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Reba stared at him, wondering if he was being honest. This was the third time he had said it, and after nearly dying to save her this time, all he wanted was for her to talk things through with Jeffrey.
She wondered, ‘<b>Is </b>this still the Stephen I know?‘
She didn’t really know him, and based on what Jeffrey had told her before, Stephen wasn’t usually this considerate.
“I get why you’re worried, and I know you might think I’m taking advantage of you,” Stephen said, seeing through Reba’s thoughts. “I swear I’m not. All I want is a fairpetition with him.”
“I’m sorry,” Reba refused. “Thank you for saving me, but I can’t agree to this.”
Love wasn’t something to negotiate, and she refused to be influenced by Stephen’s words. Only her own feelings mattered.
Stephen said in a calm tone, “You don’t need to apologize. I saved you purely because I know how important you are to Jeffrey. If anything happened to you, he’d go crazy.”
Reba remained silent.
Stephen sounded utterly sincere, and Reba couldn’t spot any hint of deception.
“It’ste. You should head back to the office,” Stephen said, ncing at his watch. “We’ll talk about thister.”
“I have one more question,” Reba said, trying to probe him a little.
“Go ahead,” Stephen said politely.
“What does Jeffrey mean to you?” Reba asked, sounding more serious than before. She wanted to figure out if Stephen had been honest.
Stephen chuckled softly.
Reba was puzzled.
Stephen said frankly, “Honestly, I don’t know him that well. The only thing I’m certain of is that he cares about you deeply.”
Reba fell silent. She suddenly realized why Jeffrey had kept telling her to watch out for Stephen. Despite being cautious, she found herself affected by Stephen’s honest words andposed demeanor.
“Alright, you should go back,” Stephen urged.
Reba nodded and made some small talk before heading off.
On the subway ride back, she was lost in thought. She went over the details carefully but still couldn’t figure out Stephen’s true motives.
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ording to Jeffrey, the chandelier crash was all Stephen’s doing. She thought, ‘Wasn’t he afraid the n might go wrong? What if he died in the incident?‘
She went back to the office still pondering, and as soon as she sat down, Jane handed her 15 thousand along with a dishwasher voucher. “This <b>is </b>the reward forst night’s performance.”
Reba’s eyes lit up. She quickly looked at the cash and realized it was more than she had anticipated.
Without hesitation, she took out a few bills and handed them to Jane. “Each team member gets 3,000 dors. I’ll sell the dishwasherter and share the money equally.”
Jane said, “You’re way too kind. I’ll just take 3,000 dors and share it with them. You handled the program and the key parts. Without you, we wouldn’t have won this prize.”
“Take it,” Reba said firmly, handing her the cash. “Without you, I couldn’t have created such an amazing program. You deserve this.”
Jane nced at E. They didn’t want to waste time arguing, so they just took it.
Before taking it, they said to Reba, “Thanks. You should keep the dishwasher. It belongs to you, and we’ve got our part already.”
“Alright,” Reba agreed cheerfully.
In the afternoon, she asked some colleagues in the group chat if anyone needed the dishwasher, mentioning she could sell it at a discount. She posted it, but half an hour passed with no one showing interest.
In the end, Reba listed it on a resale site with the model number. The original price was about 10 thousand, but she put it up for 8 thousand dors.
She didn’t need the dishwasher anyway; she’d rather have some cash.
“Are you really going to sell it?” Jane asked, seeing the post.
“Yeah, I don’t need it anyway,” Reba replied.
Jane pursed her lips but said nothing.
Soon, Jeffrey at the Hanson Group found out about it. Seeing Reba’s post on the Primey Forum, he felt slightly displeased.
Just then, Gregory called. “Hi, Mr. Hanson.”
“What is it?” Jeffrey said, holding the phone, his tone a bit serious.
Gregory reported, “Ms. Jensen went to Mr. Stephen Hanson’s ward at noon. They talked for over ten minutes<b>.</b><b>” </b>
Jeffrey asked, “Do you know what they talked about?”
Gregory replied, “No. There’s no surveince in the ward.”
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Jeffrey fiddled with his pen and stayed quiet for a moment, then said, “Keep an eye on them. Tell me in
advance next time.”
“Got it,” Gregory said.
After hanging up, Jeffrey fiddled with his phone. A bitter, he texted Stanley. [Have you figured out anything about Reba’s mother?]
Stanley: [Nope. No leads at all.]
Jeffrey: [Bring her back to check on it.]
Stanley: [What? You’ve finally made a decision, huh? Well, I’ll text herter.]
Jeffrey sighed. He really didn’t want to call her back unless he had to. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than an unknown call came through. Without hesitation, he answered.
“Stanley said you wanted me toe back to help investigate someone,” someone said in azy, casual voice with a hint of mischief. It was Riley Smith.
Jeffrey said, “Yeah.”
Riley said, “Are you sure?”
Jeffrey replied, “Absolutely.”
Riley said, “Okay, I’ll head back immediately.”
She hung up swiftly, regardless of whether Jeffrey caught that or not.
Jeffrey rubbed his forehead, trying to calm his messy thoughts. To find out what Reba discussed with Stephen without surveince, he had to rely on this genius hacker.
After all, Stephen’s guards were everywhere in the ward. There was no way anyone could listen in.
Reba had no idea Jeffrey was constantly watching Stephen. By five in the afternoon, no one had responded to her dishwasher post. Just as she was about to delete it, however, someone showed up.
“Reba, Derek came over.
Reba paused her work and looked up. “What is it?”
“I saw your post selling the dishwasher voucher,” Derek said hesitantly. Once he noticed no one was watching, he added in a low voice, “Could you sell it to me?”
Reba was surprised.
Derek pulled out his phone. “I’ll give you 9 thousand dors, and you give me back 1,000 dors. Is that okay?”
Reba looked even more puzzled.
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“Deal?” Derek asked.
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“Of course, but-” Reba didn’t really care who she sold it to. She just felt confused. “Why not just give me 8 thousand dors?<b>” </b>
“Don’t overthink it,” Derek said, opening his e–wallet. “Just give me your bank ount.”
Reba didn’t press further. She did as he asked.
She received 9 thousand dors and immediately returned 1,000 dors to him.
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