Chapter 50
I looked at Abigail's panicked expression with indifference, feeling neither sympathy nor satisfaction.
At that moment, I suddenly found Abigail quite pitiful.
She had schemed and plotted so carefully, only to make herself a joke and become the manipulative woman everyone looked down on.
After fighting with her for so long, I still didn't understand where her hostility toward me came from.
"Abigail, don't be afraid. If you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear. If you didn't do it, the surveillance footage will clear your name and show everyone the truth!" The man who had been speaking up for Abigail stood in front of her like a guardian. He seemed to have some status in the company.
I looked at Ember questioningly and blinked at her. Ember immediately understood and leaned over to whisper in my ear, "That guy is the newly appointed director of the product department. I think his name is Clifford Hayes. He just transferred from headquarters this morning, and somehow he's already gotten involved with Abigail."
"When we took you to the hospital, you didn't see how close he and Abigail were acting. It made me sick."
I frowned slightly, not wanting to imagine how disgusting that scene must have been.
However, I had to admit I felt some grudging respect for Abigail.
She could easily manipulate people's emotions and gain someone's trust in just a few hours. Someone like that shouldn't be underestimated.
If Abigail could use her special talents for good, she would definitely achieve great things.
Unfortunately, she would never put her mind to anything legitimate.
"Mr. Wood, if you ask me, we should just be open about this and have everyone in the company watch the surveillance footage together. We'll be able to tell right away who the troublemaker in the company is."
Since the "hitting incident," Scarlett and Abigail's relationship had fallen apart, and they didn't even speak when they saw each other.
Surprisingly, after just a few days, someone had already replaced Scarlett to speak up for Abigail.
The colleagues who had witnessed Abigail's lies being exposed looked at Clifford with strange expressions.
Someone kindly reminded him, "Clifford, you just joined the company. There are some things you might not be aware of. I think you'd better not speak too soon."
"I think you're all just saying this because Layla has connections and a background! I'm not afraid of people like her. Our company values ability, not what some person with connections says!" Clifford raised his chin defiantly, completely ignoring everyone's well-meaning advice.
Seeing this, Walter had nothing more to say and directly instructed Lay, "Contact the property management and have them pull today's surveillance footage."
"Yes." Lay quickly left the ward to call about retrieving the surveillance footage.
Walter picked up my voice recorder and looked at Abigail seriously. "This is your last chance. If I find that you still haven't changed and are still trying to create discord within the company, I won't tolerate it anymore."
Under everyone's gaze, Abigail still refused to give in, insisting, "Mr. Wood, I really didn't push Layla. She fell down on her own."
Actually, what she said wasn't entirely wrong.
After all, she had wanted to jump down herself and then frame me for pushing her.
But I didn't let her have her way and pulled her back, only to lose my balance and fall down myself.
So I wasn't sure what the surveillance footage would show.
But I was certain that the content in the voice recorder would reveal Abigail's true nature and show everyone how intense her hostility toward me was.
As Walter's finger pressed the button, the atmosphere grew tense.
Everyone stared at the voice recorder. After some noise, Abigail's clear, shrill voice suddenly came through.
"Layla, I've checked—that pin camera of yours is charging. You don't have anything on you that can record evidence. Let's see how you get out of this one!"
"Layla, I am crazy! Nothing goes right for me whenever I run into you. Just wait—this time, I'm going to get you kicked out of the company!"
"Help!"
At the end was my terrified cry for help, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.
The ward fell silent. No one said anything, but the way everyone looked at Abigail said it all.
She weakly shrank behind Clifford, which immediately triggered his male protective instinct. "What are you all doing? It's just an audio recording. It doesn't show what actually happened. This isn't enough to prove that Abigail pushed Layla down."
"Fine, then we'll wait for the surveillance video from property management." Walter nodded calmly, crossed his legs elegantly, and patiently waited for Lay's results.
The ward was crowded without enough seats, so most people were standing.
After about ten minutes of silence, Lay came in quickly with a tablet. "Mr. Wood, property management has sent over the surveillance footage. The new camera position was adjusted, and it captured everything in the emergency stairwell clearly."
"Bring it here. Let everyone see together what really happened."
Walter's expression was grim, especially when he looked at Abigail and Clifford—the disgust in his eyes was almost overflowing.
Everyone held their breath, staring intently at the tablet.
Soon, it showed the company's emergency stairwell, followed by footage of Abigail forcefully dragging me out.
In the video, my brows were furrowed with a pained expression, showing how much force Abigail had used.
Then, Abigail was about to fall, so I forcefully pulled her back up, and I fell down instead.
The video content matched the truth exactly, but someone observant noticed something special while staring at the screen.
"Wait, pause the video here." The speaker was from the tech department, usually quiet but observant.
If he spoke up, he must have found something important.
Everyone turned their attention to him as he zoomed in on the video. The ward fell into an eerie silence.
At that moment, even I was shocked, my eyes wide.
I hadn't expected that my fall down the stairs wasn't an accident—Abigail had actually pushed me from behind!
The enlarged image clearly showed Abigail's action of pushing me down the stairs.
Everyone understood everything without saying a word.
Walter's eyes turned cold as he asked sternly, "Abigail, what do you have to say now?"
With the evidence right there, Abigail couldn't argue her way out.
She hung her head without saying a word, no longer showing her usual spirit.
"Abigail, since you joined the company, you've been disrupting internal unity and constantly causing conflicts between employees and colleagues. Starting tomorrow, you're suspended. You can return to work when you've reflected on your actions."
"All your projects will be transferred to Layla to handle."