“You want me to give you a client’s antique and make a fake? You’re breaking the law. You’re morally corrupt. Why should someone like you be an antique restorer in my studio?”
She covered her face, pouting.
“I was just joking. I didn’t really want it. What did I do wrong?”
I pursed my lips and dragged her toward the door.
“I’m too small to hold a giant like you!”
“Security! Emily, escort her out immediately! She is banned from ever entering this company again!”
Watching Emily being taken away by security, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Nathaniel had sponsored Emily for four years, and right after graduation, he asked her to intern with me. Though a bit clueless, her history degree was suitable for the work, so I agreed.
Who could have imagined? In just half a day, she bankrupted me and even swapped my medicine, nearly killing me.
Thinking about how I had suffocated in the ambulance in my previous life, my chest ached. I quickly dug out a spare pill from the drawer and swallowed it.
Thankfully, the jade bracelet was securely stored, and Emily had been expelled. As long as I waited until the afternoon to deliver it to the client, everything would be safe.
Just as I was about to settle back into my chair for a nap, my assistant burst in.
“Mr. Mercer! The thousand-year-old jade bracelet is broken!”
I woke up instantly. “What!?”
“What happened?”
The assistant stammered.
“It was Mr. Pierce. He brought Emily back and opened the safe himself.”
My ears buzzed.
Besides me, only Nathaniel knew the safe combination.
No matter how many precautions I took, I still couldn’t protect anyone around me.
I flung open the door to the restoration room, and the scene before me chilled my heart.
Emily was using super glue to piece together the shattered jade bracelet, mumbling nonstop.
“I just wanted to wear it and feel the warmth of history from this thousand-year-old artifact. How did it suddenly slip off?”
“Nathaniel, am I really so useless that I can’t do anything right?”
Nathaniel stroked her hair, his voice gentle.
“Emily, no one will blame you. The bracelet is just too slippery.”
“Be good, don’t cry.”
Emily, however, was sobbing and hiccuping.
“Vivian must be even angrier. I just wanted to touch it, and now she’s about to fire me.”
“I have to fix it before she gets here. Come on, Emily.”
Nathaniel fondly scratched her nose.
“It’s no big deal. Nathaniel will teach her a lesson!”