Chapter 91 Scapegoat
Selena's POV
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "Well, we'll see whether they make me die first, or I kick them out first."
My gaze moved past him and landed on Levi, who had already collapsed on the floor.
He was shaking all over, tears and snot covering his face, looking pathetic and miserable.
"It was him... it was him..." Levi grabbed onto this like it was his last lifeline, his finger trembling as he pointed at Max. "He was the one who took me to... that website..."
"What website?" I asked.
"A... a sports betting website..." Levi's voice was shaking badly. "At first... I just wanted to make some extra money... I really did win a little... just a little bit..."
I understood.
The oldest and most effective trap. First they give you a taste of sweetness, make you think you're God's favorite, then when you're in the deepest, they swallow you whole.
"And then?" I continued asking.
"Then... then I started losing... I lost all my savings... I borrowed from online lenders... I didn't dare tell my wife... I... I was going crazy..." He broke down crying. "That's when he found me. He said as long as I listened to him and helped him with some things, he could help me pay off all my debts and even let me make a lot of money..."
"So you agreed?"
"I had no choice! I really had no choice!" He held his head, wailing in pain. "I didn't want to go to jail! I have kids!"
How ridiculous.
He didn't want to go to jail, so he chose an express lane straight to hell.
My gaze turned to the other two people.
The purchasing department head and Mike.
Their faces looked even worse than Levi's.
"What about you two?" I asked. "Also because of gambling?"
The department head jerked his head up, shaking it desperately.
"No! It's not like that! Ms. Hart!" His voice was hoarse like it had been scraped with sandpaper. "I... we were set up!"
"Oh?" I looked at him patiently, waiting for his story.
"It was... at the last company team building," Mike stammered. "We... we all drank too much... and then... the next day, we received photos..."
He didn't finish, but the meaning was already clear.
Someone had set them up and taken photos they shouldn't have taken.
"He threatened us with those photos. He said if we didn't do what he told us, he'd send those photos to our families, to the company's internal email, and ruin our reputations!"
"So you gave in." I finished the story for them.
"We... we didn't want to at first..." Mike tried to explain. "But... we were confused for a moment..."
Confused for a moment.
How lightly put.
"We know we were wrong! We really know we were wrong!"
"Please give us one more chance! We promise we'll never do it again!"
"Please, don't call the police... if this gets out, our lives will be ruined..."
"Finished?"
They froze, looking up at me.
"You're all adults. When you chose to reach for things that didn't belong to you, you should have thought about today."
"When you destroyed company products and lined your own pockets, did you think about the workers working hard on the production line? Did you think about the consumers who trust Hart Group?"
"For your own greed and cowardice, you dragged everyone down with you. Now you're telling me you know you were wrong?"
I stood up and walked in front of them.
"Too late."
I picked up the intercom phone on the desk and dialed Anna's number.
"Anna, call the police."
"No! Don't!"
Max even tried to rush over and grab my phone, but I froze him in place with one cold look.
"Also," I continued into the phone, "organize the recordings from this period and give them to the police."
I hung up.
In the entire office, they all looked at me like I was a demon.
They knew it was all over.
"The website address." I walked in front of Levi, looking down at him.
He froze for a moment, as if he hadn't processed it.
"Write down that betting website address for me." I repeated.
He moved mechanically, pulling out his phone, opening a webpage, then handing it to me
I took out my own phone and photographed that web address.
After doing this, I tossed the phone back at him.
"You thought that by turning him in, you could get off? You don't have any real evidence against him, right?"
They all lowered their heads, silently confirming.
"He's smart. All transactions were in cash or through untraceable virtual accounts. All orders were given verbally, never leaving any written record."
"You were all just pawns he used and threw away from start to finish."
"I..." The department head looked up, his face full of defeat. "We can't fight him... he'll be fine... in the end, only we'll go to jail..."
"Whether he'll be fine or not is my business. I promise you, he'll go to hell before any of you."
Just then, there was a knock on the office door.
It was Anna, with two uniformed police officers behind her.
"Officers, it's them."
Crying, cursing, and begging filled the air.
Max, the department head, Mike, and Levi who had been trembling the whole time—like four stray dogs, they were taken away by the police.
The news quickly spread throughout the entire company.
I could feel that outside the office, all the employees' gazes toward me carried awe and fear.
Just then, my personal phone rang.
It was my father.
I answered the call.
"Selena!" On the other end, my father's extremely anxious voice came through. "Are you okay? I heard something happened at the company! People were taken away by police! Is it..."
He probably thought those people had cornered me and done something to me.
"I'm fine, Dad." I interrupted him, keeping my voice as steady as possible. "I'm good. Just cleaned out a few parasites from the company."
On the other end, I heard my father let out a long sigh of relief.
"Good that you're okay... good that you're okay..."
I hung up and walked to the large floor-to-ceiling window.
Below, the flashing lights of the police cars gradually faded away.
My gaze fell on my phone screen.
That betting website address I had just photographed.