“No,” Toby answered curtly as he walked over to the couch and sat down.
Sonia’s plant construction was being taken care of by the engineering team dispatched by the government, who would undoubtedly be in charge of handling all mishaps on-site, so there was no need for Toby to intervene or help out at all.
Having heard Toby’s firm, unaffected answer, Titus perked up slightly and crossed the room to the couch as well. “So why do you ask in the first place?”
“Have you forgotten all about Fox Eyes, Titus?” Toby looked up at the other man inquisitively.
At that moment, hatred flashed in Titus’ eyes as he spat through gritted teeth, “Of course I haven’t, but it doesn’t matter, because this time around, I’ve been really discreet; I didn’t even leave any digital footprints. There’s no way he could trace anything back to me.”
“There’s no guarantee that he won’t.” Toby reached for a cup and poured tea for himself, then said breezily, “He could very well trace everything back to you if he wants to.”
“Alright, that’s enough now,” Titus said irritably. “Are you here just so you could lecture me?”
He had always thought of himself as the elder, not to mention Toby’s future father-in-law. As such, he found himself constantly annoyed by the latter’s casual mannerisms during their conversations. He would much rather Toby show his respect.
That being said, he could not speak his mind on this, given Toby’s stature and power far exceeded his own.
Presently, upon seeing that Titus was getting irritated, Toby let the matter drop. He took a sip of his tea and put down the cup, then he explained, “I’m here to talk to you about the partnership. I’ve gone through the proposal, but there are a couple of amendments that need to be made.”
Tom had been standing behind Toby when he heard this, and he smoothly handed a document over to the latter.
Toby flipped the document open and placed it on the coffee table, thereafter sliding it toward Titus as he said, “I’ve highlighted the parts that need amendment. You could take a look if you’d like, Titus.”
“Very well,” Titus declared, taking the document. After scanning through the proposed amendments, he nodded and said somberly, “I agree that these terms are much better than the previous ones I’ve come up with. Alright then, I’ll have these amendments made and send you a final copy.”
“That’s fine by me.” Toby rose to his feet. “I shall take my leave then, Titus.”
With that, he turned around and left with Tom in his wake.
Once the both of them had gotten in the car, Tom glanced briefly into the rearview mirror and asked warily, “President Fuller, don’t you think President Gray is a little presumptuous to think that he has gone off the grid just because he left no digital footprints?”
Toby pinched his nose bridge tiredly as he answered, “He’s growing impatient after his recent plans were foiled by Sonia and Fox Eyes. He’s desperate to teach Sonia a lesson, so naturally, we shouldn’t expect him to make any carefully-calculated moves.”
“That’s true,” Tom agreed with a nod of his head. Then, a sudden thought crossed his mind, and he asked, “By the way, President Fuller, why didn’t you mention that Miss Reed’s plant project will be handled by the government’s engineering team? If President Gray insists on wrecking the site, then he’ll be arrested once they find out he orchestrated it.”
Toby lowered his gaze, thereby concealing the dark gleam in his eyes as he answered easily, “I didn’t think there was a need for me to do that. Titus has always wanted to go head-to-head with Sonia, and he often knows no boundaries. It would do him some good to calm down after this incident teaches him a harsh lesson.”
“Is that so?” Tom cast Toby a sideways glance, clearly skeptical of his explanation.
When he heard the implication in his assistant’s tone, Toby demanded sullenly, “Why? Do you think I’m up to something else?”
I thought you were trying to help Miss Reed get back at President Gray, Tom thought. However, he dared not try to be sassy, and instead schooled his features into a solemn expression as he quipped, “No, of course not.”
Toby scoffed coldly and decided to let him get away with it.
When it was 2.00PM, Sonia managed to hear about the news about the museum site being wrecked by a bunch of thugs who had vandalized and destroyed the newly-laid foundation.
According to the thug leader, the site on which the museum was being built was their territory. They extorted protection rackets from the construction managers, threatening to wreck the site if they did not get the money.
Shortly after, the thugs were arrested.
“Good riddance!” Daphne was mighty pleased as she went on to say, “Did they honestly think that they could get away with wrecking the museum’s building site?”
