My Second Marriage with the Mafia Kingpin novel Chapter 41

Chapter 41: The first in this empire-in-progress.

Betty paced back and forth in the hallway in distress, her entire body trembling. As far as she knew, she was about to refuse Ashley’s nonsense offer in the most polite way she could. But before she could even do that, Ashley had already run her mouth with wild add-ons Betty wouldn’t have even thought of doing—or thinking!

"I’m dead, am I? I’m dead—" her panicked murmuring stopped when she caught sight of a figure emerging from the end of the hallway.

Ashley!

Betty perked up and dashed toward her.

"Madam!" she intoned, fidgeting with her fingers as she walked alongside Ashley. "Madam, I think I caused a misunderstanding last night. About your offer—"

She stopped when Ashley halted in her tracks. Betty cleared her throat as the madam turned to her.

"What about my offer?" Ashley asked, tilting her head to the side. "Right... I haven’t discussed some other things. Come with me. I’ll show you what you’ll need to do. We’ll discuss the terms while we’re at it."

Betty opened and closed her mouth, rendered speechless as Ashley resumed her steps.

"That’s not— I’m not— Madam—"

"Hmm?" Ashley glanced back at her. "Anything else?"

"..."

"If there’s none, let’s go, Bet. Today is a long day — come on!"

With that, Ashley continued walking, leaving Betty almost hyperventilating. At that moment, Betty felt like the little control she had over her life was slowly slipping through her fingers.

All she could do was stare at Ashley’s back, stupefied.

But in the end, there was nothing she could do but follow Ashley to the garden.

Once they reached the garden, the workers were already starting. Betty hadn’t been around the day before to know what they were doing, but now that she was here, she could see the hard labor everyone was pouring into it... with a heavy heart.

They all look so reluctant, she thought.

"They’re changing the soil so the trees will be able to grow fast and healthy," Ashley explained as she stopped to the side, carefully watching everyone to make sure they weren’t making mistakes.

Thanks to the professional gardeners, following Liza’s plan for Ashley’s garden was made easy. All they had to do was teach and guide those members of Dominion, who, unfortunately, had to dig up soil to plant trees, not bury bodies.

"These trees are precious," she continued, not really focused on whether or not Betty was listening. "Also, come with me—hey!"

Betty flinched at Ashley’s shout, only to see the madam walking away and catching the attention of one of the gardeners.

"Hey, boss!" Ashley greeted, raising a hand.

The gardener offered her a smile, though his eyes soon shifted to Betty.

"Right. This is Betty, my first-ever secretary," Ashley introduced, making both Betty and the gardener raise their brows.

First-ever secretary? Why was she making it sound like she planned to hire more?

"She’s going to oversee everything from now on. Of course, I’ll still look after the garden and everything, but I can’t do everything. If there’s a problem and I’m not available, you can always reach out to Betty."

"I see." The gardener nodded, offering Betty a brief smile in greeting. "I’m Castor, the chief contractor for this work. We also handled the mansion’s landscape and several properties under Dominion."

Betty opened and closed her mouth, but no words came out. She could only nod, then glance down at the hand Castor was offering.

"Ah..." she reached out with both hands, shaking his with a meek smile.

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