Chapter 48

Lawrence stared at her with a half-smile, "Are you surprised to see that I'm so ordinary?"

"No, it's just that the rent for this office is probably not even worth one button on your suit. It's obviously mismatched!"

Winnie looked at him suspiciously.

Lawrence's smile was hidden deep, and he gestured gentlemanly. "Please have a seat."

Winnie turned to look and saw the only chair in the office, which was even a bit worn out.

To be honest, she had never sat on such a bad chair before. 'What exactly did he do to it?'

Clutching the edge of her skirt, Winnie sat down, revealing a pair of fair and slender legs. She only sat down on the edge, trying to maintain her composure.

Lawrence looked at her up and down. The pink color complemented her face beautifully, and her naturally black, shoulder-length hair had a few stray wisps that made her look especially youthful. He even managed to catch a hint of her hourglass figure.

'Who dressed her like this?' Lawrence looked at her with a direct and mysterious gaze, making Winnie blush for no reason.

"Why did you call me here?"

Only after his gaze left her figure did he press the intercom.

After a while, a male assistant came in with a woman who looked like a secretary. She had a beautiful face and a well-figured body, and obviously, she was an executive secretary.

She glanced at Winnie before looking at Lawrence behind the desk, and her face turned pale. "Boss..."

Lawrence's voice turned cold. "Janet, where was I on the afternoon of October 1st? Did you answer my call without permission?"

The secretary stammered, "You went to the branch office in the neighboring city. After the emergency meeting finished after 5 p.m., you rested in the lounge and left your phone outside."

Winnie was taken aback. 'Did he call her here to explain this?'

The secretary started to cry and said with a teary voice, "I saw that the caller ID was Mrs. Rodriguez. I have liked you for a long time and foolishly answered the call without thinking. Please forgive me!"

Lawrence continued to work on his documents and just motioned toward Winnie.

Winnie suddenly felt that his actions were a complete insult to her dignity. Janet bit her lip and walked up to Winnie to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Rodriguez. It's all my fault!"

"Why did you call him Lawrence?" Winnie asked, squinting as she recalled the voice on the phone. It was indeed Janet.

The woman, filled with jealousy, said, "Because I wanted to mislead you into thinking that we were close. I heard your friends call you Lawrence!"

This also explained everything.

Winnie looked at Janet, trying to remember if the woman who came to pick up Lawrence in the car that morning was the same person but she couldn't be sure.

At this moment, Lawrence looked at the young woman and lazily asked, "Have you figured it out?"

Winnie suddenly snapped back to reality and was met with his cold gaze, which made him look even more upright and disdainful.

Winnie silently pursed her lips...

Lawrence coldly and mercilessly said, "Bryan, fire her."

The secretary begged. "Please give me another chance..."

Bryan escorted her out, and soon, the office fell silent.

Winnie quietly looked up and caught him staring at her, making her cough to hide the momentary joy in her eyes. Pouting, she said, "Well, I've roughly figured things out."

"Roughly? Who taught you to be arrogant in front of me, Mrs. Rodriguez? Can I still be promiscuous?" He sarcastically raised an eyebrow.

Winnie blushed slightly. She was happy that he was efficient at work, but she was still stubborn.

"I don't know... I'll just keep my distance from Mr. Rodriguez in our lives. This way, we won't cross boundaries, and we won't argue."

He stared at her deeply, showing his displeasure.

The phone rang, and he furrowed his brows to handle business. It seemed like he didn't have time, so he asked Bryan to take Winnie home first.

Winnie walked out of the building, confused. This didn't seem like his office building.

On the 28th-floor office, Lawrence stood by the window and answered the phone when a graceful figure had already walked in with dignity.

When Lawrence finished the call and turned around, he furrowed his brows. "Why did you come from the branch office?"

"Mr. Rodriguez." The woman was wearing professional attire, without a hint of the seductive charm of a female secretary.

She had a professional demeanor and an exquisite appearance. Her eyes were like clear waters, and she exuded a noble elegance that one could only get by growing up in a prestigious family.

She smiled faintly and apologized, "Janet used to work under me here. I didn't expect her to ruin your new relationship with Mrs. Rodriguez, so I came to apologize."

Lawrence looked at her like how he looked at his other subordinates, but he always felt a sense of closeness to her.

She was a loyal partner, and her identity was even more important. She was now the executive CEO of the branch office.

He furrowed his brows slightly. "You don't have to blame yourself. Go back and manage the company."

"Yes, Mr. Rodriguez." The woman was obedient to his order. Soon, she turned around and left but before she stepped out of his office, she looked back with a smile and teasingly said, "Benjamin said Mrs. Rodriguez is a bit special, and it turns out she is. Mr. Rodriguez, you even moved the company to this run-down place. What did you deceive Mrs. Rodriguez about?"

"Go back to work." Lawrence was very cold.

The woman respectfully nodded and left.

On the balcony on the 24th floor, Janet took over the woman's desk and a card was handed over, "Thank you, Ms. Ordelia."

Janet was Ms. Ordelia's secretary, and she actually had no feelings of admiration for the CEO. It was Ms. Ordelia who asked her to take that call and caused Winnie to misunderstand.

She respectfully said, "Ms. Ordelia. I will leave Imperial immediately."

The woman curled her lips, and there was a cold smile on her beautiful face. "This is a very small task, and you did well."

Janet knew she was referring to the provocation against Winnie.

The woman had not yet appeared in front of Winnie. Janet was just a scapegoat to avoid Lawrence's suspicions.

Janet was somewhat resentful. "Over the years, all the female secretaries in the company were personally arranged by you, and there is no other woman by the CEO's side, except for this sudden appearance of Winnie. She blocked your path to becoming Mrs. Rodriguez! Sooner or later, that position will be yours."

For so many years, she had only focused on this one man, being obedient and docile in front of him.

She lowered her gaze and looked downstairs. Her smile mixed with a hint of coldness. "She stole Mr. Rodriguez from me."

Downstairs, Winnie was about to get into the car but she subconsciously felt someone looking at her from upstairs. She felt a strange chill on her spine, as if someone was staring at her with hostility.

She frowned and got into the car.

Back at the villa, she told Olivia about the afternoon's events.

"You have no idea how rundown his company is. It does not even have a proper logo. I searched for a long time and couldn't find any useful information about it."

Olivia laughed softly. "He's the mysterious Mr. Rodriguez. You're so naive. He deliberately found a run-down building to conceal things from you!"

"Olivia, do you think he might actually know me?" Winnie had been questioning this for a while.

"No, it's more likely that you might know him," Olivia replied sharply.

"You're right. He's afraid that I'll recognize him, so he wears a mask? But I don't have many familiar men around me, and he doesn't resemble any of them. So, why does he want to hide his identity from me?"