My Possessive CEO: Trembling in His Arms-Chapter 188: Should We Tell Her?
Halfway through the meal, it was interrupted by the implications from Sanga. Renee Winslow lost interest in eating altogether.
Shay knew Jack Yates was coming back, so she packed her things and returned to the staff room.
Renee Winslow sat in the living room waiting for Jack Yates, and quickly turned her head when she heard the door open.
Jack Yates carried a black coat in his hand. Underneath, he wore a black turtleneck cashmere sweater and black casual trousers, making the whole look composed, steady, yet carrying a genteel air with a hint of cool nobility.
"Have you eaten?" Renee Winslow asked.
Actually, it was a redundant question; by this hour, it was impossible Jack Yates hadn’t eaten.
Jack Yates: "Yes, I have."
He casually hung the coat on the coat rack in the foyer and walked quickly toward Renee Winslow.
Renee Winslow smiled at him and started chatting as if it were ordinary conversation, "I just got a call from Sanga while I was eating. I don’t know what happened, but her words trailed off and the call suddenly disconnected. When I tried calling back, it said she was out of the service area."
Jack Yates spoke earnestly, "Maybe there’s a weak signal on her end."
Renee Winslow frowned slightly, "Her home is in Vintara, not in the mountains, so the signal shouldn’t be bad. And even if the signal’s bad, you’d still be able to call, wouldn’t you?"
Jack Yates maintained his calm demeanor, "Try calling a few more times, or ask her tomorrow; then you’ll know."
Renee Winslow: "Before the call was cut off, Sanga asked me whether I’d seen something online... she didn’t finish her sentence. I don’t know what she wanted to say. Could something major have happened online?"
Jack Yates leaned down on the sofa armrest, smiling as he looked at her, "If you have a question, just ask directly. When did you learn to beat around the bush?"
Renee Winslow looked into his deep eyes, "I want to know, has something big happened?"
Jack Yates curled his lips, "Indeed, there’s news. India-Pakistan conflict, Eastern Ukraine conflict, battle for Syria’s capital—those are all international events."
Renee Winslow lightly punched him, "I’m serious."
Jack Yates caught her hand, kissed it by the lips, and said, "So am I."
Renee Winslow pulled her hand back, "Jack Yates, are you lying to me?"
Jack Yates: "Yes."
Renee Winslow felt a heaviness in her heart.
Jack Yates immediately followed with, "I actually haven’t eaten yet."
Renee Winslow: "..."
"You’re so annoying." Renee Winslow pushed against his chest and ran upstairs.
Jack Yates followed her up, saying as he walked, "A young actor jumped to his death—the one who worked with your friend in a shoot."
Renee Winslow placed her hand on the stair railing, stopped, and slowly turned to look at Jack Yates, "You mean Sanga?"
Jack Yates raised an eyebrow, "Do you have any other actor friends?"
Renee Winslow asked, "Which show, which actor?"
Jack Yates handed her his phone, "See for yourself."
Renee Winslow took the phone, then handed it back, "You didn’t unlock it."
Jack Yates didn’t take the phone, instead he said six numbers, "999619."
June 19, 1999, was her birth date.
Jack Yates’s lock screen password was her birthday.
Renee Winslow unlocked his phone and saw it was also on 2G, then returned the phone to him, "I can’t even access the internet, how can I see?"
Jack Yates opened the chat conversation with Kyle Sheffield, the latest dialogue displayed the time three minutes ago.
Kyle Sheffield had sent several screenshots to him without any reply from Jack Yates.
Renee Winslow opened a screenshot to look. A girl lay in a pool of blood, unblurred, and the visual impact was intense.
Frightened, she quickly handed the phone back to Jack Yates, "Was it an accident or intentional?"
Jack Yates said indifferently, "Intentional." Seeing Renee Winslow tremble, he extended an arm to gather her by the waist, "Your friend probably called after seeing the news, scared."
Renee Winslow’s imagination expanded, her eyes widening in alarm, "Then, Sanga’s okay, right? She was talking when the call just dropped suddenly. She wouldn’t be..."
