Chapter 10

Luna scrambled to help me stop the bleeding. Her anxious appearance made her look like a completely different person from a few minutes ago. However, her words only made me speechless. I told her coldly, "If you hadn't broken my glass and made a mess of my office, then I wouldn't have tripped and gotten hurt." She didn't argue with me, perhaps realizing that she was at fault. Instead, she helped me onto the couch and brought over a medical kit. Carefully, she tended to my cuts. Due to her closeness, I could distinctly smell the perfume she wore. I couldn't help but cough violently as the strong smell wafted into my nose, turning away from her. It took a while for the coughing fit to pass. Her perfume actually smelled heavenly, but there were problems with my respiratory tract now. The slightest smell was enough to make me greatly uncomfortable. After Luna finished treating my wounds, she asked, "You seem to be coughing a lot lately. You've also seemed off and somewhat frail, as if you haven't been eating well." It was true that I hadn't been eating well recently. I'd been drinking a lot of wine, and the alcohol had caused my throat to become increasingly uncomfortable. Often, even swallowing would cause my throat to start hurting. I pulled my hand back and pretended that I wasn't bothered. "If there's nothing else you need me for, then please go back to what you were doing, Ms. Sherwood. "There's someone awaiting your comfort, after all." At my obvious dismissal, Luna's rarely-seen nice side immediately vanished. "I obviously came over to ask you about the situation with Mr. Hutton, Edward. I don't care about the minor details. All I want to know is how you managed to secure the deal, and what the Plan B and Plan C you mentioned are." I looked at her, raising the hand she had just treated for me. "So, your purpose is the same as last night, isn't it? You approached me to get your hands on my leftover proposals, all so you could hand them over to Samuel, right?" I questioned her, equal parts angry and despairing. She didn't deny it. She merely flicked off some of the blood remaining on her nails and said in a persuasive tone, "Edward, it's not that I'm defending him. At the end of the day, you're still my husband, but Sam has nothing. Can't you just help him out? "You don't know what he's been through. His father is addicted to alcohol and gambling, his mother is bedridden, and he has a sister who needs to get through school. Don't you see your past self reflected in him?" I couldn't help but sneer. "How miserable can he get with you supporting him? If you insist on letting him handle the project, I won't object. However, it's best if you ask for Mr. Hutton's opinion first. "Don't lose out on a huge deal because of your petty wants. I'm fine with not getting my two-million-dollar commission, but can you really afford to give up on a hundred million dollars of project revenue?" My words left Luna speechless. In the end, she stopped insisting on it. "Fine. It doesn't matter who takes charge of the project. Just let Sam be your assistant. Teach him the ropes. "Now, can you finally tell me what you did back in the conference room?" "'What I did'? Are you implying something, Ms. Sherwood?" I looked at her coldly. "Can't we have a proper conversation, Edward?" Luna countered accusingly, frowning. "Why else would Mr. Hutton clear out the room, leaving only you inside? "Why is it you're the only one who can satisfy him?" So, she actually thought this lowly of me. I stepped closer to her despite myself. "Then, tell me. What should I have done in that conference room?" Her gaze fell first on the buttons of my shirt, then the belt at my waist. After confirming that they hadn't been removed, she sighed softly in relief. "Edward, I do want to earn money, but only through legal, upright means. I don't approve of anything under the table—I hope you can keep these words in mind." I smirked. "You're lecturing the wrong person, Ms. Sherwood. You should be telling Samuel that." She didn't rush to defend Samuel this time. Instead, she asked, "But there's something I find really odd. When the conference room door opened, I caught the scent of wine. "That scent was both unique and familiar. Where did you get that wine?" Of course, I wasn't going to tell her that the wine was an improved version of the Richardsons' family recipe. Before my dad met me and my mother, he had been a winery owner in Lotus Town. The winery had later been destroyed because of us. After that incident, my mother disappeared. The family recipe, which had been handed down for generations, had also been lost. Noah's illness first showed itself around that time. Back then, the Richardsons claimed that my mother stole the recipe when she left. All she left behind was me, who was nothing but a burden. But my dad brushed aside all their objections, determined to adopt me officially. He worked hard to raise me for ten years. All the while, he was constantly thinking of ways to improve on the family's secret recipe and rebuild the winery, but he kept running into obstacles. His old illness overwhelmed him bit by bit until he finally collapsed during my sophomore year. The wine in that bottle was brewed according to the new recipe he had come up with. It had been buried in the Mount Norton wine cellar for years—up until a few days ago when I opened up a cask and brought it with me. All for this day. Although my dad was currently lying in the hospital, he had still managed to help me out. It had been ten years since wine made with this recipe had appeared on the market. So why would Luna find it familiar?