Chapter 191
Grace closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep. She dreamed again, this time of a beautiful butterfly that seemed drawn to people despite its icy colors.
Everyone assumed these colors were its entire identity and kept their distance. Only one person dared to touch it gently, and suddenly, the whole space shifted from freezing cold to burning hot.
The butterfly spoke with that man’s voice. “Just wait a bit longer. You don’t know the real me yet, and I’m scared to show you this version of myself.”
When Grace woke up, her head felt like a ton of bricks had weighed on it. She called Paul first to check on things at the hospital. After hearing that everything was normal, she felt relieved.
Then she asked about moving Taylor somewhere else.
Paul went quiet for a few seconds. “Henderson Group sent someone this morning. I took their suggestion to transfer Taylor to a larger hospital. The only reason I’ve stayed at this small place was because of you.”
Grace felt a rush of gratitude.
When she arrived at Henderson Group, she overheard employees on the executive floor gossiping about her project. Someone made a snide comment, “Grace really does succeed at everything.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do. She’s pretty, and beauty opens doors.”
She found that comment amusing, so she knocked on her colleague’s desk. “Looks might get you noticed, but my connections and smarts seal the deal.” The colleague hadn’t expected such a bold comeback and blushed. The others kept their heads down, continuing their work without saying a word.
Grace thought she’d scared them. But turning around, she spotted Ethan and several executives standing behind her. Her comment had been loud enough for everyone to hear.
Ethan looked at her carefully composed face for a moment before simply saying, “You’ll get a raise.”
Grace took a deep breath, keeping her cool. “Thank you, Mr. Henderson.”
After Ethan and his had team walked away, she caught his faint chuckle. Several executives even glanced back at her with curious looks.
She soon received notification about the raise from the HR department. Ethan had always been generous with money.
Grace felt her spirits soaring. But her good mood instantly vanished when she spotted Alice walking into Henderson Group.
This was not Alice’s first visit to the executive floor. When she saw Grace, she looked like she had seen a ghost. She didn’t know Grace was alive, and Yancey had not told her.
She only knew that Yancey had been incredibly busy lately, so he had barely spoken to her. She hadn’t minded since she thought that she would let Yancey do whatever he wanted with Grace gone. It wouldn’t concern her even if he hired some psychic to perform rituals.
So when she saw Grace, she almost thought she was hallucinating. She blurted out, “How are you still alive?”
Alice’s voice nearly broke as shock spread across her face. Grace was surprised by Alice’s fancy makeup today. Yancey hadn’t been at the company for days, so she wondered who Alice was trying to impress.
Alice quickly pulled herself together, her eyes turning teary. “Grace, if you’re alive, why didn’t you contact our family? Everyone’s been worried sick. Dad’s even been bedridden recently.”
She grew emotional until an executive behind her cut in, “Ms. Alice, we should get down to business.”
Only then did Alice dab away her tears. “Grace, we’ll talk after my meeting.”
With that, she walked into Ethan’s office with her head held high.
Grace sat there speechless. The people following Alice appeared to be Lambert Group’s executives. Did the Lamberts have a deal with Henderson Group?
Henderson Group only partnered with major companies. If there was a collaboration, the news would have broken months ago. As she worked at Henderson Group, she handled most partnership contracts and couldn’t have missed it.
After thinking it over, she got up and knocked on Ethan’s office door.
“Come in.”
Ethan sat by the huge windows as usual, reviewing documents with his head down. Alice stood across the marble desk from him, keeping her distance but still trying her hardest to seem charming and appealing.