Jack Yates reassured her, "Don’t worry, I’m here. If you’re uneasy, I’ll have someone track her down now. We’ll definitely find her for you."
Renee Winslow did not hold back, "Then please help me find her."
Once back in the master bedroom on the second floor, Renee Winslow intended to soak in the bath, but as soon as she entered, Jack Yates came into the bathroom as well.
Renee Winslow pushed him, "You go use another bathroom, we’ll each shower."
Jack Yates locked the bathroom door with a reverse grip and swiftly picked her up, carrying her into the shower and placing her in the double bathtub.
Renee Winslow tried to stand against the bathtub edge, but Jack Yates pressed his hand on her chest and gently pushed her down, leaning over to kiss her lips while his other hand reached into the water.
-
Renee Winslow spent ten days offline studying English until school resumed, after which Jack Yates restored the home network.
After the school term began, Ivy Jansen jokingly asked, "Renee, what’s with your break, did you go offline? There was no contact from you."
Joyce Pierce coughed, turning her face toward the budding willows by the lake.
On the second day of the Lunar New Year, she and Ivy Jansen both received instructions from Secretary Lowell, telling them not to inform Renee Winslow no matter what they saw online.
Afterwards, they secretly discussed unbeknownst to Renee Winslow.
Ivy Jansen: [What do we do, should we tell Renee?]
Joyce Pierce: [Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear what Secretary Lowell said, not to tell Renee Winslow no matter what we see.]
Ivy Jansen: [But what if Renee doesn’t know?]
Joyce Pierce: [It’s not related to us, it’s her choice. Stay out of it.]
Ultimately, Ivy Jansen chose to concede to reality. Although worried, she couldn’t gamble her own future.
Joyce Pierce was even less likely to tell Renee Winslow, as she didn’t really like her to begin with.
Renee Winslow sighed helplessly when she heard Ivy Jansen mention the internet disconnection, "Ugh, don’t mention it. I was really offline."
Ivy Jansen exclaimed, "What? Why were you offline? Did you go back to a rural hometown?"
Renee Winslow huffed, "Even my rural hometown wouldn’t only have 2G. Jack Yates cut off my internet. He said it was to help me focus on studying English."
Ivy Jansen: "Why are you learning English?"
Renee Winslow didn’t mention it was for the IELTS and covered it with a lie, "I just wanted to learn another language because I had free time."
Ivy Jansen slyly said, "You’re doing the right thing. While young, if you have the chance to learn, you should. Besides English, you could learn instruments, like guzheng, piano, or drums. The more you learn, the better; it never hurts to enrich yourself. Besides, these things aren’t cheap to learn."
Renee Winslow laughed, "You can bite off more than you can chew. Plus, I’m not interested in instruments, just English."
The three continued chatting, and before they realized it, they walked into the lecture hall.
In the following days, Renee Winslow maintained a routine between school and home—her place with Jack Yates at The Winslow Estate.
Meanwhile, Caleb Yates hadn’t shown up or contacted her since meeting on New Year’s Eve.
Unbeknownst to Renee Winslow, after Lunar New Year, on the second day, Jack Yates had Caleb Yates forcibly sent back to the island for training.
Caleb Yates didn’t resist, deciding to endure humiliation for a purpose and stick to one principle—to learn from the enemy’s strengths to defeat them.
He planned to return one day when strong enough to challenge Jack Yates, for power and women—he wanted them all!
Unconsciously, it became the sixth day of the second lunar month, March 12 in the Gregorian calendar, Jack Yates’s birthday.
Jack Yates’s thirtieth birthday was grandly celebrated at the Kyoro Hotel.
Bigwigs from various sectors, wealthy people from all over the south and north, and sons of prestigious families from The Quadrangle, all who could connect with Jack Yates attended.
Outside the Kyoro Hotel, rows of luxury cars were parked.
Inside the magnificent hall, filled with the fragrance of perfume and shadows of women in beautiful dresses, it was a decadent scene.
