Chapter 516 - 512: Misfortunes Never Come Singly

Since neither of them was paying attention, the collision was surprisingly forceful. With her head bowed, Cecilia slammed right into the man’s chin. His handsome face contorted in pain as he sucked in a sharp breath.

Yet his solid frame didn’t budge an inch. Instead, the impact sent Cecilia stumbling backward.

Cecilia staggered back two steps, losing her balance and about to fall to the ground.

Just then, a large, well-defined hand shot out and clamped onto her arm, using sheer strength to steady her.

"Sorry about that. Are you all right?"

The man’s tone was full of concern as he spoke, his other hand gently rubbing his chin. The moment Cecilia was steady on her feet, he let go of her arm.

"I’m fine. I wasn’t looking where I was going, either. My apologies."

As she spoke, Cecilia instinctively looked up, and a handsome, chiseled face unexpectedly filled her vision. But before she could get a good look, the man gave her a slight nod, sidestepped her, and strode away.

’I’m this beautiful, and he didn’t even give me a second glance?’

Cecilia, on the other hand, turned her head to watch his retreating figure until it disappeared around a corner of the hospital.

She raised an eyebrow, then chuckled self-deprecatingly. ’This habit of admiring handsome men is really ingrained in me.’

Just then, Wyatt Sherman sent her a photo of himself, drenched in sweat after his morning workout.

Cecilia admired it for a moment, a satisfied smile gracing her lips. ’He’s handsome, too!’

*

Jasmine Sterling woke up around noon. When she went downstairs, she saw her daughter’s overcoat on the sofa and knew she was back.

So, before heading out, she made her daughter a simple meal.

When she arrived at the company, workers were replacing the glass front doors. The paint on the walls had been mostly cleaned up, but the surface was completely ruined.

A full repaint and renovation were now unavoidable.

"Jasmine."

Just then, Manager Tate walked over, his face grim. "I have something to tell you."

Manager Tate was usually cheerful, so his expression alone was enough to tell whether the news would be good or bad.

Jasmine didn’t even have to ask; she just looked at him calmly.

Manager Tate pressed his lips together. "The landlord for our new branch location... they’re backing out of the lease."

"Why?" Jasmine asked.

Manager Tate glanced at the pitted, damaged walls. "It’s because of this mess. They’re probably worried our company is shady. After all, people don’t just get their buildings vandalized with paint for no reason. It’s their property, so of course they don’t want to get involved in this kind of trouble. It’s normal for them to want to avoid the risk."

"But didn’t we sign the contract?"

"We signed it, but they haven’t."

Jasmine sighed. "We spent so long scouting for that perfect location. Is there any room to negotiate? I’m willing to pay a little more in rent."

Manager Tate shook his head. "I already spoke with them. Their decision is final. A prime location like that will have no trouble finding other tenants."

"Then we’ll just have to start searching again." Though inwardly frustrated, Jasmine didn’t press the issue. The situation was what it was; problems arose, and they had to be solved.

Wallowing in self-pity was useless.

But misfortunes never come singly. Just as she stepped into the office, an employee from customer complaints rushed over. "Jasmine, this is bad! Ashton’s team is in trouble!"

"What?" Jasmine was startled. "What happened?"

She suddenly grew tense. Cleaning could actually be a dangerous job, especially since her company catered to high-end clients, servicing luxury homes, most of which were villas.

Villas had stairs, high railings, and other potential safety hazards. That was why Jasmine bought comprehensive insurance for all her employees and always emphasized safety awareness during training.

Jasmine was terrified of her employees getting into accidents.

"The client says a bracelet is missing!"

It wasn’t a physical safety issue, and Jasmine breathed a sigh of relief. Still, a client complaint was no small matter. The jewelry worn by the wealthy was never cheap.

"Does the client think one of our people stole it?" Manager Tate asked from the side.

"They say they’re suspicious. Ashton said they never saw any bracelet. But the client isn’t letting them leave and is threatening to call the police."

Hearing this, Manager Tate looked at Jasmine. "Jasmine, if they call the police without any proof, we have nothing to worry about."

Jasmine’s mind raced. Since its founding, the company had run almost too smoothly; she had never faced such a difficult problem before.

As a result, Jasmine was inexperienced in handling this type of situation, but she knew she had to stay calm.

After a moment, she shook her head. "No. This is a matter of reputation. We have a very specific clientele. Even if this is all a misunderstanding, if it blows up, it will have a devastating effect on our company’s name."

If the client posted about this on social media, and it spread even a little among Lorcain’s elite circles, our company’s image and reputation would be ruined.

Our business would definitely take a hit.

"Give me the client’s address. Call them back and tell them I’m on my way to handle this personally," Jasmine ordered immediately.

Seeing this, Manager Tate quickly offered, "Jasmine, I’ll go with you."

"You stay here at the office. With all these incidents happening one after another, I have a bad feeling."

With that, she turned and strode out of the company.

「The Lane Residence.」

In the luxurious living room of the villa, Mrs. Lane sipped her coffee leisurely, her gaze occasionally drifting contemptuously over the cleaners in their Cleanscape uniforms.

There were four of them in total, a team led by Ashton, a woman with seven years of experience in the cleaning industry.

Though Mrs. Lane was seated, she exuded an air of superiority.

To her, cleaners were the lowest rung of the service industry, people who dealt with filth and dust all day.

"Your company just called me back. They said your boss is coming to handle this personally," Mrs. Lane said mockingly. "Let me make this simple. Whichever one of you took it, just hand it over now. I might even spare you the humiliation and consider not calling the police."

Two of her own maids stood behind her, their gazes just as hostile, staring at Ashton and her team as if they were common thieves.

"Mrs. Lane, we’ve been in this business for years," Ashton explained earnestly. "We’ve never so much as taken an apple from a client’s home, let alone something so valuable. We’re all honest, hardworking people. We really didn’t take your belongings."

Hearing this, one of the maids behind Mrs. Lane retorted rudely, "No thief on earth would admit to being a thief. Your words are useless."

The other maid added, "Just because it hasn’t happened before doesn’t mean it won’t happen now. And just because *you* didn’t do it, doesn’t mean *they* didn’t. How can you be so certain?"