Chapter <b>276 </b>
Noelle almost reflexively refused.
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“Even if I threw a birthday party for Mrs. Garcia, given how things are between you and the Garcias, how could you show up? At that point, not just Joshua, but Mrs. Garcia herself would stop trusting me-pletely. How am I supposed to get my hands on that confidential file then?”
Noelle refused to y the viin here.
Richard didn’t care at all about what Noelle said.
He said, “That’s not my problem. I just need to tell you what I want, and you do whatever it takes to make it happen. Since we’re working together here, I’ll try my best to help you out with what you want, too.”
“No way!” Noelle shot back, her voice rock–solid.
Her stance was unyielding; anyone could see she wasn’t about to back down.
There was a dangerous glint in Richard’s eyes as the smile faded from his lips.
“You’re in no position to refuse,” he said, his voice cold, the danger obvious even behind his gentle facade.
His tone was icy, and though his features seemed soft, there was an unmistakable threat hidden underneath.
Noelle’s mind immediately raced to that doctor just now–for doing nothing worse than failing to bandage Richard’s wound properly, he’d been shed, had his mouth covered, and dragged downstairs, not knowing what fate awaited him.
Richard was just like those ancient nobles who trampled on lives without a second thought–cruel and unstoppable.
The bloody chaos at the Daltonia event kept shing through her mind.
She didn’t dare say no to him again.
With no way out, she hurriedly agreed to Richard and left in a rush.
After Noelle left, Richard’s henchman Holt came back into the room.
“Boss,” Holt greeted.
“Watch Noelle. If she tries to y any tricks, take her out,” Richard said coldly.
“Understood,” Holt replied.
Holt noticed that Richard had already removed the bandage from his arm, and he nced at his boss,
nervous<b>. </b>
“Boss, should I call <b>in </b>another doctor to take care of that for you?” Holt offered.
<b>8:39 </b><b>hu</b><b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>25 </b>
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“No need,” Richard said, staring at the wound. His mind wandered back to yesterday when he brushed close to Noelle–her subtle fragrance had lingered in the air, setting his heart racing like it hadn’t in ages.
A crooked smile formed at the corner of his mouth. “I’m keeping this wound. I’m gonna need it.”
Richard hadn’t shown up to work for three days straight.
Joshua had been chasing after him for three days, and even the receptionist upstairs was starting to suspect Joshua really needed to talk to Richard about something big.
The receptionist was about to reach for the phone to call Richard, but Joshua waved her off, telling her to just let him know when Richard finally showed up.
Xylia used to think Joshua was making a big deal out of nothing.
But now, with Richard skipping work for three days straight, she started to wonder if his wound hadn’t fully healed yet.
She’d only checked in on him a little the day they left the hospital–hadn’t even really asked about his injury.
‘He got hurt because of me. I should at least ask how he’s doing,‘ she thought to herself.
She pulled up her messaging app, tapped on Richard’s chat, and sent him a message.
Richard replied almost instantly, sending her a voice message.
It was a voice message.
Xylia tapped y, and Richard’s gentle voice came through her phone, soft as ever.
“Ms. Sadler, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m okay. The heat’s been messing with my recovery, so I took
a few days off to rest at home. Got the wound cleaned out today–really, I’m fine now.”
Joshua pulled up a swivel chair and sat down at Xylia’s desk, helping her with some paperwork.
He caught Richard’s voice message to Xylia–it was impossible not to hear it.
Joshua looked up from the documents, fixing his gaze on Xylia. His eyes were unmistakably chilly.
Xylia caught Joshua looking at her and furrowed her brow. “What’s up?”
“Did Richard <b>message </b>you?” Joshua asked, his voice cool.
Xylia nodded, handed him her phone, and the two of them listened to the voice message together.
Richard had just sent over a video.
In it, his arm was freshly bandaged, and the trash can beside him was stuffed with used medical supplies and bloody gauze.
“It’s all got pus–looks like his recovery’s been pretty rough these days,” Xylia said, frowning.
Joshua’s brows furrowed higher than ever.
He looked at Xylia. “You care about him?<b>” </b>
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Someone’s seriously jealous right now.
She shot him a look, clearly exasperated. “He got hurt saving me–of course I should ask how he’s doing, no matter what.”
Joshua’s face was even stormier now–you could tell he was seriously annoyed.
Xylia was just about tofort him, but Joshua shoved the phone in front of her and reyed the video Richard had sent.
“Notice anything?” Joshua asked.
Xylia stole a nce at Joshua’s face, then said with yful caution, “Does ‘his hand is kinda attractive‘ count?”
She was pretty much dancing right on Joshua’s jealousyndmine.
As expected, Joshua’s scowl got even thunderier.
Xylia chuckled. “Rx, I’m just messing with you.”
Joshua took a deep breath, forcing down the jealousy boiling inside.
He pointed <i>at </i>the spot in the video where Richard had made sure his abs were on disy.
Xylia leaned in to follow his finger, but before she got a chance to actually see the abs, Joshua’s thumb slid over the screen, blocking it out.
She blinked,pletely lost.
“What?” she asked.
Joshua said, “He’s acting like he’s just sending a quick ‘I’m fine‘ update, but if you pay attention–the pus- stained bandages in the trash, not–so–identally flexing his abs, and that perfect angle for his hand, all screaming ‘look at me‘ and trying to catch your eye.”
When it came to the hand, Joshua gave Xylia a frosty stare.
Xylia couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down her back and unconsciously sat up straighter, as if she’d just been called out.
Joshua finally broke eye contact and went on, “And in that message, he ims he’s okay, but throws in that his wound got infected. If he really wanted you not to worry, there’s no way he’d mention all that.”
To Joshua, it was a ssic scheming move–the whole thing just screamed green tea behavior.
<b>8:39 </b>Thu<b>, </b><b>Sep </b><b>25 </b>
Xylia honestly didn’t notice any of the stuff Joshua was talking about.
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To her, none of it seemed like a big deal–Joshua was just stuck on it because he was jealous, acting all childish.
She let out a helpless sigh and reached to take her phone back.
Before Xylia could even reach for her phone, Joshua snatched it first and deleted the video Richard had sent.
“You’re not allowed to look at him anymore,” Joshua dered, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Okay, okay, I won’t,” Xylia soothed, grabbing her phone back. She sent Richard a polite little reply before putting her phone aside.
“So, do you think my hand looks good?” Joshua’s low voice suddenly murmured right by her ear.
He slid his warm, broad palm into hers, almost unting it–inviting Xylia to get a good look.
Joshua’s hand was beyond attractive–long, elegant fingers, sculpted knuckles, neatly trimmed nails with a subtle pink flush, and veins tracing across the back like mountain ridges, a perfect bnce of grace and strength.
Honestly, sometimes it felt like God just couldn’t help but y favorites when it came to Joshua’s looks.
Some people didn’t just have a gorgeous face–even every limb and every strand of hair was perfect, not a single w anywhere.
Xylia thought Richard’s hand in the video looked good, like it was straight out of aic book, butpared to Joshua’s, it still couldn’t evene close.
“Your hand looks amazing,” she murmured, closing her fingers around Joshua’s and feeling the soft roughness of his palm.
Before Joshua could even say anything, she quickly added, “Honestly, your hand’s way more attractive than Richard’s–hands down.”
Joshua looked pretty pleased with her answer–until, of course, his good mood vanished in the blink of an eye and he was back to brooding.
“Hold
up, are you seriouslyparing me to Richard now?” he grumbled, sounding every bit the jealous boyfriend.
<b>8:40 </b><b>Thu</b><b>, </b><b>Sep 25 </b>