Ch. 716..720: Divorced My Scum Husband, Married His Evil brother Chapter 716-720
Chapter 716
Chloe's cheeks blushed instantly, "P—Pervert!"
Vernon chuckled. She glanced at the plastic bag in Chloe's hand and asked, "So, what do you want to do with half of her ashes? Throw it to the trash can?"
Chloe shook her head, "I have another idea in mind."
"Oh?" Vernon raised his brow. "And what kind of idea is that? Tell me."
"You told me before that Vincent wants to do a press conference to clear him out of the malicious rumors, right?" Chloe asked, and Vernon nodded. Indeed, he told Chloe that Vincent was about to clear his name using a formal press conference and was doing something to stop it.
"Do you know when Vincent will hold that press conference?" Chloe asked more.
"Three days from now," Vernon replied. He sighed. He was ashamed because he was yet to find a good way to ruin Vincent's press conference. "Look, I'm sorry that I haven't found a good way to ruin it. I was thinking about bribing the reporters, so they will begin to give him many uncomfortable questions until he snaps. It's the best way to publicly shame him, because I know that he doesn't have the patience to handle harsh questions."
"Hmm, I think you underestimate him a bit, Vernon," Chloe said. "He doesn't have patience most of the time. But he cares a lot about his public image. He will do everything to keep his image good in front of the people."
"There have been times where he's very unstable, yet he's still able to pull off that perfect man image when he was doing an interview for a business magazine," Chloe said. "So I've come up with a plan."
"And what's the plan?" Vernon anticipated eagerly.
"Since I know that he'll be able to pull off that perfect gentleman image in the public, then let's shock his mind the night before the press conference, so he will be too distracted, frustrated, and angry at the questions given by the reporters. It will be a good scene since the press conference will probably be broadcasted live in the morning news and on the internet."
"And we happen to have the best thing to give him the shock of his life," Chloe raised the plastic bag in her hand and then said, "Maria has been his anchor in life. He can survive so far because Maria is on his side. She's the loyal dog of the Gray family, and once she's gone, Vincent will grow weary and unstable. Because he's so used to getting help from Maria in almost everything."
"Vernon, I need you to send this plastic bag to Vincent's mansion. Make sure that he will open it right on the night before the press conference," Chloe instructed. "And give me a paper and pen now. I will be the one who writes a note for him."
**
Vincent sighed as he had to enter his office again this morning. He knew he'd have a difficult day at work since the Gray Company was in crisis right now because the rumors didn't die after Christmas and New Year.
In fact, it got even worse.
People had so much time on their hands, and the case of Chelsea Davis and the involvement of Vincent Gray was like a hot topic in various social media.
Chelsea Davis' crime was so severe, and the fact that it involved a billionaire was too crazy for everyone to miss.
The lipstick advertisement in the New York Times Square only made it even worse because now everyone has begun to craft some crazy theory.
Nevertheless, that cosmetic release was a total failure that cost millions of dollars for the company.
And the nail in the coffin was the case with the boys and his wife.
Since the poor boys were with Vincent's wife right now, that meant Vincent and his wife weren't on good terms, and they were most likely already going their own way.
It was a big sensation because the public had always seen Vincent Gray as a perfect man who loved his wife and daughter so much that he didn't even want to show their faces in public.
With all this pressure, the company's stock went downhill to a critical level, sending panic through the whole company. In fact, it was so bad that almost 80% of his long-term business partners already cut their contracts or decided not to renew them with the Gray company, making it impossible for Vincent to recover unless he did something to restore his public image.
Meanwhile, Vincent could only ignore them all as he didn't want to listen to the same complaints over and over.
"Things will get solved tomorrow," he told himself. "I will do a press conference, and answer everything, so people's opinion will be on my side again after this."
Vincent was busy in his office, reading document after document that he had to do all by himself because he lacked a secretary.
Usually, these were things that Maria did. It was Maria who read the documents and passed the important ones to him, but now that old woman was nowhere to be found, and she was also uncontactable, which was weird because she'd usually told Vincent again if some people were after her.
