The Sleeper's Wrath and His Wife's Strike novel Chapter 145

“That’s quite a line—‘Don’t ask when I’ll be back.’”

“The next line should be, ‘No matter how much I hate to leave, it doesn’t stand a chance against how helpless I feel,’ right?”

All at once, Joseph understood. “Well then, I wish you all the best in your career.”

“Thank you,” Wendy replied, and ended the call.

Forcing a calm smile, Joseph turned to Lester. “Women, huh? They always need time to cool off. She’ll come back once she’s over it—no one stays away forever, right?”

Lester didn’t answer. Instead, he said, “Just take care of yourself. I should get going. Oh, and I already called your parents—notified them about tonight. They should be here any minute.”

“Lester, you really shouldn’t have called them. I don’t want them worrying about me.” Of all things, Joseph dreaded his parents blaming Naomi for what happened tonight. The last thing he wanted was for them to get involved.

“They ought to give you a piece of their mind. I’m heading out.” With that, Lester turned and strode away.

Naomi, seeing this, hurried to catch up with him.

“Naomi, you don’t need to follow me. Stay here and look after Joseph. I have things I need to take care of.” Lester stopped, his face unreadable as he addressed her.

He’d finally gotten over that time she and Joseph went to the movies together. But tonight, the old frustration returned.

If she hadn’t met up with Joseph tonight, maybe Wendy wouldn’t have decided to go abroad so suddenly. The timing made it clear—it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

“Lester, do you think I’m getting involved with him again?” Naomi’s eyes grew red. She clung to the sleeve of Lester’s jacket, tilting her head up, her eyes shimmering with tears.

“No, it’s not that. Don’t overthink it. I really am just busy these days.” Lester turned his face away, unable to look at her. Her tears always made him falter.

Naomi choked up. “But you’re obviously avoiding me. You don’t answer my texts or calls. And the other day, when I called, a woman picked up your phone.”

Lester frowned, suddenly remembering Tracy, the new assistant who’d started a few days ago. She was his personal secretary now. That must have been her, though she hadn’t mentioned it.

“That was my secretary. Don’t read into it.”

Naomi had also heard Zachary once tried to set up Tracy with Lester, but Althea, at the time, was hoping to match him with Cheryl instead, so she’d declined.

Now that Cheryl was out of the picture, would Althea agree to Zachary’s plan? Would they become even closer as families? And if so, what would become of her?

“I thought she was always overseas. Why’d she suddenly come back to be your assistant? Isn’t she overqualified for the job?” Naomi couldn’t hide her concern.

“Zachary’s been wanting her to move back. She’s a good kid, so she listened.” Lester wasn’t about to tell Naomi the whole truth.

Of course he knew why Zachary arranged for Tracy to be his secretary. It was just an excuse to put her close by—give them time to grow close.

“Lester, isn’t she three years older than you?” Naomi suddenly brought up Tracy’s age.

But for someone that accomplished, age hardly mattered.

“Yeah, she’s three years older. Why?”