Chapter 188: Chapter 188

Shelby blushed furiously. She looked so adorable, especially with the way Ian also looked at her. It made the hearts of many of those at the scene soar. There was some level of satisfaction garnered from just looking at Shelby at that time. However, the worker who had spoken earlier and had been spearheading the conversation sneered.

’How do you do that?’ Shelby thought, knowing perfectly well that Ian would respond. This was also because most of the cheesy stuff he had been saying to her had been heard only by her. Ian winked, amused.

That one gesture communicated so much to Shelby that she did not ask anything anymore.

Ava was fuming on the side about that worker’s snide remarks, but she did not bother getting up or intervening. This was for the simple reason that Ian was also there. The same could be said for the two assistants, Currey and Murray.

They did not even flinch. They just stayed close to the wall at the far end of the room, taking in everything. Their eyes did not miss a single thing. The simple presence of all these entities should have been warning enough for the worker who was misbehaving, but no, it was not.

This did not apply to Rocky, though. He was irked beyond reason.

He made to stand up. His actions reminded the rest that he was still the young and energetic boy he was. His tolerance for such nonsense was very low!

"Don’t," Ava whispered.

Rocky stilled instantly. He was half-seated and half-standing. He turned to look at Ava, who sat beside him on another sofa in the same room and then lowered himself back to his seat.

’Wifey has spoken, and I should listen.’ Rocky thought to himself. He did not question why but that did not mean that he liked the manner in which the man was speaking to his sister.

Ian smirked, but his attention remained on his Elfin.

’Figures! That man was Dad’s right-hand man in many things.... I don’t know if I can call him that, but he received lots of benefits from Dad. But what is his deal with Sis?’

Ian nodded and then said,

Shelby finally turned from Ian’s mesmerising gaze to the man. With that re-assurance from Ian, she mustered as much courage as she could even though her heart thundered in her chest. The simple reason being that Shelby never took any initiative to do anything in her life. She had always been the one being ordered to do something.

"So, the reason you are being rude to our guests is because of this?"

"What do you mean, just this? This is my livelihood! I-"

Shelby cut off the man mid-sentence and turned to Ian’s assistant. Even from where she sat, she could see the man’s veins twitch on his face, indicating his displeasure. However, even though some memories were buried deep inside, Shelby knew that man like the back of her hand from her stepfather, of course.

Shelby had grown up with this worker and like Rocky, she also felt that he was the closest to James. It could be said that the man was like that because of the close relation he had to James- a minion, if we could call him that. However, only few people knew of this.

"Yes, Mrs Thornston!" Currey responded promptly, taking a few steps forward.

Shelby’s heart fluttered at being addressed like that. She was still not used to being called by her husband’s family name. ’Mrs, huh?’

"Please send him the salary that he is owed. Can you please also add another two months’ worth as an apology for the lateness?"

The workers gaped, including the one who had pioneered this.

Then Shelby added, "For him, please make it three months. So, give him a total of five months’ worth of Salary."

The man’s expressions turned smug, but that was short-lived when Shelby added a series of other instructions.

"It’s about time that you put your beauty to good use! You -" Shelby frowned at his words and then called out to her bodyguard,

The man had initially not heard the words spoken as a ’ding’ sounded on his phone, and his smile spread wide from ear to ear at the amount he had received on his phone, ’Two thousand and five hundred! Hehehehehehe!’

"Let go of me! Who do you think you are!"

He came back to his senses when Murray lifted him up like he weighed nothing.

"Yo-u ha-ve be-en let go as of this moment!" Shelby shouted, so angry to the point.

"You cannot do this! Mr Wendover employed me! Who are you-"

Murray threw him out the front door and then closed the door behind him.

"T-hank y-ou, Murray."

"At your service, Mistress."

Shelby smiled at him, and Murray quickly averted his eyes.

"Now, is there anyone who would like to join him?" Shelby asked. Her confidence picked up a bit, so she did not stutter.

The small group of workers took a uniformed step back. It was as if they were in unison in their thoughts. Shelby narrowed her eyes and then said,

"Currey, please send the rest the same. Four months’ worth-"

"No, no, Miss Shelby."

"We don’t need such!"

"It’s too much, Miss Shelby."

"We are only owed two months-"

The whole lot started talking at the same time, shaking their heads. Their fears were similar. They thought that they would be treated the same as the ’leader’ of the group who had been thrown out. They did know that he had overstepped his bounds with his words and actions, but for some reason, Shelby’s presence of the thick giant made them not want to even test the waters.

Shelby stopped her words, taking them in one after the other,

"Currey, please do as I said."

It was unclear where and how Currey knew of their banking details, and Shelby knew in the back of her mind that Currey knew his way around computer-related stuff like that.

Currey walked up to the family’s dining table, put down a laptop and set to work. Within a few minutes, a few dings were heard. Despite their reluctance, one could see their eyes light up.

"I’m n-ot g-oing to fi-re anyone. However, you know that our father is no longer here. Many things will change in the mansion. If you think you would like to leave, then this will be the time to do so!"

Shelby looked at each one of them for a while, but no one took a step forward. Shelby nodded and then sent a look at Rocky.

The siblings had been together long enough for Rocky to understand what that meant.

He stood up again; however, Ava did not stop him this time.

"Do you have any other issues that needs to be addressed?"

They all shook their heads vigorously.

"Alright then, apart from Angela, all of you may leave." Within a few seconds, the room emptied.

Shelby smiled at Rocky. She knew that Rocky was the one who was going to spend more time with the workers, and that was why she gave him that look. He executed his instructions perfectly.

"Angela, is Mum still in her room?"

Angela froze. This was because she knew that Clara was indeed in her room, but Angela had seen another side of her mistress that morning. She was used to Clara’s tantrums but never what she had seen that morning.

When Clara had returned from the courthouse and back to her room, she had caused so much havoc within the span of a few minutes that Angela had no idea how to even explain the mess created.

First, Clara had cried her heart out as if the worst had happened. Initially, Angela did sympathize with her mistress because Angela knew that with the absence of Mr Wendover, life would be hard on her mistress.

She herself was quite sad that he was jailed. Angela had stood outside the door of Clara’s room as tears streamed down her own cheeks at how Clara cried. Suddenly, Clara had started screaming her heart out as if something was wrong with her.

Angela pushed the door open only to see Clara throwing any and all breakables on the floor. The mirror was broken, glasses and others lay strewn all over. Even Clara’s phone looked to have been damaged as it had been deliberately thrown against the wall. What scared Angela then was the blank look on Clara then. It was as if she was sinking into a scary depressed state of a sort.

’I understand how the mistress loved her husband but isn’t this too much? I hear that our assets had been frozen. What are we going to do about all this? I don’t think that we can even afford to buy another phone for Madam as Mr Wendover would have done. What should I do?’ Angela thought then, just before she heard the arrival of visitors and Rocky had run past her not even taking a look at his mother’s room as the door was ajar.

"Yes, Master Rocky. She is in the room but-"

"What is wrong with mum?" Shelby interjected and asked.

"Did she break stuff in her room again?" Shelby asked quietly.

Angela lowered her head, and that was enough to answer all in the room. Shelby already knew of the videos out there.

’Mum! What do we do with you on this?’ Shelby thought as she knew Clara well enough to imagine the extent of damage that would have made Angela behave that way.

"You do not need to think too much of this!" Ian said calmly.

"Brother-in-law Ian, do you have a solution?" Rocky asked eagerly with a mirrored expression from Shelby.

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