Chapter 775 I Can Always Pay Them Off
This was precisely the reason behind Sonia’s sudden outburst at the parking lot earlier when she so harshly put Anya in her place. I’m not some pushover who would just smile and nod while some other woman tries to steal my man! Hah! As if I would back down without a fight. She crossed the line, and she had to reap what she sowed!
More importantly, if she had just watched from the sidelines while the woman in the wheelchair tried to get close to Toby, it would only be proof that Sonia didn’t love Toby enough or respect their relationship enough to defend them.
Presently, while Toby had no idea what was going through Sonia’s head, he was still a little guilty after hearing what she had said. He reached for her wrist and pulled her into his arms.
Just like that, Sonia found herself lying in his lap.
She made to get up, but he pressed on her shoulder and kept her in a prostrate position. He stroked her hair gently as he muttered, “You won’t become a shrew or a hysterical creature, and I would never betray you either. I wouldn’t ever make you feel insecure. Didn’t I just say that my heart only has enough room for you? Well, in that case, you won’t have to be bothered by any other woman who tries to get between us, because I have my own ways of weeding them out and getting these eyesores out of your sight. I’m sorry I let my guard down this time.”
Having said this, he frowned.
She flipped so that she lay with her back flat against the seat. Looking up at him, she reached to smooth out his frown and responded, “I do feel a lot better now that I have your word that you’d weed them out at first sight, but you were wrong about the whole letting-your-guard-down thing because there was no way you could have seen this coming. You saved Anya by having Tom drive into the hedge and she had her eyes on you ever since. You were also unconscious when she provoked me in the hospital room, so there was nothing you could have done about that. No, you didn’t let your guard down and none of this was your fault. It was obviously Tom’s.”
Tom, who had been driving while eavesdropping and enjoying these tidbits, froze at once. He hadn’t thought that he would suddenly become the subject of conversation.
Almost immediately, he sensed a murderous gaze fixed upon the back of his head and he warily glanced into the rearview mirror to see that it was Toby staring at him mutinously, his eyes devoid of any warmth.
Tom shuddered, and all the color drained from his face as he smiled sheepishly, “Isn’t Miss Reed hilarious, President Fuller? Surely none of this was my fault.”
“Of course it was your fault,” Sonia said with a small huff. “I asked you to get that woman out of the hospital last night, yet she turned up today like nothing happened! And you’ve known since last night that she was pining after Toby, but you never told her off either.”
“Well, I—” Tom choked on his words. He was going to defend himself, but for some reason, he couldn’t retort against Sonia because he truly had not handled things as impeccably as he should have.
While fanning the flames, she added, “Also, didn’t Toby ask you to send her away earlier? You clearly didn’t do as you were told because she was lingering around the parking lot to wait for him!”
Tom knew he had to say something now, and when he saw how grim Toby was looking, he quickly explained, “Don’t listen to Miss Reed, President Fuller! I really did get rid of that woman and asked that she never show up in front of you again, but I didn’t think she would be so stubborn as to lurk around the parking lot just to speak with you. That surely couldn’t be my fault!”
“How was that not your fault?” Toby narrowed his eyes and demanded icily, “Getting rid of someone doesn’t just entail telling them off, you know. You have to make sure that they would not return the second or third time, but clearly, you missed out on the memo. It was your fault, through and through.”
Sonia hummed in avid agreement.
Tom felt the corner of his lips twitch in exasperation. “I…”
He couldn’t even find the words to argue for his own benefit and he was sure that the world was being unfair to him. They’re just ganging up on me now. They’re practically complementing each other’s arguments just to drag me under the bus!
Back in the day, whenever Toby asked him to ‘get rid’ of someone, it was always just to warn the person off and never to actually have the person thrown out of the premises. And now, Sonia was feeding all these ideas into his head with Tom having to bear the brunt of it all.
For a moment, he seemed to shrink into himself like a shriveled-up beanstalk.
At this moment, Toby said coldly, “If that woman could be so persistent in her efforts, then she probably wouldn’t back off just because Little Leaf gave her a piece of her mind.”
Upon hearing this, Sonia frowned and asked, “Are you saying that she might try to badger you again?”
He hummed in response. He wasn’t egocentric, but there was a voice in the back of his mind telling him that the woman would not give up so easily. More to the point, she had a modus operandi like most of the women he had come across before this.
Those women were all as shameless as Anya was. They were well aware that he hated being pestered and he certainly never gave any indication that he liked them as they did him, but they were undeterred and continued to show up in front of him anyway.
It was only after his patience had run out that he warned the women’s families; otherwise, there would have been plenty of young ladies still avidly throwing themselves at him.
Now that he thought about it, the only reason why there weren’t a lot of women who flocked around him was because he had told their families off. With stern warnings and vague threats looming over them, the women’s families would be sure to keep their daughters under control and avoid having them show up in front of Toby.
However, Anya had no known family, so Toby couldn’t employ the same methods to keep her away. As things were, chances of her finding a way to appear before him were high.
Now that Sonia had heard the man’s reaffirming answer, she nodded and responded, “Well, I won’t discount the possibility of it either. If she could repeatedly disobey Mr. Brown to throw herself at you, then she could very well do it again soon.”
“Did you hear that?” Toby asked, glancing up at Tom icily.
Tom swallowed convulsively and nodded. “Yes, President Fuller. I’ll have someone keep an eye out for that woman and prevent her from getting close to you. If she so much as plotted to show up within a ten-mile radius of you, our men will immediately dispatch her.”
Toby nodded slightly. “I want you to make up for your oversight this time, so I’ll let you off the hook.”
“Thank you, President Fuller,” Tom replied with a sheepish grin.
Sonia smiled as well and at the sight of her placated mood, the frown on Toby’s face eased.
The atmosphere in the car, which had grown tense because of Anya and her intrusion, finally lightened up.
It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the Fuller Group, and after Tom parked the car at Toby’s designated parking space, they all alighted from the vehicle.
Toby clasped Sonia’s hand in his and led her toward the elevators.
Tom, on the other hand, had his phone pressed to his ear as he asked the secretary for details on the meeting that was due to commence later.
Having done so, the three of them headed into the waiting elevator.
Tom hung up the phone and looked over at Toby, his face no longer as comical as it had been in the car now that he had returned to his serious working self. “President Fuller, the secretary has told me that everyone has arrived for the meeting and it is set to begin the moment you enter.”
Toby hummed. “Very well.”
“So, President Fuller, will we be going over together or…” Tom trailed off and gave Sonia a meaningful look, the implication of which was obvious.
Sonia flashed a smile and said, “You guys should continue since I can make my way to your office on my own.” After all, she was here to keep him company at work, so she couldn’t very well go anywhere else other than his office.
However, Toby seemed to disagree as he squeezed her hand and commented, “No, I’ll escort you over to my office. I can’t just let you walk around here on your own, not while this is my turf. That’s borderline ridiculous, not to mention unchivalrous of me.”
It went without saying that she was happy to hear him say this, but she shook her head nonetheless and argued, “There’s no need for that. I can go into your office on my own. Besides, isn’t the meeting an urgent one? You shouldn’t have to delay your entry just because you want to escort me.”
“It’s fine. Spending time with you is worth delaying my presence at the meeting. I don’t actually care about whatever little profit that could be reaped from this meeting, anyway. I can always pay off the shareholders to stifle them,” an arrogant Toby replied while tipping his chin up at a haughty and domineering angle.
