Chapter 9 Punishment For Screwing Up The Project

Eliana's POV:

I returned home exhausted. When I arrived, there was no one in the living room.

The door to the balcony was ajar. Kimora was out there speaking to someone on the phone, and I could hear her.

"Mr. Bowman, the kids' kindergarten is going to organize a summer camp, which charges a large sum of money. Miss Pierce has just found a job. I'm afraid she won't be able to..."

I pushed the door open.

"Kimora," I called.

Startled, Kimora turned around and hid her phone behind her back.

I looked at her seriously and said, "Kimora, when I chose to come back, I made sure that I was mentally prepared to attend to my children's needs on my own. From now on, don't ask Jonathan for money, and don't tell him everything about me and my kids."

"Eliana, it's just that Mr. Bowman cares about you..."

I smiled and looked at her coldly. "I appreciate that, but if you want to work for Jonathan, I can send you back to him. You either work for me or for him."

Kimora lowered her eyes. "Okay. I'm sorry, Eliana. Please don't send me back. I'll do as you say from now on."

After my conversation with Kimora, I went to my room and lay on the bed for a while. Suddenly, I remembered the ring Preston mentioned.

Had I really taken his ring?

I jumped out of bed and began to rummage through the room.

What happened between us five years ago was too absurd for me. When I woke up, I hurriedly put on my clothes and left.

There was so much about that night that I couldn't remember clearly, especially whether or not I took Preston's ring.

I searched my room for a long time but came up empty.

I stared at the mess in front of me and sighed.

I hoped Preston only brought up his family ring to mess with me.

There was a gentle knock on the door, pulling me out of my reverie. I looked up and saw the door open slightly. Then, two little heads poked through the crack. Adrian and Aileen asked in unison, "What are you looking for, Mommy?"

My exhaustion instantly faded at the sight of my two little angels.

I opened the door and held them in my arms. "Mommy is looking for a ring. Have you seen one?"

Adrian shook his head.

"It's here!" Aileen exclaimed and started digging into her pocket.

Could it really be Preston's ring that Aileen found?

My heart started racing.

"Ta-da!" Aileen took out a candy ring and extended it to me as if she was presenting me a treasure. "Is this what you're looking for, Mommy? It's beautiful and yummy!"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I thought my daughter was so incredibly cute.

I kissed Aileen on her cheek and replied, "No, not this kind of ring, sweetie."

Adrian pointed at his face and said, "Hey, where's my kiss, Mommy?"

Just then, Kimora happened to call us for dinner. I kissed Adrian on his face and then took them to the dining room.

The next day, as soon as I entered the office, I sensed an unusual change in the atmosphere.

My colleagues all stared at me.

I was confused. "Why are you all staring at me? Is there something on my face?"

Vivian, one of my colleagues, who was standing beside me, cleared her throat and pointed at my desk.

There was a cleaner's uniform on it.

"What's going on?" I picked up the uniform and inspected it carefully, but I still didn't understand what was happening.

"Corbin brought that earlier. He said that you..." Vivian trailed off and decided to stop talking altogether. Under my urging gaze, she continued, "He said that you're to clean Mr. Moran's office as punishment for screwing up the project."

I widened my eyes at Vivian.

How could I, a designer, do the cleaning? That was humiliating.

"Do you know how much money the company stands to lose because you couldn't do your job right, Eliana? Three hundred million dollars!"

Gabrielle announced in her pissed-off, shrill voice followed by her high heels' infernal clicking.

I turned around and met her eyes, which were full of mockery and disdain.