SWNOVELS Chapter 111
Looking at the beautiful, cold woman in front of her, the receptionist quickly dialed Miles" number with her trembling finger and told him what was happening.
Not even five minutes later, Miles came out of the elevator looking flustered when he saw Cherise striding toward him. “Young Ma-"
“Stop calling me that,” Cherise snapped and entered the elevator. It was Hudson's private elevator, which would bring them straight to Hudson's floor.
She was already angry, and now she was fuming because of how Hudson's receptionist and Miles had called her.
How dared he ask them to call her by that title now, she thought.
When they were married, all of his employees did not even spare her a glance, much less greeted her when she came to bring him lunch.
But now he wanted them to acknowledge her as his wife when they were already divorced? What a joke, she thought.
Miles wanted to cry because Hudson had threatened to fire him if he didn't call Cherise by that title. So he opted it out and instead told her, “Mr. Hudson is currently in a meeting.”
Cherise turned a deaf ear, and when the elevator opened on Hudson's floor, she went straight toward the conference room, her pointy heels clicking along the otherwise silent corridor, with Miles following right behind her.
“Y-Young Madam, please; Miles begged her. He never knew their Young Madam could be as cold as their boss!
Cherise ignored him and the secretaries, who were all looking curiously at her because no one would have thought she would ever come to the Amery Group and also because of how much she had changed.
She grabbed the handle of the conference room door and swung it open with enough force to slam it loudly against the wall or rattle it if it was made from wood. Luckily, the conference room's glass walls were thick, or they would have been shattered by the force.
Hudson and the shareholders who were having a meeting all turned toward the door and were shocked to see Cherise looking so enraged.
“Hudson Amery, how dare you hand me those two projects freely!”
The shareholders were shocked as they had discussed this issue during the meeting. They thought they had lost, but it turned out their CEO had given those projects away to the Alster Group!
Hudson frowned, not expecting this turn of events or Cherise’s reaction, which was the opposite of what he wanted it to be. Shouldn't she be happy they landed the projects?
“Clear the room,” he commanded, and the shareholders knew better than to disobey him, although he was younger than them. Hudson was so domineering that even if they wanted to stay in the room, their bodies moved by themselves toward the door.
Cherise was still standing in the doorway, staring dagger at Hudson, but everyone quickly went around her to leave the room.
Once they were alone, Hudson reached out to pull her in, but she jerked herself away from him. She walked a few steps into the room and turned around swiftly to glare at her ex- husband, who was closing the door behind him.
“Cherise,” Hudson said cautiously.
Cherise folded her arms and spat out, “Do you enjoy, Hudson? Do you enjoy pitying me to the point you need to hand over projects to me? Projects that we are supposed to compete to get?”
Hudson frowned, shaking his head. “I did it because I want to make you happy. I did you wrong when we were married, and I thought giving you those two projects would be-"
Cherise laughed, the sound full of mocking. “Would be what, Hudson? A compensation for all the time you ignored me or abused me verbally?”
“I-" Hudson didn’t know how to answer.
“And why would you think I would want compensation from you? I didn’t want any when I divorced you, and I sure as heck do not want it when I'm the Alster heiress now; Cherise smirked. “I have more money and resources than you."
“Or do you still think I'm the same helpless woman as back then?” Her smirk vanished, her eyes narrowed, and her aura turned frosty.
Hudson swallowed nervously without realizing it. He had never felt nervous when facing anyone, but when facing Cherise, it felt like he was walking on thin ice. One wrong word or move would make her hate him even more, and that wasn't his goal.
“I just want you to be happy, Cherise,” Hudson finally said helplessly.
Cherise laughed mockingly again. “And you think by pitying me or treating me like a charity case will make me happy?” Then she smirked, “Or are you scared you won't get those projects if we compete?”
At the challenge, his nervousness disappeared, and his arrogance appeared. He arched an eyebrow and asked, “Do you want to compete fairly?”
“I should've known you'd still look down on me,” Cherise sneered. Did he think he could win easily?
“No, I don't,” Hudson replied hurriedly. From the moment she severed Angelworld Jewelry's contract with La Jewel, he knew he would never look down on her anymore.
“Then never give me any projects freely” Cherise snarled. “I don’t need your pity or charity." She turned to leave, only to feel her wrist being grabbed.
“Cherise, wait!”
She turned around and glared at his hand, and Hudson surprisingly let her go.
Cherise tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for him to say whatever else he had to say.
“You and Theodoro Kingston... What's your relationship with him?” Hudson asked.
Cherise narrowed her eyes at him again. Was this going to be a common occurrence whenever she got close to a man?
“Not that it is any of your business, but he’s my new business partner,’ Cheride replied. “And I'm warning you not to do anything to him or his company.”
Hudson felt his heart being stabbed by an invisible knife when he heard how protective she was toward Theodore.
“Is that how you see me, Cherise?" he asked with a hoarse voice. “Someone who will harm others without reason?”
“Who knows?" Cherise scoffed. “You hurt me during our marriage because of your twisted prejudice without ever trying to get to know me. And do not ask your employees to call me “Madam’ anymore. It's disgusting”
Then Cherise turned, opened the door, and walked away. This time, Hudson let her go, rubbing his face with his hands.
He let out a self-deprecating laugh. Why did everything he did, his every effort to make her happy, do the opposite instead? He shook his head and knew the answer in his heart.
Cherise was the Alster heiress and a proud woman. She would not like to be handed something as big as a project on a silver platter. She would prefer to get it using her own strength. Hudson quickly called Miles and told him to call those two companies and cancel their withdrawal. If competing fairly would make Cherise happy, then that was what he was going to give her.
Cherise went back to her office and buried herself in work, only telling Neil that she was okay with the Amery Group wanting those two tenders again.
Theo arrived to take her to dinner and while she was still being a gracious host and leader to the two teams, Theo could feel that her mood was off.
“Cherise, are you alright?” he asked when he drove her home.
“I'm fine," Cherise smiled at him. She had seen how he interacted with the team members, and everyone seemed to like him.
The team members from his and her sides also got along perfectly. She had a strong feeling their cooperation would be more successful than she initially thought.
Theo wanted her to pour out her problems to him, to let him be her shoulder to lean on, but he knew not to rush her.
“Cherise, could I ask for a little help?” he asked instead.
“Of course,” Cherise replied. Theo had been nothing but gentle and nice to her. Why wouldn't she help him? “What can I help you with?”
“I'm thinking of having my sister move here with me so that we could be close to each other," he said. “I'd like your help in finding out colleges that still accept applictions since I've only been here for a very short while.”
Cherise couldn't help but smile and asked him, “You love your sister so much, don't you?” Theo kept his gaze on the road, but a tender smile appeared on his face. “It's always been only the two of us.” Then he gave her a quick glance before focusing on the road again. “Do you think it's weird to be that close to one sister?” he embarrassedly asked.