Chapter 4

4: 4

I surfaced from the blackout to a hospital room and the sharp bite of disinfectant.

The doctor saw me open my eyes and sighed.

“Mr. Henson, your asthma attack cut off your oxygen, and when the car braked hard your abdomen took the impact. That caused a perforated stomach and heavy internal bleeding.”

“We had to remove part of your stomach in emergency surgery. From now on you'll need medication for the rest of your life and a strict diet, or you could develop serious complications at any time.”

I lay there, the color drained from my face, the wound in my belly throbbing in waves.

A little more and I'd have died on the way to the hospital.

The phone on the bedside table buzzed once.

Numbly, I picked it up.

On the screen was a post Grace Delgado's assistant had just put up:

【Celebrating early — Ms. Delgado lands the big investment tomorrow! Thanks for all the hard work, Herbert~】

The location tag was the most upscale steakhouse right below the office.

I'd just clawed my way back from death, and they were toasting to climbing over me.

I couldn't hold back anymore. I reached up and pulled the IV needle from the back of my left hand.

Forcing down the knifing pain in my gut, I took a cab to the restaurant.

The moment I reached the door of the VIP room, the sight through the half-open gap turned my stomach.

Herbert Winfield was half draped in Grace Delgado's arms, one finger hooked around her necklace.

Grace bent her head and, with sickening tenderness, kissed a smear of red wine from the corner of his mouth.

“Grace, tomorrow when I take Lambert's proposal to James Group and land the investment, are you really going to transfer all his shares to me?”

Grace tightened her arm around his waist, her tone scornful.

“The second the funding is in hand tomorrow, I'll kick him out for good.”

“The general manager's seat will be yours, and only yours.”

I pushed the door open and looked coldly at the two of them.

At the sound, Grace lifted her head.

When she saw it was me, she froze for a second, then shoved Herbert off her, her face going dark in an instant.

“Lambert, you actually followed me here?”

“You went to the hospital for a little asthma, that's all. And now you're running over here to check up on me?”

I walked to the table, picked up the bottle of red wine they'd just opened, and poured it straight over the proposal beside it.

The dark red seeped through the paper in seconds.

Grace slammed me aside and scrambled to snatch the documents off the table.

“Lambert, have you lost your mind!”

I was weak to begin with, and the shove sent me into the back of a chair, a rush of blood coming up my throat.

She wiped frantically at the wine on the pages, but the writing had already bled and blurred beyond reading.

She hurled the ruined paper onto the table, her face gray with fury.

“That's the master copy for tomorrow's hundred-million investment! You won't rest until you've destroyed the company, will you!”

Seeing the documents were beyond saving, she didn't waste another second on me. She grabbed Herbert and hurried out.

“Come on, back to the office to reformat and reprint it!”

Just before the door, she turned and glared at me:

“Once I land James Group's investment tomorrow and kick you out for good, don't come crying to me!”

The door slammed hard behind her.

Bracing myself on the corner of the table, I slowly straightened up and calmly dialed Sophia James.

The line rang twice before she picked up.

Looking out at the night beyond the floor-to-ceiling window, I spoke calmly:

“Ms. James, tomorrow I'll be handling James Group's investment review personally.”