d the phone.
Zarek answered the phone.
At the same time, he waved dismissively at the executives in his office–a casual gesture tinged with indifference.
The group fled as if they’d been granted a reprieve.
Standing there another second felt like they might need ventilators.
They were beginning to realize, with growing alarm, that the “prince” who had been abroad all this time hadn’t been merely coasting on his family name and good looks. He hadn’t just been building his reputation in London on family connections and resources while secretly lacking talent.
They had assumed they could easily outmaneuver him with minimal effort.
Instead… they were being humiliated one after another.
Rex stood in the corner of the office, looking utterly bewildered.
“Ms. Whitmore? What is it?” Zarek held the phone to his ear, his tone characteristically mild.
“I was supposed to return to work the day after tomorrow, and my leg is healing well,” Charlotte said. “But I need to visit my grandmother… I’d like to take another week off.”
Her voice sounded completely normal. Only someone listening carefully could detect anything unusual, but Zarek knew she was barely holding it together.
Zarek was silent for a few seconds.
“You’re getting quite addicted to skipping work. Are you planning to milk this injury indefinitely?”
“No, that’s not—‘
“I expect you in the office the day after tomorrow.”
“Just five days-”
“Not even half a day. I want to see you at your desk the day after tomorrow morning.”
Charlotte went quiet for a few seconds.
Finally, she seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon, her voice dropping. “I’m sorry. I had no idea divorce would become so complicated. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have applied for this job so impulsively and caused you all this trouble. Just give me five more days, and I promise I’ll sort everything out. Otherwise…
“Otherwise what?” Zarek prompted.
“People will start talking about you too.”
The Moment I Let Go My Dicle: Escaping the Forbidden Past
Chapter 81
The situation had been escalating for nearly three hours now. It was unlikely he was still unaware.
She wasn’t confident she could turn public opinion around in just two days.
If she showed up at Dominex now, constantly seen with Zarek, the rumors about him would multiply too.
“Ah, so that’s what you’re worried about.”
Zarek sounded like he’d had a revelation, then abruptly changed the subject. “How do you plan to handle this? Do you have a strategy?”
After a five second pause, Charlotte answered concisely: “Tight fire with fire. Negotiate.”
Zarck: “…?”
He sighed, as if overwhelmed with mixed emotions. “Ms. Whitmore, you’re scaring me.”
Charlotte explained: “I don’t usually operate this way, but they’ve gone too far. They’re forcing me to play hardball.”
“What scares me is your blind confidence,” he clarified.
“You’re intelligent–surely you can see that the Granthams are the ones pushing Amanda to do this? What makes you think you can take on two of New York’s most powerful families alone?”
“I have my methods,” she replied stubbornly.
“Charlotte, courage is admirable, but it’s no substitute for actual power. A unicorn charging into a pride of lions is just a sacrifice.”
“Even if it’s a sacrifice, I’ll take down the mastermind first. If I have to go down with them, so be it!”
Charlotte regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, realizing how reckless they sounded.
Zarek’s expression turned serious.
His sudden shift in demeanor was so palpable that Charlotte could sense his anger through the phone.
“I’m sorry,” she backpedaled. “That was stupid.”
Zarek’s features softened slightly. “You’re my employee now. You represent me and my company. Come to work as scheduled, and I’ll find a way to resolve this situation. How does that sound?”
His voice held an almost hypnotic quality.
It conveyed that with just a nod from her, even the most daunting hems would be effortlessly solved.
Charlotte had no doubt he possessed that ability.
He was Zarek Weasley, after all.
Having such a powerful figure looking out for her felt like being handed a ticket to Noah’s Ark during the
The Moment I Let Go My Uncle: Escaping the Forbidden Past
Tape
apocalypse. It was he being too generous?
Even if he enjoyed helping others, even if she had proven her worth during the Portugal inspection, even if she was “his person“Wait, his person?
Her face flushed instantly
Summer’s teasing comments and his ambiguous words from last night circled in her mind, dropping bombs of confusion.
After a long silence, Zarek prompted, “Still thinking about it?”
“Lappreciate your offer, but I’ll handle this myself! Thank you! Goodbye!”
Charlotte rushed through her response and hung up.
Zarek:“”
He stared at his phone thoughtfully. After a moment, understanding seemed to dawn on him, and his expressive eyes dimmed, as if covered by a thick layer of dust.
Meanwhile,
Charlotte clutched her phone for a full five minutes before her heartbeat finally steadied.
Thinking carefully about his behavior, while he had been kind to her… had he actually shown any romantic interest?
She was reading too much into things.
It was impossible!
He didn’t even like women!
SLAM!
The front door banged shut.
Summer was back.
She’d had a court case this morning that ended after noon.
The proceedings hadn’t gone well. The opposing side had presented new evidence, forcing her to request a recess. Afterward, she’d had lunch with her client, then found a nearby cafe to discuss strategy.
By the time she saw Amanda’s statement, it was nearly one o’clock.
She had planned to return to her office but came straight home instead.
“Has Amanda completely lost her mind?” She flung her briefcase aside, her young face creased with a deep frown.
The Moment 1 Let Go My Uncle Escaping the Forbidden Past.
Chapter R
Charlotte collected herself.
Clearing her head of the jumbled thoughts, she responded, “It’s definitely strange.”
Summer folded her arms, pacing in front of the sofa. “If she can release a statement, so can we. What we have is even more explosive than her garbage. But once we do this, you and Issac won’t have any dignity left between you.”
Charlotte’s eyes gradually hardened to ice. “The Woods didn’t leave me any dignity either.”
Summer sat on the sofa. “What I’m saying is, Issac might not have known about today’s statement. No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t make sense for him to be so contradictory. You two shared eight good years together…”
“Even if he didn’t do it personally,” Charlotte countered, “Isn’t he still responsible for creating this mess?”
“It’s not that I didn’t want to end things civilly. If he had just agreed to the divorce properly, we wouldn’t have all these complications. Everything I’ve done, everything Evelyn’s done, everything Amanda’s done–he pushed us all to this point. Shouldn’t he hear the consequences?”
Summer fell silent.
After a moment, she nodded. “Alright. Then we hit back, no holds barred. I’m your divorce lawyer and your best friend. I’ll speak for you.”
They immediately got to work.
They listed the points to refute, the attacks to make, and the evidence to present.
Just as they were ready to record a video response on their phone, the doorbell rang.
“T’ll get it,” Summer said.
She went to the door and peeked through the peephole.
Issac.
He had the nerve to show up!
Her initial surge of anger quickly gave way to calculated calm. She turned on her phone’s recording function and tucked it under a sofa cushion, giving Charlotte a meaningful look before going to open the door.
T
