Chapter 43

Walter And Gary Try To Help

Even though Jonathan let Michaela take some time to pack her luggage, she did not bring many things.

Once they stepped out of the mansion, Jonathan tossed his luggage to Gary. At the same time, he shot
Walter a glare for raining on his parade a while ago.

Perplexed, Walter twitched his lips indignantly. When Michaela fastened her gaze on Gary, he realized
he should not let the chance to butter her up slip away. Thus, he moved toward her and greeted her
earnestly, “Ms. Michaela, nice to meet you! I’m Walter, and he’s Gary. We look forward to serving you in
the future.”

Walter and Gary? Michaela recalled what she had previously come across about the definition of names.
Ah! If I’m not wrong, the name Walter means the “commander of the army”. Meanwhile, the name Gary
means “powerful with the spear”. What a heroic combination!

She greeted them affably, “Nice to meet you too!”



No doubt, she was well aware that Jonathan disliked boisterousness. Hence, it never came across her
mind that there would be someone blabbering blissfully like Walter alongside him. After a while, she
shifted her gaze away from him and cast a look in Gary’s direction again.

Michaela was sure as h*ll that she had seen Gary before. She could recall vividly how she first bumped
into the man lining up coincidentally while shopping with Lorelei that night. Since he was well-built and
devoid of expression, Michaela could not resist scrutinizing him for quite a while at that moment. It never
occurred to her that he was Jonathan’s subordinate.





Could it be… Michaela tended to stop in her tracks as something came to her. Sensing that she had
slowed down her pace, Jonathan, already quite a distance ahead, turned abruptly and broke her reverie.
“Mich, what’s the matter?”

“Oh! Nothing!” She regained her composure and quickened her pace to catch up to him.

Earlier on, Michaela was overwhelmed by the lavish Shappiray Mansion. Even so, she had to admit that
the breathtaking view of the latter’s private car porch was beyond description.

Her jaw dropped when all the luxury cars came into view. A few were even worldwide limited editions she
had come across from a television program earlier. Unbelievably, she had the opportunity to set her eyes
on them in real life then. Ah! Someone actually presumed Mr. Jonathan’s net worth to be approximately
forty billion two years ago. Evidently, these are just the tip of the iceberg!

Even when Michaela was seated in the Lincoln, she was still gasping inwardly. Good gracious! Now I
understand why Dad is thinking of cozying up to the Xander family!

After a while, Walter drove off from the back door. However, he was stunned when he caught sight of a
slender figure while driving past the front yard. “Mr. Xander, it’s Lucille Lingard!”

Since it was late autumn, there was even a hint of coolness in the air during the day.

Jonathan and Michaela looked up instinctively in Lucille’s direction. Dressed in a long dress with a knee-
length overcoat, her dainty face was reddish. Apparently, she had been there for quite a while.

On the other hand, Zack did not return after he left the night before. Nonetheless, Lucille only sensed
something awry when she tried to call Zack but could not get through.



Recalling Jonathan’s attitude toward her earlier, Lucille was worried stiff that he might grab the
opportunity to matchmaking Zack and Michaela.

The surge of uneasiness from within her intensified as time elapsed. Hence, she headed straight to
Shappiray Mansion to try her luck.

Nevertheless, it was not a place anyone could enter. After being barred from entering the mansion and
caught off guard, her eyes lit up at the sight of a Lincoln advancing from far away.

Even though she could not make out the passengers in the luxury car, she had a hunch Jonathan was
seated in it.

As the Lincoln drew nearer, Lucille darted toward it without a second thought, stretching out her hands to
stand in its way.

“Mr. Xander…” Walter piped up hesitantly.

Even so, Jonathan cut him off by instructing indifferently, “Head straight!”

Regardless of what type of person Jonathan was in others’ eyes, he had been exuding the vibe of
gentleness amid dignity in the face of Michaela. Even though he might be acting weirdly at times, he was
undoubtedly a dignified gentleman.

It was the first time Michaela came across such a different Jonathan, with petrifying murderous intent in
his eyes.

Meanwhile, Walter even stepped on the accelerator after being instructed by his boss to go ahead.
Snorting inwardly, he had been repulsed by the double-faced woman long ago. Pfft! What a two-faced
woman! She’s hiding her maliciousness behind a false front of pitifulness!



