Chapter 112 Possessiveness
Even so, Cecilia still couldn't completely relax.
She frowned, worried. "But what about Rufus? I'm afraid he'll still come after me. I've tried to run away before, but every single time, he easily dragged me back."
Stefan looked at the fear she couldn't hide in her eyes and chuckled, his tone full of confidence.
"Trust me on this, Ms. Martinez. You can rest easy."
"I've already caused some major trouble for one of his overseas project companies—enough to keep him completely swamped and force him to fly over there personally. For the next few days, he won't have time to interfere with you."
"And even if he comes back, there's nothing to worry about. Rufus doesn't have the power to snatch someone away from me."
Hearing Stefan's words, Cecilia's tense nerves finally relaxed, and she let out a long breath.
Looking at Stefan's calm and composed demeanor, she couldn't help but feel impressed by his power and influence.
This made Cecilia even more determined that she needed to grow stronger quickly.
Depending on others was never a long-term solution. Only by becoming strong enough herself could she truly control her own destiny.
Cecilia didn't linger. She turned and headed downstairs to the convenience store.
The automatic doors slid open, and warm air mixed with the smell of food hit her face. She walked straight to the shelves and expertly selected several nutritional liquid foods suitable for post-surgery patients.
Pay, pack up—Cecilia's expression remained calm throughout, her movements efficient without a single wasted motion.
Only she knew that the moment she picked up that carton of milk, her fingertips trembled uncontrollably.
Cecilia was far less calm about the deal she'd just made than she appeared.
She knew very well that Rufus was a piece of trash, but Stefan was no saint either.
But once she'd set foot on this path, there was no turning back.
Back at the hospital room, Mabel immediately came up to her when she noticed something was off.
"Amelia, what's wrong? Why do you look so pale?" Mabel grabbed her arm, her eyes full of concern.
"I'm fine, Mom." Cecilia switched the bag to her other hand and gently patted the back of Mabel's hand. "Dad's still waiting to eat."
She avoided Mabel's questions and walked into the room, setting out the liquid foods one by one.
"I just finished a job interview and I'm a bit tired, that's all." As Cecilia prepared everything, she spoke in a casual tone to reassure Mabel. "I found a new job with really good pay. We'll figure out Dad's medical bills ourselves—we'll manage to pay them back somehow."
Mabel froze. "A new job? When did this happen?"
"I sent out my resume a few days ago." Cecilia didn't dare look Mabel in the eye as she adjusted the hospital bed's angle. "Don't worry about it. Just focus on taking care of Dad. I've got everything under control."
As long as it kept Mabel and Robert at ease, Cecilia was willing to tell as many lies as needed.
The next day, at the Hensley Group headquarters building.
Cecilia stood at the entrance to the CEO's secretarial office, wearing a business suit she'd bought at the last minute.
Stefan's chief secretary, Emma Kate, was an efficient woman. Emma pushed an onboarding document in front of Cecilia and introduced things in a businesslike manner: "Your position is Mr. Hensley's third secretary. You'll mainly be responsible for Mr. Hensley's daily schedule and some external communications. This is your workstation. All the relevant information is on the computer—get familiar with it as soon as possible."
Cecilia nodded and sat down at the brand-new workstation.
She opened the computer and logged into all the necessary software. A massive amount of pending emails and schedules instantly filled the screen.
The colleague next to her cast a curious glance, ready to watch Cecilia fumble around.
However, Cecilia just quickly scanned everything and got to work.
Categorizing, filtering, marking priorities, replying to emails, checking for scheduling conflicts—in just half an hour, she had organized the chaotic inbox and calendar perfectly.
The colleague who'd been watching was completely stunned.
She leaned over, looked at the clear and organized schedule, and couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh my god, are you really a fresh college graduate? You're more efficient than us veteran employees."
Cecilia hit the last enter key, looked up, and gave her a standard smile.
"Thanks."
Of course Cecilia wasn't some college student.
She was someone who had died once before.
These business skills were things she'd learned desperately back then to be worthy of Rufus, to avoid embarrassing him at his occasional business events.
Who would have thought that now they'd become her tools to fight against him?
It was a perfect irony.
The office door suddenly opened, and Stefan walked in.
He strode straight through the secretarial office and stopped at Cecilia's desk.
"Get ready." Stefan stood with his hands in his suit pants pockets, looking down at her. "There's a business dinner next week. You're coming with me."
The air around them went quiet, and everyone's eyes focused on them.
"Rufus will be there too," Stefan added.
Cecilia's movements didn't pause for a second. She responded calmly.
"Okay, Mr. Hensley."
She showed no surprise, no fear, not even a flicker of emotion.
Her overly calm reaction left Stefan with all his prepared words stuck in his throat.
He narrowed his eyes behind his glasses and studied her again.
The hatred she felt toward Rufus was so intense it was almost tangible. This definitely wasn't the kind of emotion someone should have just from being used as a substitute.
In Rufus's past investigations, "Amelia's" life history was clean as a blank sheet of paper, with no connection to Rufus whatsoever.
So where exactly did this hatred come from?
Just then, his assistant hurried in and whispered a few words in his ear.
Stefan's gaze never left Cecilia. After hearing the report, the amused smile on his face deepened.
The assistant had just told Stefan that the deep genetic comparison between Amelia and Cecilia was also complete, with results matching what Rufus's side had found. Apart from their strikingly similar appearances and certain mannerisms, Amelia and Cecilia had no biological connection whatsoever.
This complete stranger Amelia knew Stefan's archenemy Rufus's weaknesses inside and out.
This game was getting more and more interesting.
One week later.
In the ballroom of the city's most exclusive hotel, celebrities gathered in a sea of elegant clothes and perfume.
When Stefan appeared at the entrance with Cecilia in a black evening gown on his arm, all eyes in the room were instantly drawn to them.
Stefan looked refined and noble, Cecilia cool and ethereal.
Cecilia wore no luxurious jewelry, just her hair simply pinned up, exposing her slender neck, her skin beautiful under the lights.
But it was precisely this extreme simplicity that made her stand out among all the bejeweled socialites, like a solitary plum blossom on a snowy mountain—breathtakingly beautiful.
Her beauty wasn't in the decorations, but in her bearing. Especially those eyes of hers—calm as a deep pool, yet revealing a barely noticeable brokenness when they moved.
This contradictory quality made her seem both vivid and dangerous, instantly capturing everyone's attention.
Rufus was holding a wine glass, chatting with someone.
Almost the same instant Cecilia noticed him, he turned around too.
Their eyes met.
The polite smile on Rufus's face instantly froze, then shattered bit by bit.
His gaze moved from her face to Stefan beside her, and finally locked onto the hand she had on Stefan's arm. A look of shock flashed through those deep eyes, immediately swallowed by a violent darkness.
That familiar, suffocating possessiveness and rage that Cecilia knew so well shot straight at her across the entire ballroom.
The surrounding noise eerily disappeared.
Rufus put down his wine glass, completely ignoring the business partner still talking beside him, and strode straight toward her.
Everyone in the room felt the oppressive atmosphere and fell silent, instinctively clearing a path for him.
Stefan felt her body instantly stiffen and laughed quietly, his laughter full of the pleasure of watching a good show.
Rufus stopped in front of them, about nine feet away.
He spoke, uttering a single sentence with absolute command.
"Come here."