The mysterious man''s voice lingered like a whispering breeze, "Just hang on a bit. You haven''t seen the whole of me yet, and I''m not ready to meet you like this."


    When ra woke up, the room swirled around her. She felt like she was on a rollercoaster, her head heavy and her feet unsteady.


    First things first, she called Calix to check on things over there. Once she heard that everything was under control, she let out a sigh of relief.


    Then she tackled the main issue: seeing if Hugh could be moved somewhere else.


    Calix paused for a moment before saying, "The folks from Ferguson Corporation stopped by this morning. I agreed to transfer Hugh to a bigger hospital. Honestly, the only reason he stayed here this long was because of you."


    ra felt a wave of gratitude wash over her.


    When she arrived at Ferguson Corporation, she caught wind of the top-floor chatter about the project. Someone threw out a snidement, "ra alwaysnds on her feet. She can make anything work."


    "Well, she''s got the looks. Being pretty is her trump card," another added with a smirk.


    ra couldn''t help butugh. She rapped her knuckles on the desk in front of her, "Sure, beauty''s a nice card to have, but you need more than that. My sess is thanks to my widework and high IQ."


    Her colleague was caught off guard by her candidness, turning beet red. The rest of the room quickly went back to their tasks, avoiding eye contact.


    ra figured they were just startled until she turned and spotted Dn and a group of execs standing there.


    Her earlierment was loud enough for everyone to catch.


    Dn shot her a quick look, his eyes scanning her face, and said simply, "You''ll get a raise."


    ra took a deep breath, holding her ground, "Thank you, Mr. Dn."


    After Dn and his team moved on, she caught his soft chuckle, so faint that a few of the higher-ups nced her way, intrigued.


    Soon enough, she got the official notice from HR about her raise. Dn was known for his generosity in these matters.


    ra felt a surge of satisfaction.


    However, that quickly vanished when she saw Quinn walk into Ferguson Corporation. Her good mood evaporated instantly.


    Quinn had been to the top floor before, but the look on her face when she saw ra was like she''d seen a ghost.


    Simon hadn''t filled her in, so Quinn didn''t know ra wasn''t dead. She only knew Simon had been swampedtely, barely sparing her a moment.


    She hadn''t thought much of it, figuring with ra supposedly gone, Simon had


    free rein to do whatever, even if it meant bringing in some spiritual guru.


    So seeing ra in the flesh made Quinn blurt out, "How are you still alive?!"


    Her voice wavered, her expression flipping like a switch.


    ra was taken aback by Quinn''s perfectly done makeup. With Simon out of the officetely, who was Quinn trying to impress?


    Quinn quickly gathered herself, tears springing to her eyes. "Since you''re alive, why haven''t you reached out to the Bradford family? Everyone''s been worried sick. Dad''s been bedridden."


    Her voice grew more emotional until a senior exec gently nudged her, "Ms. Bradford, let''s focus on the business at hand."


    Quinn dabbed at her tears. "ra, we''ll catch up after I''m done here."


    With that, she walked into Dn''s office, head held high.


    ra sat there, watching in silence. The people with Quinn were likely top brass


    from Bradford Group. Were they teaming up with Ferguson Corporation?


    Ferguson Corporation only dealt with the big leagues, and if there were a partnership, she would''ve heard about it ages ago.


    Handling most of the deals at Ferguson Corporation, ra figured she would know if something was up.


    She pondered over it, and decided to knock on Dn''s office door. "Come in."


    Dn was by the floor-to-ceiling windows, engrossed in documents.


    Quinn stood across from his polished marble desk, about six feet away, still trying to cast her charm.