While the engineering team in charge of the museum project was also carrying out Sonia’s plant construction, the employers for the respective projects were different. They could not have the two women who had caused a ruckus at the plant site arrested without Sonia’s orders, but the same could not be said for the fiasco at the museum site earlier; the thugs were arrested without hassle.
“So, what happened to the thugs?” Sonia asked now with a smirk playing on her lips.
Daphne quickly regained composure as she answered, “They’re being kept at the detention center. The higher-ups are very concerned about this incident and will hold a thorough interrogation. There’s no telling if that bunch of thugs could take it.”
“Got it. Have someone keep an eye on the perimeters of the detention center, and let me know if anything interesting happens,” Sonia instructed coolly as she nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.” Daphne turned to leave.
Meanwhile, at the detention center, the thugs were all scared witless.
They knew that they might very well end up in this place, but they certainly had not expected to be interrogated by SWAT officers instead of the usual policemen.
All the color drained from the thugs’ faces when they saw the weapons the SWAT officers were carrying as well as the stun baton strapped to their waists.
They were mere thugs, and they had never once encountered such intimidating forces. With the living daylights scared out of them, they dared not lie throughout the interrogation and told the whole truth, claiming that someone had sent them to vandalize the site.
Following this, the SWAT officers carried out their investigation based on the information they elicited, and it didn’t take long before they traced everything back to Titus.
Consequently, Titus was taken away by a couple of police officers during a company meeting.
Sheer disbelief was written all over his face as he was taken into custody, and there was a look of bewilderment in his eyes. Try as he might, he could not fathom how he had exposed himself as the mastermind,
Soon, the news of Titus’ arrest began to circulate around the internet.
The netizens were in an uproar as they tried to guess what the chairman of Triforce Enterprise could have done to be arrested.
Almost in an instant, the stocks for Triforce Enterprise plummeted on the market, stirring panic among the shareholders.
Daphne and Sonia were at Paradigm Co. when they saw the clamor that was beginning to fan out over cyberspace, and they were in better spirits afterward.
Charles, on the other hand, opened a bottle of red wine to celebrate the occasion. “The old fogeys at Triforce Enterprise ought to start questioning Titus’ managing capabilities now that he’s been taken into police custody.”
Sonia swirled her wine as she mused, “If only I had enough cash to buy the residual shares for Triforce Enterprise. After all, it was a shame not to acquire these shares during the company’s stock market crisis.
Charles grinned as he leaned closer to her. “I could get them for you as a gift.”
“Forget it.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I won’t have much use for them even if I were to buy them now.”
“Okay then.” He was somewhat dejected as he returned to his seat. “By the way, we would have had a much harder time getting back at Titus if that internet buddy of yours didn’t work together with the government.”
“Oh, that reminds me,” she exclaimed mildly, then took out her phone.
Realizing that she did not intend to elaborate on her sentence, Charles asked, “What is it?”
“I need to thank him,” Sonia explained briefly with a smile. She found the name Z-H and clicked into the conversation, then typed out, ‘Thank you.’
Toby was in the middle of a meeting when his phone beeped next to him with a new message.
While the volume had been turned down, the sound of the notification still rang loud and clear in the stifling silence of the conference room. Everyone at the table turned to glance at Toby curiously.
There was a glimmer in his eyes as he said coolly, “Go on with the report.”
“Yes, sir,” everyone responded in unison, then lowered their heads to get back to the work at hand.
It was only then that Toby took his phone to click on the message. When he saw Sonia’s message of thanks, he immediately understood what she was thanking him for, but he pretended otherwise as he replied, ‘What are you thanking me for?’
Within seconds, Sonia replied, ‘Thank you for the idea you gave me the other day. I wouldn’t have been able to take down Titus without it.’
Z-H wasted no time in typing, ‘Oh, is that all? You don’t have to thank me for it, seeing as you’ve already thanked me last time.’
Sonia laughed lightly as she texted, ‘Nevertheless, thank you. When are you returning to the country?’
Returning to the country? Toby frowned slightly. He wasn’t sure why she was under the impression that he was abroad, but he did not deny this, but instead opted to go along with it as he answered, ‘There’s no definite plan yet.’
Sonia couldn’t help the surge of disappointment when she read this. ‘Very well, then. Let me know when you’re back so I can buy you a meal. I ought to properly thank you for all the help you gave this time.’
The corner of Toby’s lips curled up. ‘Okay.’
