"I know. You can leave now. I have something else to do, and then I'll go home!" Erica said a bit harshly. She wasn't in a good mood.
Kaitlyn nodded and answered, "Okay, I'll go change my clothes!"
After Kaitlyn left the studio, Erica took out the cellphone from her pocket and scrolled through the messages she had exchanged with Matthew. The last one was from over ten days ago. It was a short text from him—"Hmm."
They hadn't sent any more messages since then.
All of a sudden, a terrible thought popped into her head. Although Debbie had told her that Matthew was on a business trip in M Country, she couldn't help wondering if he had been with Phoebe all these days.
However, as soon as the thought came, she shook her head. It was impossible! She must be imagining things.
She didn't know whether Phoebe had given the ten million to Matthew or not, but if she hadn't heard Kaitlyn answering the phone today, she wouldn't have considered asking Matthew about it.
After all, she trusted him and had no reason to doubt that he would accept the money from Phoebe.
Yet now, she wasn't so sure about it anymore.
With so many conflicting thoughts occupying her mind, she pressed the video call button immediately to speak to Matthew.
It took a long time for the video call to connect, but when it did, a woman's face came into the screen. Erica's heart sank as the other woman smiled at her. "Mrs. Huo, Mr. Huo is in a meeting. He didn't take his phone with him. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Who are you?" Erica asked.
"Mrs. Huo, I'm Mr. Huo's secretary, Ana."
'His secretary? Ana?' Erica stared at the beautiful female secretary on the screen for a while. Neither of them said anything. However, Ana kept smiling as she waited for her orders.
Erica still didn't understand why Matthew would hand over his private phone to his secretary. This wasn't usual of him. "Where is this meeting taking place?"
"In the hotel's conference room. I'm at Mr. Huo's room to sort out some files."
'Is the secretary in Matthew's room now?' Erica grew more and more uncomfortable. "Give him the phone, I want to speak to him," she demanded.
Ana hesitated for a moment. "Mrs. Huo, Mr. Huo is in the middle of a meeting. It's a very important one. None of the attendants have their phones with them. If it's not something urgent, I'll ask Mr. Huo to call you back after the meeting is over."
'She'll ask my husband to call me back? Who on earth does she think she is?' Erica shook her head emotionlessly. "I want to speak to him now." She had serious suspicions that Ana was covering for Matthew. She had never seen him leaving his private cellphone behind to attend a meeting, not to mention with a secretary.
At least, in Y City, the same had never happened to Paige or Owen. Was this secretary that she had never seen more capable than the other two assistants? If so, why hadn't Matthew brought her to work in the headquarters?
"Mrs. Huo, Mr. Huo really can't answer the phone now." Ana was starting to realize that the CEO's wife was a little unreasonable and didn't quite know when to quit.
Noticing the hesitating look on the secretary's face, Erica swallowed her next words. Maybe Matthew really couldn't answer the phone at the moment. She didn't insist any longer. "Okay. Just forget it." Whether he would call her back or not, it didn't matter. In the end, she didn't have anything important to tell him anyway.
"Okay, bye, Mrs. Huo!" Erica then pressed the button to end the video call.
Putting her phone away, she shouted to Hyatt, who had been silently taking photos of a vase nearby, "Let's go, Hyatt!"
"Okay, I'm coming!" Hyatt quickly put the vase back to where it belonged before he followed Erica.
The moment Erica stepped outside the studio, the bodyguard immediately walked over her and greeted, "Mrs. Huo!"
Erica nodded. "Call the driver. I'm heading back home."
"Didn't you have a shooting for this afternoon?" he asked curiously. That same morning, he had heard her making arrangements for it.
Erica looked up at the sky and answered, "I'm not going anymore. Now all I want is to go home and take a nap." In fact, she needed to go home and sleep for a few hours to relieve her from the current bad mood she was in.
"Yes, Mrs. Huo."
After enduring a meeting that started at eight in the morning and ended at one in the afternoon, Matthew returned to his room, where he found his secretary still printing some documents. Loosening his tie, he asked, "Do I have any missed calls?"
Ana came over him and handed him back his phone very carefully. "Yes. You've got a call from Time Group's CEO and a video call from your wife."
'Did Erica video call me?' He took the phone from Ana and immediately checked his WeChat as he asked, "Did she say anything?"
"No. I told her that you couldn't answer the call because you were in an important meeting. But Mrs. Huo didn't take it very well and insisted on speaking to you. Although I explained to her that none of the attendants in this meeting had their phones with them, she still got mad. Mr. Huo, would you like to be alone now to talk to Mrs. Huo?" Ana asked in a low voice.
Matthew glanced at the video record. It was a one-minute call. Raising his head, he met Ana's eyes. He wasn't satisfied with her way of handling this situation. He said without a hint of emotion in his voice, "Next time my wife insists on talking to me while I'm in a meeting, you must send me the phone. It doesn't matter how important the meeting is."
Since that was her first mistake, he didn't see the need to argue any further.
After her initial shock, Ana nodded immediately. "Yes, Mr. Huo!"
"Get out!" he commanded. "Okay, Mr. Huo!"
The next moment, she left the room. When Matthew was finally on his own, he sat on the sofa and called his wife back.
It didn't take long for the pregnant woman to answer the phone, but instead of bringing the device to her face, she left it lying on bed with its front camera aiming to the bedroom ceiling. She lay silently beside her phone, waiting for him to speak.
Matthew had a glimpse from the woman in her pajamas as she quickly passed through the screen, so he asked, "Were you sleeping?"
"No." Although she was ready to take a nap, she was still awake. "You called me earlier. What did you want to say?"
"Nothing."
Matthew was silent. Suddenly the video call turned quiet as she didn't say anything either.
After a while, he gave in and said, "If you have something you want to say, you can say it now. I'm alone in the room." He wanted to hear her say that she missed him.
But he never saw her next words coming.
"Oh, so the secretary has left?" The girl unexpectedly raised her voice sarcastically.
Feeling what seemed to be the start of a migraine, Matthew closed his eyes and ignored her sarcasm. "Yes."
"Wow, I really envy you, Mr. Huo. Despite being on a business trip, you still have such a beautiful secretary to keep you company. Will she also be sleeping in your room at night?"
Matthew frowned deeply. "What nonsense are you talking now?"
'She really needs to be taught a lesson!' he thought. 'She dares to provoke me because I'm abroad and can't deal with her, huh?'
"I'm not talking nonsense. But let's be honest, your secretary is so beautiful that even I am attracted to her." She didn't fail to notice that Ana was not only wearing black silk stockings but also a pair of red high-heeled shoes, which made her look so sexy.
However, Matthew wasn't interested in discussing his secretary. "I'll be back soon. Be good at home."
"Don't you think I'm being good? What kind of woman is good for you then, Matthew Huo?" she asked. Every time that Matthew would ask her to be good, she couldn't stop the feeling that he had created this concept of a perfect woman in his head that he wanted her to follow.
At that moment, the call went silent again. Matthew's eyes dimmed as he touched the screen of the phone with his fingertips and answered, "I just don't want you to see another man. That's all."