After all, Maria had a lot of enemies, so she also needed constant protection from Vincent's men.
"Did something happen to her?" Vincent wondered. But then he warded off the idea. "No, no, that's impossible. She's smart and sly. She will find a way to get out of a difficult situation no matter what. Maybe she's in hiding right now, all I need to do is to wait for her to return and try to endure this."
However, no matter how hard he tried to endure, he realized that he wouldn't be able to work like a dog. He simply wasn't used to working so hard at all.
So he had already told the HR department to find him a new secretary as a placeholder until Maria returned.
Right when he was thinking about the new secretary, there was a knock on the door, and the man outside said, "Excuse me, Sir, I'm here with your new Secretary that will start working today."
Share to your friends
Chapter 717
"Excuse me, Sir, I'm here with your new Secretary that will start working today."
"Oh, let her in!" Vincent shouted. He was actually excited to see what kind of woman would be his secretary. He hadn't hired a new young and beautiful secretary after Priscilla left, mostly because he was too busy searching for Chloe and swamped with work.
Maria also told him not to find another woman for a while because he wasn't in the best mental state after Chloe left.
Which was, unfortunately, true.
He hated to admit it, but Vincent felt that his sanity slowly deteriorated as Chloe was missing in his life.
He didn't know that Chloe could make such a huge impact on him. He thought that Chloe was a deadweight, a useless woman he cared for because he was a generous man.
After all, Chloe hadn't done anything significant in life. She was just a housewife who could cook and spread her legs. She had no more use!
'But why do I feel so empty?' Vincent asked himself over and over each time he remembered about Chloe. 'She's just a replaceable woman that hadn't contributed a thing in my life. I shouldn't think about her, right?'
At first, he was sure he could move on quickly.
But reality hit him hard once he realized he couldn't take her off his mind. Chloe was like a parasite that latched into his mind and heart, refusing to leave, and it only got Vincent even angrier than before.
The door was slowly opened from outside, and the long-awaited secretary finally came in, and her appearance shocked Vincent so much.
"What in the—"
The male secretary introduced the new secretary, "Mr. Gray, this is Miss Khloe Carpenter. She is twenty-five years old and she's a fresh graduate from Yale."
The young woman bowed politely and added, "You can call me Khloe, Mr. Gray. I'll start working from today. The HR department already told me everything that I need to do here."
Vincent wasn't sure if he was crazy, but this woman was Priscilla. Yes, that bitch Priscilla he kicked a while ago.
Her face was the same. The only difference was her eye and hair color.
Priscilla was a blonde with blue eyes.
But this woman had long and wavy chestnut hair alongside hazel eyes.
In Vincent's eyes, this woman was trying to copy Chloe's signature chestnut hair and hazel eyes alongside her meek demeanor, but of course, she couldn't fool him.
She was Priscilla! Not Chloe or Khloe!
Vincent looked at the male secretary while holding his anger, "Why did you bring this bitch into my office?"
"P—Pardon, Sir?" The male secretary was shocked, but Khloe didn't seem to be surprised at all.
"This bitch is Priscilla, my old secretary. Do you really think that I'm fucking blind?!"
The Male secretary trembled in fear instantly. His face paled, but he stood still and tried to defend himself, "N—No, Sir. They might look similar, but we have all the proof that this woman is NOT Priscilla. We hired her because she has the qualification, she's gorgeous, young, and smart. She's everything you need, Sir!"
Vincent was so angry at this bastard who dared to play him like this.
He was about to snap again, but the young lady, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke up, "Mr. Gray, my name is Khloe Carpenter. I don't know who this Priscilla is, but having a similar facial feature doesn't mean we're the same people."
"Besides, I really want to work in this office, Mr. Gray! You have been my inspiration to work hard. I always think about you whenever I feel sad, because I know there's someone as great as you in this world, so I have to at least try to be just like you!"
Vincent was stunned by this young woman's words. She had the face and voice of Priscilla, but the way she spoke was very different from that bitch.
This young lady was soft-spoken, and it seemed genuine when she said she wanted to be just like him.
