My Four Miraculous Treasures

Lara beheld a tall, lean, well-built man in a bespoke black suit, radiating an aura of refinement and menace. Powerful legs propelled him across the floor of the lobby.

This fleeting glimpse of him was enough to leave her utterly stunned, rooted to the spot and staring blankly after him.

It was only after Jasper had already disappeared from view that she came back to her senses, and realized that she'd just caught sight of none other than the CEO of the Hughes Corporation himself. She'd encountered him before, back at the village.

Previously, Lara had mistakenly assumed that he was Samantha's boyfriend, but Willow had corrected her: He wasn't Samantha's boyfriend, he was in fact the CEO of Hughes Corporation.

Last night, he was the one who'd sent her daughter home.

Excited, Lara turned back to the receptionist. "That's him! Could you please give him a call, for me?"

The receptionist balked at this. "That's our CEO, Mr. Hughes. I'm afraid I don't have his personal number. At most, I can only page his secretary's office."noveldrama

Oh, no... perhaps this lady had a screw loose upstairs...?

Willow Nason was a humble cleaning woman. Jasper Hughes was an eminent business tycoon. How could the two possibly be involved with one another?

Ah, it was all those rumors, right? That had to be where this misunderstanding was coming from. Mr Ward had already sent around an internal memo about how Deborah Salt had been behind all that nonsense. There was no grain of truth in any of it. There was nothing going on between Jasper Hughes and Willow Nason.

Hearing that the receptionist would not be able to help her reach Jasper, Lara fumbled about for a moment in confusion, then turned and hurried out after him.

Outside, she caught sight of him getting into a car, which drove off even as she started after it, leaving her choking on the tailpipe fumes.

She coughed terribly for a moment, fanning away the petroleum fumes.

Eventually, she decided to return to the front desk and leave a message for Jasper, informing him that she would be back to see him another day...

But then Willow came running out of the building. "Mom, what are you doing here?" Her daughter caught hold of her arm to support her, bewildered to see her here.

The receptionist had called to inform Willow that someone named Lara Smith had come in search of her. She'd rushed over immediately.

"I've come to ask Mr. Hughes if he's your boyfriend or not," answered Lara, who had always believed that honesty was the best policy.

Startled, Willow looked around nervously. They were surrounded by her colleagues, on their way out to get lunch.

"I've told you before, he's no such thing!" Willow hissed under her breath. "Don't go asking around, either! He's in charge of the entire Hughes Corporation! There's no way he'd be involved with someone like me!"

The last rash of rumors had made

her into a laughing stock before the whole company. Everyone had assumed that she'd done something slutty y to try and seduce Jasper and had been spreading those rumors around herself, for her own benefit.

She'd been disdained, ostracized, ridiculed...

Now that things had calmed down, the last thing she needed was for her own mother to start things back up again!

She tried to pull her mother aside,

but Lara wrenched free of her grip, and began hollering in the middle of the street: "If he's not your boyfriend, then what are you so nervous for?! I know you haven't been telling me the truth, Willow! Why would Mr. Hughes be driving you home late at night, if not because he's your boyfriend?!"

Willow clapped her hand tight over her mother's mouth, before the woman said too much.

Passers-by gave them funny looks. Willow nodded at them and smiled, as though there was nothing but fun and games going on over here.

When the coast was clear, Willow

released her mother. "Mom, go

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home for now," she urged, frantic and annoyed. "When I get back tonight I'll explain everything to you. Right now, I've got to go eat something, I still have to be here for the rest of the day."

"Alright. I have your word now," agreed Lara. "I'll be awaiting a full explanation once you get back from work today."

She simply couldn't understand why a cleaning woman would be doing so much overtime, and coming home in the boss's own car!

Any way you looked at it, it wasn't your typical arrangement.

Willow nodded in agreement. She'd lay it all bare tonight.

She hadn't wanted her family to worry, so she'd kept quiet about being arrested the day before.

Now it seemed that she'd have to tell them anyway, otherwise her nosy mother would definitely come looking for Jasper again.

Imagine... her mother, asking Jasper Hughes to his face if he was her boyfriend...

How much would that guy be jeering at her? Sneering down at her?