Chapter 9 Personal Assistant

Scott frowned in disgust and walked away, ignoring Laura who tried to get close to him. This made Laura's face turn pale.

"Mom..." Joan wanted to take the card back from her. She didn't want her to take Scott's money.

"Don't call me mom! I don't have a daughter who went to jail like you!" Laura glared at her in disgust and added, "What are you even doing here? What is this I'm hearing about a divorce? You've been in prison for three years! Are you insane? Why would you even think of divorcing Scott? You must be out of your mind!"

At this point, Celia, who had been ignored all throughout, felt angered by Scott's seeming indifference. Since he had left, she wanted to vent her frustrations on Joan. "Who do you think you are? How dare you ask Scott for divorce! Do you think you're still the daughter of the rich Gu family? Stop pretending that you're pure and innocent. You make me sick!"

Joan's stepmother and stepsister had always hated her. But right then, she couldn't be bothered to argue with them. She came home for only one purpose. "Where is my father's grave?" she asked.

Laura froze for a moment before her face ultimately darkened. She then threw her handbag on the floor. This made Joan notice that it was a classic Prada bag that was easily worth a lot of money. She also noticed that her stepmother was wearing expensive jewelry. But what shocked her the most were the hickeys on the woman's neck. Despite her father's death and their company's bankruptcy, it seemed as if the widow was living her best life!

A shiver ran down Joan's spine as anger swept over her. But not noticing the change in her expression, Laura kept on talking.

"Joan, how dare you mention your father? It's all your fault that he died! You killed him! How unfortunate that the Gu family has a daughter like you! It's humiliating! If I were you, I would be too ashamed to show my face around here. Do you know that it's you who ruined the Gu company-"

"Where is my father's grave?" Joan interrupted her. Her eyes were as cold as ice. She cast a sharp glance at Laura, who could not help but shudder and share where the remains of her father was buried.

After getting the information that she came for, Joan didn't want to stay there a minute longer.

"Get out of here. You are not to set foot into this house ever again! Unless... I need you to tell me the password for this bank card. I put a lot of effort into keeping this house. You can go ahead and divorce Scott but you should know the consequences. I won't take you in for nothing!"

Joan slowly turned around and stared at her stepmother with grim eyes and a mocking smile. "You don't have to worry about me, Ms. Xu. You're not my mother. You'd better keep an eye on your own daughter."

She heard from Linda that since the bankruptcy of her father's company, Celia had set her eyes on marrying a rich man so she could return to a good life. Soon enough, she started seeing a wealthy businessman, but it didn't take long for him to dump her for another woman. Celia was known for being an aggressive and ill-tempered woman. But since she was beautiful and knowledgeable about men, many guys were willing to date her.

In fact, before she married Scott, Celia had considered seducing him as well. But Scott eventually chose Joan, which made Celia hate her more.

The mother and daughter wore long faces as they stood in the living room and looked at Joan. The latter merely clenched her fists and walked out of the house, intending to find her way to the cemetery in the suburbs.

As she left in a hurry, she didn't notice a strange silver Bentley parked in front of the house.

A handsome face was reflected on the car window. Darren's eyes followed Joan until she finally disappeared from sight.

At this point, he gracefully undid his cufflinks and loosened the tie around his neck. With his slender fingers, he then opened a file on his legs.

"So she's the woman who married Scott Jian three years ago. She seems different from the rumors," he murmured to himself.

He wasn't in S City more than three years ago, but he had heard about the news of their marriage. It wasn't difficult to hear all about their grand wedding. The bride was the most graceful woman in S City, while the groom was from a leading family in the architectural construction industry. The union of the Gu family's daughter and the young master of the Jian family was the envy of everyone, although it was merely an arranged marriage. Joan's talents in architecture design led to the rapid growth and development of the Jian Company. It was she who secured all of the company's biggest clients and projects.

But within half a year, the scandal of Joan's jail sentence for attempted murder made headlines. It was at this point when the Gu Company fell into a decline until it eventually went bankrupt. But the story was not as simple as it seemed.

Darren lowered his eyes and ordered, "Okay, let's go back."

In the driver's seat, Selina felt a little confused. Since Darren had seen Joan's files, he had asked her to investigate her schedule. Then he had cancelled several important meetings just so he could come to the Gu family's house and stare at her back.

It was not Mr. Lu's style.

But as his subordinate, she could only keep her questions to herself.

Only Joan was in the cemetery when she finally arrived.

Everywhere she turned, the place was filled with tombstones of varying sizes.

She knelt down in front of one that had overgrown weeds. With trembling fingers, she swept the layer of dust covering the tombstone until a picture was revealed. It was a black and white image of her father, smiling. Joan's nose turned red as she began to sob.

"Dad, I'm so sorry..." As soon as she opened her mouth, she fell slumped onto the gravestone. It seemed as if three years' worth of sorrow overwhelmed her all at once.

She stayed there until night eventually fell. When she felt the gentle evening breeze on her face, she finally felt clear-minded. Joan looked up and saw a bright crescent hanging up in the sky.

Biting her lower lip, she staggered to her feet. From now on, she had no one to rely on but herself. And she vowed that she would continue surviving.

But reality was much more difficult than Joan had imagined.

Because of her criminal record, many companies would not hire her. She majored in architecture design, and she had used to be known as a genius back when she was at P University. She even won a national award. But all these were nothing compared to the negative impact of having been convicted for attempted murder.

She even tried applying for jobs in small businesses, but even these companies turned her down. Some employers asked her to come in for interviews, but it turned out that the bosses only lusted after her beauty. A couple of them even asked if she was willing to be a mistress.

But still, Joan refused to believe that there was no place in the city for her.

In his office, Darren listened as Selina reported what Joan's life was like recently. He merely leaned on his chair with his eyes closed, occasionally taking a drag on his cigarette. His eyes did not betray emotion.

On his desk was a photo of Joan, who was kneeling in front of a tombstone and weeping. The sight of her crying made Darren's heart ache.

Hearing that Joan was having difficulties looking for a job, he furrowed his brows. 'It has been more than a month since she left home. Will she continue having a rough time like this?'

It seemed that the former rich, young lady was down on her luck.

"Miss Gu is now working as a personal assistant in a studio," Selina mentioned.

'Personal... Assistant?' he thought.