So he began to doubt himself whether this person was Priscilla or not.
He darted his eyes to the male secretary and asked, "Are you sure her name is Khloe, not Priscilla?"
"I'm 100% sure, Sir!" The male secretary replied eagerly. "The head of the HR department has checked all the data and he said that her name is indeed Khloe Carpenter, not Priscilla. They just have a very similar facial feature."
Vincent peered suspiciously at this woman and asked, "Do you have any siblings?"
"No, Sir. I'm an only child," Khloe replied. She lowered her head ashamedly and said, "I'm sorry if my appearance doesn't suit your taste, Sir. I'm just here to work, I have no intention to make you uncomfortable."
"…" Vincent sighed. He didn't know if his eyes had been tricking him or whatsoever. Nevertheless, he couldn't simply throw this woman out since she seemed genuinely inexperienced and just wanted to work.
'Usually I'd be excited to have this kind of secretary. They're usually very naive and would give their body to me with only a few sweet words coming out of my mouth,' Vincent thought. 'But why do I feel wary about this woman? This woman is not Priscilla, right?'
"Alright, you'll start working with me from now on," Vincent said.
Khloe's face brightened instantly, and she nodded happily, "Thank you so much, Sir!"
Vincent sighed and told the male secretary to leave now while Khloe could stay with him and did the paper.
"You can take all of these documents and read them on your desk outside. Just give me the documents that come from our business partners and ignore the rest, there is a stamp that shows the document is from a partner, understand?" Vincent said.
"Yes, Sir, I will work hard!"
Khloe hurriedly grabbed a thick stack of documents on the CEO's desk and tried her best to carry them all at once as she excused herself.
Vincent watched Khloe from the back. He still couldn't ignore this eerie feeling in his heart telling him that woman was Priscilla.
But the way they spoke was very different.
Priscilla had that bitchy aura in her, she spoke like she was the queen, and she didn't care about whatever people said about her as long as she was with Vincent.
He merely saw her as a fun pet. She was bitchy, funny, and loud because she was very different from Chloe, who was meek and submissive. She was also wild in bed, which spiced up his sex life compared to when he was with Chloe.
Though, he already forgot when was the last time he did it with Chloe. He got used to beating her up while having sex with another woman for the past ten years, to the point that he had forgotten what it felt like to be with her.
Vincent sighed. He tried not to think about Chloe.
But the more he tried to ward her off his thoughts, the harder it was to escape her.
"Argh, let's just forget about her for now. I still have a lot to do. I don't want the company that my dad has worked for his entire life to crumble just because of a stupid rumor!"
Vincent gritted his teeth as he felt wronged by the world. He was obviously very powerful to the point that he was almost untouchable. How could everything have turned into a mess after Chloe left him? It didn't make sense at all!
"Just you wait, Chloe Gray. I will bring you back, and you will beg after making me a laughing stock like this!"
Thus, Vincent worked the whole day with only one goal in mind, and that was to make sure that everything would return to normal and that the public would be back worshiping him again.
He walked out of his office after a long day, passed the secretary's desk, and realized that Khloe was still working on the documents.
After all, there was so much for her to read because Maria had been absent for a while, and thus she had to do everything.
"Why are you still working at this hour?" Vincent asked.
"Ah, Mr. Gray!" Khloe got up from the desk and bowed politely. "I just finished half of the documents. I'm so sorry that I cannot finish it all on time."
"It's fine," Vincent said. He wanted to snap at this young lady for being slow, but the way she acted so meek and pitiful reminded him of Chloe, and somehow he lost his will to get angry. "Just resume it tomorrow."
"I—I will try to finish it tonight, Sir. I will bring this to my apartment, or I'll just work overtime!" Khloe said with sincerity, which made Vincent uncomfortable because she reminded him so much of Chloe, who always showed that sincere look no matter how often he abused her.
Chapter 718
Vincent got so distracted by the idea that Chloe worked as his secretary because this woman's demeanor was very similar to his wife's.
They both had that sincerity and meekness that gave him a sense of control. It also gave him the sense that she could do everything to her without repercussions.
