Chapter 3: Was the Boss in a Bad Mood?

At night, the Goltzstraße street was very quiet. After just finishing a negotiation meeting, Benjamin, with slightly fast footsteps, returned to the hotel he sponsored. Inside the black Rolls-Royce, the company's assistant, Simon Lee, held the meeting's record report for him to sign. The assistant team following behind also breathed a sigh of relief. Having just finished a fierce battle in the business arena, everyone was waiting for the boss to sign the documents, signaling the end of the day's work. They were eager to take a good rest. But the man sitting on the back seat of the car, who was originally silent and terrifying, suddenly asked, "Anything else?" Simon couldn't help holding his breath, and his brain turned quickly, trying to think about what else he needed to report to him. However, no matter how hard Simon tried, he couldn't think of anything. "Everything is going smoothly in terms of work, and nothing unexpected has happened." But Benjamin's eyebrows did not relax, instead, they furrowed tighter. He glanced at the bottomless night outside the window and asked, "What time is it in LA now?" Simon was momentarily stunned before answering, "It's 2 p.m." Benjamin remained silent, but as his assistant sitting right next to him, Simon could clearly feel the temperature in the car drop suddenly at that moment. Simon cautiously glanced at his boss, unsure if he had said something wrong. Usually, when they returned to the hotel, Benjamin took off his coat and go to the temporary study to work overtime like usual. His accompanying assistants and advisors would also work tirelessly with him through the night. In the eyes of others, Benjamin was indeed a genius in various fields, especially in the business world, where he had raised the Walker group to become a domestic industry giant in just a few years. However, only a few people around him knew that he was an extreme and frightening perfectionist, especially when it came to work, he had no empathy for any situation. As it approached dawn, the assistants and consultants who were working with him began to feel exhausted and wanted to rest, but the man in the study did not move, so they didn't dare to leave. Later, it was still Simon who, under pressure, went to remind Benjamin that he should rest, "Boss, you have a conference in the afternoon. You should..." Before he could finish his speech, he was intimidated by the cold gaze of Benjamin in the next second. Outside the room, the assistants sat together in the small conference room with a gloomy expression. Rihanna Fenty looked worriedly at the room. Among this group of people, she was the oldest and the most senior member of the Walker group. She also knew the boss's temper the best. Now, with Benjamin working so frantically and not caring about anything else, it seemed more like he was in a bad mood. "By the way, did the boss say anything else today?" Rihanna asked after a moment of pondering. "No, we had a long day of meetings, and then we were invited to dinner with the other party. We all came back together, but we didn't even get a chance to talk to the boss," the rest of people shook their heads one after another and answered. "Oh, when I asked the boss to sign the report in the car, he suddenly asked me what time it was in LA." It was actually Simon who had a sudden thought and recalled what happened when he asked the boss to sign the report in the car. "Is there anything else?" Rihanna pursed her lips for a second and then asked. "I don't think so," Simon shook his head. "What's going on?" The other people looked at Rihanna in bewilderment. "Has anyone called or messaged from the US recently?" Rihanna's mind was indeed sharp, and she immediately grasped the key point. "Yesterday, the boss's mother called to ask something," one of the assistants said. "Anything else?" As a woman, Rihanna's intuition told her that this matter was not important. "Oh, yes, a few days ago, Mr. Paloma, a friend of the boss, called to ask when he could come back." "What about Martina?" Rihanna took a deep breath and her eyes suddenly changed, and questioned. Everyone looked at each other and quickly checked the call records. Recalling the number of times Martina had called before, Rihanna noticed that there had been a significant decrease recently, to the point that there had been none at all. "Did Martina call or not?" she emphasized. "No, she didn't." At this moment, even Simon hadn't realized the true meaning of this question, replying. "When was the last time she called?" Rihanna asked. "20 days ago? I am not very sure. But at that time, the boss was in a very important meeting, so we received the call and didn't tell him