After three weeks,
Alaric watched as Aveline talked to a vendor on her phone while fighting the urge to have breakfast during the call. Then her expression flattened, and she said seriously, "Mr. Irven, I will call you in half an hour after my breakfast." She ended the call without waiting for a response.
"You need an assistant, Sunshine," he mused, watching her control the urge to throw her phone away so she could have a peaceful al.
"I know," Aveline cried. "But I'm not satisfied with any of the applicants." Apart from hiring a diligent and experienced assistant, she would also have to deal with her inner circle, not just her work schedule.
Until she was satisfied, she would have to handle a lot of things on her own.
Alaric nodded once in understanding. She was smart and smooth in picking her whole team, but he could understand her cautiousness about an assistant. She wanted a systematic expansion of her team as they worked, not a blindly huge team.
"I could help you," he offered.
There was a woman at Apex Security who wasn't just smart enough to handle the position of assistant; she had combat skills that could be helpful in an ergency.
Aveline pouted. "Sweetheart, your current high-priority focus should be on your second product launch: Aegis and your brother."
She had seen Nicholas at Celeste's funeral ceremony and identified him imdiately as the man who was working beside Damien to sabotage Alaric.
"Are you sure we can trust him?" she asked, unable to shake off the uneasiness whenever his brother's topic ca up.
Alaric shook his head in resignation. He stood up and kissed her on the forehead. She had already helped him enough to avoid disaster. "Stop worrying about ."
She narrowed her eyes anyway. "Then who should I worry about?" She pointed at the plant in the corner. "That plant?"
Alaric burst into laughter at her response. "I'm eting him today," he revealed to ease her concerns.
Yet Aveline flipped her hair back. "I've beco an expert at peeling vegetables. If he doesn't listen to you, you could try my expertise on his skin." She huffed.
The housekeeper, Martha, choked on her spit when she heard Aveline, whereas Alaric continued laughing, imagining Aveline peeling Nicholas's skin like a vegetable.
At Obsidian, Alaric's laughter was still floating in the penthouse dining hall, but his face was cold when he sat in front of Nicholas.
"You're ten minutes late," Nicholas scoffed, glaring at Alaric. "Why the fuck did you call ?"
Using the prenup they had signed before marriage, the exact docunt Seraphina had drafted for building a good image for politics, Nicholas divorced Seraphina, giving her nothing more than the two villas Isabella had gifted her before.
Alaric rely glanced at Ezra, who kept a file on the table.
Irritated, Nicholas grabbed the file. Right on the first page, his eyes widened like saucers. It had information on Logisync Systems and its founder, Silas Hale, the very man Nicholas had given Alaric's second product, Aegis, to.
He flipped through the files. There were photos of him giving cash bags to a third person and the third person giving the sa bag to Silas Hale.
Before he could process it, he heard a voice from a device. He lifted his head and saw Ezra playing a video on an iPad.
~
The man Nicholas was in contact with sat in front of the cara and began confessing. 'Nicholas Lancaster gave a hard disk and a bag of money. He asked about Silas Hale. I took money from both parties, even stole so from the bag twice.'
~
Ezra swiped on the screen, and another video started playing.
~
The cleaner from NexGuard was sitting in front of the cara; the background seed to be Alaric's office.
He began speaking. 'CEO Lancaster, you were right. Leo Silvers t at the bar last night and gave a bag of cash to steal a hard drive from your private server room. I've brought the money as you instructed. What should I do now?'
A hand pushed a hard drive onto the table, and Alaric's voice responded, 'Keep the money. Give him this.'
The cleaner looked confused but followed the orders anyway. 'Yes, sir.'
~
Nicholas paled when he realized Alaric knew about the plan before they even started it. Yet he wanted to bla it on Leo Silver and claim he had no idea about it.
Ezra beat him to it by playing another video. Shaking, Nicholas watched it.
~
Leo Silver, beaten black and blue, was kneeling on the floor, tears rolling down his cheeks without his control. He stuttered due to pain when he confessed, 'Ric, I'm sorry. Damien and Nicholas cornered ...'
A shiny black shoe entered the screen, kicking Leo Silver in the stomach. He groaned in pain, shaking like a leaf, and began confessing again. 'Nicholas t . I brought Damien and him together, gave them the idea to ruin you. Then Damien planned everything, but he went to prison. Then Nicholas planned when to release your software. I didn't get a penny from them yet, I swear...'
~
The video ended.
Alaric didn't have to utter a word. Nicholas fell on his knees, shaking, before Alaric even laid a finger on him or took any action against him.
Because if Alaric sent those videos to their father, Edward, who had warned Nicholas not once but multiple tis about attacking Alaric, Edward would strip Nicholas of every Lancaster luxury and position and then remove him from the family.
Ezra restrained himself from rolling his eyes at Nicholas when he stepped out of the room. He realized why Alaric didn't really consider Nicholas a threat. And with the evidence in hand, Nicholas would never dare to do anything ever again against Aveline or Alaric.
"I, I..." Nicholas's voice barely cracked from his throat out of raw fear. "I have no excuses. I swear I'll not repeat it. I'll stop them from releasing it. I'll do anything you say. Please... I beg you, please don't send it to Dad."
Alaric watched Nicholas. From a young age, he had seen Nicholas using the Lancaster na and wealth in his favor. People liked him for it and feared him for it. However, Nicholas feared their father for the sa thing.
Yes, Nicholas was evil, not cruel.
If anybody was capable of cruelty, it was Edward and Alaric, and both were aware of it. But their cruelty would have a reason, unlike the jealousy and pettiness that drove Nicholas to be wicked.
Alaric offered no word of solace. He stood up and left. Because his silence would kill Nicholas every day.
...
Ezra walked beside Alaric as he asked for confirmation. "Should I destroy their machines?"
Alaric had added extra destructive software and codes to the half-done Aegis on the hard drive. Thus, they had access to every LogiSync company system that had their software running.
Alaric rely nodded in response.
Though he was just curious about Aveline's confidence back then, he couldn't believe that if not for her, he might have lost Aegis.
He wasn't thankful to her for traveling back in ti and saving Aegis, but for giving him a chance to protect her and to be by her side.
"What about this video?" Ezra's voice broke through his thoughts.
Alaric glanced at the screen. "Send it to her." He instructed flatly.
....
At Sinclair Lifestyle,
Vivienne exited the eting hall, following her father as they discussed the spring collection they were working on.
Her phone beeped in her hand, but she focused on the business talk before heading to her office. She saw the ssage from contact, Aveline Laurent.
[Deal. Only if you walk the ramp.]
Vivienne smiled. She had sent the email to Grace and Bloom for arranging their spring fashion week for kids and mothers, the first-ever fashion event by Grace and Bloom.
She had t Aveline a few tis. Once for lunch, another ti at an event, and she loved Aveline. She couldn't believe she was exploiting such a sweet woman because of Damien.
She was keeping her mobile away when it beeped again. She frowned, looking at the video ssage sent by a private number. Anyway, she played the video.
It was a video of Leo Sparks confessing that his n caused the accident of Vivienne Sinclair to get rid of her, on Damien's orders.
Vivienne unconsciously touched her stomach. She would have been pregnant if not for the accident. But thinking now, she would have chosen to stay a single mom instead of tagging Damien's na to her baby.
She knew Damien was behind it, but wasn't aware of Leo Sparks's hand in it. For a mont, she thought of using it against Damien to increase his prison ti and throw Leo Sparks behind bars. But then she knew she and her greediness were equally responsible for it.
So she deleted the video and got back to work.
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