Julian breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness Natalie was okay.

They were all so stupid. Their prejudice against one person meant they never wanted to listen to her explanations, and just seeing her was an eyesore.

Most of what they knew about Natalie's 'bad' side came from Joanna's mouth. He was stupid too, for getting to know Natalie through someone else's words. He used to find her very existence grating. That's how they all felt about Natalie before.

But it was all because Joanna had been stirring up trouble between them. Joanna frequently bad-mouthed Natalie, making them all believe she was a bad person.

And he, being arrogant and proud, had never once looked at Natalie with any respect.

Yet, Natalie had managed to stun everyone with her handling of the Sebastian affair. Joanna was furious. Adrian was such an idiot. He always resorted to violence when he got impulsive. Beating someone up in public like that, he was lucky he wasn't in jail.

Ugh!

Why was Natalie always so lucky?

Before, with Sebastian protecting her, bullying Natalie was easy. But now?

Joanna's blood boiled; she was seething with enough rage to snap.

"Adrian, next time you see Natalie, don't confront her directly. She's so arrogant now, thinking she can hit whoever she wants just because she's the president, with no regard for the law. If you make the first move, with her personality, she'll definitely latch onto it and not let go. She used to twist the facts and scheme against me with the tiniest bit of evidence. If Sebastian hadn't been there to protect me, I would have been in serious trouble long ago."

Adrian's eyes were filled with anger. Looking at the delicious food on the table, his mouth was filled with the taste of blood, and he couldn't eat.

Julian took a deep breath. At this moment, he finally understood a truth.

They weren't useless; they just didn't know their place.

Staying away from people like Joanna might make his life better.

Hearing Joanna's words again, he found them cloying and passive-aggressive, enough to drive a person mad.

He stood up and said, "Adrian, your face is really swollen. Let me take you to the hospital. Get it treated so you can at least eat properly for the holidays."

Adrian was in a lot of pain, and the cold air made it worse.

"Julian, the inside of my mouth is torn, and it's full of the taste of

blood. It

hurts so much I could cry Having a good holiday tomorrow is just a dream, Adrian wished he could tear Natalie to pieces. How could that man have hit him so hard?

He had never been wronged like this in his entire life.

“Joanna, I'm going to the hospital. You and Sebastian can head back first." Because

of the pain in his mouth, his speech was a bit muffled.

Joanna's eyes were full of concern. "Okay! Adrian, you should go quickly."

After Julian and Adrian left, Joanna called Horace.

"Miss."

Horace's tone on the other end was a bit somber.

Joanna's face darkened. "How did it go? Did you sign with Chloe?"

Horace's voice was low. "No, miss. She ran away. But Jonathan said he'll definitely catch her and bring her back tomorrow."

Joanna was confused. "Why did it fail? She's desperate for money right now.

Offering her a job, she should have been grateful. Why did she run?"

Horace was also angry. "Miss, it was Jonathan. It was the student he brought. He had a little too much to drink and showed his true colors. He tried to make his student sleep with him and then presented Chloe with an unfair contract."

"He demanded a fifty-fifty split of all the money Chloe earned from her designs on the collaborations he secured. The terms we offered were good, but he messed everything and Chloe ran." Content Delongs

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Joanna closed her eyes in frustration. That bastard was the epitome of greed.

He hadn't even secured the contract or made a name for the designs, and he was already thinking about splitting the money.