Chapter 14
Angelina couldn’t recall when Isadora would encounter her perverted boss. Logically speaking, Angelina wasn’t supposed to interfere with the plot. But now that she was here, Angelina was no longer a reader who could remain a cold bystander.
Angelina was integrated into the story that had come to life. Knowing what would happen to Isadora, Angelina couldn’t bring herself not to do anything about it.
Just like Chester, Isadora was prideful. Knowing full well that their family was in a bad state, Isadora would try to swallow all the difficulties that she experienced at work, and she wouldn’t talk about it easily.
“Start a business? Doing what?” Isadora asked curiously.
“Anything. You can think about it tonight. We can talk about it over the weekend when you get a break from work.“!
Chester was exhausted and sound asleep. When Angelina went back into the room, Chester had taken up half the space on the bed.
Angelina carefully lay on the edge of the bed. Just as she got in bed, Chester pulled her into his arms. It had been that way for the past few nights. The two would go to bed with a gap between them, but they would wake up in each other’s embrace.
Despite feeling a little suffocated from Chester’s embrace, Angelina closed her eyes and thought to herself, “Well, he’s the husband. As long as he’s happy…”
After all, Chester was the male lead. Angelina couldn’t be too certain to say who was being taken advantage of in this situation.
In recent days, Angelina had been busy spring cleaning. Every day, the items in her room. continue to decrease. As long as Angelina didn’t see those items, she wouldn’t recall the female side character’s crazy past.
After cleaning up, Angelina was left with only about dozens of bags, outfits, and some jewelry. She struggled to sell the jewelry because they were too expensive, but her clothes and bags sold quickly.
On Saturday, only Isadora and Angelina were home. After the two sold the final batch of clothes and bags at a discounted price, Angelina was left with about a million dollars on hand.
The money was a considerable amount of windfall to Angelina. As she recorded her accounts, she observed Isadora, who was busy drawing away.
Isadora’s hobby was fashion design, which she had majored in at university. Not having a dream of her own and wanting to compete with Isadora, the female side character also majored in fashion design, following behind Isadora’s footsteps.
But in comparison to Isadora, the female side character’s designs only exposed her shortcomings. This made the female side character furious, yet she couldn’t do anything about it.
“Isa, let me look at it.”
“Alright. Let me finish it first.”
Isadora was gifted in fashion design. Her casual design draft of a dress looked simple, but it had unique design elements.
“Say, what happened to you?”
“It’s nothing.”
Angelina put her bank card in Isadora’s hand and said, “I have over a million dollars here. You can do whatever you want.”
“Angie, what do you mean by this?”
In the past, before the Whitmores went bankrupt, Isadora had treated fashion design as a hobby. She never thought of earning money off fashion design. Back in the day, the Whitmore family didn’t need Isadora to earn money either.
But now, Isadora had to rely on her fashion design skills to secure a decent job. But the decent job also came with serious internal work politics. In addition to that, many people would bully her for the fact that she was a Whitmore.
“I can’t accept this, Angie. Take it back.”
“Isa, consider this a loan from me. Your mother brought me out of the mountains; without her, I wouldn’t be here today. I might not even have been able to attend middle school, let
my alone university. After I came to Brookhaven, I caused you a lot of trouble due to immaturity. I apologize for that.”
“What are you saying? We’re family. I can’t accept this money. You should take it back.”
Hearing that, Angelina hurriedly grabbed Isadora’s hand and said, “If we can do it ourselves, why would you want to work for other people? Your designs are great, and old–fashioned people like them wouldn’t understand your work With this money, you can start up your own studio and business.”
Angelina could vaguely remember that after Isadora was raped in the novel, she remained depressed for years. But when she was about 30 years old, she suddenly recovered from her
trauma.
At that time, Chester had rebuilt his business and turned the Whitmore family into top–tier aristocrats in Brookhaven. Isadora took money from Chester and started her own studio that specialized in tailor–made clothing. For a very long time, many big names in Brookhaven became her regular customers.
Yet Isadora’s past often resurfaced. No matter what she did, she couldn’t wipe away her tainted memories. Neither the public nor Isadora herself could ever forget it.
Later on, her depression relapsed. On one peaceful night after a fashion event, Isadora jumped from the highest tower in Brookhaven, ending her own life. It had been a bloody scene.
At this moment, Isadora shook her head and said “I can’t accept this. I can’t use your money.”
“I’m leaning it to you. I’m not giving it to you for free! Whether your business succeeds or fails, you must repay me this amount,” said Angelina.
Angelina put the card in Isadora’s hands and then sighed. She said, “You’re a woman. I feel embarrassed that you have to serve other people out there. What kind of role model are you portraying to my child?”
Hearing that, Isadora tightened her grip on the card.
Angelina paused and then continued to say, “Don’t you always boast about how good you are? If you can’t even run a studio, don’t go around telling people that you’re capable. You should just keep your head down and live a quiet life. All that money spent on your fashion design education was a waste.”
“You… Don’t you dare look down on me!”
“Prove it, then. If you’re so capable, set up your own studio,” Angelina said, slamming the door behind her.
As long as Isadora set up her own business, she wouldn’t meet the people from her previous company. That would also mean she wouldn’t get raped by her boss, and everything after wouldn’t follow.
After giving it a good thought, Isadora decided to accept the money from Angelina. Isadora was confident about her designs. Even though she had no experience in running a studio, she had some knowledge of how it should be.
When Isadora resigned, she overheard her colleagues gossiping about her.
“Finally, she’s leaving.”
“The almighty Ms. Whitmore is finally done experiencing life as a regular employee.”
Hearing the laughter inside, Isadora took a deep breath. When she got to the exit, a middle- aged man ran out, chasing after her.
“Mr. Lane…”
“Isadora, why did you resign? Did your colleagues bully you?”
At 40 years old, Richard Lane was one of the investors in the company where Isadora worked. After Isadora joined the company, everyone treated her poorly, except for Richard. He often
invited her to talk in his office, and he took extra care of her.
“No, I just want to start my own business.”
“By yourself? That won’t be easy,” Richard said, sighing.
“Everything starts off hard. But I’ll do my best.”
“It’s good that you have such a mindset. I’m sure you’ll succeed, Isadora.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lane.‘
“Let’s keep in touch. I’ll refer some customers to you. Isadora, I love your designs, but our company is just too small.”
“Don’t say that, Mr. Lane.”
Richard offered his hand, and Isadora shook it.
Richard thought that Isadora’s skin was soft, tender, and alluring. He thought she was pure and innocent, just like a ball of sunshine.
“Let’s meet again, Isadora. Contact me if you need any help.”
“Got it, Mr. Lane. Thank you.”
Out of respect for an elder, Isadora respectfully said to Richard, “Thank you for your care during this time, Mr. Lane.”
