Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Crossing the Line

She didn’t expect him to be so observant as to have noticed that detail about her after just a few meetings. Candice took a step back and said, “I’ll leave right away.”

“You don’t have to,” Percy said as he took her hand.

His silky-smooth bathrobe slid down his shoulder blades, revealing the faint bruises on his chest. They weren’t obvious but they added a touch of charm to his muscular body.

He was a refined gentleman with a masculine aura.

His vibe was dependent on whether he was clothed or not.

It was like a striking collision of modern civilization and primitive savagery.

It was like a bewildering and mind-blowing fire.

Feeling uneasy, Candice asked, “Do you want to… go get changed?”

Percy let go of her in time to adjust his robe.

Chapter 26 Crossing the Line

“I’m sorry, please give me five minutes,” he said.

Less than five minutes later, Percy came out of the dressing room, dressed in a simple business suit, with a white shirt, white blazer, and khaki pants.

He looked taut, reliable, mature, and bright.

It was difficult to pull off a white suit because it would exude one’s aura greater than suits of other colors like black, blue, and gray. Byron looked s**y in white while Percy looked mature and sophisticated.

It was as if one was ascetic and ruthless while the other was devoted and charming.

Extreme opposites.

As Percy took a step forward, Candice could smell the faint cedar fragrance from his clothes, which was a mix of a sweet honeydew scent with a tinge of bitterness of tobacco flowers.

It was a rare and niche gents’ fragrance.

Percy noticed that she was still standing there and thus, approached her.

Chapter 26 Crossing the Line

“You came to see me for something, right?”

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Candice was dumbfounded. “Aren’t you the one looking for me?”

He frowned, clearly confused.

She pulled up a text message and showed it to him while saying, “Your employee took me upstairs.”

Percy didn’t say anything and dialed a series of numbers. directly.

“Come to my office,” he said in a cold and indifferent voice.

After hanging up, he rubbed his brows and said, “I didn’t ask you to come here.”

“Is this your number?”

“Yes.” Percy didn’t go on.

Candice understood too and said, “I gave you a hard time, didn’t I?”

He moved his hand away and said, “No.”

Chapter 26: Crossing the Line

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“Your secretary is being thoughtful towards you,” Candice said, without exposing them.

Percy interrupted, “Let’s not talk about that. Lawyer Seth has filed a lawsuit in court, and it’s set to begin next month at the lates.”

“You’ll get half of the shares of the matrimonial home.

“We’re 90% confident.”

Percy said three sentences in a row, while Candice was silent the whole time.

“Is it possible?”

She nodded and continued, “If I really win this lawsuit, I will be able to vent my anger.”

Percy was very serious as he said, “With me around, there won’t be a big problem.”

“Mr. Percy, I’m going back to work.”

Candice turned around while he called out to her from behind,” My secretary and I are not what you think.”

That atmosphere…

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It seemed like something was amiss as a bland tension grew between them.

It wasn’t too serious.

Candice turned back around and stared at him for a

moment.

“Like what?”

“We’re not dating,” Percy said.

She didn’t immediately take a position, but was silent for a while before asking him, “Why did you explain that to me?”

Percy paused for a second before saying, “I don’t know.”

He simply did not want her to misunderstand and avoid him.

He could sense what kind of woman she was.

She was the time to stay away from ambiguous, unclear relationships.

Candice smiled. Percy’s explanation was seriously redundant.

Chapter 26: Crossing the Line

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He and Nicole were both single and it was normal for them to be satisfying each other’s lustful desires and needs. Very few outstanding men could abstain from sex.

Nicole was the most suitable for temporary companion. She was competent and knowledgeable, with the ability to help him well. She didn’t pose a threat to him either.

Percy stopped for a long time before returning to his office, where Nicole was sitting on the couch and browsing through magazines.

He glanced at her and said, “Get up.

There were no emotions at all.

Nicole sensed that he was in a bad mood and stood in front of him with her eyes lowered.

Percy sat down and straightened his tie, with his eyes repeatedly scanning just over the papers on his desk without looking at her again.

“How long have you been working for me?” he asked as if nothing was wrong but his tone was deep and solemn.

Nicole said cautiously, “Three years.’

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Chapter 26 Crossing the Line

“Do you understand my bottom line and principles?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t see that you do from your behavior.”

She figured out that he was referring to what happened in the bathtub.

Percy was furious.

Nicole almost foresaw her own downfall and closed her eyes as she promised, “I won’t do it again.”

He undid two buttons and leaned back, stretching his entire body as he said, “I’ll be transferring you to the marketing department and Miss Rose will take over your job.”

“Mr. Percy! I know I was wrong,” she exclaimed, losing her usual composure.

ea

With his eyes fixed on her, Percy said, “I believe you are a smart woman.”

The implication was that there was no room for compromise.

The man had always been gentle with women but

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underneath his soft-spoken mannerisms was a ruthlessly decisive, harsh, and heartless personality.

No one had any special privileges or ties with him.

At this moment, he handed her a handkerchief and comforted, “Don’t cry, okay?”

He carried the type of tenderness and affection that melts a woman’s heart, but it was separated by a chiseled brick wall.

