Chapter 5
906 Words
Third Person's POV
The beta, Herbert, had been busy for a few days. Today, he needed to report to Archer via video conference.
When they were wrapping up, he suddenly remembered Melanie's resignation. "By the way, regarding—"
Although he told Melanie he would arrange the handover quickly, Herbert wanted to confirm with Alpha Archer when exactly she should leave.
But the words caught in his throat. He suddenly recalled that when Melanie joined the company, Alpha Archer had clearly stated that all her corporate matters should be handled by the system. There was no need to report them to him specially.
And it was true.
In all these years at the company, Archer had never once asked about Melanie.
When he ran into her, he treated her like a complete stranger.
Two years ago, Melanie's performance was outstanding. HR planned to promote her and even mentioned it to Archer, implying they would drop it if he disagreed.
Archer had frowned impatiently and reiterated that he would not interfere. He told them to follow the rules and never bother him with her company affairs again.
Seeing Herbert pause, Archer frowned. "What is it?"
Herbert quickly came back to himself. "Nothing."
Since Alpha Archer surely knew about Melanie's resignation but hadn't brought it up, it meant the matter was unimportant to him.
He should just process it as usual, according to company policy.
With that thought, Herbert said no more.
Archer hung up and immediately got a call from Trista.
She was crying. "Dad, did you know Camille is going back to LA?"
Trista had gotten into the habit of calling Camille every morning when she woke up.
She woke up today and called Camille right away, only to get this terrible news.
In his office, Archer flipped through a file as he spoke. "Yeah."
"When did you find out?"
"A while ago."
"Dad, how could you..."
Trista hugged her pink doll and sobbed non-stop. "Why didn't you tell me? If Camille leaves, I don't want to go to school here anymore. I want to go back to the States—"
Archer's tone was flat. "It's being handled."
Trista didn't understand. She choked out, "What does that mean?"
"We're moving back to the States next week."
Trista jumped up from her bed. "Really?!"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't Camille tell me?"
"The plans were just finalized. I haven't told her yet."
Trista was ecstatic. "Dad, don't tell Camille yet. Can we surprise her?"
"Fine."
"You're the best, Dad! I love you so much!"
After hanging up, Trista was still overjoyed, singing and dancing on her bed.
A moment later, she suddenly thought of Melanie.
She had been in a great mood for the past few days because Melanie hadn't called her.
In fact, a few days ago, to avoid talking to Melanie, she had intentionally left the house early. When she came home from school, she deliberately kept her phone far away, or simply turned it off.
Two days later, she got worried that Melanie would get angry, so she stopped doing that.
But to her surprise, Melanie really hadn't called her for days.
At first, she thought Melanie knew she was avoiding the calls.
But then she remembered how things used to be. If Melanie knew she had done something wrong, she would immediately make her correct it. She wouldn't just stop calling out of anger.
After all, Trista was the most important one to Melanie.
Mom loved her so much. She didn't believe Mom would really stop contacting her just because she was mad.
Thinking about this, Trista suddenly missed Melanie a little.
It was the first time she had thought of Melanie in days.
She couldn't resist calling Melanie.
But as the phone started ringing, she suddenly thought: even though she'd see Camille soon after moving home, Melanie would definitely try everything to stop her from seeing Camille. She wouldn't be able to see Camille whenever she wanted, like she did here in the UK.
As soon as she thought of this, Trista's mood soured.
A moment later, Trista's phone rang. She looked at it. It was Melanie, of course.
She was relieved, but also annoyed.
She slipped the phone under her pillow and deliberately didn't answer.
At that moment, it was the middle of the night in Los Angeles.
Melanie had been asleep. Trista's call woke her up.
She woke up and saw the number on the screen. Melanie was about to answer when the call dropped.
She had specified in the divorce agreement with Archer that she was giving up custody of Trista. Still, she was her daughter. Melanie felt responsible for her.
When Trista called and then suddenly hung up, Melanie was worried something was wrong. She quickly called back, but no one picked up.
Melanie panicked even more. She immediately called the landline at the villa.
Shannon quickly answered. Melanie hurriedly said, "It should be fine. She stayed up late last night and overslept today. She was still asleep when I went upstairs just now. I'll go check on her and call you right back."
Hearing Shannon's words, Melanie felt a moment of relief. "Okay, thank you."
A little while later, Shannon called back. She said Trista was awake and in the bathroom. The call had been an accidental butt-dial.
Only then did Melanie truly relax.
But after all that, she couldn't fall back asleep for a long time.
- Writer
