Meanwhile, at the hospital, Tina was also going through the investigation record process. A policeman and a policewoman were sitting by her bed and asking her questions.
“Miss Gray, just for confirmation, you think that Miss Reed had hired someone to harm you, is that correct?” The policeman looked at Tina with a meaningful gaze.
At the side, the policewoman was holding a recording pen as she recorded the conversation.
Tina nodded, affirmative. “Of course!”
“If we found out that it wasn’t Miss Reed who did it, then, Miss Gray, you will be falsely accusing and defaming her. You will have to take legal liability and compensate her for the shock incurred. Are you very sure about that, Miss Gray?” The policeman talked in a more serious tone to make sure he got the message across.
Hearing the words ‘legal liability’, Tina felt her heart race. Immediately, she remembered what she saw during the live stream, where Sonia claimed that she would be able to produce evidence at night to prove that she didn’t cause any harm to Tina.
Tina was now worried sick that Sonia actually could show evidence of that. Tina had asked her lawyer, who said that if Sonia really could prove her own innocence, then Tina would have made a false accusation, which would get her up to three years in jail.
In the beginning, Tina thought that Sonia wouldn’t have any evidence or find any, so Tina had plotted everything with that in mind. Now, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
However, judging by how she had already come so far, there was no way back. So, she could only grit her teeth and keep going. She was willing to bet that Sonia was just saying things.
Thinking of the possibility, Tina suppressed the worry inside her and smiled while nodding. “Yes, I’m sure.”
“All right. Understood.” The policeman stood up and got ready to leave.
Right at that moment, the policewoman’s phone rang.
She whipped it out and gave it a look, then passed it to the policeman. “Sir, it’s from the bureau.”
The policeman took the phone and answered the call.
Two minutes later, he frowned, then gave Tina a weird look.
Tina was a little unsettled by that look, but she quickly calmed down and pretended that everything was fine.
“Understood. I’ll ask her.” The policeman finished his call and passed the phone back to the policewoman.
“Miss Gray.” The policeman looked at Tina. “Do you know someone by the name of William Baker?”
Tina’s expression changed ever so slightly at the mention of that name.
Seeing that, the policeman immediately knew the answer.
He pushed his glasses. “Looks like you know him. He threw sulfuric acid at Miss Reed, and we have already apprehended him. According to his confession, he had done this to Miss Reed entirely because of your single phone call. And in that call, your reason for inciting him was as clear as day. Do you agree with this point of view?”
Tina’s heart thumped wildly, as if it were going to leap out of her throat. Her limbs went icy cold.
She half-closed her eyes, not daring to meet the policeman’s sharp gaze. “Of course not. I did call him before, but I don’t think it was to provoke him to harm Sonia.”
“But according to our investigations, you hated William, and you never contacted him ever since you graduated from high school. You suddenly contacted him today, and you said all those meaningful words to him. How do you explain this?” As the policeman examined her, his eyes narrowed.
Tina suddenly put her hands up to her face and wept. “I didn’t want that to happen either. Such scary things happened to me, but my fiancé called off our engagement, my parents reconciled with my sister and were busy building their relationship with her, so I’m all alone now. I just wanted to vent to someone, but there’s no one for me to vent to. Right at that moment, William asked how I was doing in the group, so I decided to call him and talk to him about it, but…”
“But what?” The policeman kept his gaze on her.
Tina sobbed silently. “But I didn’t incite him. I just told him my feelings and thoughts. Look, if you were me, and such things happened to you, won’t you hate the person who hurt you? Won’t you want them to die?”
“Of course.” The policeman thought for a moment before nodding.
A sly look flashed across Tina’s eyes, then she said, “Since you understand my feelings, then why would you say that I incited William to harm Sonia? I simply said that I hated her and didn’t want to see her, but I didn’t ask William to do anything. He had misunderstood me and did things of his own will. I’m not involved in this at all.”
“That makes sense. Then, I’ll return to the bureau and discuss it with my superiors. Get some rest now.”
With that, the policeman waved to the policewoman, and the two left Tina’s ward.
In the elevator, the policewoman passed the recording pen to the policeman. “Sir, this Tina woman was clearly inciting other people to commit crimes, but she doesn’t even admit it.”
“Yes, she was indeed egging William on. Just now, Officer Chase told me over the phone that after Tina got into trouble, William sought her a few times. He wanted her to marry him and said that she had already stained her hands, so he was the only one left in the world who would willingly marry her. Because of that, Tina grew to hate him,” the policeman said.
The policewoman widened her eyes. “Then, sir, you mean that Tina incited William on purpose so that he would harm Sonia, so if everything went according to plan, Sonia would be destroyed, and William had to be sent to jail as well. She’s trying to kill two birds with one stone!”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.” The policeman nodded.
The policewoman gasped. “Gosh, she’s so calculating! That’s terrifying.”
“Yes, and she’s also mentally tough. When I asked her straight away if she had incited William, she only panicked for a bit before adjusting herself, then tried to dodge the questioning with tears. Her reasoning was also logically solid.” The policeman’s expression was grave.
The policewoman sighed. “This is how good she is. We all know that she was inciting William, but her words to William over the phone weren’t exactly incitement, either. An incitement that doesn’t look like one… If Miss Reed couldn’t show evidence tonight of her innocence, then she really would become the scapegoat!”
“Yes.” The policeman nodded. “Let’s hope that Miss Reed can show the evidence. If she can’t, we would have to arrest those six men.”
“But all the CCTVs within the 10km radius of Bay Street were all destroyed by viruses. We don’t even have the basic information of those six men, so it would be extremely difficult to arrest them. If it weren’t for that, we would’ve already apprehended them by now.” The policewoman heaved a sigh.
The policeman adjusted his cap and went silent.
……
On the ground floor of Fuller Group, Sonia parked her car and undid her seatbelt, then got out of the car.
Toby, too, opened the door and got out. Sonia walked over to his side of the car. “Thank you for everything today. Here, your car keys.”
“Just drive home in my car. It’d be too much trouble to hail a cab.” Toby looked at the car keys, but he didn’t take them.
Sonia thought for a while and agreed with him. So, she simply lowered her hand. “Then I’ll get someone to drive it back here tomorrow.”
“Hmm.”
“I’ll leave now.”
Toby repeated his response.
Sonia turned around and went back into the driver’s seat. She reversed the car and drove off.
Toby stood on the same spot and watched as Sonia drove out of sight. After she disappeared, he unwillingly averted his gaze and walked toward the main door.
Back in Paradigm, Daphne hastily walked into Sonia’s office. “President Reed, the documents just arrived. Paradigm Co. has now officially left the stock market.”
She passed the documents to Sonia.
Sonia took the documents and gave them a look. “All right. Notify the Public Relations Department to spread the news.”
Paradigm had left the stock market, which signified that from that moment onward, it would cease to be a listed company.
If it wasn’t a listed company, then no matter what scandals might arise in the future, Paradigm would never have to deal with stock problems again. As for the common folk boycotting Paradigm products…
Sonia smiled. Paradigm mainly dealt with large machinery, and since those machineries weren’t marketed toward common folk, Sonia had little to worry about in terms of sales.
“Understood, President Reed.” Daphne nodded as she replied.
Sonia closed the folder and placed it aside. “Also, there’s something else.”
