Chapter 423
It was seven in the morning at Kingrys when Cayden and Avery emerged from the inn to head back to
Ackleton.
When she passed by the room next door on her way out, Avery threw a casual nce inside upon
noticing that the door was left ajar.
There, she saw a long-haired girl dressed in a white bathrobe. Thetter was leaning against a pink
cushion while staring nkly into space.
Amidst the crisp rings of therge wind chime above her head, she could see the tear streaks left on
the girl''s beautiful face. The girl was lost in a daze and didn''t seem able to hear anything at all.
When her gaze fell upon the girl''s face, Avery was momentarily stunned, for she recognized her as the
waitress from Azure Royal—Stephanie Quigley.
Just as she wanted to take a closer look, the antique door with flower motifs carved on it was mmed
shut abruptly, blocking her curious nce.
She gave Cayden''s arm a tug. “The girl next door looks like Stephanie Quigley.”
Cayden responded with a baffled look. “Stephanie who?”
Cayden, who never paid any attention to other women, didn''t remember their faces, let alone their
names.
Avery reminded him, “Don''t you remember? She''s the waitress at Azure Royal whose cat was
drugged.”
That incident finally jogged Cayden''s memory.
When he recalled how the woman''s cat had hurt Avery, a grim look descended upon Cayden''s face. “I
have not held her ountable for her cat scratching you yet.”
At that moment, Avery sighed upon realizing that they seemed to be on different wavelengths.
“That was just an ident. That girl looks kind to me, so I''m sure she didn''t do it on purpose. I wonder
what she''s doing here now. She seems to be crying. Do you think she''s in some sort of trouble?”
Avery thought back to themotion she heardst night when the girl was screaming in refusal. It
didn''t sound like she was ying hard to get. Instead, it felt as if she was crying hard from being raped.
Hence, the sight of Stephanie in the room next door triggered a burst of sympathy within Avery.
Given that they knew each other and Avery had a soft spot for Stephanie, the former was curious as to
what happened and whether Stephanie was in any danger.
However, Cayden wrapped his arm around Avery''s waist and led her out. At the same time, he
commented indifferently, “Curiosity killed the cat, so don''t stick your nose into the business of others.
Don''t worry. Security is tight here, and nothing dangerous will happen.”
“But...” His words failed to ay her concerns.
When he saw how Avery''s gaze was fixated upon the room, Cayden carried her in his arms.
“It''s time for us to go. Otherwise, we''ll bete for work. I still have a pile of documents waiting to be
signed. Have youpleted your report for the presentation? Your department is having its quarterly
meeting in the afternoon.”
“What? The meeting is this afternoon? But I have onlypleted half of it...”
“Exactly. That''s why we have to hurry back and wrap up our respective work.” Cayden pursed his lips in
satisfaction when he finally managed to get Avery''s mind off Stephanie.
As someonecking in empathy, he did not care for anyone else other than Avery.
Stephanie should already count her blessings that I didn''t hold her ountable after her pet harmed
Avery, so don''t expect me to stick my nose into her business!
After an uneventful car ride to Ackleton, their car finally came to a stop in Trident Group''s parking lot.
When Cayden turned toward Avery, who was in the front passenger seat, he saw that she had fallen
into a deep slumber. The exhaustion on her face couldn''t be any more obvious.
All this while, he never knew that pregnantdies required a lot of sleep.
Just as he opened his mouth to wake her, he decided against it at thest minute.
Shaking his head in resignation, he turned up the heater in the car and reclined her seat with the press
of a button. He wanted to make her sleep morefortably by turning it into a simple bed.
Thereafter, he retrieved his briefcase from the backseat and pulled out a few documents to read.
It wasn''t until a long while passed that Avery opened her eyes groggily.
After giving them a gentle rub, she realized she was lying down on the car seat while Cayden was
working beside her.
Scratching her nose awkwardly, she apologized, “I''m sorry that I fell asleep again. I didn''t mean to.”
“Don''t worry about it. Did you manage to get a good rest?” Cayden inquired instead.
“You should have woken me. It''s nine-thirty now. We''rete by more than half an hour.” Avery knitted
her brows when she saw the time.
“I couldn''t bring myself to wake you when I saw how soundly you were sleeping. You''re all that matters
to me now. Work is secondary.” Cayden let out a soft chuckle.
His words came as a surprise to Avery.
She couldn''t believe that the workaholic in front of her was capable of such sweet talk. On top of feeling
moved, she felt guilty that she was unable to reciprocate how well he treated her.
Upon changing into her office attire, Avery returned to her office and began working on her report.
After spending the entire morning on it, she heaved a sigh of relief when she finished it in time for the
meeting at two.
The design department''s quarterly meeting was scheduled for that day since it was thest day of the
quarter.
Cayden took the center seat, nked by Kendrick and Wisteria on his left and right respectively.
As for the rest of their colleagues from the design department, they were seated ording to their
rank, filling the conference room to the brim.
Avery was a bunch of nerves, as this was the first time she had participated in a quarterly meeting.
Even though she had spoken in front of a crowd before, she still couldn''t help feeling nervous.
In fact, her anxiety intensified after watching how sharp and eloquent Wisteria, Cecelia, Trevor, and
even Yulissa''s presentations were.
“Avery, it''s your turn.” Nina, seated beside Avery, gave her a gentle nudge to bring her back to her
senses.
It was then that Cayden''s deep voice rang out. “Please begin.”
Avery took a deep breath to calm herself down before walking toward the projector. There, she plugged
her sh drive into the notebook and opened up the file to kick off her report.
“Good afternoon, everyone. I''m Avery Rumpley from the design department''s second team. I would like
to trouble all of you to look at the screen. What you see here isst year''s Q3 report. The first slide
shows you the total orders I have received. The second slide disys a summary of the revenue, while
the third indicates the level of customer satisfaction we surveyed. The fourth slide is a list of my ns
for the uing quarter. Now, let''s go into the details...”
Avery''s sharp suit and simple ponytail made her glistening eyes stand out from her face. Even though
she wasn''t wearing any lip gloss, her moist and tender lips exuded a natural pinkish tint.
Compared to her colleagues'' run-of-the-mill presentation slides, Avery''s was clean and minimalistic.
With concise content and highlights where necessary, her professionalism was well reflected in it.
As her melodious voice echoed through the room, her presentation ended amidst thunderous apuse
after half an hour.
Kendrick gave her a thumbs-up. “Good job, Avery!”
Cayden was rendered speechless.
Since when were others allowed to praise my woman?
N?velDrama.Org owns ? this.
Taking in the praise and approving looks her colleagues gave her, Avery felt as if she was on cloud
nine.
As for Wisteria and Yulissa, both of them eked out smiles that were devoid of sincerity.
In fact, a jealous glint shed across Wisteria''s eyes despite the smile she was wearing.
Despite her moment of glory, little did Avery know that a plot was being hatched against her.