Chapter 124 How Does He Take Care of You?
"I'll pay the medical bills—triple, five times, even ten times the amount. I'll apologize too, publicly in front of the entire company, admitting my mistakes to Mrs. Sterling—just please don't call the police or have me arrested. I'll do anything you want."
Before she could finish speaking, Nora's eyes were already red with tears, her whole body trembling. All traces of her earlier arrogance and disdain had completely vanished.
Arabella watched this scene with mixed feelings.
She wasn't naturally vindictive, but thinking about how the victims were innocent children made her blood boil, and she felt that no punishment would be too severe.
Yet Cody had a point—Nora was still young, and a criminal record would ruin her entire life.
After some consideration, she decided to show mercy where possible.
Gabriel studied Nora, seeing that her remorse was genuine and she was thoroughly frightened. His cold, stern expression softened slightly.
Seeing Arabella's silence, Gabriel tilted his head slightly to glance at her, seeking her opinion, "What do you think? Should we still call the police?"
Arabella had already made up her mind but deliberately maintained her cold expression without speaking.
Seeing this, Zane immediately nudged Nora's arm again.
Understanding his signal, Nora immediately bowed repeatedly toward Arabella, "Mrs. Sterling, I was wrong. I sincerely apologize to you. Please don't call the police..."
Arabella took a slight breath and looked away, "Fine. Do as you suggested—make a public apology. As for compensation... don't pay it to me. Donate it to charity instead—five thousand dollars. Consider it accumulating good karma to atone for your sins."
After all, the children's medical bills hadn't been much; the main suffering was their discomfort and the parents' heartache.
Besides, Gabriel didn't care about such a small amount, and she didn't need to take money that would only fuel gossip. Donating it showed better character.
Before Nora could react, Allan immediately urged, "What are you standing there for! Hurry up and thank Mrs. Sterling! She's letting you off the hook!"
"Thank you, thank you Mrs. Sterling... thank you Mr. Sterling..." Nora had lost all her pride now, bowing repeatedly in gratitude. When her eyes fell on Gabriel, her gaze seemed reluctant to leave.
But Gabriel's complete attention was on his wife, showing no interest in other women.
The matter was essentially resolved, but Cody was thinking long-term. Considering that such a malicious employee couldn't be retained, he spoke up, "You should submit your resignation. Process your departure paperwork within the next couple of days."
Nora's face fell, but she didn't resist, "Yes, I'll resign voluntarily..."
After making a public apology to the entire company, she'd have no face to stay anyway and would definitely have to quit.
Allan waved his hand, indicating she could leave.
Seeing that he hadn't been implicated, Zane breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to follow her out, but Gabriel suddenly spoke, "Zane, please stay."
Arabella looked at him questioningly—what more did he want to do?
Zane's just-relaxed nerves immediately tensed up again, his whole body becoming uncomfortable, "Mr. Sterling... how can I help you?"
Gabriel recalled what Samuel had discovered about Zane—he was from out of town, had a steady girlfriend, and reportedly was planning marriage. But he had some questionable habits, like frequenting massage parlors, though whether for pure physical relaxation or other purposes, only he knew for sure.
The investigation had also revealed that Zane had previously forced out a department employee—another young, very attractive woman.
Combining these facts, it was basically clear that Zane wasn't a good man.
Gabriel felt displeased. Even though Zane hadn't actually done anything to Arabella, just his overly gentle and intimate tone made Gabriel uncomfortable.
Gabriel glanced at him without responding, then turned to look at Cody and Allan.
Allan immediately understood from his expression and said, "Zane, such an incident occurred in your department, and as the supervisor, you bear unavoidable responsibility! Your year-end bonus is forfeited. Reflect on this seriously!"
Arabella was quite surprised to hear this.
As a middle manager, Zane's monthly salary wasn't high—he relied on his year-end bonus.
With that deducted, wouldn't his entire year's work be for nothing?
She felt sympathetic, "Mr. Jennings, Zane has been quite helpful to me normally. There's no need for him to be implicated, is there?"
"Quite helpful to you?" Gabriel seized on this phrase, turning to her and asking, "How exactly has he been helping you?"
With that question, everyone present knew Gabriel was jealous.
The executives were all deeply puzzled.
Everyone knew about the recent scandalous gossip circulating online—how Gabriel, despite being married, was involved with his friend Dominic's wife Emily. The three had grown up together and had been entangled since before marriage, and now it was so outrageous that there was even a child involved!
When this story broke, everyone assumed Gabriel would definitely divorce his ordinary-background wife and marry his first love Emily instead.
Who would have thought that after all this drama, the matter had mysteriously died down, and not only hadn't Gabriel divorced, but he was cherishing and protecting his wife like a precious jewel!
Everyone present was completely confused.
But thinking it over, they began to understand—could it be that precisely because Gabriel had cheated first and was the guilty party, he was now trying to win back his wife by creating a loving husband persona everywhere?
After all, elite divorce cases were always messy affairs. He probably didn't want to divorce and lose massive assets to his wife!
In just a few seconds, the group had imagined several possibilities, and Allan broke into an even colder sweat, scolding his silent subordinate, "Mr. Sterling is asking you a question! Are you brain-dead!"
Zane snapped to attention, his mind finally catching up. Feeling deeply regretful, he quickly said, "No, no... just normal colleague assistance, nothing special at all, really nothing!"
"Is that so?" Gabriel asked with an air of amusement.
"Really! Mr. Sterling, if you don't believe me, you can ask others in our department." Zane was scared pale.
Arabella felt very displeased.
She had always disliked Gabriel's style of using power to intimidate others. Usually when she wasn't present, out of sight was out of mind.
But today, in front of her, his high-and-mighty, arbitrarily decisive manner made her extremely repulsed.
"That's enough. Don't make this harder for me to handle..." Arabella lowered her voice, her face stern as she gently reminded him.
Gabriel looked at her, his thin lips inexplicably curving into a smile as he replied gently, "Alright... I'll listen to you then."
After all, even if he didn't deal with him today, someone else would settle accounts with him eventually.
Unbeknownst to Arabella, Gabriel always worked on multiple fronts—after Samuel discovered Zane's various questionable activities, he had quietly made sure Zane's fiancée learned about them.
Whether Zane's fiancée cared about these things and still wanted to marry him was her choice and freedom.
The "breast milk incident" was finally resolved.
Cody enthusiastically invited them to lunch together, but Gabriel politely declined, citing a busy work schedule.
As he prepared to leave, he turned to ask the woman beside him, "What about you? Will you come back with me?"