She Quit Her Family and Found Herself novel Chapter 89

89 /140

Hulda was genuinely surprised. She hadn't expected Caspian to call her, especially not now.

But after a second's thought, she figured the man was probably calling to demand compensation.

Fair enough. He had saved her and Sienna, and his assistant had gotten hurt in the process. As long as his demands were reasonable, she was fully prepared to pay up.

Without a second glance toward the driver's seat, completely unbothered by Herbert's presence, she answered the phone.

"Hello, Mr. Sterling." Her tone was polite, cool, and distinctly distant.

The line was dead silent for a few seconds before Caspian's rich, smooth voice drifted through the speaker. "Hulda Atherton, what are you doing?"

Hulda glanced out the window. They were getting close to the Jewell estate. She blatantly ignored his question. Whatever she was doing was none of his business.

"Are you calling about what happened the other night? Go ahead and name your price. As long as it's something I can accept, I'll cooperate."

Suddenly, the car violently slammed on the brakes.

Hulda lurched forward, instinctively curling her body to protect the sleeping boy in her arms. The phone slipped from her grip and tumbled to the floorboard. Thank god she was wearing her seatbelt, or it would have been a disaster.

She shot a vicious glare at the back of Herbert's head, ready to snap at him, but then she noticed the red light glaring through the windshield. Assuming he'd just misjudged the yellow, she swallowed her anger.

Meanwhile, Caspian's voice was roaring out of the dropped phone.

"Hello?! Hulda, are you listening to me?!"

"Hulda?! What the hell happened?!"

"Answer me!"

"Where are you?! I'm coming to get you right now!"

Hulda ripped her gaze away from Herbert and strained against her seatbelt, blindly reaching under the seat until she managed to grab the phone. She was still slightly breathless. "I'm fine. I'm in a car, and the driver hit the brakes too hard. I dropped the phone."

There was another beat of heavy silence on the line. This time, it dragged out uncomfortably long. Finally, Caspian spoke again. "How are you always such a disaster? You can't even hold onto a damn phone. What are you even good for?"