“Alright… I saw your messa saying that she was hospitalized as soon as we landed and I
switched on my phone. I was so scared. It means nothing to me even if the company collapses, I just want her to be okay.”
“Don’t get so disheartened yet! My boss won’t let Tate Industries go down.”
Mike leaned back against the seat and stared out the window with his blue eyes. “Don’t talk as though your boss is the savior of all; our company will survive even without him.”
“If that’s the case, go home and get some sleep. No matter what happens, we will deal with it tomorrow morning.”
“Yeah.”
A black Rolls-Roice raced through the city at night and finally stopped before the office building of Tate Industries.
Moments later, the lights in the entire building lit up.
All employees of the technical and development department have received urgent notice from Shaun that Mike had returned to Aryadelle, and had come up with a solution; therefore, everyone was required to hurry back to the office for a meeting.
An hour later, the employees began to arrive. As soon as they entered the meeting room, their phones were confiscated by bodyguards that were dressed in black.
Just as they were about to protest, they realized in shock that the man sitting in the president’s seat was not Mike, but Elyette.
“Isn’t that Elyette Foster, the boss of Sterling Group? Why is he here? Mr. Locklyn, you said that Mr. Mike is back, but where is he? Why did you lie to us?” Someone protested.
Shaun explained with resignation, “you must have all heard about the relationship before our boss and Mr. Foster here. With President Tate’s current condition, she has been hospitalized and Mr. Foster has decided to help.”
“Oh… It’s good that he is helping, but why take our phone? It feels weird.”
“My phone has been taken as well, but Mr. Foster must have his reasons for doing so,” Shaun said.
Everyone turned their attention to the man sitting on the president’s seat.
Elyette oozed an intimidating aura with a dark expression on his face. Before him, they all felt an illusion as though they had made a mistake even if they hadn’t.
“Some of you must know how the microchip was stolen.” Elyette scanned the crowd with sharp eyes. “I will give you one minute. If no one comes forth within one minute, I will deal with you my way.”
He started the timer as soon as he finished the sentence; at the same time, a few well-built men in black stepped in through the door and eyed the employees intently.
Everyone was intimidated and people started protesting softly.
“Who on earth did it?! Stand up already! What kind of man you are if you won’t admit to what you did?”
“President Tate treated us well, so why would someone betray her?! If you are encountering some difficulties, she would have helped you if you talked to her about it! Why would you do such a horrible thing? It’s illegal!”
“That’s right! We can’t commit crimes! Besides, President Tate is the most generous and kind boss I’ve ever seen and I’ve decided long ago that I would follow her for the rest of my life!”
Soon, one minute had passed.
Elyette gave the bodyguards a look and two of the men immediately dragged one of the employees out.
“What are you doing? Let me go! Where are you taking me? I can walk on my own! Let me go!” The employee who was taken shouted in fear.
As his egoless shout echoes through the meeting room, the mental defenses of the others crumbled.
Shaun couldn’t help but said, “Mr. Foster, I know that you are trying to catch the traitor, but what if you somehow hurt someone that’s innocent?”
“None of you is innocent,” Elyette deadpanned sternly, “including you. Something this important had been stolen and none of you realized it. Do you take Averie or me for a fool?”
Shaun bowed his head guilty. “I’m sorry. I will support whatever you do from now on, as long as we can catch the traitor!”
As soon as Shaun uttered the last word, a piercing wail was heard from the outside. Though none of them could see what had happened, but they could imagine that the person who had been taken outside was facing heelish torture.
The crowd paled and trembled.
“Until we find the traitor, each one of you will have a taste of that. If the traitor won’t talk, then you will all die here tonight!” Elyette added.
The others broke down at his words.
“Damn it! It’s not me! It really isn’t me! I have been with President Tate since the beginning and I am attached to this company! I would never do anything to betray this company! It has to be someone from the technical department!” One of the pioneers of the development department said.
Someone else from the technical department argued, “don’t make false accusations! What proof do you have that says the technical department did it?”
“That microchip was stolen from your department!”
“Stop joking around! You guys from the development department can get into our office anytime you want! Who knows if you are the ones who stole it?!”
“You are the one who should stop joking around! We have been so busy lately that we couldn’t possibly have time to steal something from you people! The traitor must be from the technical department! You guys should be interrogated first! I’m sure we will find the traitor faster that way!”
“Since you are saying that the traitor is not from the development department, they you guys should be interrogated first! You can prove your innocence by that!” The two departments erupted into an intense argument.
Elyette stared them down coldly as he pursed his lips.
‘I’m finding that traitor even if that’s the last thing I do!’ He thought.
The next morning, Averie opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Mike’s face.
“You’re awake, Averie!” Mike adjusted her bed and passed her a bowl of soup. “Have some soup.”
She had not fully woken up yet and accepted the bowl dazedly.
“How do you feel today?” Mike sat down by the bed and stared at her face. “Why didn’t you tell me that something like that has happened to the company, and came back on your own instead? I would die of guilt if something happened to you.”
Averie sobered. “You are drunk, how was I supposed to let you know?”
“Alright! I shouldn’t have drunk with Elyette!” Mike sighed and said, “but we should really thank him this time. He helped us find the traitor.”
Averie’s lashes shivered at the words as she asked with a hoarse voice, “who was it? Who betrayed us?”
“The technical department.” Mike lowered his head because he was the one responsible for the technical department.
Averie frowned. “I asked who, not which department.”
“All employees from the technical department,” Mike took a deep breath and gritted out,” those fools went causing troubles when they were out for a gathering and someone took photos of them. They were then threatened to exchange the photos with the microchip and so they plotted together and stole the microchip.”
“Who did they give it to?!” Averie was taken by surprise, but knew that she had to face reality.
“They said that they didn’t know, because the person wore a mask and used a voice changer, so they couldn’t tell who it was.”
Averie had lost all appetite and handed the bowl of soup back to Mike.
“Have some, Averie! Don’t torture yourself,” Mike said guiltily, “it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have trusted them.”
“I feel dizzy right now. I will have the soup later.” Averie laid back down and started thinking of counter moves.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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