He was like water that quenches thirst but also a knife that kills.

Staring at him, Nicole said, “I’ll quit. I’ll have to face you in Fortune Group every day and I won’t be able to control my emotions.”

Percy did not stay, and took out the checkbook before saying, “Fill it out yourself.”

Nicole took it and wrote herself a check for $400,000.

He didn’t look at the exact amount. In his opinion, it was nothing more than a number and he had no concept of it.

“Do you need me to introduce you to a new company?”

Chapter 26 Crossing the line

“I don’t need it.”

She was straightforward and not pretentious at all.

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If she hadn’t broken the rules, Percy was, in fact, quite used to having her around.

Nicole was good at her job, and because of her impeccability, Percy would never tolerate a hint of impropriety in her personal relationships.

Once a sensible woman has crossed the line, she will bring more problems.

Nicole walked to the door, feeling really reluctant as she asked indignantly, “Mr. Percy, will you like her?”

“Nicole, this has nothing to do with you,” Percy said with a sullen expression.

She smiled forlornly and said, “Everyone is different, but who can replace Miss Stacy?”

He flipped through the files and ignored her.

Percy was perpetually calm and composed in the face of all adversity.

Chapter 26 Crossing the Line

His only fluctuation was with women.

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Even a man of such great strength and power cannot escape

a woman.

Nicole closed the door. Amid the silence, Percy held his

hands together and pressed them against his forehead as he sulked for a long time.

m

He continued until Rose came in to report and stopped in front of his desk.

“Mr. Percy, Nicole has completed her termination procedures.”

“What’s your name?” Percy asked, still hanging his head low.

“Rose Williams.”

His body stiffened vaguely.

Percy suddenly slumped down again and said, “Get out.”

Rose strutted in on her high heels, and the sound disturbed him. He turned around to stare at her back. Stacy would never wear heels that were higher than 5 centimeters and would never dye her hair burgundy.

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She was timid, kindhearted, and innocent.

He had met countless women but none of them could compare to Stacy.

Percy pulled out a yellowed photo from his wallet, which had been in there for several years. The woman on it was in her

4000

early twenties, similar in age to Candice. Even her side. profile somewhat resembled Candice.

Those who weren’t familiar with her wouldn’t be able to draw a resemblance but Candice was a rare find.

Percy gently touched it before locking it away in a drawer.

Nicole had accidentally seen this photo, so when she saw Candice, she knew that Percy’s broken heart had come back to life after eight years.

Candice left the Fortune Group building and drove to the hospital to get Miranda’s medication.

Doctor Roger was not there as he had been sent to the city institute for medical research. She proceeded to look for Byron again and asked him for the prescription because he had a copy of it.

As it turned out, Byron wasn’t there either.

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Harry was on duty in the office so he told Candice, “A bus overturned in the early morning, and a boy’s lower body was almost completely crushed. Three experts from the general surgery, intestinal, and urology department are performing al surgery together. Doctor Byron is responsible for urinal tract suture, and the surgery will take at least ten hours.”

“He knows urology too?”

“Fertility and urology are the same.”

Candice took the elevator to the operating theater on the fifth and called Monica to spy on the situation.

“Has Patrick been granted leave yet?”

“He and his wife went to the Service Center this afternoon to handle the paperwork. His coworkers are off work, and I’m. shopping right now.”

Immediately afterwards, Monica cursed, “If you’d been with him, you’d be the mistress now! His wife’s company gave them a house and he got a divorce because of this! She officially received the house after three years and once she did, they remarried immediately. He’s just a sc u m bag!”

Candice remained silent.

It seemed that the male colleague’s information was wrong

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or Patrick had deliberately twisted facts to hide his

“marriage sham” so that he could get into his subordinate’s pants.

What a terrible person.

It was no wonder she didn’t like him.

Candice’s intuition had always been accurate. Except for Rufus, she hadn’t been fooled by any other man.

“Your life is so miserable. Take my advice and start going to church,” Monica said.

Candice turned her head and two nurses from the

gynecology department passed by. They were chatting about Byron so she immediately hung up.

“Doctor Byron is so handsome, and he’s a good doctor. He has a great a s s too.”

“You checked out his a s s!?! You’re such a lecher!”

The nurse blushed and said, “He wore tight jeans to the Christmas celebration and well, the bulge was pretty obvious.”

Her co-worker teased, “Which bulge?”

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They joked around while Candice moved to the side.

One of the nurses whispered, “Jake from the otolaryngology department went to a hot spring together with Doctor Byron and he mentioned before that Doctor Byron’s got a huge package. Since then, many nurses from their department took turns to woo him but to no avail.”

Her co-worker remarked emotionally, “His girlfriend must be really satisfied in bed.”

“Well, she definitely has a better time than the patients of his department.”

Candice burst into laughter.

At 5:30, Harry changed shifts and bought fast food for Candice, who was so famished that she ripped the wrapper apart and wolfed the food down.

He smacked his lips and said, “The way you look when you eat…”

She asked, “Do I look bad?”

Well, it wasn’t too bad, it just depended on who she was getting compared to.

