Chapter 219: She Came to the Door Herself

“Just a headhunting agency sending someone to poach me,” Vincent said with a laugh, rubbing his stubble as he accepted Claire’s WhatsApp request.

Claire, thrilled that Vincent had accepted her invite, eagerly wondered if she could meet him soon—maybe even tonight. But what she didn’t expect was that Zachary was with Vincent at the spa.

“Oh, Vincent, are you sure you’re not considering the company I recommended? Infinity Group is miles ahead of your last company,” Zachary said.

“Zachary, I know your company’s great, but you know how it is with my wife. She insists I should work for a big company. Now, Hiokeeh Group’s headhunter has come after me,” Vincent replied with a grin.

“They want me to be a department head at Flores Group. Can you imagine? If I take it, I’ll never have to hear my wife nagging me again. That’ll shut her up for good.”

Vincent chuckled. “And it’s Hiokeeh Group! If I get into Flores Group as a department head, I can make the money I need in just one year.”

He paused, his mind racing. “That’ll be it—I’ll be done with her. And then, I can enjoy the good life. All the women, all the fun. Haha…”

“Flores Group? Vincent, that’s impressive. If Hiokeeh Group is recruiting you, I totally support that too. Wait, who from Hiokeeh Group is after you?” Zachary asked, his interest piqued.

Zachary thought for a moment. “If I can, I’ll go meet them. Hiokeeh’s one of the top headhunting agencies in the world, right? Everyone says they’ve got connections to the world’s elite talent.”

Zachary’s mind flashed to Claire. Vincent froze. He glanced at his phone and saw the WhatsApp message from his mysterious contact—his usual code for setting up meetings with women. But before he could respond, his phone buzzed with several new messages.

[Mr. Patterson, hello. I’m an employee of Hiokeeh Group. Sorry to contact you like this, but you’ve been a bit elusive, so I had to take another approach.]

[Here’s my ID badge, my office, and my desk. Feel free to call Hiokeeh’s HR to verify if you’d like. But if you trust me, I’d love to meet you in person soon.]

[I’ve found a top-tier position for you. As you know, Hiokeeh Group is the world’s leading headhunter, and we’re committed to finding only the best. I hope you’ll consider this seriously.]

At this point, Claire had no idea what was going on, nor did she know that Zachary was with Vincent. She hadn’t met Zachary yet, and she certainly wasn’t aware of the secret history between Zachary and Caroline, let alone the messy past between Zachary and Effie, or the darker thoughts Zachary harbored.

All of her communication was professional, carefully crafted, and flawless. There was nothing out of place. The key, she knew, was the photos. She understood Vincent’s interests and knew exactly what would tempt him most.

As for meeting in person, that would come later. Once they were face to face, she’d handle it from there. If things went that far, she didn’t want it to, but if it did, she wouldn’t hesitate to fight fire with fire.

Claire thought she had everything perfectly planned out. No matter what it took, Vincent would be hers. But what she didn’t know was that Zachary was staring intently at her photo.

“Look at this, Zachary—Hiokeeh Group. This girl’s really something, huh?” Vincent said with a proud smile, a glint of mischief in his eyes as he showed Zachary the photo on his phone.

“Damn, it’s her?” Zachary murmured, running his fingers thoughtfully over the edge of his phone. He pretended to be surprised, but inside, he was already plotting.

“Well, well—Claire. It seems like everything is falling into place,” he thought. He’d just finished reporting to his superiors about Caroline’s plan to get Claire and Antony together, to have Claire pregnant with Antony’s child. Now, it looked like Claire was delivering herself right to his doorstep.

At the end of the day, pregnancy was pregnancy. Who she got pregnant by didn’t matter, as long as it wasn’t Frederick.