Chapter 118
Nolan ignored Nora and said to the PR people, "Call the police."
Gia seemed relieved. "Exactly, Mr. Smith. Why give her a chance to explain? She has a criminal record - no need to give her any chance. Just call the police directly."
"Mr. Smith, maybe give Nori one more chance and just let her leave the company," Aria said with a kind expression on her face.
Nolan snorted. "Aria, don't be too kind. Your sister Pearl is still at the police station because of her."
Aria sighed with a regretful look. "I just feel like Nori doesn't seem like a bad person."
"You can know someone's face but not their heart," Gia added fuel to the fire.
Nora remained quiet, sitting there. Only after Nolan and the PR people had left did she turn to look at Gia. "I don't really care, but I have a recording. Want to hear it?"
Gia was about to leave too, but when she heard Nora mention a recording, her whole back tensed up.
She turned to look at Nora with a confused expression. "What are you talking about?"
Nora took out her phone and calmly played the recording.
On the day of the recording, she had already exported the audio file and sent it to Michael.
After listening to the recording, Gia's face went pale. She looked at Nora with shock and disbelief. "You set me up!"
Knowing to record on her first day at the company - this Nora came here targeting her!
"Gia, do you know what it means to get carried away?" Nora turned off the recording and moved her phone away. "I have many backups of this recording. Taking my phone won't help."
Gia's fingers were trembling. She pointed at Nora angrily. "What exactly do you want!"
"All these years, as a senior employee with such a good position in HR, you've gotten a bit carried away from Luna flattering you." Nora spoke calmly, her voice steady and unhurried.
Her heart was beating fast. She was scared too.
But thinking that Michael would arrive soon, she wasn't afraid anymore.
"When people get carried away, they make fatal mistakes - like this incident." Nora stood up and looked at Gia. "Today's matter is already known to everyone. Whether it's the police or internally at the company, as soon as I release this recording, I can clear my name, and you will be taken away by the police for questioning."
As HR, Gia deliberately manipulated a new employee to harm the CEO.
What kind of crime was that?
"If Mr. Smith insists on pursuing this, you're probably looking at intentional harm charges." Nora gripped the corner of her clothes tightly, not letting her presence weaken.
Gia was already panicking badly.
"It's just a recording. What can you prove? No one will believe you," Gia argued.
"The recording can be authenticated. Doesn't matter if people believe it or not." Nora knew Gia was just making a last struggle.
The authenticity of this recording wasn't what most people cared about. As long as she released it, there would be plenty of people ready to kick her when she's down.
Gia's hands were already shaking. She nervously glanced at the door, then rushed over and grabbed Nora's clothes. "What do you want? Don't give the recording to the police."
"Luna told you to do this, right? Do you really think Mr. Smith knows nothing about all your little moves at the Smith Group over the years?" Nora pushed Gia's hand away and took a step back.
Gia took a deep breath. "Did Mr. Smith deliberately have you approach me just to get rid of me and replace me with his own people?"
"Mr. Smith isn't that bored, but you're not smart enough." Nora felt a bit unsteady and sat back down in her chair.
"You've been at the company for so many years. Even without achievements, you've put in hard work. Once Mr. Smith pursues this to the end, not only will you be convicted, all your years of hard work at the company will be wasted, and you'll have a criminal record and go to prison." Nora spoke calmly. "I don't wish for you to experience prison life either."
Gia stepped back weakly. "What will it take for you to destroy the recording? Name your price. If you want money, I can give it to you. I'm begging you."
"Sure enough, only when you have leverage can you make people humble and polite." Nora laughed sarcastically.
Before she had leverage, Gia's attitude was nothing like this.
"Nora, you did this on purpose, didn't you? Just to see me humiliated. Yosef and the others - you deliberately led Mr. Smith there to get them fired, just because they were people Luna had me arrange!" Gia realized a bit too late.
She looked at Nora with shock, almost unable to believe it.
Nora, a criminal who spent five years in prison, with no education and no background.
She'd only been at the company a few days, and she could already do this.
Too scary.
This Nora was really scary.
Nora looked at Gia quietly. "Nolan called the police. From dispatch to entering this door, there's still forty minutes."
Nora was giving Gia forty minutes to think clearly about what to do and how to do it.
And what she wanted.
"Nora! You're threatening me! Who do you think you are to threaten me!" Gia was losing it.
Nora just looked at her calmly.
When people can't accept the outcome, losing it is the first psychological defense.
"Nora, please, just delete the recording. I'll tell the police it was my management oversight, that I really didn't explain things clearly. Okay? This way neither of us loses much. Does that work?" Gia started trying to find solutions, started begging.
In Nora's view, this was her second psychological defense - she still had hope for luck.
Seeing Nora ignore her, Gia paced back and forth anxiously, took a deep breath, and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.
Nora was right - from police dispatch to downstairs at the Smith Group, thirty-five minutes.
Going upstairs and entering the room, about three to five minutes.
Gia looked at Nora in shock.
In that moment, she became even more afraid of Nora.
She looked so weak and easy to bully.
"What exactly do you want!" Gia was getting desperate.
The police had arrived.
Gia saw the police car.
Nora just looked at Gia.
If she wasn't smart enough, even keeping her wouldn't be much use to Michael. Better to get rid of her.
Gia was so anxious her palms were sweating. She didn't even know what Nora wanted.
Not money, not the job.
For Michael?
"Firing Yosef and the others, I thought you would understand, Gia. Turns out you're just like that." Nora stood up sarcastically, preparing to meet the police.
Gia looked at Nora in panic and rushed over, grabbing her wrist. "Luna and James went to Shadow City. She found out Lyle's contact information and preferences in advance. She found me years ago and had me place her own people in the company. I know every position and all the people who belong to Luna."
"Nora, I can give you the list! As long as you help me this once, I'll be Mr. Smith's person from now on. Any movement from Luna, I'll tell you immediately!" Gia's voice trembled.
Nora looked at Gia intensely and smiled. "How can I trust you?"
"The secretary - Isaac, Michael's secretary, is someone Luna placed by Michael's side!" Gia was protecting herself.
Nora nodded and waved her phone in front of Gia. The phone was recording. "Gia, you should be smarter. Now I've recorded everything. If Luna finds out..."
Nora had completely cut off Gia's way out.