Chapter 26 Crossing the Line

Vicky didn’t eat like this. She would make it a point to eat with a fork and a knife all the time.

It was rather pretentious in the eyes of others, especially Enos who had chided her when she ate pizza with a fork and a knife.

Byron liked it. The stronger her personality was and the more controversial she behaved, the harder he fell for her.

A nurse came out of the operating room and sent the blood bag next door to sterilize it.

Harry greeted her before asking, “It’s not over yet?”

“The boy is bleeding too much and the sutures are at high risk of infection.”

“Not even Doctor Byron can handle it?” Harry asked in shock.

“Doctor Byron also stopped midway. The boy’s family hasn’t showed up yet. Otherwise, we would have issued the notice of critical condition! Professor Cole said that if Doctor Byron couldn’t do it, he would have to transfer him to a hospital in another city.”.

Candice threw the plastic bag into the trash and asked, “Another city?”

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Glaring at her, Harry said, “If he can’t do the surgery, there’s nothing any hospital in the city can do.”

“He’s pretty good.”

“Doctor Byron is good at everything he does.”

At seven o’clock, the doors to the operating theatre finally opened.

Byron was at the front of the room, taking off his scrubs. His face and lips were pale while his chin and nose were covered in sweat. He seemed to be exhausted.

He was leaning against the window in the aisle, breathing hard. The nurse wanted to wipe his sweat, but he brushed it away and took the tissue from her.

“I’ll do it myself.”

Byron was very appropriate with his actions. It was a rule for nurses to wipe the sweat of doctors during surgeries but once they were out of the operating theater, they are to avoid physical contact.

That was also the reason that there were two extreme camps of responses to the rumors of his relationship with married woman. Those who didn’t believe it were dead

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against it while those who believed the rumors said that he was pretentious.

Harry went over first and asked, “Did it go well?”

“Of course. When I have I ever failed?”

He was overjoyed. Byron was way too arrogant. Despite being exhausted, he didn’t forget to brag about it.

“Are you going home later?”

Byron was in an irritable mood but he soon calmed down. “I haven’t decided.”

“Where’s Vicky?”

“She left.”

“She ran off again?” Harry asked in shock.

“No.” Byron pulled out his cigarette case, took one cigarette out, and asked Harry for a lighter because he didn’t have

one.

“Have her come by the hospital and pick you up.”

Chapter 26. Crossing the Line

“That’s not necessary.”

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Harry lit the cigarette up and said, “Tell me the truth. Did you guys get into a conflict again?”

Byron took a big puff and reached his hand out of the window.

“She’s pregnant,” he said as he exhaled slowly.

Candice had been slouching lazily and her ears pri cked up the moment she heard that.

Harry thought that Vicky was really amazing.

She was dropping heavyweight news every couple of days and even an outsider like Harry was flabbergasted. Byron was really good at withstanding heavy blows.

“Who’s the father?”

“She didn’t mention it.”

“Didn’t her plan to get married because of her pregnancy not work out? Maybe this time…”

“She’s done a checkup. She’s six weeks along,” Byron said as he flicked his cigarette.

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He didn’t lose control this time. In fact, he was already sick. and tired since it wasn’t the first time she had done such a thing after all.

One and a half months.

She had been back in NY for only a month.

The baby indeed, didn’t belong to Byron.

“Have you ended things with her completely?”

He didn’t answer.

Harry reckoned that he was heartbroken and exhausted too.

Byron was a little too harsh and unfeeling. Last year, a girl had to be attached to a ureal bag for life and due to the media attention, many urologists didn’t dare to perform a surgery for her. However, Byron went against the pressure and saved her life.

After the operation, a reporter camped outside the ward to interview him. He pulled the curtain to cover the girl before covering his own face and waving his hands expressionlessly without uttering a single word.

Harry once thought that Byron was incapable of emotions.

Chapter 26: Crossing the line

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Like a deep pool of sea, there were depth, width, high tide, and low tide periods to his emotions.

Now, Byron was just forlorn and devastated.

Byron glanced at him.

Harry said, “Your young and frivolous love.”

He burst into laughter.

At this moment, a spectacled doctor came out of the operating room and tapped Byron.

“Byron, go to the emergency room and put yourself on the drip.”

He snubbed out the cigarette and said, “It’s okay.”

“You’re the most exhausted one of us all. You’ve been pushing through for 13 hours and you don’t seem too well.”

“I’m fine.”

The doctor took off his surgical cap and went into the sterilization room to wash his hands.

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Harry went across the room and nudged Candice while saying, “It’s your turn to shine.”

“What do you mean?” she asked with puzzlement.

She was too pure and simple-minded.

The good thing is that men like to shape a woman by hand, and teach them the ways step by step, especially in bed. They loved the feeling of turning an innocent girl into a freak in bed.

Byron and Candice were always involved with each other and he was starting to develop an obsession with clean girls like her.

Harry gestured and said, “When a man is vulnerable, he craves to have his wounds soothed by a woman’s soft little hands.”

Candice stifled a laugh, amused by Harry’s sudden poetic side.

However, she walked towards the man in the corner and called out, “Doctor Byron.”

Byron looked up and asked with a frown, “What are you doing here?”