Chapter 89
Chapter 89
Back in her temporary office, Teresa sat down in her office chair.
She reopened her computer, ready to continue handling work emails. Before she could open her inbox, she suddenly noticed an encrypted instant messaging app icon flashing in the bottom right corner of her screen.
It was a message from her private investigator.
Teresa's heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively clicked to check the message.
[Ms. Bennett, regarding Miss Campbell whom you commissioned me to investigate, there are some new findings.]
Seeing the first message, Teresa couldn't help but hold her breath, pressing her lips together as she continued reading.
The second message was long, with much more detailed content.
[She has been in frequent contact with an overseas IP recently. The content is encrypted and cannot be decrypted yet, but this IP has been active on some dark web trading platforms, involving drugs and certain illegal transactions. Additionally, she has a bank card under her name that seems to be used for anonymous transfers during transactions.]
As Teresa read, her heart sank heavily, her fingertips turning cold.
She could now almost be certain that Daisy's frequent illnesses recently were no coincidence.
The medicine Anna had been giving her was definitely not ordinary stuff.
And Anna was far more vicious than she had imagined.
At this thought, Teresa let out a heavy breath.
How could she feel comfortable leaving Daisy with such a person? She had to get more concrete evidence as soon as possible and bring Anna to justice.
Teresa's mind was in turmoil, and for a moment she had no heart for work. As she absent-mindedly prepared to click open her email to view the detailed report, her personal phone on the desk rang.
She glanced at the caller ID—it was an unfamiliar local number.
She hesitated, but eventually answered.
The other end was silent for two seconds, then came a deep and familiar voice, though now carrying a barely perceptible obscurity.
"It's me, Simon."
Teresa froze for a moment, her fingers gripping the phone suddenly tightening.
She lowered her eyes and pressed her lips together, saying nothing.
"Teresa."
Simon's voice continued, unusually careful with his words when speaking to her.
"Let's meet. There are some things about Daisy I want to talk to you about. I also want to see her."
When mentioning Daisy, his tone softened a bit.
Since the last time Daisy was sick coincided with the Smith Group crisis, Simon had rarely come home. Teresa had simply sent Daisy to Samantha's house.
Samantha really liked Daisy and had actively offered to take care of Daisy for a while, letting Teresa focus on the project without worry.
Counting up, Simon probably hadn't seen Daisy for half a month.
Teresa didn't even think, a trace of mockery flashing in her eyes.
In the past, she might have softened, but now, having just learned of Anna's horrifying actions, Simon who had enabled her was, in Teresa's eyes, no different from an accomplice.
Any words from Simon sounded to her full of calculation and hypocrisy.
She leaned back and only spoke again after several seconds.
"Mr. Smith."
Her voice was ice-cold, without a trace of emotion, her attitude like she was dealing with an unremarkable nuisance call.
"Regarding Daisy and everything between us, my lawyer will fully represent me. For personal matters, please contact my lawyer. If you have no other business matters, I'm hanging up."
"Wait, Teresa."
On the other end, Simon's eyes widened slightly at Teresa's merciless words.
"Daisy is also my daughter—"
"Mr. Smith."
Teresa interrupted him, enunciating each word: "When you chose to believe others time and again, ignoring Daisy and me, you already lost the right to say such things."
"Please don't call again, or I'll consider it harassment and reserve the right to call the police."
With that, she hung up without hesitation and blocked the number.
Her chest heaving violently, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before barely suppressing the surging emotions.
She closed her eyes, leaning back in her chair, her smile somewhat bitter.
Where was Simon before, only now remembering he's Daisy's father?
In your heart, just how stupid does Teresa have to be to believe your words time and again?
Letting out a heavy breath, she calmed her emotions for a moment before picking up her phone and sending Samantha a message.
[Samantha, Simon might contact you. No matter what he says, don't tell him anything about Daisy and me—not a single word.]
Samantha quickly replied: [Got it. If he dares call, I'll curse him out! Teresa, don't worry, Daisy is doing great here. No one can mess with her.]
Looking at Samantha's firm reply, Teresa's heart warmed slightly, but more than that was a heavy sense of exhaustion and desolation.
Her former husband, her daughter's father, now needed to be guarded against like a thief.
She redirected her attention back to the computer screen and opened the encrypted email from the investigator.
The email contained screenshots of Anna's detailed transaction records and IP tracking path analysis.
The more Teresa read, the colder her heart became, and the more her anger grew.
Anna not only appeared to be drugging Daisy but also seemed connected to some even darker dealings.
She had to speed up her actions.
But while dealing with Anna, the Horizon Group project absolutely could not fail.
This was the foundation of her livelihood and the most important leverage for fighting for custody in the future.
She collected her emotions and began handling the backlog of work. However, over an hour later, the internal line rang again—an urgent notice from the technical department.
"Ms. Bennett, please come to the conference room immediately. Something's happened!"
---
Teresa rushed over as soon as she got the call. The moment she stepped through the conference room door, she felt the heavy atmosphere inside.
Michael had arrived a bit earlier, and the heads of the technical department were all there.
On the projection screen, two sets of design proposal technical node screenshots were displayed side by side.
One was from the Watson Group team's final version, and the other was shockingly part of the supplementary documents that the Smith Group had just submitted this morning.
Teresa looked up, her pupils contracting.
She could tell the problem almost at a glance.
The two were highly similar in core structure, even in several key data values.
The difference was that the Smith Group's proposal had optimizations in a few minor areas, making it appear slightly lower in cost and seemingly shorter in construction timeline.
"How is this possible!"
An employee who had been working with Teresa's team on calculating values during this period stood up first, eyes wide, face ashen.
"We stayed up three whole nights working on this data node, overturning it several times before finalizing it. The data was verified repeatedly. How could theirs be exactly the same?"
"And their submission time was only half a day after ours. This is definitely not a coincidence."
Michael's brow furrowed tightly, his gaze sharply scanning the screen as he spoke in a deep voice.
"Has the internal system been checked?"