Chapter 71 Sophie Was Blamed
Michael was feeling pretty down.
He had gone out of his way to set everything up just to cheer Lily up. But Sophie had stolen the spotlight. Even though it was supposedly a misunderstanding, he couldn't shake off the discomfort.
Why did Sophie always show up whenever he tried to mend things with Lily, only to make things worse?
With red-rimmed eyes, Sophie said to Lily, "Lily, I really didn't mean to. I thought you were keeping your identity a secret to get a better internship experience at the company."
Lily's lips curled into a cold smile. Sophie certainly had a quick mind. No wonder she had fallen for her tricks in a past life.
But Lorenzo, seeing Sophie cry, immediately spoke up, "Mr. Roberts, I don't think this has anything to do with Ms. Scott. Ms. Roberts could have revealed her identity herself, but she chose not to. Who's to blame?"
He thought he looked heroic standing up for Sophie. Maybe she'd even develop feelings for him.
Michael shot him a cold glance. "You're the guy who hit Lily at the company yesterday, right? I was just looking for you!"
Lorenzo's face turned sour. "She hit me first yesterday."
"That's because you insulted her first. You don't need to come to work anymore."
Lorenzo panicked. This wasn't going as he had planned! He immediately looked to Sophie for help.
Sophie stiffened and said, "Michael, he just fixed the firewall and solved a major issue. You can't just fire him."
Michael was surprised. "Wasn't it Lily who fixed it?"
Derek quickly explained, "Ms. Roberts said her code was stolen."
Derek had heard about the project. Lily had been involved from the start, so she definitely had the skills.
As for Lorenzo, the team leader in the tech department, he hadn't been able to solve the firewall issue for a long time. How could he suddenly fix it?
Lorenzo defended himself, "I didn't steal anything. I wrote it all myself."
Sophie chimed in, "Yeah, Lily says someone stole her code. She needs proof."
Without evidence, Lily's words wouldn't hold up.
Michael looked at Lily, skeptical. "Lily, are you sure it's him?"
Lily's eyes were full of mockery. "Absolutely!"
Alvin immediately turned to Derek. "Check the security footage."
"Yes, the footage!"
But soon, Derek returned with a gloomy face. "I checked, but the lobby's cameras were down. There's no footage from the past few days."
Sophie felt a surge of triumph. She had anticipated this. Feigning worry, she said, "What do we do now?"
Lorenzo smirked. "Without evidence, who can prove anything? You can't just accuse people because you're Ms. Roberts."
Sophie smiled slightly and looked at Michael with a concerned expression. "Michael, I know Lily wants to help you with this issue. We all know she's worked hard, but you can't just take someone else's work for the results."
Michael was conflicted and extremely frustrated. He tugged at his tie and said to Alvin, "Find other evidence."
"Who said there's no evidence!"
Lily pulled out her phone and played last night's footage.
It clearly showed Lorenzo opening her computer, copying her files, and tampering with her code.
Everything was crystal clear now.
Michael, furious, slapped Lorenzo. "How dare you mess with Lily's work? Are you out of your mind?"
"I... I didn't..."
Lorenzo was dumbfounded. This couldn't be happening.
He had hacked into the company's surveillance system in advance and deleted the footage from the past few days. How was there still evidence?
Sophie sensed something was wrong when she saw the footage.
Why hadn't Lily shown the footage earlier? Was this a trap?
Sophie quickly grabbed Lorenzo's arm, her eyes filled with tears. "How could you do this? I trusted you!"
Lorenzo, smelling Sophie's perfume, felt his body relax.
He rolled his eyes and quickly responded, "Yes, I did it all myself. I couldn't stand her arrogance. It has nothing to do with anyone else."
He couldn't expose Sophie now.
It must have been Lily's arrogance that drove Sophie to act this way.
Sophie felt relieved when Lorenzo didn't expose her involvement.
She turned to Lily with a look of remorse. "Lily, I'm sorry for doubting you earlier. I shouldn't have trusted someone else."
Lily laughed coldly. "You definitely owe me an apology."
Sophie's face stiffened, and she lowered her eyes, looking scared.
Lorenzo added, "Ms. Scott's suspicion was understandable. After all, you didn't show the evidence earlier!"
Everyone around was shocked.
Derek shouted angrily, "You stole Ms. Roberts' code and have the nerve to talk?"
Michael's eyes were icy. "Alvin, fire him and call the police!"
Lorenzo panicked at the mention of being fired and the police.
Sophie, with tears in her eyes, looked deeply at Lorenzo. He still didn't reveal the truth and was taken away by security.
Lily smirked. "Seems like Sophie has quite the charm. Men are always willing to speak up for her."
Despite everything, Lorenzo didn't expose Sophie as the mastermind. Sophie was indeed cunning.
"Lily, you've misunderstood. Lorenzo and I are just colleagues, nothing more. He misled me earlier, and I really thought he wrote the code."
Sophie gritted her teeth inwardly. "Lily, why didn't you show the footage earlier? That would have avoided the misunderstanding."
Who could have guessed Lily had the footage? It was clear Lily had anticipated someone tampering with her computer and had prepared accordingly.
Sophie felt a chill. If Lorenzo hadn't been swayed by her charm and had exposed her involvement, she'd be finished.
Michael no longer trusted her like before. If Lorenzo had pointed fingers at her, she'd be done for. Lily had set a trap.
Lily waved her phone. "I wanted to see who was trying to frame me."
"It must be because Lorenzo couldn't solve the firewall issue and feared Michael's inspection. So he took the risk."
Sophie was nervous. Lily seemed so calm; who knew what other evidence she had?
Michael's face was stern. "We need to thoroughly investigate if there's anyone else behind this. I don't believe a team leader would dare do something so audacious on his own."
Sophie's heart sank. What if they found out the truth?