, and I don't like her either. But we have no other choice right now. Once the Reed family goes bankrupt, he'll be saddled with huge debts too. Can you really just watch all this happen? Philip says you're his best friend—can you bear to see him end up like this?"
Arabella's hands, resting on her thighs, unconsciously clenched into fists.
She had never imagined the Reed family's situation. If the Reed family was really as Miley described, then Philip truly was their last lifeline.
To keep the company running, the Reed family had adopted the most extreme method—taking loans to maintain cash flow. But money borrowed this way was definitely not a small amount.
But Philip had just mustered the courage to try a different kind of life. If they dragged him back, his future...
Arabella's thoughts were in turmoil, but regardless, she had to tell Philip about this. Even if a decision had to be made, Philip should be the one to make it himself.
She looked at Miley, her expression still calm. "Mrs. Reed, I really don't know where he is. But I promise you, if he contacts me, I'll pass along what you've told me."
Miley stared at her intently, as if trying to figure out whether she was lying. But she couldn't tell, so she could only nod. "That's acceptable."
She really had no other options now. The fact that Arabella was willing to promise her this much was already a relief.
She and Arabella really had nothing else to talk about. After settling this, she picked up her bag and left.
Only then did Gillian and Faye emerge from a corner. They had been worried something might happen if Arabella left with Miley, so they'd deliberately followed and ordered coffee in the corner to keep watch.
Fortunately, they'd just scared themselves—nothing had happened to Arabella.
Arabella was somewhat surprised to see them. "What are you doing here?"
Gillian and Faye exchanged glances and smiled, raising their coffee cups. "We got sleepy at work and came to buy coffee to perk up."
Arabella smiled. How could she not see that these two were worried about her and had specially followed?
The workplace was a cruel place. Being able to make two genuine friends was really lucky.
Back at the company, everyone threw themselves into intense work. Near closing time, Arabella received a call from Vera.
"Ms. Bourbon, this is Alex's mom. I'm back in the country today. Do you have time? Let's meet up."
Vera's voice was as sweet as Arabella remembered. She really couldn't bring herself to dislike this "mother-in-law." Just hearing her voice made her smile involuntarily as she readily agreed, "Sure, I'll book a restaurant and tell Alex to come over too."
Vera said, "Don't call Alex. Just the two of us."
"Huh?" Arabella was somewhat surprised. Surely Vera didn't like her that much? Not even seeing her son, just her?
Seeing she wasn't responding, Vera deliberately made her voice cold. "I just want to bond with you. I said don't call Alex, so don't call Alex. Do you have a problem with that?"
Hearing this, Arabella could already picture her trying to look fierce on the other end of the phone. At most she'd point at her nose and scold her a bit. Whatever, if she didn't want Alex there, then fine.
"Then I'll book a restaurant..."
"No need!"
Vera said irritably, "By the time you book something, it'll be dark! I'm sending you an address—come over right now!"
"Okay." Arabella's voice carried a hint of indulgence that she wasn't even aware of herself.
Because of the time crunch, Arabella didn't take the bus but took a taxi to the restaurant Vera had specified. She didn't notice that behind the taxi, a black car with covered license plates was following at a distance.
They soon arrived at the restaurant.
Vera had arrived early and was getting impatient waiting. As soon as Arabella walked in, she put on a stern face, deliberately slapped the table, and went on the attack. "I told you to come quickly, but you took half an hour to get here, making me wait so long. Do you even consider me your mother-in-law?"
But being beautiful with a sweet voice, this fierce attitude just made people's hearts melt completely.
Arabella smiled brightly. "Sorry, I thought since you called me Ms. Bourbon instead of treating me like a daughter-in-law, we must be sisters! So I specially went to get you—"
She brought her hands out from behind her back. "These flowers!"
It was a bouquet of roses paired with two sunflowers.
Arabella had arranged it herself from a flower shop she'd passed. Vera gave her the feeling of these flowers—delicate, soft, and bright.
Vera's gaze lingered on those two sunflowers for a moment. She felt a bit happy inside—sunflowers were her favorite.
But she wouldn't let Arabella see that. She deliberately snorted and snatched the flowers with a stern face. "Fine, you have some filial piety. But don't think this means I'll forgive you for being late."
After taking them, she carefully placed them on the empty space beside her.