He then began to recall when Chloe asked if she could be the secretary in his office.
She wanted to help him and said she would work hard to support him as the CEO. She insisted on this for at least three years of their marriage, to which Vincent always replied with a big no.
No matter what, he would never allow Chloe to be his secretary because of two reasons.
First, he would feel that he was being watched over by her since he'd spent a lot of time fucking so many women in his office.
Second, he knew that Chloe was a slut. She was born as a lowly woman from a poor family. She was, at best, a maid if she wasn't pretty. Vincent knew that she would turn into a prostitute every time she saw another rich man, and he didn't want to cheat because a woman who cheats is disgusting.
What about him? Of course, not! He is a man! He had the right to cheat with so many women as long as he had the money!
"Mr. Gray? Sir? Are you alright?"
Vincent snapped out of his daze when Khloe called his name. He stared at the young woman and said, "You don't need to finish everything tonight, just do it tomorrow."
"Ah—uhm, o—okay, Sir," Khloe said meekly. "Then I'll prepare myself to go home."
Vincent nodded and then walked into the elevator.
He didn't know what was wrong with him. Usually, he'd take advantage of women who were so meek and naive like this.
But this woman reminded him so much of Chloe, and somehow he didn't want to hurt her.
"Maybe I've grown too soft. If only Chloe is here, I'd just beat her up so I can feel powerful again, then I don't need to worry about fucking a woman who looks and acts similar to her," Vincent reasoned.
He drove his car through the busy street of New York and reached his mansion in a gated area. The mansion's garden was still well-maintained. Everything still looked perfect from the outside.
But the inside was a mess.
Since Vincent had so many outbursts, many maids were too scared to go near him. They were afraid that they'd get beaten up by him, and there was no more Mrs. Gray, who would soak all the damage, acting like their shield whenever the maids made a mistake, and Mr. Gray would beat his wife instead.
It was truly hell when Mrs. Gray wasn't around.
'If only Mrs. Gray is still in the mansion, we don't need to face such a scary man as our Boss…' the maids grieved in unison.
Vincent ignored all the maids and went straight to the master bedroom. He had gotten lazier to do anything these days. All he wanted to do was to sleep, so he could at least forget about Chloe, even for a few hours.
Though, it didn't seem to work that well because he was still dreaming about Chloe every time he closed his eyes. This was like a mental torture that he hated so much.
Vincent entered the master bedroom. He took off his shirt and threw himself onto the bed, trying to rest after such a long, stressful day.
He wanted to sleep early because he'd have to wake up early tomorrow morning for his press conference.
He had invited many news reporters from various media to come and interview him. He has prepared for everything and already told himself that he needed to endure whatever bullshit those reporters asked as long as his reputation would be restored after the press conference.
"I have to be careful. This is a matter of life and death," Vincent murmured. "I can't allow myself to make a mistake at this point, or my company is done for."
As he was still busy with his plan for tomorrow, he noticed a suspicious box in the corner of his bedroom.
He frowned, "What's inside that box? And why is it in my bedroom?"
Thus, Vincent called the head maid and asked;
-
"There is a suspicious box inside my room, what is this and who's the one who sent this?" He asked.
"Pardon me, Master Gray. But I cannot clarify what is inside the box, because it's from Secretary Maria," the head maid replied on the phone.
"Someone delivered it to our front door, and it has the code that Secretary Maria usually uses to signify that it's a very important and discreet thing, and I'm not allowed to open it."
Vincent's eyes widened, and his face brightened the moment he heard it was from Secretary Maria.
He had been worrying about that old woman because she disappeared without any news.
Usually, she'd text Vincent or even send something to the mansion to signify that she was in hiding or she was still dealing with something since that old woman had a lot of enemies out there.
Vincent thought that maybe one of her enemies finally caught up to her and killed her in cold blood. So Vincent vowed to at least send five more bodyguards around Maria if something dangerous happened to her.
Vincent had to admit that Maria was his lifeline. She contributed a lot when working as his late father's secretary and his secretary.
