Chapter 83 Must Protect Mandy!
Since Mandy hadn't been removed from her position, she was still Arabella's supervisor.
Arabella walked in holding a folder, stood in front of the desk, and said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Ms. Gomez, did you need something?"
Mandy glared at her with vicious eyes. "You reported this to headquarters, didn't you?"
Arabella shook her head. "It wasn't me."
Hearing her denial, fury instantly blazed in Mandy's eyes as she said viciously, "Stop pretending! Who else could it be besides you? Arabella, I really didn't expect you weren't just some innocent little white rabbit—you're a wolf! When you're out here playing games, not leaving yourself an escape route is very dangerous, you know?"
Arabella looked at her and said unhurriedly, "Ms. Gomez, if the police came to audit the books, they must have evidence, right? How could I possibly have access to accounting records?"
"Who knows what methods you used!" Mandy stared at her coldly. "Just like how you were ordinary before but suddenly had all those orders fall from the sky—you know exactly how you managed that!"
Arabella felt helpless. Could she say she really didn't know?
She knew Mandy hadn't called her in just to vent with a few angry words, so she stopped talking and waited for what Mandy would say next.
Sure enough, Mandy's expression changed several times before she finally suppressed her anger, pressed her hands on the desk, leaned forward slightly to look at her, and said with a threatening tone, "Arabella, I'm giving you one chance. Go withdraw your report right now. I don't care what method you use—get those headquarters people out of here."
Arabella never expected Mandy to think so highly of her.
She couldn't help but respond, "Ms. Gomez, if I were as capable as you think—able to summon and dismiss headquarters people at will—why would I need to work as an ordinary salesperson at this small company?"
What exactly gave Mandy such delusions?
Mandy stared at her, her mind churning. Arabella's demeanor didn't seem like an act. Could it really not have been her who reported this?
But how could such a coincidence exist in the world? She'd pressured Arabella just yesterday, and today she was under investigation?
The office atmosphere fell into an eerie silence. Arabella spoke first. "Ms. Gomez, if there's nothing else, I'll head back now."
Mandy didn't respond, her bloodshot eyes fixed intently on Arabella's retreating figure. Only after she closed the door and left did Mandy violently smash the teacup on her desk to the floor.
She knew she was finished this time.
Headquarters had sent people down who went straight for the accounting records upon entering the company, clearly having substantial evidence.
With her capabilities, she couldn't stop them.
And no one knew better than she did how problematic the books were.
Everything was happening too fast—too fast for her to prepare.
Once the accounting issues were exposed, she'd face imprisonment, and all the money she'd embezzled over the years would have to be returned.
She'd originally thought Arabella might be an opportunity, but she'd been overthinking. After all, how could such an ordinary employee possibly accomplish these things?
A cold glint flashed in Mandy's eyes. She couldn't just sit and wait for death—doing nothing would only lead to a dead end.
Thinking this, she stood up and headed out, but stopped at the office door. After some consideration, she abandoned the idea of going out to find someone personally, returned to her office chair, and made a phone call.
Her gloomy voice uttered just a few words: "Come to my office."
Soon after, someone knocked on the office door. Mandy said coldly, "Come in."
Leila walked in with a smile on her face.
She didn't seem afraid of Mandy at all, walking directly to the desk, pulling out a chair and sitting down. "Ms. Gomez, did you need something?"
Mandy looked at her with cold eyes, taking several deep breaths to suppress her temper before lowering her voice. "Withholding Arabella's commission was your idea."
Leila's eyes widened with an innocent expression. "Ms. Gomez, don't say it like that. I only mentioned that Arabella didn't deserve that much money. I didn't say anything else."
Mandy suppressed her anger and growled, "But you told me that if any problems arose, you'd help me solve them! Now we've attracted a headquarters investigation. One wrong step and I'll be doomed forever. If you have any solutions, stop hiding them and tell me quickly!"
Leila raised her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. You don't actually think the headquarters investigation was caused by Arabella, do you? What is she anyway? Could she really cause such a big commotion? This definitely has nothing to do with her."
