Chapter 27
Sebastian moved his hand away from the mouse.
His fingers slowly clenched into a fist.
All of these things—he'd never looked at any of them when she was here.
He didn't know what Evelyn's performance scores were. Didn't know how many people reported to her. Didn't know how her clients evaluated her. Didn't know what time she came in or left every day.
But he knew Arianna needed a glass of warm milk before bed. Knew Arianna's period came around the fifteenth of every month. Knew Arianna's medication had to be taken thirty minutes after meals. Knew Arianna was afraid of the dark, afraid of the cold, afraid of thunder.
He'd given all his attention, all his patience, all his tenderness to one person.
What Evelyn got was an occasional phone call when he remembered, and signed credit card bills.
His phone suddenly rang.
Sebastian looked down at the caller ID.
Arianna.
His thumb hovered over the answer button. He didn't press it.
The name on the screen kept flashing, the ringtone echoing in the quiet office.
His assistant knocked at that moment.
"Mr. Ashford."
"What is it?"
The assistant pushed the door open, holding a document, and placed it in front of him.
"There's a new problem. The client for the Eastside project officially sent notice at four this afternoon terminating the partnership. Their reason is that our liaison team couldn't meet their needs."
Sebastian's thumb lifted from the phone screen.
The assistant flipped to the second page of the document and pointed at a line of text.
"The client also announced their new partner. Parker Group."
The phone was still ringing.
Arianna's name kept flashing on the screen.
Sebastian looked at the document the assistant had handed him, the client's red official seal stamped across it. Termination of Partnership Notice. Dated today.
He looked up.
"Who's their liaison?"
The assistant paused for a second.
"The liaison on Parker Group's side is Evelyn."
The phone stopped ringing at the forty-fifth second.
The screen went dark.
Sebastian stared at the termination notice in his hand. Arianna's missed call notification floated up for a moment, then sank into the notification bar.
He didn't call back.
West side of the city, Haven Club. The door to the private room was locked from the inside.
Arianna sat by the window, a white porcelain tea set arranged in front of her, steam rising from the spout like fine threads. Today she wore a cream-colored cashmere cardigan, her hair down over her shoulders, her nails coated with clear polish.
Two knocks came at the door.
She set down her teacup, her voice soft.
"Come in."
When Mr. Lewis pushed the door open, the top button of his shirt was already undone, a thin layer of sweat on his neck. He glanced around the room, confirming no one else was there, before closing the door behind him.
"Ms. Jackson."
Arianna gestured for him to sit.
Mr. Lewis sat down across from her, both hands resting on his knees, his fingers twisting together twice.
"Ms. Jackson, you suddenly asked to meet—is something wrong?"
Arianna didn't answer immediately. She poured a cup of tea and pushed it in front of Mr. Lewis, her movements unhurried. Steam spread from the rim of the cup.
"Mr. Lewis, you remember what happened with the Riverbend project three years ago, don't you?"
Mr. Lewis's fingers froze.
Three years ago. The Riverbend project bid. He'd been a team leader in the marketing department back then. The proposal had been reported internally for data fabrication. The investigation team spent two weeks digging, and eventually traced everything back to him. If that matter hadn't been swept under the rug, forget getting promoted to VP—he wouldn't have even been able to set foot in Ashford Group again.
How had that matter been buried?
The complaint was withdrawn. The fabricated data in the investigation report was replaced with a clean version. He hadn't known who'd been pulling strings behind the scenes at the time, but six months later he'd heard Arianna's name from an intermediary.
Mr. Lewis swallowed.
"I remember."
The corner of Arianna's mouth curved slightly. Just enough to be visible.
"I never mentioned it to you, did I?"
Mr. Lewis nodded.
"Because there was no need. As long as you knew in your heart."
Arianna picked up her teacup, took a sip, and set it down. She pulled a manila envelope from a beige handbag beside her seat and pushed it in front of Mr. Lewis.
Mr. Lewis looked at the envelope.
"What is this?"
"Open it and see."
Mr. Lewis unsealed the envelope and pulled out the document inside.
Four A4 pages. The first page had Parker Group's logo at the top. The layout was neat—fonts, spacing, even the page number format in the footer all matched Parker Group's internal document standards.
Title: Parker Group Internal Communications Records (Excerpts).
Mr. Lewis read line by line.
The communication records spanned from three months ago up until a week before Evelyn resigned. The content consisted of screenshot exchanges between Evelyn and Cedric. In the conversations, Evelyn repeatedly mentioned client lists and pricing ranges that Ashford Group was pursuing. Cedric's responses included phrases like "received," "forwarded to marketing," and "keep it up."
The implication between the lines was crystal clear: while employed at Ashford Group, Evelyn had already been passing core business information to Parker Group.
Mr. Lewis's hands started shaking.
He flipped to the last page, set the document down, and looked up at Arianna.
"Ms. Jackson, this thing..."
His throat felt blocked, his voice tight.
"If this gets checked and found to be fake..."
Arianna didn't look directly at him. She refilled her cup, the spout aligned with the rim at a millimeter-precise angle.
"It won't be found out."
Her tone was casual.
"The person who made this is far more professional than you think. Parker Group's internal document templates, fonts, numbering systems—all of it's real. The only fake part is the content. But do you think anyone's going to pull Parker Group's actual communication records to compare them to this?"
Mr. Lewis didn't respond.
Arianna set down the teapot and lifted her gaze to meet Mr. Lewis's eyes.
"Besides, do you think Seb will even bother to verify it?"
She smiled slightly.
"He'll only believe what he wants to believe."
That sentence landed in the room colder than the air blowing from the AC vent.
Mr. Lewis's fingers left two fingerprints on the paper as he gripped the document. He was calculating in his head. If he didn't help Arianna, what happened three years ago could be dug up at any moment. If he helped Arianna and things went south, he was screwed either way.
Both roads were dead ends.
But one cliff was far away. The other pit was right under his feet.
People always dodge what's closest first.
Mr. Lewis stuffed the document back into the envelope.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Very simple. You help me get this into Seb's hands. Tell him you found it on Evelyn's old computer. She didn't wipe the hard drive clean when she left, and you found it during a routine check."
After finishing that sentence, Arianna picked up her teacup and took another sip.
"Make the story sound natural. You've been with Seb for years—you know his temperament better than I do. Don't say too much, don't say too little. Leave half of it for him to imagine. People's imaginations are always worse than the truth."
Mr. Lewis nodded. A bead of sweat rolled off the back of his hand onto the manila envelope, spreading into an oval-shaped dark stain.
Arianna saw the drop of sweat. No disgust showed on her face. She pulled a tissue from her bag and handed it over.