Chapter 125
Seraphine's POV
After leaving the Capulet Group, my lips were still swollen and numb.
I wiped my mouth, got into the car, gripped the steering wheel, and tried to calm myself down.
It seemed the loss here was irreversible. I needed to hurry back and secure more partnerships to make up for this shortfall with the Whitaker Group.
Otherwise, the shareholders would see it and think I didn't have the ability to handle things, which was the last thing I wanted.
Just then, Gabriel sent me a text. [I'm waiting for you at the café. It's urgent.]
Gabriel rarely spoke to me in this tone unless something really serious had happened.
I pulled myself together and rushed to the destination as fast as I could.
When I arrived, I saw Gabriel sitting in a corner of the café waiting.
As soon as he saw me, his eyes lit up and he waved at me: "Seraphine, over here."
I walked over confused, and as soon as I sat down at the table, he looked at me with a smile. "I ordered your favorite latte for you."
"What's going on? Why did you need to see me so urgently?"
Gabriel was about to speak when he suddenly noticed my lips and froze.
I realized what he was looking at, and my gaze shifted uncomfortably. I quickly cleared my throat to prompt him. "Just tell me, what's so urgent?"
Gabriel snapped back to attention, looked at me deeply, his expression not great.
"Did Octavius bully you?" His tone was certain.
I avoided his probing gaze and brushed it off vaguely: "There was a bit of a dispute. Anyway, don't worry about it. I'm not trying to salvage that partnership with him anymore. There's no point—he won't agree to it."
Now, Octavius only cared about Quinlan.
"Since you know his attitude, don't go looking for him anymore. You're just asking for trouble and getting bullied for nothing." A flash of concern crossed Gabriel's eyes, then he pulled out some documents from his bag and handed them over with a smile. "Take a look at this first."
I took them confused, and was somewhat surprised after reading through them.
"This is a new energy partnership. The established company has solid credibility and technology. As long as we partner with them, we'll definitely succeed, and it'll be very profitable." I said this, then looked up at Gabriel with a smile: "Do you want me to help you review it?"
Gabriel pushed a cup of coffee in front of me and said seriously: "This is indeed a partnership our Obelon Group has been discussing recently, but our experience in this area isn't as good as the Whitaker Group's. I was thinking, maybe we could collaborate on this project—we provide the funding, you provide the technology and operations. Consider it my way of thanking you for helping me deal with my family."
I was stunned and looked through it again.
The profit sharing was very substantial. If we could really collaborate, it would definitely make up for the losses from Octavius cutting off our partnership.
"Gabriel, I..." I wanted to thank him but didn't know what to say, feeling touched. "I only agreed to help you out, to be your fiancée in name only. For you to offer such a big benefit to help me, isn't it a bit..."
Before I could finish, Gabriel interrupted with a smile, saying gently: "I genuinely think this project suits the Whitaker Group, and it benefits our Obelon Group too. Wouldn't collaborating together be great?"
Looking at his sincere expression, I felt warm inside.
I didn't expect that someone would still be willing to stand by my side at this time. "Alright, then thank you."
I smiled lightly, picked up my coffee and took a sip, accidentally getting white foam on the corner of my mouth.
I was about to wipe it off when Gabriel naturally reached out and wiped it clean with his fingertip.
He withdrew his finger and methodically cleaned it with a napkin.
I froze in place, not expecting him to use such an intimate gesture to wipe my mouth.
In that instant, I keenly sensed that what Gabriel was doing now seemed to cross the boundaries of friendship.
Was it because we had this arranged marriage arrangement? Because we were nominally a couple about to get engaged, that's why he was treating me this way?
No, this wasn't right.
My heart sank slightly as I frowned at Gabriel.
From the beginning, Gabriel and I had made it clear we were helping each other out, each getting what we needed.
Beyond that relationship, we could only be classmates.
If other emotions got mixed in, it would complicate simple matters and might even damage the trust between us.
I took another sip of coffee before speaking. "Gabriel, thank you. Whether it was before or now, you've been very supportive of me, so to me, you're a very important friend and a business partner I trust."
Gabriel didn't take it seriously and smiled at me: "Why are you suddenly saying all this? Alright, I know. Even if you're thanking me, you don't need to say so many polite words."
"Listen to me." I interrupted him. "Being able to work with you this time and help me stabilize the situation temporarily, I'm already very grateful. In business, I'll need to rely on you, my old classmate, a lot in the future. I think between us, it's better to maintain a sense of gratitude in our interactions. Don't you think?"
Gabriel understood immediately, and his smile froze.
He then tucked away the emotion in his eyes: "Of course, as old classmates, helping each other out is what we should do. If you need anything in the future, just ask."
I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing he understood what I meant, and started discussing the project from earlier.
After parting with Gabriel, I returned to my office.
Before I could deal with the project, my desk phone started ringing frantically.
I picked up the receiver confused—it was a call from an employee.
After connecting, the other party said urgently: "This is bad, Ms. Whitaker! The database for the project we just won the bid for has been illegally accessed! And there are traces of data being copied!"
"What did you say?" I froze suddenly, my heart skipping a beat.
Orion's insider was really fast.
I had personally overseen the security, setting up layers of encryption for the core database.
If anyone tried to break through, an alert would immediately be sent to my phone.
Unless it was someone from our project team who already had the database key, they wouldn't be able to copy it so brazenly.
I had just assured the client team that with the protection of the hacker expert ShadowFox, the data was extremely secure and would absolutely not be leaked.
Now that this had happened, if the client found out, it would be a devastating blow to my credibility.
I made a quick decision and ordered in a serious tone: "Firstly, confiscate all project team members' phones and computers to prevent any data from being transmitted out! Disconnect the entire project department from the internet, prohibit contact with the outside world, and wait for my investigation!"
"Alright." The other party's tone became extremely serious. "I'll do it right away."
After hanging up, I let out a breath.
I had to root out this person, and maybe I could even find their accomplices in the company in the process.