Chapter 159: Chapter 159: No Daughter Like You
Damian Ford suddenly asked Kevin Hayes if he worked at Hayes Corporation, giving Kevin a very bad feeling.
He nodded reluctantly.
"Yes... I work in the design department..."
Damian Ford didn’t even let Kevin Hayes finish, simply saying, "Very good, you don’t need to come to work tomorrow."
"Bang—" In that moment, Kevin Hayes felt as if something substantial had hit his head, and his mind instantly went blank.
Jade Coleman reacted quickly and immediately said, "Young Master Ford, this is all a misunderstanding. Ariana, Ashley, and I are all family. It’s normal for families to have quarrels, but it shouldn’t affect work matters, and besides..."
"What’s this got to do with you?"
Damian Ford showed no regard for Jade Coleman and sneered coldly, "It’s my family’s company. I can fire whoever I want. Who are you to interfere?"
Jade Coleman had never been spoken to so rudely by someone younger, and her expression turned extremely sour.
But, unfortunately, Damian was the son of Kevin’s company boss, and she couldn’t afford to offend him, so she could only hold back.
It was then that Kevin Hayes finally snapped back to reality.
"Young Master Ford... It wasn’t me who started it. Ashley Shaw was the one who slapped my daughter first. I was just panicking and pushed her a bit to protect my daughter. It was just a light push, and she fell because she lost her balance."
Jade Coleman took the opportunity to move closer to Ariana Grant.
"Ariana, quickly explain to this... Young Master Ford that it’s not how he thinks it is."
Ariana Grant had completely lost hope in Jade Coleman.
To her mother, Kevin Hayes and Hailey Hayes were now her real family.
If that’s the case, she saw no need to treat Jade Coleman as family either.
Ariana Grant said expressionlessly, "Explain what? Explain that Hailey stole something and refused to admit it, and even slapped me? Explain that Ashley Shaw tried to protect me but was pushed and injured by her dad?"
Jade Coleman was so angry her face turned green.
"Ariana Grant, what nonsense are you spewing? How can you actually be siding with outsiders?"
"Outsiders? To you, I’m probably the outsider, right? And where exactly am I making things up? Hailey did steal the brooch that Ashley was gifting to her friend!"
Hailey grabbed onto Jade Coleman’s clothing, shaking her head in explanation, "No, Mrs. Coleman, I didn’t steal anything... It’s Ariana and Ashley who are framing me..."
Jade Coleman looked at Ariana Grant with an even colder gaze.
She couldn’t do anything to Ashley Shaw, but could she not educate her own daughter?
"Ariana Grant, are you looking for a beating?!"
Just as Jade Coleman was about to angrily lay a hand on Ariana Grant, Assistant Mark suddenly stepped forward and blocked her.
"Mrs. Coleman, if you want to hit someone, there’s no rush. You can do it later."
Jade Coleman furrowed her brows, "What do you mean by that? How come you’re even..."
Assistant Mark didn’t bother with what Jade Coleman was saying, directly interrupting her to say to Hailey, "Hailey, you claim you didn’t take Miss Shaw’s belongings, then please tell me... what is this?"
As he spoke, Assistant Mark extended his right hand and slowly opened his palm.
Inside a napkin in his hand, a brooch shone brightly.
Just now, no one noticed that while Hailey and Ariana were arguing, Assistant Mark had sneaked in and searched the area.
Being observant and sharp-eyed, he quickly found the damaged brooch in the trash can.
Upon seeing the brooch, Hailey’s pupils shrank to a pinpoint with fear.
How did her cousin find it?
She had clearly thrown it in the trash can!
Hailey swallowed hard, suppressing the panic in her heart, and said, "I-I don’t know... where did you find it?"
Assistant Mark gave Hailey a deep look and said, "I found it in the bathroom trash can."
Then he turned to Ashley Shaw and inquired, "Miss Shaw, could you come over to confirm if this is the brooch you lost?"
Ashley Shaw stepped forward, took one look, and nodded, "This is indeed the brooch I lost."
As the words fell, Ashley Shaw suddenly noticed that the largest diamond on the brooch was missing.
Her brow immediately furrowed, and she asked Hailey, "Where’s the diamond on it?"
"What diamond... I’ve never even seen this brooch, how would I know where the diamond on it went?" Hailey continued to play dumb.
Because she had no other choice but to play dumb.
Ariana Grant sneered and said, "Hailey, if you stole the brooch, how could you not know where the diamond went? Let me tell you straight, this brooch is worth 1,070,000. If you don’t explain clearly, we’ll call the police right now."
"1,070,000??" She thought it was worth at most a few hundred thousand.
But even if it was a couple hundred thousand, she couldn’t afford that; a few hundred thousand was already an astronomical figure to her, let alone 1,070,000.
She heard Ariana Grant continue, "I don’t know if you’ve studied law, but this amount is enough to get you sentenced for years!"
Hailey gritted her teeth and said, "Enough to get me sentenced for years? I told you, I didn’t take it!"
"You really won’t give up until you hit a brick wall! Since you refuse to admit, then let’s go, and we’ll check the surveillance right now!"
"I’m not going!" Hailey grabbed Kevin Hayes’s sleeve and cried, "Dad, please say something for me, I really didn’t take the brooch, I don’t know why it was in the trash bin..."
Kevin Hayes looked at his daughter and then at Damian Ford, who wore a grim expression, and felt torn inside.
He knew his daughter; earlier, when Ariana Grant mentioned the brooch’s price, Hailey’s expression told the whole story.
But 1,070,000 was an amount he could not afford!
The only thing he could do was argue on behalf of his daughter.
But now Young Master Ford was here too, and he didn’t want to anger him further.
Young Master Ford was clearly biased in favor of Ashley Shaw, and if he insisted on siding with Hailey, it would further damage the impression.
He really didn’t want to lose this job!
If he lost his job, what would happen to the mortgage and car loan?
Two seconds later, Kevin Hayes finally made up his mind, looking coldly at Hailey and said, "Hailey, tell the truth, where is the diamond from the brooch?"
Hailey widened her eyes in shock.
She couldn’t believe it; even her dad was taking Ashley Shaw’s side!
"Dad, how could you..."
"Speak quickly!" Kevin Hayes’s tone was indisputable.
"I-I..."
"If you don’t speak up, I’ll consider you no longer my daughter!"
Hailey’s eyes widened even more.
She couldn’t understand why even her dad was turning against her.
If she confessed, wouldn’t their family have to pay a lot of money? Why couldn’t her dad understand? Compared to 1,070,000, was right or wrong that important?
However, what Hailey didn’t know was that Kevin Hayes didn’t care about right or wrong; he was deliberately putting on a show for Damian Ford.
He was trying to use his actions to make Damian Ford take back his words.
Yet when Kevin Hayes turned around, he found that Damian Ford was nowhere to be seen.
Strange... where did he go?