Yvonne left the study, went downstairs to get some cleaning tools, and cleaned up the mess in front of Henry’s party before returning to the room.

The next day, she showed up at work looking like a panda. Lynette was shocked when she saw Yvonne. “Dang, what did you do last night? Steal your neighbor’s cow?”

“Don’t sit here, you’ll get into trouble if someone sees you.” Yvonne pushed Lynette off her desk. “I didn’t steal any cow. I just had nightmares all night.”

“All night?”

“Yeah. It just repeats over and over again. What torture.” Yvonne yawned, looking listless with her bloodshot eyes.

She didn’t manage to sleep for almost an entire night. As soon as she closed her eyes, she kept seeing dreams of Henry asking someone to forcefully take her bone marrow when she refused to be a donor.

The dream felt so real and terrifying that she wondered if Henry would really do that to her if s

“Just order another one.” Henry waved his hand indifferently and his voice was cold.

Jackie couldn’t dance right now, so she couldn’t play the role of a white swan on the stage. Rather than keeping the necklace around to arouse his deep feelings, he might as well give it to Yvonne Frey.

“Understood.” Since Henry had said that, Joe naturally didn’t have any objections. He pushed up his glasses and accepted his orders.

After Henry was done with his work in the afternoon, he put on his coat and was about to go to the hospital.

However, his assistant came back with a pile of gift boxes and was sweating profusely. “Mr. Lancaster!”

“What’s the matter?” Henry looked at him.

Joe put the gift boxes on the sofa. “Miss Frey isn’t at the villa.”

“Not there?” A frown appeared on Henry’s face.

“Yes, Sue informed me that she went out shopping.”

“Shopping?” Henry’s face turned dark.

He gave her a half-day vacation so that she could rest, but she went out shopping instead?

Henry pursed his thin lips, then took out his phone and called Yvonne.

His call was very quickly picked up and Yvonne’s surprised voice came through from the other end of the line. “Mr. Lancaster?”

“Where are you?” Henry inquired coldly.

Yvonne looked around her, then half-covered her phone to reduce the volume. “I’m shopping outside for an evening dress.”

“You have the money?” Henry raised his eyebrow.

If he wasn’t mistaken, Yvonne had given all her money to her mother.

“Uh…” Yvonne was choked. She scratched the back of her head and replied with some uncertainty. “Probably just enough for a cheap one…”

“Fine then.”

Joe overheard the conversation and hesitated for a moment before pointing at the gift boxes. “Then what should we do with these, Mr. Lancaster?”

Henry glanced at them and then said, “Put them in my car.”

“Right away.” Joe gathered up all the gift boxes again and went out.

Yvonne could faintly hear Henry talking to someone else and remained silent, not interrupting him until he was done speaking. “Mr. Lancaster, why are you looking for me?” she tried probing.

“Nothing.” Henry gave her a vague answer and quickly ended the call.

Lynette came back after choosing her dress and saw Yvonne sitting on the sofa in a daze with her phone. She went over to her and tapped on her. “Who was that Yvonne?”

Yvonne snapped back to her senses and put her phone away with a smile. “My husband.”

“Your husband?” Lynette’s eyes lit up with excitement. “You’ve always said that you’re married, but I’ve never met your husband! When are you going to introduce him to me?”

“When we get the chance next time.” Yvonne avoided the question with guilt in her heart and forced a smile at Lynette.

She wanted to openly announce that Henry Lancaster was her husband too, but Henry didn’t allow it.

She still remembered how he had warned her on the night of their wedding and told her not to disclose their relationship to the public.

“Why are you being so secretive?” Lynette frowned, obviously not satisfied with the answer. But she didn't continue pressing it either and just curiously asked, “Why did your husband call you?”

“I’ve no idea too!” Yvonne shrugged.

Yvonne couldn’t even believe it when she received the call from Henry.

In the past three years, he had never called her and didn’t even save her number on his phone. She was very confused as to why he had suddenly called her and asked her where she was.

“Tsk, I think you just didn’t want to tell me.” Lynette curled her lips and pretended to be annoyed.

Yvonne didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. “But I really have no idea…”

“Okay, okay.” Lynette waved her hand. “I'm not angry, I’m just teasing you. Let’s forget about it. How about you try this one?”

She picked up a pink dress and compared it to Yvonne’s body. “I chose this specifically for you! You have a soft personality so pink will be great for you!”

“How much is this?” Yvonne stood up and asked.

Lynette showed the price tag to her.

Yvonne looked at it and instantly drew a sharp breath. “F-Fifteen thousand?!” Her voice rose sharply.

“Keep your voice down!” Lynette quickly covered Yvonne’s mouth and looked around. She only sighed in relief when she confirmed that they didn’t draw any attention. “What are you so surprised for? People will mistake us for country bumpkins!”

Yvonne rolled her eyes at Lynette then poked her on the back of her hand, motioning for her to release her.

“I can let you go, but don’t go shouting again.”

Yvonne nodded to her and Lynette finally released her.

After regaining her freedom, Yvonne sighed softly as her face turned bitter. “Lyn, how can we even afford such an expensive dress?”

“Of course I know that,” Lynette answered calmly.

