Chapter 26
Sebastian had seen Cedric step in for Evelyn at the bar that time and assumed it was just a casual favor. When he saw Cedric standing in front of Evelyn at the gala, he figured it was just professional courtesy. This morning, when he spotted Cedric's car outside Sophie's building, a bad feeling had started creeping in.
Now that feeling had become reality.
A man who controlled two-thirds of the city's economic lifeblood had sent a legal notice to a competitor—for a project manager who'd just started at his company.
If that wasn't a clear statement of intent, what was?
Sebastian picked up the desk phone and called the legal counsel.
"Mr. Ashford, we can't win this case."
The legal counsel's voice was heavy, like something was weighing on him.
"Evelyn's evidence is too thorough. Resignation letter, handover records, acknowledgment receipts—the timeline is airtight. Our 'leaked secrets' accusation has no substantive evidence backing it. And more than that..."
The legal counsel paused.
"Parker Group's legal team. We can't afford to fight them. Time costs, manpower costs, public opinion costs—even if Ashford Group puts everything into this lawsuit, we'll most likely lose. And once litigation starts, that government project Ashford Group is bidding on will be directly affected."
Sebastian didn't speak.
The legal counsel tentatively added one more thing.
"Mr. Ashford, I suggest issuing a clarification as soon as possible and keeping this within the scope of civil mediation. The longer this drags on, the more damage it does to Ashford Group's reputation."
After hanging up, Sebastian sat in his office chair for a full hour.
A full hour.
He thought about a lot of things.
Like the Mr. Larry incident—he had arranged for Evelyn to meet Mr. Larry. His thinking at the time was to make her hit a wall, to show her that leaving Ashford Group meant she'd be stuck in this industry. He hadn't anticipated Mr. Larry would get physical. But he had anticipated Mr. Larry would give her a hard time. He'd been waiting for Evelyn to come crawling back after she'd suffered enough.
The day she resigned—when Evelyn slapped that resignation letter on his desk, he hadn't even looked at it. Because he didn't believe she'd actually leave. Just like when he signed the divorce papers without glancing at them once.
The same mistake. He'd made it twice.
Not carelessness. He fundamentally didn't believe Evelyn could leave him.
Sebastian rubbed his temples and picked up his phone, sending Mr. Lewis a message.
[Issue a clarification statement. I'll review it before it goes out.]
Twenty minutes later, Mr. Lewis sent over the draft statement. Sebastian revised it twice before finalizing it. He typed out the wording himself.
[Previous rumors regarding the reason for Ms. Evelyn Kendall's departure were the result of internal miscommunication. Ms. Evelyn Kendall departed under normal circumstances. We hereby clarify.]
After the statement went out, Sebastian turned off his phone screen.
He knew it wasn't enough.
Parker Group Tower, thirty-sixth floor.
Evelyn saw Ashford Group's clarification statement at three in the afternoon.
She scrolled through it twice on her screen, her gaze stopping on one word.
Miscommunication.
Not "false information." Miscommunication.
One word made all the difference. "Miscommunication" implied "we didn't deliberately spread lies, the message just got distorted during transmission." The blame was being pushed onto an uncontrollable chain of communication.
Evelyn closed her browser and opened Parker Group's internal messaging software, finding the legal department's contact window.
She typed out a message and sent it:
The clarification statement from Ashford Group uses the term "miscommunication" rather than "false information" and does not acknowledge spreading lies. Suggest requiring them to revise the wording and repost, otherwise the litigation clause in the legal notice remains in effect.
Five minutes later, the legal department replied: Received, reported to Mr. Parker.
Four hours later, seven p.m.
Ashford Group's official account deleted the first version of the statement and posted a second version.
[Previous false information regarding the reason for Ms. Evelyn Kendall's departure was spread by certain individuals within our company without verification and is seriously inconsistent with the facts. Ms. Evelyn Kendall departed for personal reasons under normal circumstances with all departure procedures properly completed. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused.]
Evelyn finished reading the second statement and locked her screen.
A message from Sophie popped up.
[Did you see it?! Ashford Group backed down!! I'm so freaking happy!!]
Evelyn replied: I saw it.
She didn't feel satisfied. She didn't feel vindicated either.
She'd just confirmed one thing. Now that things had reached this point, Sebastian had finally been forced to face reality.
She gripped her phone, her thumb hovering over the darkened screen for a few seconds.
The spot on her arm where Sebastian had grabbed her still ached faintly.
Sebastian's executive office.
He sat behind his desk. After the second version of the statement went out, he'd been staring at that legal notice on his desk.
Spinning his pen.
The tip rotated between his fingers. Once, twice, three times.
He'd made countless decisions in this office before. Signed contracts worth hundreds of millions, vetoed executive proposals, laid off entire underperforming departments. He was used to the feeling of controlling everything.
Today was the first time someone had forced him to admit he was wrong.
The person doing the forcing wasn't Cedric. It was Evelyn.
That evidence wasn't pulled together today. She'd prepared it before she left.
What did that mean?
It meant that when Evelyn submitted her resignation letter, she'd already thought through every possible scenario, including that he'd turn around and bite back. She'd blocked every avenue ahead of time.
The pen stopped.
Sebastian set down the pen, opened his computer, and accessed Ashford Group's internal HR system. He typed three letters into the search bar.
Evelyn.
Her employee file popped up.
Hire date, position change records, project history, performance scores, client reviews.
He scrolled down line by line.
The project history section listed nine projects. Eastside Tourism was the largest in scope, but not the only standout. The old city redevelopment commercial research she'd taken over in her third month got an A+ client rating. The cross-district consumer flow analysis she did in her seventh month directly led to Ashford Group signing a partnership with the southern district development zone.
In the client reviews was a line Evelyn couldn't have written herself. It was from the head of that southern district development zone.
"Ms. Kendall's judgment of market rhythm is both precise and practical. She's a rare project manager who understands both data and people."
Team satisfaction survey. Ninety-three points out of a hundred. In all the anonymous reviews from team members, the two most frequent words were "patient" and "professional."
The assistant she'd mentored, Lisa, had started with a C rating. After a year and a half working under Evelyn, her latest evaluation had jumped to B+.
Sebastian scrolled back to the top of the page, looking at the photo in the upper left corner of Evelyn's file. In the ID photo, Evelyn had her hair pulled back in a low ponytail, the corners of her mouth curved slightly upward—not quite a smile, just a polite softness.
Had he seen this photo before?
He must have. He'd personally signed off on Evelyn's hire. But he couldn't remember at all whether he'd looked at this photo at the time.