Chapter 209 Mr. Hayes’s True Face
The first time she sent the contract to Mr. Hayes, she used the York Development Group address.
It was like a thread in her mind that suddenly connected everything together.
She finally understood why Mr. Hayes would suddenly do business with her—his real purpose was to get close to her, to use her to frame Steven.
But why?
There was only one answer—Mr. Hayes and Steven were competitors.
Being a director at a large corporation was already a high position, so having competitors was normal. This also explained why Mr. Hayes never returned to The Iron Country.
So yesterday morning, when Mr. Hayes came to Riverside Apartment and went into the study, was it to steal Steven's important documents?
This thought made her chest instantly turn ice cold.
Even though she never intended to harm Steven, she had indirectly become an accomplice—she had hurt Steven...
A suffocating, bloody feeling surged in Nora's heart.
Her whole body trembled with distress.
Step by step, she walked to her front door in a daze, entered the password, and pushed open the door.
Steven sat deep in the sofa. Hearing the door open, his gaze turned toward her.
Nora would never forget Steven's eyes in that instant.
It was the look of someone staring at a traitor—dark and gloomy, as if ready to explode at any moment.
"Steven." Nora walked in with reddened eyes.
Steven's gaze held no emotion, as if waiting for her to speak first.
"Mr. Bridges just called me. He said an important project you're in charge of was leaked, and if they can't find out who did it, you'll be in trouble. Is that true?" Nora's voice was unsteady.
The trouble she imagined was that Steven might be fired by the company, or even face prison.
She didn't realize Steven was the son of the richest man, nor did she know the project was already underway and that the leak would cost York Development Group and the Bennett Group hundreds of millions of dollars.
Steven didn't speak, just looked at her coldly.
"I think I know who it was." Nora took a deep breath and looked up at him. "It should be Mr. Hayes. Yesterday morning, he came to the house and went into the study."
After hearing this, Andrew had come to the Riverside Apartment, Steven's expression showed a trace of coldness. "How did he know you live here? Did you tell him?"
Was she still in contact with Andrew privately?
Nora shook her head. "That time I moved his order offline, I sent him the contract, but I didn't have a company, so I used the Riverside Apartment as the return address."
At that time, she had no idea Mr. Hayes and Steven were enemies.
If she had known Mr. Hayes was approaching her because of Steven, she would never have done business with him.
She had always wondered why someone would just give her business out of the blue.
Turns out he had ulterior motives.
"Then why did you let him into the house?" Steven's eyes were scrutinizing.
Nora felt her chest tighten painfully. Though she was innocent, the fact was that she had indeed harmed Steven.
Her hands nervously clutched at her clothes. "When he came to find me, I thought it was strange too. I didn't let him in at first, but he said the order was held by customs. I panicked because the order amount was so large. I was all confused, and he just came in."
"And then?" Steven lowered his eyes, no longer looking at her, his handsome face cold and gloomy.
Nora was almost in tears.
The air pressed down on her, making it hard to breathe.
She bit her lip. "My mind was a complete mess. I asked him for the customs phone number and made the call on the balcony. He ran to the study. When I went in to find him, he said he was looking at books. I thought it was strange, but the order issue was consuming me, so I didn't think much of it."
"Your excuse is perfect." Steven glanced at her, clearly not believing it, and said flatly, "The documents were indeed leaked from my study."
Nora felt like she'd been struck by a heavy hammer.
Sure enough, the documents were leaked from Steven's study, so he couldn't escape responsibility.
And with several million dollars appearing in her account, York Development Group would likely think Steven stole the documents and had Nora leak them, taking money in exchange.
Nora felt frustrated by her own stupidity.
She had harmed Steven but didn't know what to do. She could only stand before him, in pain and guilt.
"How about I go find Mr. Hayes and ask him?"
If she really had harmed Steven, she was willing to go to prison in his place.
What she feared most was Steven being sued by York Development Group and ending up in prison.
With that, she turned to leave.
Steven stood up, strode over, and grabbed her wrist. "Stay home these days. Don't go anywhere."
"I need to go find Mr. Hayes and get to the bottom of this." Nora's eyes reddened.
Steven looked at her eyes, feeling a bit of sympathy, but his tone remained cold and hard. "Let you two meet so you can coordinate your stories?"
Nora's pupils contracted slightly. "You think I'm working with him?"
"The matter hasn't been investigated yet. I don't know." Steven looked at her clean face. He should actually be angry.
But seeing her so pitiful, he still suppressed his anger. "Don't worry, I'll get to the bottom of this. If you're innocent, I won't wrong you. But if..."
He didn't finish the rest, but his cold expression said it all.
Nora's heart trembled, but she wasn't angry.
Because the incident happened at Riverside Apartment, it did seem connected to her, and the victim was Steven, so she hoped he would investigate thoroughly.
Steven instructed in a flat tone, "Just do what you normally do these days. Don't worry about this. I'll have people investigate, and I'll contact you if there's any news. Also, I won't be coming back for a while."
After the project leak, the most important thing was to gather the team, modify the project direction, and minimize losses as much as possible.
After the incident broke, Steven had to fully commit, possibly working overnight for a long time.
After saying this, he left Riverside Apartment.
Nora sat dazed on the sofa.
She was directly involved, so she couldn't remain indifferent. Her heart was more anxious and restless than anyone else's.
Especially, she worried Steven would end up in prison because of this.
Nora picked up her phone and called Olivia.
"Olivia..." As soon as the call connected, Nora started crying. "I might have hurt Steven."
Olivia's heart tightened, her voice urgent. "What happened?"
Nora told her everything.
Olivia's face grew worried. "Are you home now? I'll come keep you company."
"Okay!" Nora nodded. She desperately needed family companionship right now. Her heart felt too heavy.
Olivia quickly took a cab over.
Nora opened the door and immediately hugged her. "Olivia, I really didn't mean to. I didn't know that bad guy was Steven's competitor."
Olivia stroked her hair. "It's not your fault. You're just too innocent and don't know how treacherous the business world is."
"Olivia, will I cause Steven to go to prison?"
Olivia shook her head. She wasn't sure either. "How about if I help you to ask from Alton?"
"Okay, please ask Mr. Bridges for me."