Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Seraphine's POV

Arriving at the office, I felt a little unsettled.

In my mind, Octavius's words from last night replayed over and over.

"Think carefully about how you're going to take responsibility for me."

I took several deep breaths before finally mustering the courage to pick up my phone and dial Octavius's private number.

This felt like the first time I was contacting him for something other than work.

The phone rang twice before it was answered.

Octavius's voice was tinged with a hint of laziness. "What's up?"

"It's me," my voice was a bit tight. I cleared my throat. "When do you get off work today? Can I come find you?"

There was a two-second silence on the other end.

Then, Octavius let out a low, soft chuckle.

"Alright."

He agreed, his tone laced with satisfaction. "I'll be done at six. It's up to you whether you come or not."

My cheeks instantly turned crimson, and even my ears burned.

This ambiguous feeling, of being completely in his control, was just too much.

My heart was out of control. I stammered, "Then I'll come over after work. See you this evening!"

I hung up quickly, then buried my face in my cool palms, trying to cool down.

It had been so long since I'd experienced this long-lost feeling of my heart fluttering.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

I immediately looked up, composed my expression, and returned to work mode. "Come in."

The door swung open a second later, and Brielle sashayed in.

Her face couldn't hide her得意, and she placed a file on my desk. "Seraphine, this is the monthly report that needs your signature."

I nodded coldly. "Just put it there. I'll look at it later."

Brielle didn't leave right away, showing off, "Oh, I forgot to tell you some good news."

I looked up. "Let's hear it?"

"I got the five percent of shares Mr. Carter held. Now, the shares of the Whitaker Group I hold are much more than yours."

Brielle looked at me, her eyes filled with mockery. "It seems some people work desperately, but it's no match for a casual move from me."

Looking at her smug face, I sneered inwardly.

What an idiot.

She didn't even know how she'd been ensnared.

On the surface, I feigned shock, my eyes wide with disbelief. "Brielle, are you dreaming?"

Brielle paused, then pouted. "You don't believe me?"

"At the board meeting three months ago, Father already made it clear that no shareholder is allowed to sell or transfer shares privately."

Brielle's expression changed slightly. "What?"

My face was grave. "Share transfers must go through a board resolution and subscription. You can't buy them privately even if you want to."

The smugness on Brielle's face vanished.

She was stunned for a moment, then forced a calm facade and scoffed, "Stop putting on an act! No private sales? Then when Mr. Carter was selling his shares before, weren't you also bidding against me?"

"Bidding?"

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "When did I bid against you? Brielle, you can't just say things like that. Do you have any evidence of me participating in the bidding? Chat logs or recordings?"

Brielle's mouth opened. "I, I don't..."

I spread my hands. "You don't have any proof?"

"You, you must have call records with Mr. Carter on your phone!"

Brielle's eyes lit up, and she rushed over, almost shoving her hand in my face.

"Give me your phone, let me see!"

I took out my phone directly, unlocked it, and handed it to her.

"Brielle, feel free to look at any of my call records and social media. If you can find any evidence, I'll immediately give you all the shares I have and pay you another ten million dollars!"

"You said it, don't regret it!" Brielle snatched the phone, rolling her eyes impatiently.

She eagerly started checking.

But I was already prepared. After meeting Ewan at the coffee shop, I deleted the call records every time.

As expected, Brielle found nothing. The speed of her scrolling slowed down.

I narrowed my eyes, watching her reaction closely, and sneered, "What, nothing?"

Brielle swallowed, a little flustered.

I stood up, my expression serious. "Privately acquiring shares is a serious violation of company regulations. If Dad and the board found out, I wouldn't even be able to keep my position as general manager. Why would I seek my own ruin?"

A flicker of panic crossed Brielle's eyes.

She realized something was wrong, her voice turning a bit shrill. "You're lying! It was clearly you..."

I didn't give her a chance to argue, directly picking up the landline on the desk and pressing the speakerphone button.

In front of her, I dialed Ewan's number.

The call connected quickly.

Ewan's voice flowed out, echoing clearly in the office.

"Seraphine?"

"Mr. Carter, it's me." My tone was calm as I glanced at Brielle. "I wanted to confirm something with you regarding the transfer of company shares."

Brielle stared at the landline, her face pale, her breathing rapid.

Ewan paused. "Seraphine, what share transfer?"

I looked at Brielle. "It's about you contacting Brielle to transfer your shares to her."

"I haven't contacted Brielle recently, and I have no intention of selling my shares. I'm old, and I'm counting on these dividends for my retirement. Are you mistaken?"

Ewan's tone was very confused, as if he had no idea what was going on.

I almost wanted to laugh.

I never realized he was such a good actor.

"Impossible! I clearly, I clearly transferred the money to you!"

Brielle took out her phone, her fingers trembling, scrolling through the transfer records and chat interface.

As she spoke, she suddenly stopped, her face turning completely bloodless.

I leaned over and saw the receiving account.

"It's an overseas virtual account, not Mr. Carter's account."

Brielle was completely dumbfounded.

"How could it be a virtual account? I was scammed?"Her tone was desperate. "How could this happen!"

While she was in disarray, I quickly sent a text to Heath from my phone, telling him to come to my office immediately for an emergency.

I put down my phone and looked at the devastated Brielle, my face showing a pained expression.

"Brielle, how could you be so careless! This is a full ten million dollars!"

Brielle swayed on her feet.

"For something as important as company shares, how could you just rely on online contact and transfer ten million dollars without even verifying the other party's identity?"

I paused, and the office door was pushed open.

Heath walked in quickly, his face grim. "What's going on? What ten million dollars?"

"Dad!" Brielle saw him as a lifeline and rushed over. "Dad, I was scammed! Someone pretended to be Mr. Carter selling shares and scammed me out of ten million dollars!"

I watched coldly, speaking at the right moment, "The recipient is an overseas account."

Heath immediately flew into a rage, slamming the table and shouting at Brielle, "Can you go one day without causing trouble for me! An overseas account is such an obvious flaw, and you couldn't see it? How did I end up with such a stupid daughter!"

Brielle trembled with fear, then looked at me as if she'd found an outlet for her anger, and shrieked, "I know, it was her!"