Chapter 14
Evelyn wouldn't actually leave. She'd worked at Ashford Group for over two years—all her connections and resources were there. She wasn't the type to impulsively throw everything away.
That's what Sebastian told himself as he picked up his phone and opened Evelyn's WhatsApp chat.
A line of text appeared on the screen in red and white.
Message failed to send. The recipient is no longer your contact.
His finger froze.
Not blocked.
Deleted.
Sebastian instinctively clicked into Evelyn's Status.
The page was empty. Just a single gray line.
Three years—from dating to marriage—every meal Evelyn had posted, every trip, every holiday, every candid photo she'd taken of him... all of it was gone. Not a single post remained.
Sebastian's grip on his phone tightened slowly. A crack in the screen silently extended another centimeter under his fingertips.
The next morning, the conference room in Ashford Group's marketing department was brightly lit.
Mr. Lewis sat at the head of the long table, looking even worse than yesterday. Papers were spread across the surface, several sections circled in red pen.
Three team leads sat below him, each with their portion of the projects from Evelyn's handoff checklist.
Mr. Lewis spoke first.
"Who's taking over the Eastside project? John, you were involved in the preliminary due diligence. You go first."
The first team lead, John, flipped through the materials in front of him, his mouth turning down at the corners.
"Mr. Lewis, Evelyn wrote the core proposal for this project herself. I've looked at the data model. The formulas are listed in the spreadsheet, but I can't figure out the logic behind the parameter values. Her note says 'based on Q2 market research projections,' but that Q2 research report isn't anywhere in the handoff files."
Mr. Lewis's brow furrowed.
"She didn't attach it in the email?"
"No. I checked the shared drive too. Couldn't find it. Probably on her personal laptop. She must've taken it with her when she left."
Mr. Lewis said nothing.
Ryan, another team lead, cleared his throat.
"Mr. Lewis, I reached out to Farcry this morning. Mr. Harrison's secretary said he's out of town this week on business, and he doesn't have time next week either. I said we could send someone to meet with him in person. The secretary asked who the contact person would be. I gave my name."
"And?"
"And the secretary said Mr. Harrison made it clear—other than Evelyn, he's not meeting with anyone else for now."
The conference room went silent for a few seconds.
The third team lead, Penny, just laid it out.
"The three clients I'm responsible for—one of them already sent an email this morning. The whole thing was one sentence: 'Due to market fluctuations, we're putting collaboration on hold. We'll notify you later.' I called them back. They were polite, but the message was crystal clear. With a different contact person, they need to reassess."
Mr. Lewis braced both hands on the table, his knuckles white.
"What else?"
Penny hesitated.
"Another client called this morning and asked one question."
"What question?"
Penny glanced at her colleagues on either side and lowered her voice.
"They asked if it's true that Evelyn went to Parker Group. If it is, they want to talk directly to Parker Group."
The air in the conference room felt like someone had hit pause.
Mr. Lewis dropped back into his chair and rubbed his forehead.
When Evelyn was here, he didn't think the marketing department would stop functioning without any one person. A project supervisor leaves, someone else takes over—it's just a couple days of handoff, right?
Now he understood.
Evelyn hadn't just been working for Ashford Group. She'd used her own skills and reputation to single-handedly hold up at least half of the department's client relationship network.
That network wasn't in any files or systems. It lived in her face-to-face meetings, her phone calls, and the proposals she'd personally crafted for each client.
Now that she was gone, the network fell apart.
Mr. Lewis took a deep breath and picked up his phone.
He didn't tell Sebastian the truth.
"Mr. Ashford, everything's moving forward. John's taken over the Eastside project. We'll try to submit the midterm report on time next week."
A grunt came from the other end. Then the call ended.
Mr. Lewis put down his phone and looked at the three team leads sitting across from him, all of them looking like they wanted to say something but didn't dare.
"Get back to work. That Eastside report—work overtime if you have to, but get it done on time."
The three of them filed out of the conference room.
John walked out last. He paused at the door and glanced back at Mr. Lewis.
He looked like he wanted to say something. In the end, he just shook his head and closed the door.
In Sebastian's office.
He put down the phone, his fingers tapping absently on the desk.
His assistant knocked and came in.
"Mr. Ashford, you asked me to look into Evelyn's whereabouts. I've got something."
Sebastian looked up.
"Yesterday afternoon between two and four, Evelyn was at Parker Group Tower for two hours. She entered through the main entrance. Reception logged her visit. She took the express elevator straight to the top floor."
Sebastian's fingers stopped.
Everyone knew the top floor of Parker Group Tower only had one office—Cedric's.
Evelyn went to see Cedric?
Come to think of it, lately Cedric had been showing up around Evelyn like some kind of knight in shining armor.
Sebastian picked up the desk phone and dialed a number.
It rang three times before someone answered.
"Hello, Parker Group executive office." The female secretary's voice was warm and polite.
"This is Sebastian from Ashford Group. Please transfer me to Mr. Cedric Parker."
There was a pause on the other end. The secretary's voice took on a more businesslike tone. "Please hold while I check Mr. Parker's availability."
Then came a stretch of silence. Ten seconds. Fifteen. Twenty...
The line clicked back on. Same secretary, same warm tone, but now with a hint of scripted politeness. "Mr. Ashford, I'm sorry. Mr. Parker says he doesn't know you."
Sebastian's jaw clenched to its limit.
He didn't say a word. He hung up, slamming the receiver back into its cradle with a dull thud.
Doesn't know him? Right.
They'd run into each other at events in their circle dozens of times. At last week's dinner, Cedric had called him "Mr. Ashford" to his face. And now he doesn't know him? Who's he kidding?
It wasn't that Cedric didn't know him. It was that he couldn't be bothered to deal with him.
Sebastian opened his computer and clicked into the news section of Parker Group's website.
The page loaded for two seconds, and the most recent announcement popped up.
The headline was short, bolded in black: Parker Group Strategic Marketing Department Personnel Announcement. It clearly stated that senior project manager Evelyn Kendall's start date was today.
Sebastian stared at that line of text on the screen. His hand slowly tightened around the mouse until his knuckles cracked audibly.
Evelyn arrived at Parker Group Tower at eight forty in the morning.
She wore a charcoal suit jacket over a white blouse, her hair tied in a low ponytail, small silver stud earrings in her ears.
The elevator doors opened on the thirty-sixth floor. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls divided the hallway into office areas on both sides.