third person's POV
Sabrina seemed to have something on Vanya and quickly asked, "What happened? Tell me."
"I didn't know if it was true or not, it was just a rumor back in school... they said Vanya was a call girl."
"Escort girl?" Sabrina immediately showed a look of disdain, "I was wondering why she's so pretty, turns out she really did this for a living."
"I only told you this because I saw you as one of my own, so don't spread it around. Just keep it to yourself."
"Don't worry, I definitely won't say anything, I won't make things hard for you." Sabrina couldn't wait to get on Melinda's good side.
Not just because Melinda was a grad student at Wolf International Finance School, but also because she had something going on with Cliff. After all, not everyone could get introduced by Evans himself.
Melinda saw that Sabrina believed her and couldn't help but curl her lips.
After work, Vanya got ready to head to M Group right away. There were decisions waiting for her to handle that night.
Melinda called out to her from behind, "Vanya, I need to talk to you, is this a good time?"
"Not convenient." Vanya didn't want to give her any face at all.
Melinda blocked her way: "It's about Cliff. You really don't want to hear?"
"Not interested, please move." She used to be too lazy to argue with Melinda, but that didn't mean she would always put up with it.
Melinda saw she didn't care and said, "I slept with Cliff, you know?"
Vanya paused and looked back at Melinda's smug grin, and actually found it funny: "What's there to brag about?"
"Of course there was. Don't think I didn't know you and Cliff were just in a fake relationship. Now that I'm with him, he'll break up with you sooner or later. To avoid embarrassment, why don't you bring it up yourself? At least you can save some face."
Melinda looked totally different from her innocent self before, maybe she finally showed her true colors.
Vanya looked at her and smiled, saying, "If you could really get Cliff to break up with me, you wouldn't be here trying to talk me into it. Give it up. Even if you slept with him, it wouldn't mean anything to me. It wouldn't get to me."
Melinda sneered, just thinking Vanya was pretending: "We didn't use protection that night. If I got pregnant, you wouldn't have a choice but to break up! Why embarrass yourself?"
"Get this straight, I'm not the one who didn't want to end things. You should go say that to Cliff." Vanya glanced at her watch. There was really no need to waste time here with Melinda.
Seeing Vanya leave, Melinda couldn't help but wonder—was it not Vanya who didn't want to break up all along, but Cliff?
In the evening, when Vanya rushed to the gate of M Group by car, suddenly a figure jumped at her from behind.
She was startled, looked up and saw it was Cliff, and froze for a second: "Cliff?"
Cliff smelled like tobacco and alcohol, his cheeks a bit red, looking kind of out of it: "Vanya, I waited for you."
"What are you freaking out about?" Vanya glanced at the M Group, then looked around. She only relaxed a bit after making sure no one was around.
The cedar pheromones around Cliff suddenly condensed into a tangible cold mist. He said in a deep voice, "What's your relationship with M Group?"
His pupils narrowed a little in the shadows, shining with that unique wolfish gleam, and the invisible pressure made the air feel thick.
"You came all the way here just to catch me?"
Vanya's lily-of-the-valley-scented pheromones had a hint of wary tremor, the tone rising at the end, but she deliberately kept her distance.
Vanya saw he didn't say anything, just let that oppressive feeling cover her, so she suddenly broke free from his hand.
Her fingertips glowed with the wolf clan's pale blue light from the force: "I was just here on behalf of the Dalton family. If you doubted me, I had nothing to say."
Cliff stared at her, his gaze hot like a brand fresh from the fire, and there was a hint of urgent, sulfur-like scent in his cedar pheromones: "Why?"
His vertical pupils got even more obvious as his emotions flared, almost narrowing into thin lines.
"What?" Vanya's pheromones wavered a bit, her pupils dilated—she clearly didn't expect him to ask that.
"Why wouldn't you tell me anything?" Cliff's pressure suddenly got stronger, and the air around seemed compressed, carrying an unquestionable demand.
Vanya frowned, a chill in her scent. "You drank too much."
"Vanya!" Cliff suddenly grabbed her arm, his knuckles showing silvery wolf fur from the force. His nails hardened and grew longer right before her eyes, shining with a sharp silver light. "I won't let you go."
Seeing that he wouldn't let go, Vanya stopped struggling too. A cold smile appeared at the corner of her lips, and her lily-of-the-valley pheromones suddenly turned sharp as a blade: "Cliff, are you done making a scene?"
"Vanya..." Cliff's voice softened, and his cedar scent, with a hint of pleading and a touch of barely noticeable grievance, lingered around her and wouldn't go away.
"I didn't want to hear you say all that lovey-dovey stuff, you should've saved those words for Melinda."
Vanya's pheromones built an invisible wall and blocked out his scent.
"Why leave it to her? I already cut ties with her! I wasn't going to have anything to do with her again!"