Chapter 78: Chapter 78

Samuel came into the office with a frown on his face. He saw that Ray was busy on his phone, so he immediately sat down and plopped down.

Ray finished with his call and glanced at Samuel. "Why do you look upset?"

Ray's eyes completely returned to another focus. The work tablet and computer were on, he had been working on work documents since last night, he even left early in the morning because there were some incomplete files.

"Are you busy?" Samuel was curious.

"Yeah, the resort project with Falco is having a bit of a problem." Ray massaged his forehead. "Several investors have sent financial notes for construction, but the branch head said that the money had not arrived. So construction was stopped."

"That's the project you've been working on for the past few months, right?"

Ray nodded. Didn't say anything else. The more he looked at the writing and numbers, the more they seemed to be duplicates. His vision was blurry.

Samuel held up his tablet. "Stop it. You're exhausted."

This time Ray didn't argue and dropped his head into the chair, closing his eyes.

Then he remembered something. "What's wrong with you? Something happened?"

Samuel closed Ray's work data on his tablet, replying, "It's nothing important.

This sentence made Ray open his eyes to look at his friend; wrinkled face, gloomy expression and cold aura-he knew it must be an important matter.

"Sam, be honest. Maybe I can help."

Samuel didn't answer immediately. He took water and medicine, gave them to Ray. This action made Ray frown.

"You've been busy working lately." Samuel explained the surprise in Ray's eyes. "I know you must have forgotten your meds. If you continue like this, how will you recover?"

Ray snorted. Took the medicine and drink it.

"I've recovered."

"I thought so too, but lately you seem to have a lot of headaches." Samuel jumped up and sat down at the table. Playing the hourglass. "Do you remember anything else?"

Not many people know Ray's health condition. Apart from family, the number of people closest to him who know about this problem could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Apart from Fran, Samuel and Hailey also know. But despite them knowing, others, such as colleagues and clients and even Veloture nightclub's employees, no one knew about this matter.

Ray's treatment had actually been stopped a year ago. He, who underwent the best treatment in Canada, finally returned to his homeland half a year ago.

Even though he was declared recovered, his family still couldn't just let him go. Fran, who was supposed to be a surgeon in Canada, was brought in by his family to become his private doctor.

Actually Ray was tired of this. About how they kept looking at him with worried eyes, as if if they looked away just a little, he would disappear into thin air.

"I asked you first. Why are you asking me now? Answer what I asked first." Ray changed the topic.

"Actually it's about Hailey."

"What's wrong with her?"

Samuel and Hailey were close friends, even Ray knew that their relationship was closer than one friend to another. Samuel was indeed a kind and caring person, he always considered Hailey to be his own sister. They were childhood friends, they came from the same city before finally settling in downtown New York.

If Samuel said something happened, then something must had happened.

Samuel's eyes looked blank. "I haven't been able to contact her since yesterday. Since you guys broke up, she's been fighting with her father. She said everything was fine, but when I came, her father never let me see her."

"What about her job? Is she still working?"

Samuel shook his head slowly.

Somehow Ray felt uncomfortable. Never mind Hailey, even after they broke up, his father was also mad at him. His father and grandfather were almost every finger giving heavenly lectures, making his ears deaf.

"I intended to arrange an appointment for you to meet, but I couldn't contact her," Samuel said weakly. "Ray, I'm afraid something happened to her."

If something happened, or if everything Samuel feared was true, Ray would certainly be responsible for this. Even though they broke up, it didn't mean he hates her, he didn't break up because she was drunk and cheating behind his back anyways.

He even knew that she was just being framed.

He thought for a moment before saying, "I'll see her later. Is she at her house?"

"I think so. Her father won't let me visit, maybe he would allow it if it was you." Samuel smiled bitterly. "After all, her father hopes that you two will get married."

There was a small pinch in his chest when he heard the last half of Samuel's sentence.

"I'll be there at lunch." Ray decided.

Samuel looked at him earnestly. "Ray, if she wants anything, please don't refuse her. I'm afraid that she can't handle rejection right now. I think her mental state isn't good."

Ray thought about it.

Even if Hailey asked him to come back to her, he would definitely refuse. He would think of ways to avoid this topic as much as possible. This time he just came to see her and made sure she was okay.

During lunch break, Ray left empty-handed, he came to Hailey's house in a hurry, he even came before his break. He couldn't wait to check on her condition, so much so that he also forgot his phone.

With a second knock, the double doors of the mansion opened. It happened that Hailey was the one who opened the door.

"R-Ray ..."

Her lips trembled. Her feet went backwards. At first she was doubtful, then she saw Ray like a light from the darkness. She lunged at him quickly as if she was afraid the light would go away. Her arms trapped him so tightly and she started crying loudly.

"Ray, y-you've finally come. Are ... are you coming to take me away?"

Being hugged tightly like that, of course Ray was stunned. The small body in front of him trembled, a small, heart-wrenching sob was heard. After a while he slowly pulled away.

"Hailey, what happened?"

When he looked at her face, he found a bad bruise on her cheek and the corner of her lip was torn. The woman was wearing short-sleeved clothes and several of her arms had purplish bruises.

Ray was furious. "What happened? Who hurt you?"

One name came to mind. Samuel brought this up this morning, so was it really her father who did it?

Hailey didn't answer so Ray pushed her inside. "We're talking inside, it's very cold outside."

She walked with a limp. If it was an attempt to pity Ray, it seemed impossible. The wound was real, not made by something. There was a long scratch on her leg, and perhaps a sprain as well.

Ray supported her to the nearest couch.

"Hailey, tell me what happened? Who did this? Should we report it to the police?"

Hailey was so scared, she shook her head quickly. "R-Ray, I'm scared."

Ray's heart hurt so much. He had been dating her for a long time, he had never once seen her this scared.

He gritted his teeth, speaking through tightly pursed lips, "Is this your father's doing?"

Hailey looked away.

Ray held her hand carefully. "Don't be afraid. I'm here. I can help you. Be honest with me."

Her tears fell freely down her cheeks. She knew that he was very kind-hearted person and he always looked after her. Since a long time ago, even though she didn't really love him, she was very satisfied with his treatment. She had planned many bad things behind his back. In order to achieve her goals with Samuel, she has been playing games with him all this time. Her father also took part in it.

Their elders happened to be good friends during childhood, when Marcus Sanders suffered a setback in the past, it was her late grandfather, Charles Tatum, who helped him get back on his feet. Marcus finally put this as a lifelong debt of gratitude and wanted to make them close relatives and marry their grandchildren together.

Hailey was already dating Samuel at the time. Once she refused to marry Ray, her father became furious and wanted to throw her out of the house. He even cursed at Samuel and thought that her lover was just an useless person who couldn't help her family economically. Her father only cared about how the family of giant horses in the industry as a golden opportunity. With that offer, of course he kicked Samuel who was nothing and chose Ray Sanders.

At first, Hailey really hated Ray and was strongly against the match. But Samuel was an open-minded person, which ultimately lead them to plan Ray's destruction in order to enjoy his wealth.

That was the beginning of how she became close to Ray.

But then, Hailey knew that Samuel was starting to get greedy, he used her as a puppet to carry out all his evil plans. Samuel began to use her to enter Ray's world and enter as a caring good friend.

Until then, Hailey didn't know that Samuel had changed. But because she loved him so much, she couldn't leave him.

If this plan succeeds, she believed that Samuel will definitely return to how he was before, loving her and looking after her wholeheartedly. That way, happiness will slowly return to them.

... to be continued ...