Chapter 133 Jealousy
"Yes, yes, Mr. Grant!"
The manager immediately turned around and barked at the supervisor, "What are you standing there for? Are you stupid? Or do you need me to beg you? Hurry up and apologize to Mr. Grant!"
The supervisor's face turned even paler. He quickly lowered his head and was about to say sorry when Arthur looked up coldly and cut him off.
"I don't need his apology."
With those words, the entire conference room fell deathly silent, and everyone's expression changed.
The manager froze, not quite understanding. "Mr. Grant, then...?"
"Apologize to Lucy."
Arthur's gaze swept coldly over the supervisor, his tone leaving no room for negotiation. "He gave her a hard time earlier, put her down, made it about gender—he needs to apologize to her for all of that."
The manager finally understood and immediately urged the supervisor again, "Hurry! Do as Mr. Grant says! Apologize to Lucy!"
The supervisor's face turned red and white alternately, clearly unwilling.
Making him apologize to someone he'd just put down—wasn't this a slap in his own face?
He shuffled in place, unable to bring himself to do it.
Seeing this, Arthur's brow furrowed coldly, his voice dropping a few degrees. "You repeatedly put down women just now, assumed young women have no ability, spoke disrespectfully, and deliberately made things difficult.
If the people your company has handling partnerships are all at this level with this kind of attitude, then we really do need to reassess our future cooperation with your company."
At these words, the manager's face changed dramatically, cold sweat instantly breaking out. He practically shouted at the supervisor, "Apologize! Apologize right now! Are you trying to destroy the company's partnership?!"
The supervisor jumped in fright and didn't dare hesitate any longer. With an awful expression, he lowered his head and reluctantly squeezed out, "I'm sorry."
Lucy stood there stunned. She never expected Arthur would make him apologize to her in front of everyone.
She felt somewhat flattered but just stood there quietly, not speaking, not knowing what to say.
Seeing this, the manager quickly expressed his own apology to Lucy, his tone especially sincere. "Lucy, I'm truly sorry. You shouldn't have been treated like this today.
Going forward, we'll arrange for professional, appropriate people to work with you. Please don't take this to heart."
After speaking, he immediately turned to Arthur with a serious expression and assured him, "Mr. Grant, rest assured, I will handle this matter seriously, thoroughly reform internally, and absolutely won't allow this kind of gender discrimination, disrespectful behavior that damages partnerships to happen again!"
He knew better than anyone that the resources Arthur controlled and the foundation of years of cooperation between the two companies involved countless shared interests.
If they completely severed ties with Grant Corp because of one clueless supervisor, that would be a real loss.
He knew exactly which was more important.
The hostile energy around Arthur finally dissipated slightly. He nodded faintly without saying more.
The manager breathed a huge sigh of relief and quickly waved for the onlookers to leave.
Then, while straightening his disheveled collar, the manager carefully approached with a respectful attitude.
"Mr. Grant, I've had the upstairs conference room prepared. Should we head straight up or...?"
Arthur glanced at him and said calmly, "You go up first."
The manager froze, looking somewhat uneasy. "Ah?"
Arthur nodded slightly, his gaze falling on Lucy as he added calmly, "I happen to have a project I want to discuss with Lucy. I'll come up after we talk."
At these words, the manager didn't dare object in the slightest and quickly nodded. "Alright, take your time. I'll wait for you upstairs!"
With that, he didn't linger and quickly left the conference room with the remaining people, thoughtfully closing the door gently behind him.
In an instant, only Lucy and Arthur remained in the large space.
The air was eerily quiet.
Only then did Arthur slowly walk up to her, looking down at her, his hard face still carrying traces of severity as he asked directly, "Do you have any information about Aria?"
Lucy's heart jumped, but her eyes uncontrollably fell on his scraped knuckles and bleeding temple. She instinctively avoided the question. "Mr. Grant, you're hurt. You should treat your wounds first."
Arthur's brow furrowed, his tone dropping without any compromise. "Don't worry about that. Just tell me—do you know where Aria is? Do you have her contact information?"
By the end, Arthur's emotions suddenly surged, the urgency and long-suppressed anxiety in his eyes completely surfacing.
Almost instinctively, he reached out and grabbed Lucy's wrist, gripping so hard she couldn't break free, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force.
Lucy trembled at his sudden action, her heart jumping to her throat. She opened her mouth in panic, trying to find an excuse to deflect.
Just then, the conference room door was suddenly pushed open.
A slender, hurried figure rushed in.
It was Rachel.
She'd come late because she went back to get documents. As soon as she entered the company, she heard employees gossiping that Arthur had gotten into a fight with a supervisor in the conference room over a woman.
Her heart tightened, and she practically ran over.
When she pushed open the door, this was the scene she saw.
Arthur was gripping a woman's wrist tightly, his body leaning slightly forward, staring at her intently, his posture both intimate and tense.
Rachel's face instantly turned pale, her chest heaving violently, her heart feeling like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand.
She stared at their clasped hands, her nails digging deep into her palms, sourness and jealousy surging wildly.
Could the woman the employees were talking about—the one Arthur personally got into a fight over—be this woman right in front of her?
He actually got into a fight at someone else's company for her?
An intense sense of crisis instantly overwhelmed her, jealousy nearly breaking through her rationality, but she still bit her lip hard, forcibly suppressing the jealousy in her heart, her voice trembling slightly. "Mr. Grant."
Rachel's soft call was like a bucket of cold water suddenly poured on Arthur's rationality.
His tense nerves suddenly relaxed, his fingers gripping Lucy's wrist unconsciously loosened, his movement pausing for a moment before he slowly turned his head and glanced coldly at Rachel at the door.
In that split second.
Lucy almost instinctively seized the opportunity. The moment her wrist broke free, she didn't even lift her head, stepping sideways around Arthur and rushing toward the door.
"Mr. Grant, I need to get back."
Before she finished speaking, she'd already hurried out of the conference room, not daring to stay a moment longer.
Arthur's gaze fell on Lucy's fleeing figure, emotions others couldn't understand churning in his dark eyes, complex and indecipherable.
This scene, in Rachel's eyes, was automatically interpreted as deep concern.
He'd just gotten into a fight for that woman, left her alone in the conference room, and now was watching her leave with that kind of look.
Rachel's hands hanging at her sides clenched tightly, the jealousy in her heart growing like wild vines, instantly suffocating her...