Though paralyzed, still radiantly charming!

Chapter 312: Ryan had been right

Twenty minutes later, Bella finished up her work, and the two of them finally left the café near the hospital, heading to their next destination.

Originally, Alice had planned to wait for Ryan to finish his business and then take him along for lunch.

But Ryan had made new plans and wouldn’t be coming back to her at noon. Although she felt a bit annoyed, Alice still allowed him to go off on his own for the time being.

Alice knew Mia had gone to see Ryan. She didn’t stop her because, in a way, she hoped Mia’s presence would help smooth things over with Ryan.

Of course, Alice would have preferred to be the one by Ryan’s side right now. But reality is what it is—she had a lot of other things to handle.

Besides, she was the boss of a crime syndicate. Even if the day came when Ryan wanted to stay by her side all the time, it should be because he chose to, not because she forced him.

Ugh, he’s such a blockhead.

The three rules she’d set for him at the beginning? At some point, they’d become meaningless. Lately, Ryan had been out every day, which went against their agreement that he’d only have free time on weekends.

And now, by letting him do his own thing, she was effectively breaking the other two rules as well.

When you love someone, do you lock them down, not letting them interact with anyone else? Or do you respect their choices and give them some freedom when the time is right?

Alice couldn’t figure out the answer to that question right now, and honestly, she didn’t want to think about it. She had too many other things to deal with.

Since Ryan wasn’t coming to lunch, she decided to just scratch it off the schedule altogether. She wasn’t in the habit of eating lunch anyway, and skipping it would give her more time to get things done.

Alice briefly asked Bella for her opinion. If Bella had objected, Alice would’ve reluctantly adjusted to her routine. After all, Mr. Langston had entrusted Bella to her, and if Bella went back and complained about Alice, it wouldn’t look good for her.

But Bella wasn’t really concerned about such things, so she just went along with Alice’s usual habits.

So, after leaving the café, the two of them got into the car and headed straight to the construction site.

The events of that morning hadn’t had a huge impact on Alice, but they had caused some ripples. Especially at such a critical stage of the project, shareholder confidence was a tricky thing to manage.

If handled well, the power of capital could carry you forward like a ship sailing with the wind, smooth and fast.

But capital is also incredibly sensitive. If you don’t satisfy their greedy appetites, they could jump ship at any moment—or worse, turn against you.

According to the plan Alice and Mr. Langston had laid out, Nella’s presence by Alice’s side was meant to signal that the Langston family was backing her and supporting her project.

With the Langston family’s massive influence behind her, those looking to stir up trouble would think twice.

Alice had intended to play the Nella card at the right moment, but the situation had forced her to act sooner than planned. She could handle the morning’s issues, but it would take time. So, she figured it was better to bring Nella into the spotlight now.

“There’ll be a lot of reporters at the site. I’ve arranged a press conference.”

“This is your speech. We’ve got about fifteen minutes before we get there. You should be able to memorize it by then, right?”

Once they were in the car, Alice didn’t bother with much explanation. She simply pulled out two documents and handed one to Nella, who was sitting beside her.

Nella didn’t seem surprised at all. She calmly took the speech from Alice and immediately began memorizing it.

The content was straightforward—just a response to the negative rumors surrounding the project and an official statement that the Langston family was now involved.

It wasn’t a long speech, but it was filled with technical jargon. Even a professional stenographer would struggle to get it word-for-word perfect.

But Nella could do it.

As soon as they got in the car, she started memorizing, paying no attention to whatever Alice was dealing with.

She’d done this kind of thing many times before and could easily guess what Alice was up to. She didn’t feel used at all. In fact, she thought Alice would be foolish not to take advantage of her in this way.

The car was moving slower than usual, which was intentional on Alice’s part. She knew how difficult it would be for Bella to recite the speech perfectly.

It wasn’t that she felt sorry for Bella. It was just that this was too important, and Alice didn’t want even the slightest mistake. If Bella couldn’t memorize it and messed up later, Alice would be the one to deal with the fallout.

But as it turned out, her worries were completely unnecessary.

Alice had already started seeing Bella as an equal, but she had to admit that in certain areas, she had underestimated Bella’s abilities.

About twenty-five minutes later, the two of them stepped out of the car, having adjusted their outfits.

Under the guidance of the site manager, they walked into the construction area. What should have been a bustling scene of activity was instead eerily quiet. There were hardly any workers in sight, and the buildings had only their outer frameworks completed, left standing there unfinished.

Nella walked on Alice’s right, always maintaining a half-step distance behind her. No matter how fast or slow Alice moved, that gap never changed.

“Miss Alice, the press conference is ready.”

“Since some parts of the site are still under construction, the team said it wasn’t suitable for live broadcasting, so we’ve made a temporary change to the venue.”

The site manager, leading the way, turned back to inform Alice, gesturing toward the original location for the press conference—a circular area nearby.

Sure enough, not far away, cement mixers were still running, and about a hundred workers were busy paving the ground.

This was the best the site could muster at the moment. Although the number of workers seemed decent, it was nowhere near enough to make a dent in the massive workload.

Alice glanced over at the workers, observing their progress. It was better than nothing, but barely. The site manager, noticing her gaze, grew visibly nervous, fearing Alice might lose her temper at any moment.

But she didn’t. Alice simply looked for a moment, sighed softly, and continued walking toward the new venue.

She understood where the real crisis lay. The lack of workers was only a temporary issue. If they really wanted to speed things up, they could easily raise wages, and the labor shortage would be solved in no time.

But what then? If another incident like the one earlier happened, even with the Langston family’s backing, continuing the project would be an uphill battle.

Ryan had been right. She hadn’t forgotten his advice.

While she had been focused on clearing Ryan’s name, he had remained calm, always thinking ahead.

The thought of this sent a warm feeling through Alice’s heart. No matter how tough the challenges ahead seemed, she no longer hesitated.

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