The corner of Yvonne’s lips twitched. “Then why are you…”

“Dummy!” Lynette tapped her forehead. “If we can’t afford it, then we’ll rent it! I did research before coming here. A dress that costs around fifteen thousand dollars can probably be rented with around seven hundred dollars.”

“Seven hundred…” Yvonne facepalmed. “But I can’t even afford to rent it.”

Lynette stopped in the middle of smoothing out the dress and looked at her friend in disbelief. “Didn’t you have at least a five-digit savings? Why can’t you afford to rent it?”

“I gave it to my mom.”

“Everything?”

Yvonne hummed a reply.

Lynette suppressed the anger in her heart and took a deep breath. “Yvonne Frey, I don’t know what to say to you!”

“Why?” Yvonne blinked at her, wondering why her friend was suddenly angry.

“You’re still asking me why?” Lynette pointed to herself and laughed out of anger. “Didn’t I tell you to stop giving away your money to your mom just like that? Yet, you gave her everything in one go. Don’t you know that’s going to make her even more greedy?”

“But she’s my mom and my younger brother is in trouble this time…”

“Come on!” Lynette snorted disdainfully. “Your mom always uses your younger brother as an excuse to ask you for money every single time. You foolishly believe her every single time. I think you’ll be sucked dry by them sooner or later!”

“Don’t say that.” Yvonne wrinkled her nose.

She was well aware that her parents were biased toward her brother too.

However, she just couldn’t bear to be mean to them. At the end of the day, they were her parents and younger brother.

“Alright, I’ll stop saying that. But what about your dress then? Do you need to borrow a few hundred dollars from me?” Lynette draped the dress over her arm and asked.

Yvonne shook her head and declined her offer. “I’ll skip the evening dress and just pick a decent-looking dress. It should be fine.”

“I’ll choose one with you later then.”

“Yeah.”

By the time they were done shopping, the sky was already dark.

Yvonne checked the time and muttered, ‘Oh, no.’ She quickly hailed a cab and rushed to the hotel with Lynette.

People were toasting to each other under the brightly lit banquet hall.

Since this was the first time Yvonne had ever attended such an occasion, she couldn’t help but be dazzled by the scene.

“Yvonne, I’m going to go say hi to the manager of our department. I’ll be right back.”

“Alright.” Yvonne nodded.

After Lynette left, Yvonne didn’t know what to do. She barely knew anyone here and didn’t feel like taking the initiative to get acquainted with anyone either. She took a drink and sat down at a corner as she gazed at the dazzling sight in silence.

“Oh my, who is that in a cheap dress?” A sneer suddenly came from behind her.

Yvonne turned her head around and saw that it was the three secretaries from before.

They were all dressed in expensive evening dresses and wearing heavy makeup, standing in their most beautiful postures as they looked at Yvonne in contempt and mockery.

“Do you need anything?” Yvonne stood up and asked indifferently.

These three had been targeting her in the office, so they must be looking for trouble right now.

“Nothing. We just came here to say hello since we are all Mr. Lancaster’s secretaries. It just so happened that we discovered something that we shouldn’t have. Look at what you’re wearing? You have disgraced the secretarial team!”

The secretary standing in the middle came forward and tugged on Yvonne’s sleeve with a disgusted look on her face.

Yvonne looked down at herself. “Is there anything wrong with my dress?”

Joe seemed to have realized something. He cast a glance at Henry who was fuming, then pushed open the door.

Yvonne stood at the door with her head hung low and her frail shoulders shook with her sobs.

“Yvonne Fr… no, madam, why are you here?” Joe forced an awkward smile on his usually stern face.

Yvonne ignored him. She lifted her tear-stained pale face and gave the man in the study room a wounded look.

The man instantly felt conflicted when he saw her like this.

“Leave now.” Henry waved to his assistant.

Joe was long ready to leave. He picked up his briefcase and quickly left.

Henry went over to Yvonne and glanced down to look at the mess on the ground. Emotions flickered through his eyes. “You heard everything?”

Yvonne clenched her hands and choked. “Why… Why are you treating me like this...?”

“I’m sorry.” Henry’s eyes dimmed.

His apology only made Yvonne feel even worse. She

Yvonne left the study, went downstairs to get some cleaning tools, and cleaned up the mess in front of Henry’s party before returning to the room.

The next day, she showed up at work looking like a panda. Lynette was shocked when she saw Yvonne. “Dang, what did you do last night? Steal your neighbor’s cow?”

“Don’t sit here, you’ll get into trouble if someone sees you.” Yvonne pushed Lynette off her desk. “I didn’t steal any cow. I just had nightmares all night.”

“All night?”

“Yeah. It just repeats over and over again. What torture.” Yvonne yawned, looking listless with her bloodshot eyes.

She didn’t manage to sleep for almost an entire night. As soon as she closed her eyes, she kept seeing dreams of Henry asking someone to forcefully take her bone marrow when she refused to be a donor.

The dream felt so real and terrifying that she wondered if Henry would really do that to her if she didn’t agree to be the donor.

“Just what kind of nightmare did you have?” Lynette leaned closer 

Chapter 23 A Welcoming Party