Chapter 45 Expose Their Scandals
Sam clearly froze, glancing at Frederick.
"Isn't he Mr. Russell? When did he become Mr. Flores?"
Richard's eyes flickered—this Sam had quite the timing, having just arrived from his parents' place in the city.
He and Blake hadn't had a chance to brief Sam yet!
Richard cleared his throat lightly. "Children, we might have spoken too quickly earlier. Sam heard 'Ray' as 'Ross,' so he called him Mr. Ross."
Hearing this explanation, Frederick's lips curved—the old fox's reflexes were pretty quick.
"Sam, you came back to spend summer vacation with your great-grandfather?"
"Yes."
"Good, you can be the leader of the pack for a while." Frederick teased.
Sam looked at three pairs of beautiful big eyes and smiled. "They're so pretty. Are they triplets?"
"Yes, we're triplets."
Margaret spoke up before Frederick could. "Sam, you're very pretty too!"
Meeting her bright, sparkling eyes, Sam smiled somewhat shyly.
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. "Maggie, he's a boy—you can't use 'pretty' to describe him!"
Margaret protested, "But he looks so pretty, just as good-looking as us!"
Elizabeth insisted, "You still can't use 'pretty' to describe him!"
Elizabeth and Margaret debated what word to use to describe Sam.
Xandra found it amusing, seeing a flash of embarrassment cross Sam's face.
"Alright, you two stop staring at Sam. You're making him shy."
Elizabeth and Margaret grinned, putting their little heads together, whispering something.
"Sam, did you come back by yourself?"
"Yes, Great-Grandfather."
Another elderly man appeared in the video—the Russell family's head butler, Blake.
He looked nervously at Richard.
Richard gave him a reassuring look, and he understood that Frederick's identity hadn't been exposed. His heart relaxed slightly.
"Mr. Brown," Frederick greeted him.
"Ray, so this is your wife—she's beautiful." Blake smiled.
"Hello, Mr. Brown." Xandra quickly greeted him.
"Hello. Come visit with Ray sometime."
"Okay."
After a few pleasantries, they prepared to hang up.
"Sweethearts, you need to behave there, okay!" Xandra reminded them again.
"We know!"
"Chuck, take care of your sisters."
"Okay."
"Don't worry, Mrs. Flores. I'll take good care of them." Sam was quite responsible for his young age.
Xandra smiled. "Thank you, Sam."
"Bye, Mommy."
With children's hearts, they were particularly excited in the new environment, showing no reluctance to leave Xandra. They ran off to play with excited faces.
Unlike Xandra, who felt somewhat reluctant to part.
"If you miss them, we can go pick them up in a couple days."
Frederick noticed her reluctance and spoke up.
Xandra's heart stirred. "When we pick up the car, should we go there for an outing?"
Frederick raised an eyebrow. "Not a bad idea."
Xandra's eyes curved with a smile as she opened the car door to get out.
"You should get back to work. I'm heading home."
"Okay, I might have a business dinner tonight, so don't wait up."
"Alright, try not to drink too much."
Hearing the word "business dinner," Xandra instinctively reminded him—when her father was alive, her mother would remind him the same way when he had business engagements. She'd picked it up from watching them.
A ripple passed through Frederick's eyes. He curved his lips, started the car, and returned to the Russell Group.
At that moment, Aiden was waiting for him in the executive office.
"Mr. Russell, the police have taken the person who verbally abused Mrs. Russell to the station for questioning. Following procedure, they'll be administratively detained for five days as a warning."
Hearing this, Frederick wasn't surprised and merely acknowledged it faintly.
"The CEO of the Fox Group has invited you to dinner later."
"Okay."
"There's also a video conference at eleven tonight."
He responded faintly to all of Aiden's reminders, sitting down in his office chair to start working.
Aiden left after finishing his report.
Before long, someone knocked and entered.
Frederick thought it was still Aiden and didn't look up.
"Something else?"
"Yeah, I just wanted to see what kind of face a wolf in sheep's clothing makes after deceiving an innocent little rabbit!"
A man's teasing voice came from the doorway.
Frederick didn't need to look to know it was Philip, who never missed a chance to watch the drama unfold.
"Don't you have anything better to do?"
Philip sat on the sofa with a wicked smile. "Frederick, while you were wining and dining your wife, I was working my ass off."
Frederick didn't respond, continuing to review documents.
Philip said, "I heard from the car show organizers that at the exhibition center, you not only flew into a rage to defend your lady, but also found creative ways to make her happy! What a shame though..."
He deliberately paused.
"Shame about what?"
"Shame it's useless! She's not feeling well right now, so you can't get passionate tonight!"
Frederick looked up, his voice cool. "Come with me to the business dinner later."
Philip's smile froze. "Why should I? I need to go home and spend time with my son."
Frederick: "Because I'm your boss."
Philip gritted his teeth. "I'm warning you, don't exploit me, or I'll expose your ugly face to Xandra!"
Frederick didn't care at all. "The cars, total of one and a half million dollars. Transfer it."
"What? One and a half million? Wasn't the car you bought today only four or five hundred thousand? When did it become an extra million?"
Frederick's tone was casual. "You forgot—the car was upgraded to the highest configuration."
Philip choked. "So I'm just the sucker here?"
Frederick didn't respond, only dropping a casual line. "The southern division still needs a project manager..."
"I'll transfer it! I'll transfer it right now!"
Philip ground his teeth. "You heartless capitalist, there goes my son's formula money for the year!"
He thought back to the scene at the hospital a few days ago when he'd stood up for Xandra—how had he ended up being the one getting shaken down?
"Ungrateful black-hearted ghost!" Philip muttered while transferring the money.
"What are you mumbling about?" Frederick asked.
"I'm saying that Lucius guy has been run ragged by me lately, and you still have the nerve to shake me down?"
"Is his company about to go bankrupt?" Frederick showed some interest.
"Not yet, but if I keep at it, it won't be long." Philip said.
Frederick narrowed his eyes, his lips curving with a hint of wickedness. "Don't finish him off too quickly."
Philip glanced at him. "What, playing cat and mouse?"
"I have my plans."
At Lucius's company.
Lucius had stubble all over his face, looking utterly haggard. These past few days had been exhausting.
The company's business had suddenly run into one problem after another, already showing signs of weakness. If this continued, he'd go bankrupt sooner or later.
Lucius was panicking, instinctively sensing someone was sabotaging him from behind.
He had people investigate, and finally managed to extract some information from a familiar supplier.
The supplier said, "Mr. York, it's not that I don't want to work with you, but Philip Russell from the Russell Group gave orders—anyone who dares cooperate with you is going against him, and can forget about doing business with them in the future."
So it really was Philip sabotaging him from behind!
Why? Just because he'd gotten handsy with Xandra at the hospital that day?
No, it wasn't Philip targeting him—it was Xandra's flash-marriage husband's idea!
Lucius's face contorted, a vicious glint flashing in his eyes—wealthy families cared most about their reputation. If Philip wouldn't give him a way out, then he couldn't blame him for exposing their dirty secrets!