Chapter 235 You Are Not Qualified

Chapter 235 You Are Not Qualified

"He's keeping his marriage private. I can't tell you."

To prevent further questioning, Cathy added, "Do you want me to offend Justin over this and lose any chance of working with him in the future?"

That made Cedric hesitate.

But worried that Cathy was lying, he still wouldn't let it go. "Just tell me. I won't say anything. He'll never know."

Cathy let out a cold laugh. "I don't trust you."

Being so bluntly rebuffed, Cedric was about to lose his temper.

Cathy didn't give him the chance. She hung up again.

When she returned to the hospital room, Cathy accidentally made eye contact with Justin.

Because of what had just happened, she felt off.

So much so that even facing Joanna, Cathy felt awkward.

She couldn't just laugh and chat with Joanna as if nothing had happened, but she also didn't want Joanna to notice anything was wrong. So she made an excuse about work and left early.

Diana stayed behind.

The two chatted for about half an hour before Brandon pushed open the door.

His gentle gaze landed on Joanna, a soft smile on his face. "I'm here to pick up Diana."

Joanna was surprised he'd come upstairs instead of waiting downstairs, but she didn't ask. She just greeted him politely.

Brandon's eyes briefly flicked toward Justin by the window, ignoring the icy hostility radiating from him. His smile deepened as he called Diana to leave with him.

After they left, Joanna glanced over at Justin and caught him staring at the doorway, his expression dark and menacing.

She'd noticed before that Justin seemed to have a subtle aversion to Diana.

She'd thought she was imagining it.

Turns out, it was because Justin was hostile toward Brandon, and that extended to Diana?

But why?

Joanna looked at Justin, puzzled.

He quickly noticed her gaze.

Justin reined in the cold aura surrounding him and lowered his eyes.

A few seconds later, he looked up, his brow slightly furrowed, his neck stiff as he forced the words out in a tight voice:

"He gets too close to you. I don't like it."

In the past, his mistake had been not being open with Joanna.

Now, he didn't dare hide anything.

But to avoid putting pressure on Joanna, he wouldn't directly tell her that Brandon had feelings for her.

The way Brandon looked at Joanna was different from Kevin or Henry.

After Justin spoke, he looked at Joanna with complicated emotions in his eyes.

Joanna was certain she must be hallucinating, because for a split second, she thought she detected a hint of caution in Justin's expression.

"Are you testing me to see how I feel about Brandon? Waiting for me to explain there's nothing between us? Or do you want me to keep my distance from him?"

Joanna looked at Justin calmly, as if she were looking at someone being unreasonable.

"What if I want both?" Justin asked.

"You have no right." Joanna didn't soften her words. She continued, "Even though we haven't divorced yet, Brandon and I have a normal friendship. I have the right to normal social interactions."

"What do you mean 'yet'?"

So she still couldn't forgive him. She still wanted a divorce?

Justin looked at her, tilting his head slightly, the whites of his eyes shot through with red.

Joanna was caught off guard by what Justin had focused on.

Seeing the hurt in his eyes, she seriously considered the question.

Earlier, Cathy had asked her if she'd forgiven Justin.

She thought... she had forgiven him.

There was no more hatred for Justin in her heart.

But she also had no intention of continuing to live with him.

She'd lost the courage to stay with Justin.

Since Joanna had woken up, there hadn't been a chance to discuss their relationship with Justin.

Might as well take this opportunity to make things clear.

"Justin."

Joanna looked at him, her face serious. "We're not right for each other anymore."

Justin's breath caught. He quickly looked away for two seconds before looking back at her, his throat tight. "How do you know we're not right for each other if you haven't even tried?"

If she had no desire to try, that was the same as being incompatible.

That's what Joanna thought, but when the words reached her lips, she couldn't bear to say them.

Seeing Justin's breathing quicken, Joanna thought of his injuries...

Karen had mentioned that he'd been resting, that the doctors didn't want him overexerting himself or experiencing emotional upheaval.

Cathy had also privately messaged her, telling her that when Justin found out about her condition, he'd gotten so worked up he'd vomited blood.

Though Justin had been recovering for two months and probably wasn't that fragile anymore, she still didn't dare take the risk.

Joanna moved her lips, trying to figure out how to phrase things in a way Justin could more easily accept.

But Justin's voice cut through. "Forget it."

Joanna looked over to see Justin had already turned his wheelchair away from her. He spoke again. "Focus on recovering first. We'll talk about it later."

He was avoiding the issue. Joanna could feel it.

Realizing it would be difficult to get Justin to accept this easily right now, Joanna decided to let it go.

They'd talk later. They both needed more time to cool off.

The atmosphere turned heavy and stifling, weighing down their spirits.

Joanna opened her email and carefully reviewed the Everglory Construction materials, trying to distract herself.

What she hadn't expected was that Everglory Construction wasn't in debt at all. In fact, it had surplus funds to support normal operations.

Joanna clicked on the bank statements and suddenly spotted the Murphy family's company name. Her gaze froze.

When she saw the transaction amount, Joanna was even more shocked.

It was this sum of money transferred from the Murphy family to Everglory Construction that had covered the company's debts and allowed two stalled projects to resume normal operations.

But given the Murphy family's current financial state, how could they come up with this much money?

More importantly, why would the Murphy family give Leon money?

Joanna glanced at Justin in the distance and decided to ask Claire directly.

She guessed Justin probably knew what was going on, but given that this involved Ethan, it felt awkward to ask Justin directly.

Now wasn't the right time anyway.

If Claire didn't cooperate, she'd find a better opportunity to ask Justin later.

With that thought, Joanna removed Claire from her blocked contacts and sent her a message.

[Didn't Justin tell you?]

Claire's reply came quickly.

Joanna glanced at Justin again, even more confused.

She was still thinking when another message from Claire appeared: [Earlier, the branch office warehouse was burned down, causing major losses to the company. Leon mistakenly thought Justin was behind it. Justin investigated and found out the Murphy family was actually responsible. The Murphy family chose to settle privately. The condition was compensating the company with this money.]

Joanna typed back: [How could the Murphy family afford this much money?]

"They went bankrupt, obviously. Under Justin's pressure, they had to come up with it."

Claire's text showed no concern for Ethan. If anything, it seemed like she was gloating.

Was it because they'd broken up?

Just as Joanna was wondering, another message from Claire came through.

[Justin didn't allow them to stay in Harbor City anymore. The whole family has already fled abroad!]

Now Joanna was certain of her guess.

Claire clearly despised Ethan.

Was it because Claire had learned the real reason Ethan had been with her?

But if that were the case, shouldn't Claire hate her instead?

Yet here she was, calmly explaining things.

This didn't seem like Claire's personality at all.