The Supreme Soldier in the City
Chapter 152 Jessica Smith

Chapter 152: Chapter 152 Jessica Smith

James Brown laughed heartily and said, "Well, with that assurance from you, Bella, shooting up the ladder of success is just a matter of time for me now."

Lucy Campbell chuckled lightly and said, "If you really wanted to shoot up the ladder of success, would you even need to come back here? You could’ve just stayed with Hawk Squad and then transferred to the military district, easily becoming a brigade or division commander."

"With a promise like yours, I’ve got endless benefits waiting for me. Even the Mayor and the Secretary have to curry favor with you, let alone a little civilian like me."

"Alright, enough with the jabs. I’m just asking for your help with this matter."

James Brown shook his head and said, "You really won’t let me have any peace even after I’ve retired."

Lucy Campbell didn’t explain; it was a fact. No amount of explanation was useful. It was better for James to get used to this kind of life and see if he could like it.

After sending Lucy Campbell off on her plane, James Brown and the others were ready to head back to the city. Although Alice Brown and Jennifer Hog had a lot to tell James, when they saw Gina Lopez getting into James’s car directly, they had no choice but to dismiss the thought.

After driving for over ten minutes, Gina Lopez finally said to James, "James Brown, who exactly are you?"

"I’m just as ordinary as they come," James replied with a beaming smile.

"An ordinary person?" Gina scoffed at herself and said bitterly, "An ’ordinary person’ manages to befriend someone like Lucy Campbell? And she even lets you be the CEO? Do you think my IQ isn’t up to par?"

James let out a sigh and said, "Can I tell you that I really don’t understand what’s happening either?"

"Do you think I can believe that?" Gina was somewhat infuriated. James was still blatantly lying to her, and she found that completely intolerable.

James shrugged and replied, "If you don’t believe it, there’s nothing I can do."

"You..." Gina was choked up by his words, fuming as she said, "Right, I’m not someone to you anyway. Why should you tell me?"

James turned to look at Gina and said with a smile, "Exactly, as long as you, the boss, are concerned about whether I can work diligently, why bother with my private life?"

Gina glared at James and retorted, "I’m concerned about your work? Now you’re holding the Presidential Pardon; you’re the one who can oversee me every day. You’re the big CEO."

"This CEO thing is just for show, right? I don’t see how it’s any different from the company mascot. It was Lucy who forced it on me. Now I’m thinking, maybe I should find another job somewhere else."

Gina’s eyes widened as she looked at James, her mouth twitching as she said, "Are you out of your mind? You’d give up being the CEO to find a job somewhere else?"

"I’m not cut out for it. Besides, who would want the hassle of being a CEO when you can be a carefree private?"

The more Gina listened, the more confused she became. She couldn’t understand what kind of person James really was. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she said, "James Brown, can you reveal your true identity and your relationship with Lucy Campbell?"

"There’s nothing I can’t tell you. I really am just a veteran. I was born in YODC City, and after high school, I joined the military. While serving, I was assigned to protect Lucy on a mission and saved her life. So I met her. For me, it was just a mission, nothing special. But Lucy seems to remember it, so when she saw me later, she wanted to look after me. I felt too embarrassed to reject her completely. Besides, she’s wealthy, so I don’t feel guilty about taking a little advantage."

Gina nodded, understanding better now, and said, "I see. It’s quite normal for Lucy to act that way, but for someone of her stature to keep you in mind... that’s very considerate."

"Heh, maybe," James admitted. "I haven’t had much interaction with her, so I don’t know the specifics. But you should realize by now that my CEO role is purely nominal. I’m just earning an extra salary. Later on, when you see what I’m suitable for in the company, you can assign me another position."

Gina rolled her eyes at James and said, "What are you joking about? No matter what, you’re the CEO. How would it look if you went to work in another department in the company?"

"Then I’ll be a CEO who doesn’t show up at the company. Let’s just keep the employees in the dark."

Rubbing her forehead, Gina said, "James Brown, can you think a little more normally? How could such a thing be feasible? As the CEO, you’d have to attend certain events. How would you explain that to the staff? Would you say our CEO is incognito, spying on workers’ performance?"

James furrowed his brow and asked, "What should I do then? You can’t expect me to hide in the CEO’s office every day, can you?"

Gina, somewhat speechless, thought for a moment and suggested, "Here’s an idea: since the company hasn’t been set up yet and we have a lot of ground to cover ourselves, it shouldn’t matter what your title is; you won’t be sitting idle. Let’s not mention it for now. We’ll talk about it later."

