Love’s Cunning Ruse

Chapter 70

Karl mistakenly thought Kieran was off to pick a fight with Mrs Hernandez, so he tailed after him. He feared Mr. Hernandez would lose his cool and scare Mrs. Hernandez away. But to his surprise, Kieran just went out to have lunch, then headed to a bakery and ordered a small orange–flavoured cake.

Next, he delivered the cake to Julie in the name of Daphne.

After they left the bakery, Karl was ready to drive Kieran back to the office, but Kieran asked him to get out of the car, “Go back to the office and let Julie clear out storage room number four to use as her office”

“What?” Karl was stuck at the car door. Was he asking Mrs. Hernandez to clean the storage room herself? Wasn’t he still pampering her yesterday? What’s with the sudden change of attitude today?

Karl looked at Kieran, puzzled But Kieran’s car was already gone.

He had no choice but to return to the office and, per Mr. Hernandez’s instructions, told Julie to clean storage room number four.

Julie didn’t object. She was more accustomed to this than Kieran’s sudden intimacy.

Lunchtime was approaching. Julie had already arranged to have lunch with Porter, so she had to put aside cleaning the storage room temporarily

She arrived at the restaurant where she’d arranged to meet Porter. As soon as Porter ordered, Julie said, “Mr. Porter, does our contract with Mr. Hernandez mention a penalty for breach of contract?”

Porter, who had just picked up his fork, paused, “Why do you ask?”

“How much would we have to pay Kieran if we switched lawyers? Julie asked directly.

Porter was so startled he dropped his fork, “What’s the matter with you? It’s clearly written in the contract that if you quit on your own, you have to pay. the full penalty, which is three times the remuneration!”

“What?”

Porter, emotionally charged, sat next to Julie. This case is simple, just a common news infringement case. With Mr. Hernandez’s status, winning this lawsuit is a piece of cake. You really don’t need to chicken out. Do you think the bonus I gave you is not enough?”

“It’s not about that.” Julie decided to be honest with Porter, “I thought I could stay by his side without any reservations, but now I realize I was wrong.”

I’ve always wanted to ask you something “Porter looked at Julie hesitantly. Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

Julie gave Porter a sideways glance, “Go ahead.”

*Mr. Hernandez publicly admitted at the Ray Group dinner that he had an ex–wife. If I remember correctly, you disappeared after graduating from college. I’m wondering, Mr. Hernandez’s ex–wife is?”

“I know her.” Julie had already predicted what he was going to ask. He would surely keep asking if she didn’t answer him; if she admitted it, she wasn’t sure if she could trust Porter.

So, she chose an ambiguous answer. That should shut Porter up.

Lunch was not enjoyable, so she returned to Simpo Co. before the end of the lunch break.

Back at the office, Julie continued to tidy up the storeroom.

As she passed the CEO’s office, she overheard Tina quietly asking Karl, “Karl, what’s the relationship between Mr. Hernandez and Attorney Abraham? Please tell me so I don’t accidentally offend Attorney Abraham.”

Hearing this, Julie paused. She was curious how Karl would answer.

However, after waiting for two seconds, she heard Karl’s answer with a hint of amusement, “They’re alumni”

“But I think they’re more than just alumni. I’ve seen them interact in strange ways twice already. I feel like their relationship isn’t that simple.”

“What do you think their relationship is?” Karl asked back.

Tina carefully replied, “Lovers?”

Then she denied her own answer, “I heard from colleagues in the office that Attorney Abraham is Mr. Dylan’s wife.”

“Mr. Dylan is single.” Karl looked at Tina displeased, “As the chief secretary assistant, you shouldn’t spread such rumors.”

Hearing Karls serious tone, Tina immediately shut her mouth and didn’t say anything else.

After Karl and Tina finished their conversation, Julie headed towards the storage room.

Kieran didn’t come to the office for the rest of the afternoon.

After tidying up the storeroom, Julie started gathering evidence for the lawsuit. Creative Nexus Media immediately retracted all previous online reports after receiving a statement from Kieran posted under his name on Simpo Co’s official Twitter account.

