Chapter 29
Natalie shrieked and pushed him away. “No! You bastard! Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said?”
Without waiting for a response, Natalie rushed into her room and slammed the door.
Sebastian didn’t dare to stop her. He stood there, stunned, as the bath towel fluttered to the ground in
front of the closed door.
He saw something he shouldn’t have seen just now.
He cursed, feeling hot all over. Leaning against the wall heavily, he pulled at his collar as though it was
choking him.
The next day, Natalie went to work. Her stomach churned with unease the entire time. She knew that
Ike wouldn’t spare her for what happened last night.
As soon as she arrived at her desk and sat down, Ike stormed out of his office and threw a stack of
documents on her table. “You are fired! Pack your things and get out of here now!”
Natalie picked up the documents and looked at them — they were all design drafts she had previously
submitted. “May I know why you’re firing me, Mr. Lyman?” she asked calmly.
There was still a Band-Aid on the bridge of his nose to cover the injury he had suffered last night. His
eyes were blazing with rage. Natalie’s words reminded him of the way he was humiliated last night.
“You’re incompetent for your current position!” he spat venomously. “Pack your things and get out of the
Larson Group. You’re just a graduate. I’ll make sure you don’t flourish in the fashion field, ever. As long
as I’m in the industry, you won’t be able to get a job, let alone succeed in your career.”
“You already approved my designs. Why do you say I’m incompetent now?” Natalie retorted, clutching
her design documents. Her sharp gaze met his, and she didn’t seem afraid in the slightest.
Ike’s screams drew the attention of other employees.
Everyone stopped working and looked up at them.
“That’s right. Mr. Lyman. We have already started executing Quinn’s design plan after you approved
them,” said one of Natalie’s colleagues.
Natalie had a good relationship with everyone in the department, and her colleagues liked and
respected her.
“Is there any misunderstanding? Mr. Lyman, we all have witnessed Quinn’s exceptional talent. She is
dynamic and diligent.”
Ike’s face darkened when he saw his colleagues standing up for Natalie. He cleared his throat and
said, “There is no misunderstanding. The design plan is changed now. She is fired! I’ll pick a new
design from what you all submitted earlier. No more questions! I’m the director. If I say she is
incompetent, it means she is!”
The people around fell silent and cast a sympathetic look at Natalie.
By now, everyone guessed that Natalie had offended Ike in some way, and that was probably why he
was firing her. Ike had made his decision. Moreover, he was a respected senior designer in the design
industry, and no one dared to question his decisions or argue with him.
Natalie breathed a long sigh of relief. Considering what happened last night, she knew things would
end this way.
She gritted her teeth and sorted her designs, preparing to pack her things. Her heart sank at the
knowledge that she wasn’t an employee of the Larson Group anymore.
“Wait!” said an intimidating male voice.
Natalie looked up and found that it was Garrett.
He glanced at Natalie and walked toward Ike. “Lyman, someone has filed a report stating that you have
molested a female employee in the company and attempted to rape her.”
Everyone in the design department burst into an uproar. All eyes turned toward Ike as they eyed him
with scrutiny.
“What? Mr. Harding, I would never do such a thing. Someone must have filed a complaint against me
on purpose, just to ruin my reputation,” Ike said, shaking his head fiercely.
At that moment, Christopher walked into the design department. “You would never do such a thing?”
He glowered at Ike. “Yesterday, I saw you forcefully take Miss Quinn to a dinner party and threaten her
with her job.”
Ike grew tense. “You’re just making groundless accusations!” he snorted coldly. “I thought Quinn had
potential, so I proposed to take her to a party held for designers last night. I wanted to introduce her to
some designers and help her. I didn’t mean to molest her at all.”
Natalie clenched her fists and glared at the man. Bile rose in her throat. She couldn’t believe he had
the audacity to lie after what happened.
“Let’s see the evidence first. Only then will we know whether it’s true or not.” A knowing smile emerged
on Garrett’s face. His assistant immediately opened the laptop and played a video.
The place looked like a hotel corridor. The door of an elevator opened, and Natalie wanted to get in, but
Ike dragged Natalie out. Her hair was disheveled, the panic evident in her eyes. She struggled
desperately as Ike tried dragging her into a room.
“Is this how you help an employee?” Garrett sneered, his face red with rage.