Chapter 278: Are You Flattering Me?
After Dominic Crawford walked out, Simon Hughes looked at Claire Vance across from him and smiled.
"So, what do you think?"
Claire Vance pressed her lips together, unwilling to speak.
’Though she didn’t want to admit it, she had to. Things had unfolded exactly as Simon Hughes had predicted.’
She had always thought Simon Hughes was just some rich kid coasting through life, a "smiling tiger" who was thoroughly detestable.
But now, she was finally realizing just how ridiculously wrong she had been.
’You really can’t judge a book by its cover.’
Some people were one way on the surface but completely different underneath.
Compared to Simon Hughes, she was far too superficial.
She wore all her emotions on her face and tended to be too forceful in her actions.
Although that approach worked well sometimes...
...there were also times when it backfired.
Just like that incident with Nathan Thorne last time.
If she had used a different method, perhaps the outcome wouldn’t have been the same.
Having figured this out, Claire Vance started to smile.
"Very good!" Claire Vance nodded at Simon Hughes. "Thank you for the show today. It was quite entertaining."
"Just ’quite entertaining’?" Simon Hughes raised an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me you didn’t learn anything from it?"
"How did you know I—"
Claire Vance instinctively started to retort.
Halfway through her sentence, she realized something was wrong.
’I can’t say it!’
’If I do, wouldn’t I be admitting I learned something?’
’Wouldn’t I be admitting I’m not as good as Simon Hughes?’
Claire Vance clenched her jaw, glaring at Simon Hughes with a flicker of anger in her eyes.
But Simon Hughes wasn’t afraid. He didn’t take it to heart at all. In fact, his smile grew even brighter than before.
His previous smile, while bright, was clearly a fake one that didn’t reach his eyes. It held no sincerity.
But now it was different.
This one was obviously genuine.
"Being able to teach you a thing or two means today wasn’t a waste. Claire," he said, his tone serious, "I truly believe we shouldn’t be enemies. We don’t have any conflicts of interest to begin with. In this situation, the two of us cooperating is far better than us becoming enemies, don’t you think?
I know you must have your reservations, but that’s alright. I can give you time to think it over. It’s fine even if you say no. But I still hope you’ll consider it carefully."
Hearing Simon Hughes call her "Claire" so familiarly, Claire Vance felt her skin crawl.
"Wh-why are you calling me that? You’re not allowed to call me that!"
As she spoke, Claire Vance shot to her feet and ran for the door.
Watching Claire Vance’s flustered retreat, Simon Hughes didn’t look displeased. On the contrary, he smiled even more brightly.
A flash of determination—the look of someone who was sure to get what he wanted—crossed his eyes.
Meanwhile, Claire Vance ran for a good distance before finally slowing down, leaning against a wall and gasping for breath.
She finally managed to calm her racing heart, but the moment she recalled Simon Hughes calling her "Claire," it would start to pound uncontrollably again.
"Simon Hughes!"
Claire Vance squeezed the name through her gritted teeth, her hands clenched into fists.
The bodyguards following her watched this display, completely baffled.
’He just called her by her name, right?’
’Is that really a reason to get so flustered and agitated?’
Though they thought this, none of them dared to let it show on their faces. They just stood there obediently.
Only when Claire Vance started walking forward did they hurry to catch up.
At the same time, all of them were on edge.
They were with Claire Vance every day, so they knew her better than most.
When she was in a bad mood, she wasn’t exactly polite to the people around her.
If they weren’t careful, they would be in for it.
-
Sierra Sullivan took a quick look around The Little Green Shop, then quietly slipped back out.
Jayce and Candice Tate were Wood Ability Users. They were the shop’s main workforce, absolutely indispensable.
But she couldn’t be of much help.
And it wasn’t just her; Nathan Thorne was in the same boat.
Sierra had only been out for a moment and had just found a quiet corner to sit when Nathan Thorne trudged over, looking dejected. He sat down a short distance away from her.
Glancing at Nathan, who looked like a wilted eggplant, Sierra didn’t ask him what was wrong.
Nathan wasn’t the type who could keep things bottled up. She didn’t need to ask; he’d burst on his own soon enough.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Nathan looked over at her.
"Sierra, do you think... if we had been a little nicer to Dominic Crawford and Joy Warren back then, they wouldn’t have ended up like this?"
Hearing this, Sierra laughed out loud. "You’re good at blaming yourself, aren’t you? Have you never heard the saying that greed is a pit that can never be filled?"
Nathan’s head hung even lower.
Seeing him like this, Sierra sighed silently.
"Deep down, you understand everything; you’re just unwilling to admit it. Stop thinking about it. He and we are worlds apart now. Today, he just came by to say a few words. Who knows, next time..."
"Next time what?" Nathan looked up abruptly.
Sierra looked at Nathan but didn’t finish her sentence.
But she knew he understood what she was going to say.
What Sierra didn’t expect, however, was that before Dominic Crawford could return, Hector Grant showed up.
「Three days later.」
When Hector Grant arrived, he first glanced at the long queue of people and then gave a wry smile.
"You guys really know how to make trouble for me! You set your prices so low that several other businesses have joined forces to pressure me into taking this property back."
Sierra wasn’t surprised to hear this from Hector Grant.
And that wasn’t just true for the present.
Even before the apocalypse, such tactics were hardly uncommon.
The only thing that surprised Sierra was that it had taken Hector this long to come and talk about it.
"Captain Grant, you must have made a special trip here for more than just this," Sierra said.
It wasn’t a question; her tone was one of certainty.
"What makes you think that? Isn’t this a big deal? Not worth a special trip from me?"
Sierra shook her head. "Of course not. This is nothing for you, Captain Grant. You wouldn’t care about them ganging up to apply pressure, and besides, you can’t stand the prices they’ve set, can you?"
"Are you..." Hector Grant looked at Sierra with a strange expression. "Flattering me?"
"Of course not!" Sierra said with a perfectly straight face. "I’m only stating facts! How could that be flattery?"
Seeing her like this, Hector Grant gave a resigned laugh.
"You’ve put me on such a high pedestal, what can I say? I guess I’ll just have to withstand the pressure, no matter how great it is!"
After saying this, Hector Grant’s expression changed, and he became much more serious.
"I came to find you this time because there’s a mission, and I need all of you to do it!"