Seeing Mandy's grim expression, she smiled again and said leisurely, "However, I can indeed help you solve this matter."
Mandy's eyes lit up. "Really?"
Leila crossed her arms and leaned back smugly. "I told you long ago—I'm not just some ordinary employee in your eyes. My connections and background are beyond your reach. Saving you is just a matter of one word from me!"
Mandy excitedly stood up, walked over to her in a few steps, and said urgently, "Leila, please help me. I'm begging you. As long as I can safely get through this crisis, I'll do whatever you ask me to do!"
Leila glanced at her and smiled disdainfully. "What could you do for me?"
Mandy quickly said, "Anything! In the company, wherever you can use me, just say the word!"
"You said that?" Leila looked at her.
"I said it, I said it," Mandy quickly assured her, "but first you have to help me this once. Otherwise, I won't even have the chance to help you with anything."
Leila smiled disdainfully, stood up and headed out. "Don't worry, I'll go arrange it for you right now."
Mandy felt relieved, watching Leila's figure leave the office and letting out a soft sigh.
Surviving great danger brings great fortune—her good days were ahead.
After leaving Mandy's office, Leila went straight to an empty corner and made a phone call.
Ten minutes later, taking advantage of the company's chaos today, she quietly slipped away.
In a luxurious downtown coffee shop, Leila arrived early and waited for quite a while before seeing Gloria dragging Rachel inside.
Rachel said reluctantly, "Gloria, why did you insist on dragging me out? I told you I'm pursuing my male god. You better have something important!"
Gloria tapped her forehead, exasperated. "Male god, male god—that's all you know! Where is your male god? You haven't even met him face-to-face and you call him your male god?"
"What do you know?" Rachel said proudly. "He's an internationally renowned economist. Although he uses the alias James Wright and appears to have modest assets, someone discovered he comes from an international top-tier wealthy family and owns numerous world-class assets!"
She paused, then sighed unwillingly. "Unfortunately, the venues he frequents are too high-end—they don't even allow recording or photography. Although I don't know what he looks like, many people who've seen him say he's breathtakingly handsome! Rich, single, and handsome—that's my male god!"
Gloria snorted and mercilessly shattered her dream. "Stop dreaming. If he's really as amazing as you say, would he be interested in you?"
Rachel stamped her foot. "How do you know he wouldn't be interested in me? You probably don't know—Majestic City has invited him many times, and he finally agreed to come give a lecture next month. As long as I can get a ticket, with my looks, I'll definitely catch his attention. Once I win his favor, I'll live in luxury for the rest of my life!"
Gloria felt disdainful inside. Though she also fantasized about marrying up, at most she thought about Sawyer from the Tucker family—she was still realistic. But Rachel's ambitions were too bold. That was James Wright, the most mysterious economist internationally. Would such a figure be interested in ordinary Rachel?
But she knew Rachel was currently excited about this, and saying too much would definitely anger her, so she didn't continue the topic. Instead, she pointed to Leila in the distance. "Come on, there's good news you'll definitely like."
Leila saw Gloria pointing at her and excitedly stood up, but Gloria and Rachel then seemed to forget she existed and continued talking. She had to awkwardly sit back down.
Leila felt somewhat annoyed. They were just born into better circumstances. If she had their background, she could definitely achieve great things, not like these two who were idle and uneducated all day.
Leila looked down on them but had to maintain good relationships to get closer to that social circle.
Gloria sat across from her and asked, "Leila, what did you mean on the phone? What do you mean by 'torture Arabella however you want'?"
Hearing Arabella's name, Rachel's expression darkened as she also sat down. "What's going on? What's her relationship with Arabella?"
Gloria said, "Don't you remember what I told you before? I found someone to make trouble for Arabella—that's her, my dad's driver's daughter. She works at the same company as Arabella."
Hearing Gloria dismissively mention that she was a driver's daughter, Leila felt annoyed. She'd always been proud and hated most that her father drove for others.
