Chapter 9
"I'm pregnant!!!"
Evelyn's scream exploded in the narrow entryway.
Almost simultaneously, fireworks suddenly erupted outside the window.
The continuous booming instantly swallowed every sound around them, drowning out Evelyn's words completely.
Matthew only saw her lips moving but couldn't hear a single word.
"What did you say?" He instinctively asked, but then saw the broken tears in her eyes and her near-desperate terror.
His grip on her waist unconsciously loosened.
Evelyn turned her head away, tears sliding from the corners of her eyes into her hair, her body trembling slightly with fear.
She was... shaking. Even crying from fear.
The crazed desire in Matthew's eyes rapidly cooled.
He remembered how confidently she'd shone tonight, then compared it to this moment of terror. A sense of regret churned in his chest.
His expression changed repeatedly before he finally touched her head gently and pulled her into an embrace. "I won't touch you. Don't cry."
Evelyn was momentarily stunned by his sudden shift.
What radiated from him now wasn't pure aggression, but warmth mixed with confused body heat.
This brief tenderness was interrupted by an abrupt phone ring.
Matthew frowned, clearly displeased at the interruption. He glanced at the caller ID. Britney.
He released his hold on Evelyn, stepped back, and answered the call.
"Hello?" His voice still carried a rough edge.
Whatever was said on the other end made Matthew's expression shift slightly.
"What happened?... Which hospital?... Got it, I'll be right there."
He hung up, his eyes complicated as he looked at Evelyn. She stood there quietly, hair disheveled, nose red, her still-heaving chest proving she'd only just calmed down.
"Something urgent came up. Britney's..." He instinctively wanted to explain, but the words stuck in his throat. Why did he need to explain anything to her?
Evelyn lifted her eyelids to glance at him, then turned her face away. She said nothing, as if whatever decision he made was completely irrelevant.
This attitude of shutting him out transformed the strange emotion rising in Matthew's chest back into irritation.
He finally pulled open the door and left in long strides.
The door closed again. The room fell completely silent.
Only after confirming he'd truly left did Evelyn's forced composure suddenly collapse. She slid down onto the cold floor.
A dull ache throbbed in Evelyn's lower abdomen. She quickly moved to the bed and lay down, wrapping herself in thick blankets.
She placed her hand on her belly, trying to ease the discomfort, while cursing Matthew over and over in her mind.
That bastard! One second he was assaulting her, the next his mistress's phone call was enough to make him run.
What was she to him, exactly? A toy he could use to vent his frustrations and discard at will?
The abdominal pain came in waves. Depression mixed with bitter emotions kept her tossing and turning all night.
---
The next day, Evelyn went to work sporting heavy dark circles under her eyes.
The physical discomfort hadn't fully disappeared, leaving her somewhat listless. She forced herself to concentrate. The moment she opened her computer, a breaking news alert popped up on her browser—
[Perkins Group CEO Rushes New Flame to Hospital Late at Night, Devoted Care Shows Tender Side]
In the image, Matthew sat beside Britney's hospital bed, feeding her medicine. His profile was tense, showing concern and anxiety.
Evelyn's fingers paused on the mouse, then curved into a cold smile.
So that was it. No wonder he'd left in such a hurry.
She closed the webpage, her expression settling into calm.
Maybe it was for the best. Thank God for those sudden fireworks. He didn't know about the baby—that was the best outcome. She touched her belly. She needed to figure out a way to leave, and fast.
Matthew didn't appear at the company all day.
The atmosphere in the executive office was delicate. Fragmentary rumors about last night's gala mixed with this morning's explosive scandal. Everyone's gazes toward Evelyn, the "former assistant," were full of probing curiosity.
Evelyn ignored them all.
She opened the HR portal and found her resignation application still stuck at "CEO Approval," completely motionless.
Even the work handover couldn't proceed smoothly—Britney wasn't around, and she couldn't exactly hand things over to thin air.
Before leaving work, she sent Matthew a text: [Mr. Perkins, please approve my resignation as soon as possible. I've already resolved the Sparkle project issue.]
The message went unanswered for several days in a row. Matthew and Britney never reappeared at the office either.
Evelyn stopped trying to reach out. She just efficiently handled the work that required her to finish, organizing all the Sparkle handover materials into clear categories.
For several days straight, she was the first to arrive and last to leave.
Just as Evelyn finished organizing all the files, Britney came back.
She looked radiant and healthy, showing none of the weakness from the news reports about her "illness."
Britney walked straight to Evelyn's desk.
"Eve, thanks for all your hard work these past few days." Britney's smile was sweet, her voice pitched just loud enough for nearby people to hear. "The Sparkle issues have been resolved over the past few days. Go ahead and transfer all the access authorizations to me."
People who didn't know better looked at Britney in shock. Such a major problem, solved already? By Britney?
Evelyn ignored her word games and looked up at her. "I've organized all the materials. The handover can be completed today. However, according to company policy, the final design source files require Mr. Perkins himself to sign a commitment form before the design department can coordinate the transfer."
Britney's smile faded slightly. "Mr. Perkins said you can just copy them to me directly. Don't make it so complicated."
"Sorry, that doesn't follow protocol." Evelyn's tone remained even. "If you need them urgently, you can ask Mr. Perkins to send me an explicit authorization email."
Britney stared at her, irritation flashing in her eyes.
Of course she knew the protocol. She'd wanted to take the core designs directly and put her own name on them, but once things went through official channels, many "operations" would become inconvenient.
"Eve, do you think this project can't work without you?" Britney's eyes carried a challenge. "Mr. Perkins already put me in charge. You holding onto the materials like this—aren't you being a little too tactless?"
Evelyn said nothing, looking at Britney's face written all over with presumed victory. A surge of frustration and anger rose in her chest.
Why? Why should the project she'd poured her heart into, salvaged under pressure and humiliation, be so easily handed over to a woman like this?
Letting Britney step on her accomplishments to enjoy flowers and applause, to solidify her position at Matthew's side?
Some things—she'd rather destroy them than let certain people benefit.