Initially, Lucille tried to put up a brave front by remaining on the spot. She was convinced that Jonathan
would not take the risk of annihilating anyone despite his omnipotence. However, the car speeding
toward her scared the wits out of her. Eventually, she had no choice but to back off.

Right after she dodged, the Lincoln sped past, barely an inch from her side. Panic-stricken, she broke
out in a cold sweat, although she was relatively unscathed.

Walter let out a disdainful laugh when he caught a glimpse of her face turned ashen from the rear-view
mirror. “Ha! She has seemingly received Mr. Xander’s gift. But she shouldn’t have come to look for Mr.
Zack impulsively!” he sneered with a flicker of abhorrence in his eyes.

“Gift? What’s that?” Michaela asked in bafflement.

Sensing his slip of the tongue, Walter zipped his mouth at once. At that moment, a stern voice sounded
from behind him. “What a busybody!”

After Walter was reprimanded, Michaela dared not infuriate Jonathan further by asking another question.
Seconds later, she threw a glance at the man alongside her, only to find that he had leaned himself
against the backseat with his eyes closed.

Only then did she realize there were utterly visible dark circles under the man’s eyes. He seemed to be
exhausted.

Thus, Michaela held her tongue and sat quietly in the car. After a while, she whipped out her phone to
pass the time.

After the phone conversation with Lorelei the previous night, her phone had run out of battery. As she
was in a rush in the morning, she forgot to turn it on till then.

Unexpectedly, the push notifications popped up one by one right after she pressed the power button.



Startled, Michaela switched it to silent mode instantaneously and turned to look at Jonathan. After
ensuring he was not awakened, she heaved a sigh of relief and continued to browse the social media
page.

She foresaw the netizens would bombard her with oppressive rebuke, but things suddenly turned the
other way around.

Even the title that topped the trending list was replaced by a mind-boggling one… The Despicable
Adopted Daughter of the Lingard Family Put On A Show to Gain Sympathy and Slandered Her Sister
With Underhand Tactics!

Apart from the pictures showing Lucille meeting the reporter discreetly, there was a detailed article on the
affairs between her and Zack.

The writer lambasted the other author for telling cock-and-bull stories in the news report the previous day
relentlessly. Lucille’s deviousness was well described by the former’s impressive eloquence based on
concrete evidence, crystal-clear reasoning, and soundness of logic.

Surprisingly, Michaela even noticed quite a few netizens left apologetic messages in the comment
section below the article chiding her the previous day. They were seemingly guilty of bombarding her with
oppressive mockery impudently.

There were even netizens tracking down the identity of the author defaming her. In a blink of an eye, all
the particular author’s private information and heinous deeds in the past were exposed.

Michaela was not the slightest bit astounded as she had foreseen that earlier. After a while, she suddenly
felt something heavy on her shoulder when she was absorbed in reading the netizens’ comments.

As she glanced obliquely in Jonathan’s direction, she noticed he had drifted into a deep sleep with his
head leaning against her shoulder.



Feeling the man’s light breath against her skin and breathing in his refreshing smell, Michaela blushed
uncontrollably.

Sensing Michaela’s awkwardness, Walter cleared his throat before clarifying in embarrassment on behalf
of Jonathan, “Ms. Michaela, allow me to make an apology on behalf of Mr. Xander. He has been worn
out lately. In fact, he has been attending numerous conferences since he went overseas on Tuesday and
barely slept for three hours these few days. Not to mention, he only went to bed after midnight last night.
I hope you don’t mind that, okay?”

“Huh? He went overseas on Tuesday?” Michaela queried quizzically.

She could remember vividly that she had a phone conversation with Jonathan on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, the latter did not mention to her that he was overseas. If I’d known about that earlier, I
would not ask him for a meal. Did he actually rush back for the dinner scheduled on Friday?

Stifling his doubt, Walter spoke up for Jonathan by emphasizing, “Yeah! There were actually tons of
matters pending Mr. Xander’s decision at our headquarters. But after receiving your call, he instructed
me to book the flight ticket to fly back at once!”




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