She was the most competent, cold-blooded, smart, and always knew what to do in a dire situation.
In the end, she was almost like a mother to Vincent, more than his real mother, who had betrayed him.
His real mother was just a drunkard who could barely control herself. She was on so many medications due to depression, and she was even put in rehab for a few months because she was addicted to heroin back then.
She was also stupid. She still had a lot of 'heart' for the people who worked for her.
"Hah, so stupid," Vincent sneered. "What a hypocrite. She's stupid enough to listen to everything I said back then so she'd beat Vernon to death. And now she dares to betray me? I shouldn't have put her in the rehab center. She's far more useful when she's intoxicated."
Back then, Vincent could feel her mother's hatred towards the little boy. So, naturally, Vincent wanted to take advantage of it.
He realized that Dorothea always locked herself in her room whenever she was intoxicated, so Vincent began to persuade her to beat up the source of her misery.
It took him a while, but the intoxicated woman finally snapped when Little Vernon began to make trouble around the mansion, so she beat him up when he was only six years old with her whiskey bottle.
Of course, Vincent did this for a reason.
His father taught him that he needed to control his little brother. That boy was still a Gray in the end, and he would start to have big ambitions as he grew older and might actually try to challenge Vincent's position.
So Vincent had to make sure that Vernon became his obedient dog. Though in the end, he still failed because Vernon dared to turn his back on him right now.
"Everyone left me except for Maria," Vincent thought. "Honestly, she did way more than my real mother. I should give her a reward by the time of her return."
Vincent was ready to give Maria at least a share of his company to appreciate her. This was the first time he realized that he needed someone during a dire time.
So he got up and walked towards the box.
He picked it up and put it on his bed.
He frowned when he read the name on top, "Maria Orien? Isn't that her real name? Why did she write her own name like this? Wouldn't it be too suspicious?"
Vincent didn't know what Maria planned to do this time, but he knew it would always be in the best of his interest.
So he opened it without worry and saw a plastic bag with something that seemed to be a pile of sand inside.
Vincent didn't know what this was until he noticed a small note neatly folded inside the box.
So he picked it up and read it.
—
My dear ex-husband, I'm sorry I disappeared for too long. I sent this to make it up to you since you must've missed me so much.
What you see inside this box are the remains of Maria Orien, your secretary.
Yes, I killed that old bitch by strangling her when she tried to take my daughter away.
Then I told my new man to cremate her body, and once she's nothing but ashes, I dumped half of her into the toilet and flushed it since I bet she'll love swimming with all the shits in the sewer. I think it's a fair ending for her.
I hope you don't mind that I can only send half of her remains. I hope you can make good use of her ashes. Maybe you should put her ashes to replace the sugar in your breakfast, so you will always have her inside you.
Don't grief for too long, you will join her soon.
With heart full of hatred,
Chloe xxx xxxx.
PS: Sorry, I can't tell you my new surname, but you will know since I'm getting married soon.
Chapter 719
Vincent read the note over and over. He couldn't believe his own eyes and surely didn't want to believe this was true.
He knew this handwriting. It was Chloe's signature, beautiful cursive handwriting. There was no mistake in it.
And that made it even scarier.
Vincent looked simultaneously at the bag of ashes in the box and at the note.
His face turned pale instantly, and his body trembled as he was trying to battle the shock in his heart.
He didn't know if this was true or not. Nevertheless, it was enough to completely crush his mind, making him unable to take action as he kept staring at the note and the ashes.
"No way…" Vincent murmured. "There is no way that bitch can kill Maria! She's just a weakling! She can't do anything against me, how could she suddenly fight back?!"
Vincent tried to deny the truth. He knew the note and the plastic bag were most likely true.
But he didn't want to—no, he refused to believe it!
There was no way Maria would end up like this. She was supposed to be smart, just like him, and for her to die in Chloe's hand?
"DO YOU THINK I'M SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THAT?!"
Vincent gritted his teeth. He tore up the note and opened the plastic bag. He still refused to believe that Maria would end up dead. She might be old, but she was very smart and sly.