about it," Simon replied. Rihanna took the phone and carefully looked through the call log. Suddenly, an inexplicable voice warned her that the problem may lie here! "Call back!" she ordered. ... The phone on the sofa kept ringing incessantly. Martina felt annoyed and simply switched her phone to airplane mode and threw it on the table. Previously, Benjamin rarely contacted her, so every time she received his call, it would make her happy for a long time. But now things were different. That urgent ringtone suddenly seemed a bit harsh. Then Martina dialed her friend's phone number. Elena Rodríguez was also a member of the wealthy circle in LA, but the two were college classmates before. Coming from a family of old money, Elena received the news of Martina's departure from the Walker family early in the morning and was just about to inquire about the reason behind it. As soon as the call was connected, Elena couldn't help but shout, "Come on, what are you up to again? You have just made headlines across the city." As Martina's friend and bestie, Elena once said that if Martina could really let go of Benjamin, she would definitely find someone better and richer for her. Unfortunately, Martina had been infatuated with Benjamin since their first day of college, and despite Elena's frustration and efforts, she remained dedicated to him. When she heard that Martina had left the Walker family, Elena immediately assumed it was another one of her friend's schemes. She asked impatiently, "Come on, tell me, what's your plan this time? Are you trying to force a marriage or something?" Martina let out a fabricated bitter laugh. Upon hearing the silence on Martina's end, Elena also realized that something was wrong. She set aside her paintbrush and even her tone became more serious, "Hey, my angel, what's been bothering you?" Martina took a deep breath, set aside her reluctance, and replied, "I want to let go. I want to break up with him." Elena sighed, not taking it to heart, "Oh, I've heard that countless times before. Has it ever worked?" In her opinion, Martina liked Benjamin to death. To ask her to let go, she might as well wait until Martina died! Martina laughed, as if she also doubted herself. Finally, she shook her head and changed the subject, "I want to go to the studio tomorrow." Elena was even more confused and asked, "Really? You haven't been to the studio in years. What are you going to do there now?" Martina stood up, slowly walked to the balcony, and smiled while blowing in the wind, asking, "If I don't work, are you going to support me?" Elena blinked and pouted, "Benjamin's family is so wealthy. How could I afford to support you?" Martina interrupted her, "I didn't take anything from him, including money." Elena couldn't help but stare for a few seconds before eagerly asking, "What do you mean by that?" Martina had been living in the Walker family all along and was greatly favored by Jack Walker. Her treatment was truly that of a wealthy heiress and a socialite in LA. Even though Benjamin didn't like her, she still carried the status of his fiancée, and the Walker family was generous towards her. In these years, in order to better integrate into this circle and meet the standards of a suitable match, Martina went to great lengths to buy various luxury items to enhance her image. Later, she learned that during that time, people like Adam referred to her as a materialistic woman. Looking back now, she realized how foolish she was. Martina answered, "Of course, I meant it literally." Elena fell silent for a few seconds, "Are you serious?" Martina smiled with bitterness, "So, even you believe this is just a farce?" Elena didn't hold back and said, "It's hard for me not to believe it. You loved him so deeply before, endured so much hardship in there for him. Now you say you're leaving, do you really believe it yourself?" Martina was genuinely heartbroken, but she could only laugh at Elena's words. "So, you all believe I can't live without him?" Elena didn't hesitate, "Exactly!" Martina was speechless. ... As the time grew late, the pale yellow light in the living room of Martina's rented apartment illuminated. She was squatting on the floor, repeatedly wiping the floor. To be honest, she had already wiped it several times. Even if she treated the floor as a mirror, it would be clean enough. But she unconsciously continued to wipe, as if trying to erase that person from her heart. At that moment, the phone on the living room table rang again, but this time it was a video call. Martina snapped out of her thoughts, dried her hands, and walked to the living room to pick up the phone. She glanced at it and saw Benjamin's Snapchat avatar continuously flashing.