Emily Harper pushed Jeff away forcefully, then opened the door and walked out.
As soon as she opened the door, Emily was surprised to find Victoria Lang standing right there.
"Ms. Lang... Ms. Lang."
The last time they met, Victoria Lang had slapped Emily.
Although Emily was very jealous and hated Victoria Lang, she was now in Victoria Lang's company.
Moreover, there would be more cooperation between the two sides in the future. Children from large families like Emily were very sensible.
"Ms. Harper."
Victoria Lang smiled and nodded at Emily.
After a brief exchange, Emily quickly left.
Jeff, on the other hand, clutched the contract, wishing he could tear it up.
Jeff always thought that since he was divorced from Emily, he would no longer care about anything related to her.
However, he still felt uncomfortable when he heard her say that she was going to have dinner with Ryan Caldwell.
Victoria Lang had always wanted to take advantage of her proximity to Jeff—this unknown and reclusive tycoon—and win him over.
Today, Jeff's ex-wife had come to see him, and Victoria Lang naturally wanted to know what the two had talked about.
Seeing Jeff's sad expression, Victoria Lang knew that Jeff still had deep feelings for his ex-wife, and it would be difficult for her to take advantage of his vulnerability in the short term.
Winning Jeff over would likely be a protracted battle.
Victoria Lang said, "If Emily Harper makes you angry, you can tear up the contract and refuse to cooperate with the Harper family."
Jeff gradually reduced the pressure on his right hand: "What I promised will not change."
Victoria Lang knew that Jeff was a person who valued promises very much, which was also what she admired about him.
"Chairman Sterling, I overheard your conversation. You know I'm a foodie, and I'm always curious about good places to eat. What's that chicken instant noodle place you mentioned outside the city? Could you take me there?"
Victoria Lang wanted to take advantage of Emily's anger toward Jeff to get closer to him.
She knew that if she asked Jeff to have dinner at this time, Jeff would definitely not refuse.
Having been with so many men, Victoria Lang already had a complete guide to managing men.
Men are impulsive and vengeful. Since Emily said she wanted to have dinner with another man, Jeff would definitely find a woman to accompany him.
As expected, Victoria Lang guessed correctly.
"I'll take you there," Jeff said slowly.
An hour and a half later, the two arrived at a very secluded street outside the city. The street was wide and clean, but there were very few people.
Parking was easy on the side of the road. The two drove to the restaurant entrance, got out of the car, and Jeff said:
"This isn't a five-star restaurant—it's just an ordinary place. I'm afraid you won't be used to the food here."
Victoria Lang smiled brightly and said, "What distinction is there between expensive and cheap food? I can enjoy a few dollars' worth of street food. Chairman Sterling, I'm not the kind of princess who only goes to high-end places."
Jeff smiled. He could tell that Victoria Lang had worked hard all by herself, without relying on her family, to get to where she was today. She must have suffered a lot.
She was indeed different from the average rich and beautiful woman.
The two walked toward the restaurant together, when Victoria Lang suddenly grabbed Jeff's hand.
"I'm sorry, Chairman Sterling, there's a lot of water at the entrance—I'm scared..." Victoria Lang explained.
"Oh."
Jeff couldn't refuse, so he took Victoria Lang's hand and walked inside like a couple.
Jeff thought to himself, "For the past three years, I've longed to walk in with Emily by the hand, but she always refused. Fortunately, today I finally got my wish and know what it feels like to hold her hand."
Jeff is not a saint; he is just an ordinary man. With such a beautiful ex-wife as Emily, how could he not want her?
Jeff longed to have Emily completely, but the reality was that even Ryan had already had her, while he hadn't!
"Chairman Sterling... you're hurting me," Victoria Lang reminded him.
It turned out that Jeff's grip was too strong, hurting Victoria Lang.
Jeff quickly snapped out of his daze: "I'm sorry. Victoria, you can just call me by my name when we're outside."
Upon entering the restaurant, Jeff ordered the restaurant's signature dish, "Chicken Instant Noodles," and a few other dishes before sitting down.
After sitting down, Victoria Lang noticed that Jeff remained silent and had a serious expression, so she asked, "Jeff, what were you thinking about just now? You seemed very unhappy."
Jeff poured himself a cup of tea: "It's nothing."
Sipping his tea, Jeff gazed out the window, thinking to himself, "Emily is probably having a sweet Western meal with that bastard Ryan right now, isn't she? After how they treated me, maybe I should have Brother Gage break Ryan's third leg!"
Jeff had considered doing this, but the mistake was Emily's. Even without Ryan, there would have been some other man.
If a woman wants to cheat, you can't stop her.
...
At this moment, in a Starbucks restaurant in a shopping mall in downtown Riverforge.
"Red Leaves, here!"
Emily sat by the window and waved to her best friend Sophia Grant.
She didn't actually invite Ryan; she only said she was going to have Western food with him to spite Jeff.
Sophia was not alone; she was accompanied by a handsome young man who was probably only twenty years old.
Standing over six feet tall, with a sunny and handsome appearance, he's probably not much less attractive than today's hottest young male celebrities.
Sophia walked over, arm in arm with the handsome young man.
"Call me 'sister'."
As Sophia sat down, she gave orders to the handsome man next to her.
The handsome young man said sweetly, "Sister Emily."
Emily smiled and said, "Hello, handsome."
Then, Sophia said to the handsome young man, "Go get me a coffee, and then you can go look around the rest of the mall. I'll call you when we're done talking."
"Okay," the handsome young man replied and obediently walked away.
This made Emily extremely envious: "Sophia, who is this young heartthrob? Did you just meet him? Have you slept with him?"
Sophia took out her phone from her bag and said proudly, "Of course."
Emily said, "You're really something—this is the third one since you got married, right?"
Sophia held up four fingers to indicate that Emily had guessed wrong.
Emily couldn't help but stomp her foot excitedly: "My god, you're amazing! I really envy you. You have a stable husband at home and plenty of young men outside. Why did I get caught and divorced after just one time? I'm so angry!"
Sophia laughed and said, "The difference is that your husband delivers food, while my husband is a businessman. He's always on business trips and is never in Riverforge, so he can't catch me, hehe."
"By the way, why did you suddenly call me out?"
Emily took out her copy of the contract and handed it to Sophia to look at.
Upon seeing this, Sophia was overjoyed: "Wow, darling, you actually signed a contract with Horizon Group on behalf of the family, and it's even named after you! How did you manage that? Did you sleep with Chairman Sterling?"
Emily said speechlessly, "Ugh, don't think of me as that kind of easy woman, okay? Do you think I'm that kind of person?"
Sophia laughed and said, "Yes, you slept with Ryan—wasn't it also to help the family raise funds?"
"You're annoying!"
Emily threw the hair tie in her hand to Sophia.