This was too tragic, and Vincent believed Chloe must be tricking him right now.
But the moment he opened the plastic bag, he saw real cremation ashes. There was no doubt this was the ashes of a dead person, judging by the color and consistency.
After all, he also cremated his father's body, and the ashes were just like this.
"No way," Vincent shook his head vehemently. "NO FUCKING WAY!"
Vincent's mind was in chaos soon after. He refused to believe that was the ashes of Maria, but deep down, he knew that Maria was dead, and he was all alone now.
He was like a small boat in the middle of an ocean, swayed left and right by the storm, afraid that he was about to get swept by a big wave and drowned.
Vincent didn't know what to do with these ashes. He wanted to throw it away because he refused to believe it was Maria's ashes.
But at the same time, he was afraid that it might be her ashes, and he'd regret it if he did something awful to it.
Vincent was holding his tears. He carefully tied the plastic bag and put the lid back.
He put the box in the corner of his room and then screamed, "CHLOE GRAY, YOU WILL PAY FOR MESSING ME LIKE THIS! I WILL FUCKING STRANGLE YOU TO DEATH! ARRRGHHH!"
Vincent began another round of rage in his room. The master bedroom was mostly empty since he had destroyed at least half of the things in there from his previous rampage.
But that didn't stop him from finding something to destroy. He left the master bedroom and began to scream as he rushed to the living room, where every decoration was done by Chloe.
He began smashing every piece of furniture he saw, kicking and punching everything since he found no way to release his anger.
"FUCK YOU, CHLOE GRAY! YOU DARE TO DO THIS TO ME, AFTER EVERYTHING I DID FOR YOU!" Vincent's scream echoed in the mansion, and the maids got terrified instantly.
They quickly hid inside their room, locking the door because they didn't want to be the next victim. They had been enduring all the craziness inside this place just because the salary was amazing. But at this point, they'd prefer to work a normal job as long as they felt safe.
"S—Should we call for 911?" One maid asked the other while hiding in their bedroom.
"Don't! He will kill us if we dare to call the cops!" the other maid warned. "Let's just resign as soon as possible, so we don't need to face that monster."
"Yeah, I can't wait to resign. He looks perfect from the outside, but by the time Mrs. Gray leaves him, he becomes a monster that everyone fears."
"Mrs. Gray is the one who keeps him in check. Now that she's gone, his sanity is also gone."
Vincent's rage was unstoppable. He spent hours destroying everything in the mansion until at least 80% of the furniture in the huge living room was destroyed.
Vincent was consumed by blind rage, and by the time he regained some of his sanity, the realization that he was completely alone dawned on him, making him unable to stand straight.
He fell on his knees, staring at the debris of ceramics and glass around him.
He then looked around him and realized that he had lost so many things that Chloe had personally decorated.
Back then, he didn't care much about it, thinking that Chloe was being stupid with her low-class hobby of decorating the mansion with cheap stuff she personally selected from a local store.
She wasn't particularly fond of expensive stuff they could get to decorate, and Vincent always covered all of this embarrassing cheap stuff when he had a party in the mansion.
But now that everything had been destroyed, he noticed the aching in his heart.
Something was missing, and he didn't know what.
All he knew was that he made a huge mistake by letting Chloe go back then.
"I should've tied her up, making sure that she will never be able to escape me," Vincent murmured. "Now look what happens when she's not under my control? She becomes an absolute bitch who dares to turn against me, her own husband who took care of her for ten years."
Unfortunately, no matter how many times Vincent groveled over this, he knew he would never be able to retrieve what had already gone.
"Chloe… Chloe Gray…" he murmured her name as he felt empty inside.
Chapter 720
Vincent couldn't sleep for the whole night.
After he destroyed everything, he returned to the master bedroom in a daze. His mind was occupied with Chloe, who had ruined everything for him.
He hated her so much that he couldn't wait to kill her.
But at the same time, he also missed her so much. He felt so empty. He was also scared of everything right now. He was scared of the future, of the press conference that would happen soon, and also scared of the idea that his downfall was near.