But she couldn't afford to offend someone of Gloria's status and could only swallow this humiliation silently.
With Gloria's explanation, Rachel remembered.
After the Watson family was thrown out of the Tucker family banquet, she'd been furious and extremely resentful toward Arabella.
Gloria was also angry that Philip had dared to break up with her first, and she blamed Arabella for it.
So the two conspired to teach Arabella a lesson. Gloria said her family's driver had a daughter who worked at the same company as Arabella, and for some money, they could get her to make trouble for Arabella.
Rachel had been so busy pursuing her male god these past few days that she'd almost forgotten about this.
Hearing Gloria's words now, she looked at Leila. "You called us here because the job we gave you is done?"
Leila didn't like their condescending attitude but still lowered her eyes. "Ms. Watson, Ms. Reeves, I did as you instructed and made trouble for Arabella at the company. Arabella was about to be ostracized by the whole company, but unexpectedly today headquarters suddenly sent people to audit the books.
Our company's CFO is involved, and she hates Arabella the most. If she gets arrested, Arabella will probably be able to run wild at the company again."
Gloria frowned, somewhat displeased. "Why are you coming to us about this? It's not my family's company, and it involves their headquarters. What help could I possibly provide?"
Leila quickly said, "Ms. Reeves, if you could find a way to protect our CFO, Arabella will continue to be targeted at the company! This audit—the CFO is blaming Arabella for it. As long as she stays safe, Arabella will definitely be tortured to death!"
Gloria still frowned.
But Rachel's eyes lit up as she quickly pulled Gloria. "Did you hear that? We must protect this CFO! Think of something!"
Gloria wasn't as uneducated as her and shot back, "Protect her? With what? If an audit was triggered, it means they already submitted evidence and the police are involved. Is that something easy to interfere with?"
Rachel dismissively pursed her lips. "So what? It's not like we don't have connections in that area. Just have the family pull some strings, right? Such a good opportunity—do you want to miss it?"
Gloria pressed her lips together and said nothing.
Of course she didn't want to miss it. Ever since Philip broke up with her, she'd hated Arabella to death—not because she liked Philip that much, but because no man had ever dared to break up with her first. Her dignity had been challenged!
She was convinced this had something to do with Arabella and was determined to teach her a lesson!
But many things weren't convenient for her and Rachel to handle directly. This CFO that Leila mentioned would be perfect.
Seeing them still hesitating, Leila quickly added, "I've already made a deal with the CFO. As long as she stays safe, she'll do whatever we tell her to do!"
Rachel sneered. "Of course she will. We'll have her by the throat—would she dare disobey?"
Gloria thought for a moment, then said to Rachel, "How about this—you go home and mention this to your brother, and I'll bring it up with my dad too. Let's see if we can get involved and protect that woman. If it doesn't take too much effort, we'll help her out."
Rachel nodded. "Okay, I'll go find my brother right now."
They'd done this kind of thing countless times since childhood—using power and money to turn situations in their favor.
Every family had connections and networks. For them, it was just a matter of whether helping was worth it, not whether they could help.
Leila watched them leave and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
She then took out her phone and called Mandy.
Mandy had obviously been waiting by her phone—she answered immediately and asked somewhat excitedly, "How did it go? Is it handled?"
Leila sneered just like Gloria had and said, "Ms. Gomez, you're so anxious. Don't tell me you think this kind of thing can be accomplished just by talking? How many connections does this require, how much money?"
Mandy understood her meaning and asked after a moment of silence, "How much do you want?"
Leila smiled with satisfaction. She liked talking to smart people.
"Three million dollars—that's the fee for testing the waters. After I connect you with the right people, you'll need another five million for operational expenses."
Mandy was shocked by her outrageous demand—eight million dollars right off the bat!
But thinking that eight million could buy her life, she only hesitated for a few seconds before gritting her teeth and agreeing. "Fine!"
As long as she could safely get through this crisis, any amount of money would be worth it!