With a helpless shake of his head, James replied, "Alright then."

Seeing James’s response, Gina felt even more distant from him. At first, she thought James was just a minor clerk with no ambition, but now even the position of CEO laid before him didn’t entice him. What level of detachment did one need to dismiss such status?

She didn’t ask these questions out loud, but she kept sneaking glances at James Brown with her peripheral vision.

James Brown felt uncomfortable under Gina Lopez’s gaze and said, "Look, Mr. Lopez, if you’re going to look at me, do it openly. Sneaking peeks at me like a thief makes me really uneasy."

Caught red-handed, Gina Lopez felt somewhat embarrassed and said, "I just can’t figure you out, so I wanted to take a few more looks, that’s all."

"Well, that’s good. I was worried you’d fallen for me, and that would be a disaster for me."

"What?" Gina Lopez’s voice shot up by octaves, glaring fiercely at James Brown. His comment was a huge blow to a girl’s ego. Gritting her teeth, she said, "Am I that terrible, to fall in love with you and make you miserable?"

James Brown was startled and quickly slowed down the car, turning to glance at the fuming Gina Lopez, "I didn’t mean you’re terrible; it’s just I’m a bit hard to handle, and not a good match for you."

Gina Lopez’s chest heaved violently. James Brown’s explanation only made her angrier. After all, she was widely recognized as a great beauty, and young ladies blessed with both looks and intelligence, not to mention successful careers, were rare. Gina had always been confident about this, but in the mouth of this guy, James Brown, it all seemed so worthless.

"Hmph, I remember when you were pretending to be my boyfriend, you seemed quite comfortable back then."

James Brown immediately said, "That’s different. You paid me a salary, so of course, I had to do my job well. Now that I don’t have to pretend, I can go back to being myself."

"Hmm hmm..." Gina Lopez snorted twice, still glaring at James Brown, her mind racing with thoughts.

They went straight back to the company. Although the security guards didn’t know exactly who James Brown was, they recognized Gina Lopez as the general manager of the company and showed due respect by letting them into the company.

Alice Brown and Laura Hog did not follow them as they were only serving as cooperative image ambassadors for the company and didn’t have the opportunity to be involved in the internal affairs, even though they wanted to be with James Brown.

The two entered Gina Lopez’s general manager’s office, and she said to James Brown, "CEO Brown, I think this is what we should do now. First, we need to recruit some staff. Once we have hired enough people, we can then assign jobs: those in charge of building the factories and those running the market. These things are extremely important, and both you and I might have to be directly involved. Do you have any problems with that?"

James Brown said helplessly, "Do I have a choice?"

"You don’t have a choice. If you don’t want the employees to know you’re the CEO, you’ll have to work, unless a CEO doesn’t have to do any actual work."

"Okay, I’ll do it," James Brown surrendered immediately. For some reason, he always felt that if he really acted as the CEO, he would fall into a big pit. This intuition was indeed strange.

Gina Lopez picked up the phone and dialed a couple of numbers but then put the phone back down, saying, "You call Sister Sunny."

"Why should I call?" he asked.

Gina Lopez smiled slightly and said, "What do you think?"

James Brown understood that Gina was referring to their relationship and could only shake his head, "If I must call, then I’ll call."

Picking up the phone, he called Sunny Nguyen, "Director Green, could you come to the company? The location is..." James Brown paused and asked Gina Lopez, "What’s our company called again?"

Gina Lopez felt a sudden surge of frustration. How could a CEO not even know the name of his company? Annoyed, she said, "Jessica Smith."

After saying the name, however, Gina Lopez suddenly looked at James Brown in a very odd way until he finished the call.

James Brown, feeling a bit itchy under her gaze, asked, "Why are you looking at me like that again?"

Gina Lopez said leisurely, "Jessica Smith, Lucy Campbell, James Brown. Don’t you think the name of the company has a special significance?"

James Brown immediately laughed, saying, "How could that be? It just means ’dreams taking flight,’ right? You’re not going to tell me that Lucy Campbell has feelings for me, and that’s why she took a word each from our names for the company name, are you?"

"Isn’t it?" Gina Lopez saw James Brown laughing so happily; she began to doubt her own thoughts. Yet, based on a woman’s intuition, she felt that was indeed the case.

"Forget it, stop trying to trap me. The company’s name definitely doesn’t have that meaning. Just think about who Lucy Campbell is."

James Brown would never believe that Lucy Campbell could fall for him. That would be more preposterous than the wildest fairy tale, and he definitely didn’t think it could ever happen.