er 45\u00a0<\/p>\n
Half an hour later, Sienna strode into the company with a casually packed takeout meal in hand. The receptionist recognized her, greeted her respectfully, and let her go in without question.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment she stepped out of the elevator, Rowan hurried over enthusiastically. \u201cMrs. Hale, why did you come in person?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yesterday\u2019s deliveryman incident had left him with lasting psychological trauma.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna smiled. \u201cYour demanding boss who likes to put on airs ordered me to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
With that, she pushed open the office door and set the takeout box on the desk carelessly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then, she imitated the deliveryman\u2019s tone and even gave a perfunctory bow. \u201cMr. Hale, your no\u2013cilantro takeout has arrived. Please take it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clayton ignored her theatrics and fixed a grim gaze on her. \u201cYou left early this morning. Where did you go?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna folded her arms and leaned against the desk with a smirk. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m obligated to report my schedule to you. I don\u2019t ask where you go either, do I?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A corner of Clayton\u2019s eye twitched slightly. \u201cIt seemed like you were having a great chat with a college kid.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHow did you know?\u201d Sienna froze for a second and blurted, \u201cDid you follow me?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clayton snorted. \u201cDon\u2019t flatter yourself. Hayden happened to pass by and saw you. Can you be a little more mindful of keeping up appearances? How can you flirt with some random young guy in public? Do you want people to think that Mrs. Hale is a promiscuous woman?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That hit a nerve with Sienna. She was furious and almost snapped back at him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She wanted to say, \u201cSo what? Didn\u2019t you walk off with your first love in your arms under everyone\u2019s gaze? This is a classic pot calling the kettle black.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then again, Sienna thought she shouldn\u2019t drag an innocent third party into her mess with Clayton.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She immediately clarified the situation so as not to create unnecessary misunderstandings. \u201cThat young man is a college student. There\u2019s nothing going on between us. I was just sitting there drinking coffee when he came over and asked me to complete a questionnaire about coffee consumption.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe chatted a bit, and that\u2019s all. It wasn\u2019t anything like the blind date you\u2019re imagining. Don\u2019t assume everyone\u2019s as dirty- minded as you. I\u2019ve already told you that I\u2019ll behave myself in the one month before the divorce. Stop jumping to conclusions every time something happens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you really that paranoid that I\u2019d cheat on you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clayton took his own sweet time opening the lunch box and said indifferently, \u201cYou\u2019d better remember your place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna rolled her eyes and turned to leave. \u201cThe food\u2019s delivered. Bye now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cStop.\u201d Clayton suddenly called out. \u201cStay here. I\u2019ll take you out after work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna halted but didn\u2019t turn around. \u201cDo I look like I have nothing better to do? I\u2019m not going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Clayton took a bite of his food and said, \u201c2,000 dollars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not someone who bends over for that little money,\u201d Sienna said disdainfully, taking two steps forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c5,000 dollars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
X CLOSE\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 45\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTen thousand dollars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna\u2019s steps stalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After two seconds of silence, she said, \u201cI guess I do have a bit of time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
As her words fell, she took two steps backward. A barely perceptible smile tugged at the corner of Clayton\u2019s lips as he lowered his head and continued eating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna wandered around the spacious office and took a proper look at it for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The entire space was decorated in cool tones and gave off a high\u2013end feel. The interior was painted in minimalist black, white, and gray. There was an ebony desk and a leather couch. Even the painting on the wall was abstract art made up of sharp, austere lines. It was exactly like Clayton\u2013detached and unapproachable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sienna strolled over to the bookshelf behind him. Her gaze swept over a row of hardcover books with titles such as \u201cCapital\u201d and \u201cBusiness Game Theory\u201c. Just reading the titles made her sleepy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Without thinking, she reached out to pull one down at random. But the moment her fingertips brushed the spine, her hand froze midair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Memories surfaced without warning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back in middle school, she\u2019d been playing chess with Rupert at the Hale residence. Several pieces went missing, so Rupert had told her to go to Clayton\u2019s study to get a new set. He had said that it was on the bookshelf.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She had stood on tiptoes to reach it. As she did that, she accidentally knocked over a wooden box. It fell to the floor, and the lid popped open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She hadn\u2019t seen what was inside because Clayton had rushed in just moments later.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He had a livid look in his eyes and thundered, \u201cWho said you could touch my things?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was the first time Sienna had ever seen him that furious. She had been so frightened that she froze, unsure how to react.\u00a0<\/p>\n
X CLOSE\u00a0<\/p>\n
She got the divorce and bolted 45 er 45\u00a0 Half an hour later, Sienna strode into the company with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-she-got-the-divorce-and-bolted-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}