However, upon hearing that Kieran was suing Creative Nexus Media, many netizens actively posted screenshots of the news previously published by Creative Nexus Media in the comment section of Simpo Co’s tweet, so gathering evidence wasn’t difficult.

The lighting in the storage room was poor, and even during the day, she had to turn on the lights.

Karl gave Julie a laptop. She spent the entire afternoon surfing the internet in the storage room. She didn’t keep track of time.

It wasn’t until her phone suddenly vibrated that she pulled it out and checked the time. She realized it was already more than two hours past closing

time

The phone vibrated because she received a new message on WhatsApp. Julie only had a few contacts on WhatsApp: Daphne, Dr. Brice, Nac, and Ivan Hernandez, who she added not long ago.

But now, she saw a new friend request.

The other party’s verification message was simple and clear, “Im Ivan’s father”

His ID was also simple. J Kennedy.

After a moment of hesitation, Julie thought of Ivan’s cute face and hit the ‘add‘ button.

He sent a message no sooner than she had accepted his friend request, he sent a message “Ms Abraham, chatting with you last time was enlightening. Mind if we do it again?”

Julie read the message and was instantly reminded of the $50 gift card he had given her.

She couldn’t help but smile, “Not many people seek me out for advice. I forgot to ask your name last time. What is it?”

After a moment. Kieran replied, “Tim K.”

Apparently, he didn’t want to reveal his full name. No biggie, Julie wasn’t that curious. She replied with a grin, “No wonder your ID is J Kennedy. Does it mean something special?”

Special meaning?

In the office, Kieran lounged in his office chair, legs crossed and casually thrown on the desk, a smirk on his face. One day, she would find out the special meaning of his ID

But at the moment, he had no intention of explaining it to her.

“Ms Abraham, are you available now?” Kieran didn’t answer her question.

Julie replied, “I’m at the office. I was so busy I missed quitting time, so I decided to stick around a bit longer.”

Office?

Kieran uncrossed his legs, looked toward Storage Room No.4, and booted up his computer.

After entering his password, Kieran accessed the surveillance footage of Storage Room No.4.

There was Julie in a sea of file racks, a small white desk in front of her with a silver laptop. She was bent over the desk in a white shirt, phone in hard.

Her hair had fallen onto her forehead from a long day of work. She must have thought she was alone, so she had removed her black heels, stretching out her long legs clad in black pants from under the table, revealing her bare feet.

Kieran began to type on his phone

In the surveillance footage, Julie immediately looked up at her phone when she got the message.

“You said before that to chase a girl, you should bug her. That didn’t work.”

Julie slightly furrowed her brow and replied, “Gifts, flirting, hugging, even forceful kisses? Have you tried all that?”

Forceful kisses? He’d like that.

But he had been rejected before he even started.

“I haven’t tried yet.” Kieran replied. “She might not love me anymore. Hence she wants to escape.”

Saying this, Kieran sent a sad emoji.

Then he looked up at the woman in the surveillance footage. She was holding her phone, suddenly smiling, looking quite happy.

After laughing for a bit, Julie told him, “Maybe your pursuit was too intense. It scared her, Girls need personal space, too. When faced with adversity. most girls initially react is to run away”

“So, Ms. Abraham, any advice?” Kieran sent this message.

Then he looked at the woman on the screen and smiled deeply.

Julie put down her phone and propped her face up with her hands, thinking carefully, then replied, “You should slowly make her aware of your presence. You can spend more time with her suitably, but don’t overdo it. If your ex–wife is the type that needs time to warm up to people, then intense pursuit will only scare her.”

After typing, she rechecked it before hitting send.

If Julie knew that the person on the other end was Kieran and all her advice would eventually be used against her, she’d rather die than answer Kieran’s

question

“You make a lot of sense.” After Kieran said this, he sent Julie another gift card.

He didn’t wait for Julie to reply. He just shut down his computer immediately, grabbed his car keys, and headed for the storage room.