Love Contract novel Chapter 25

Mary checked the entertainment website half an hour later. The scandalous article had been removed.

She nodded in satisfaction. "Well and good," she muttered under her breath. William watched her over the cup of coffee he was sipping. He had actually rushed back that morning to deal with the matter, but had been pleased to find Mary had already done that for him.

Mary snapped the laptop shut, but she still looked worried. "A lot of people already saw the article though. The rumor mill's already in full swing. I better mobilize the Public Relations Department to deal with this," she told William. Mary briskly punched a number in on her phone. Before long, she was already laying out a damage control strategy to someone on the other end of the line. "Is that understood? Let's nip this in the bud. Clean and discreet. Get everyone on it, pronto."

William felt pride and admiration blossom in his heart seeing Mary like that.

Mary hung up and leaned back on her seat with a heavy sigh. As she did, she noticed William looking at her with a faint smile. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked selfconsciously.

William averted his gaze quickly. "Nothing." Then he remembered what he had also wanted to check on that morning. "Was just wondering if your feet are feeling okay?"

Mary blinked. She was surprised he remembered her wound. "It's much better now, yeah. Thanks for asking," she mumbled shyly.

"Great. In that case, want to head back to A City? We've pretty much wrapped up everything here," William said.

Mary nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good. Let me just book the tickets."

William sipped his coffee. "Already did that. We leave this afternoon."

Mary felt a flicker of annoyance. Why must everything always be so sudden with this man? She was starting to feel like a puppet being jerked around. Why couldn't he just tell her important things ahead of time?

Though Mary didn't say anything, William noticed her mood sour. He smiled to himself and turned to pack up.

Mary had just changed into her shoes and was rushing out to grab a quick bite when she opened the door to find Victor out on the hall, apparently also on his way out. 'A coincidence, again, ' she thought to herself. She couldn't help heaving an exasperated sigh out loud.

Victor just grinned at her reaction. "And where are you headed off?" "To get something to eat," Mary answered nonchalantly.

Victor chuckled at that.

Mary felt irritated. "And what's so funny?" she asked defensively.

Victor shrugged, still grinning. "It's just that every time I see you, you seem to be getting something to eat."

Mary's face turned red. "Are you off to a shoot?" she asked, trying to get the subject off of her gluttony.

"Yeah," Victor nodded. "I'll be in Shanghai for a while for filming. How about you guys?"

"We'll be leaving this afternoon."

Victor cocked his head to the side. "Seems a little soon, but I guess if you have no more business here, might as well go back, yeah?"

Mary nodded then felt her tummy grumble. "Well. I'll be going on ahead..."

"Wait." Victor suddenly turned serious.

"The news this morning. Did you see it?" Mary waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, well, you know these paparazzi the most. They'll make anything up for readership."

Victor pursed his lips. "You don't have to hide it from me, you know. I know about it already." Mary was puzzled at his words. What did he know about, exactly?

Victor fixed her a meaningful look.

"If you ever need someone to talk to about it, you can count on me." Mary gave him a confused smile. "About what? I don't understand."

Victor continued to study her face closely, as if looking for some clue. Finally, he seemed to give up. He sighed.

"Guess you really don't want to talk about it. Fine. Forget it. I'm off." Mary could only watch Victor's back in bewilderment as he walked to the elevators and got into a waiting one.

Then her stomach growled again, louder this time. "Right. First thing's first." Thoughts now overtaken by hunger, Mary hurried to catch the next elevator down.

Jorge shook his head as Victor entered the elevator he had been holding for him. He had witnessed his entire encounter with Mary.

"Can't you just leave her alone? We do not want to mess with her."

"I'm not messing with her! I'm trying to help her.

Jorge raised a brow at his charge. "Did she ask for your help? Maybe check yourself first. You have your own problems to attend to." Victor sighed. He shoved his hands into his pockets, leaned back against the elevator walls, and stared up at the ceiling. "Fine," he muttered.

By the time they arrived at the airport that afternoon, Mary already knew Frank will be joining them on the flight back.

Frank met them at the airport. Looking cool in his sunglasses, he waved and walked over as soon as he spotted them. "Hi, Mary! Nice seeing you guys, again," Frank greeted them with a warm smile.

"Hi, Frank. Nice to have you with us," Mary smiled meekly back. She still felt a bit timid around Frank.

"Shall we?" Boarding passes in hand, they started walking to the departure lobby.

Mary fell back alongside Kevin as William walked side by side with Frank. She stared at their broad backs and couldn't help but think how perfectly matched the two men were.

Wait a minute. Perfectly matched? Mary shook her head as she felt herself blush at her thoughts. 'I can't believe even I've been affected by that trashy gossip!' she chided herself.

William's phone rang as they were waiting in the departure lobby.

He looked at the screen and picked up. "Dad? What's up?" William's eyebrows drew together as he listened to Timothy on the other end. "Yes, she's right here." A nervous look flickered across William's face. "No, it won't be a problem. All right. We'll be back at the house by this evening.

William hung up. He turned to look at Mary, who had been trying her best to discreetly listen in on the call. She jumped guiltily as his eyes caught hers. She flashed him a sheepish smile.