He knew that in order for him to feel safe, he needed the presence of the only woman that filled his heart.
He might have fucked so many women in the past, but he knew that he never put his heart to any of them. They were all just past flings, a sex toy he used to vent his frustration, while his true woman was the one at home.
He thought there was nothing wrong with the setup, but it seemed that Chloe had a different idea in her head.
"What should I do now?" Vincent wondered as he stared at the ceiling. "Chloe is gone, Maria is not here to help me, and my dad is not here to protect me in times of need. I am all alone now."
Vincent lamented over his fate, "Why can't I have a happy life like my dad? He beat up my mom pretty often, and abused her so many times, but he still has a fulfilling life. But why can't I have the same thing? WHY?!"
Vincent was left with a question he couldn't answer, and he stayed in the same position for a while, staring at the ceiling like an idiot because he didn't know what to do.
Until he snapped out of his daze when he heard his phone ring.
It took him a while to gather enough strength to pick up the phone, and then asked, "Who's this?"
"Sir, this is Tom, the head of the PR team," Tom said. "We've prepared everything for the press conference. It will be held in an hour, please get ready and come here as soon as possible, there are so many reporters waiting for your arrival, Sir."
…
Vincent went silent for a long time.
If he could be honest, he didn't want to partake in any kind of activity right now.
All he wanted was to hide himself in his room. He didn't want to take care of the company or anything right now.
But he knew that the company's lifeline was in his hand. As much as he hated it, he had to attend that press conference to save the company.
Vincent's mind was still in chaos even after he exploded last night. Chloe had successfully broken him from the inside.
He scoffed as he walked and saw the photo of them in a small frame, "Are you happy now, Chloe? You ruined me, you, our family. We had a perfect family that is well loved by the people, but you decide to run away and cheat on me."
"I will try my best to keep the company afloat. I know that your threat of getting married with that new man of yours is just an empty threat," Vincent said. "Do you think I will believe that you are going to marry him? HAH! You are just a kept woman at best, he will get bored of you soon and kick you away."
"And when that time comes, you will return to me, begging to be saved because you don't have anyone to protect you," Vincent said. "I just have to persevere and stay afloat until that time."
**
Vincent stood behind the wall that separated him from the rest of the reporters. There were so many, way too many compared to what he expected.
He didn't know if it was good or bad, but he knew the show must go on, and he had to face them to restore his reputation.
Unfortunately, he kept being dazed, thinking about Maria and Chloe.
'Maria would've done something better than this. She will come up with a brilliant plan to salvage me from a difficult situation,' Vincent thought. 'I wouldn't have to worry about something like this if Chloe is still in the mansion. I can beat her up real good, probably punch her a few times in the face and dip her head into the toilet to feel good about myself, and then I can go to work like a normal person.'
'Why is everything stacked against me now?' He wondered.
"Mr. Gray, Mr. Gray!"
Vincent snapped out of his daze when he heard someone calling him.
"Everyone is waiting for you, Mr. Gray. You may come in," Tom, the head of the PR team, said.
Vincent took a deep breath and then walked into the small podium where he sat with a mic on the desk.
The blitz from the camera blinded him. He usually liked the attention. He liked the blitz because it showed he was an important businessman nobody could touch.
But now, the flashes made him uncomfortable because he knew he was like a little lamb surrounded by hungry wolves. They were ready to attack him with various questions that might or might not trigger him.
But in the end, he had to endure everything for the sake of his reputation.
"Good morning, everyone," Vincent opened the press conference. "My name is Vincent Gray, the owner of Gray company, and I'm here to clarify a few rumors that have been circulating wildly in public."
"I understand that I have been under a lot of bad exposure because of my sister-in-law, Mrs. Chelsea Davis, who has been proven guilty for murdering her own mother and almost murdering her sons."
"But you need to understand that I have no connection whatsoever with the murder. I'm not close to Mrs. Chelsea Davis and I haven't been in contact with her for a while," Vincent said. "The news about the murder also shocked me, and it shocked me even more when I realized that I have been unjustly slandered in public."