Toby shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to stand up for her. I was merely stating the truth.”
“But—” Julia sounded unconvinced.
However, Tina tugged on her sleeve while putting up a tough front. “It’s fine, Mom. I suppose Miss Reed isn’t a suspect if Toby doesn’t think so.”
Toby frowned at Tina’s statement. Even though he could sense that something was off, he couldn’t put a finger on it. At the side, Julia glared at him in anger, having caught on to the underlying implications in Tina’s statement.
Tina already told us that she heard the kidnapper mention that it was Sonia who ordered Fox Eyes to seek revenge against Tina. Yet, he had the audacity to hurt Tina by standing up for Sonia. Tina even ended up defending him!
All of a sudden, someone knocked on the door of the ward. It was Tom standing at the doorway. “President Fuller.”
“What is it?” Toby opened his mouth to speak.
After glancing at Tina, Tom said, “Investigations on Carl Lee have yielded results.”
Toby narrowed his eyes. “Wait for me outside.”
“Yes, sir.” Tom left after receiving his instructions.
After that, Toby removed his arm from Tina’s grasp. “I need to leave for a moment, Tina.”
Tina nodded smilingly. “Okay.”
Toby helped her lie down before tucking her in bed. Then, he left the ward. After the door closed behind him, he looked at Tom, who handed him a document. “President Fuller, these are documents detailing Carl’s biography. He’s an orphan who grew up in Jordain County. He only started going to school in his teenage years after Miss Reed and her father became his sponsor. Upon reaching adulthood, he was scouted into the fashion industry as a model because of his outstanding appearance. Considering the above, he’s not Fox Eyes.”
“Is he really not?” Toby frowned.
Tom gave him a nod. “Yeah. I already inquired President Gray, who had met Fox Eyes twice. According to his description, Fox Eyes is a top hacker. Carl was never involved in such endeavors. Besides, he’s currently attending a photoshoot on a snow mountain, and has caught a cold, whereas Fox Eyes doesn’t have a cold. Therefore, we’re certain that Carl isn’t Fox Eyes. So what should we do now, President Fuller?” Tom looked at Toby.
After brooding over the situation for a bit, Toby pulled his lips into a thin line before giving instructions. “Investigate Sonia’s connections. Fox Eyes must be someone she knows. Find out everything about those people.”
“Got it!” Tom nodded.
“President Fuller.” A reserved voice rang behind them. When Toby turned around, he saw Cynthia and Melody walking toward them with flowers in their hands.
“President Fuller, is Tina in there?” Cynthia couldn’t make eye contact with men, so she hung her head low while explaining timidly, “We heard Tina fell ill, so we came to visit her.”
“She’s in the ward.” Toby pointed at the door.
“Thank you, President Fuller.” Elated, Cynthia turned her head to face Melody. “Miss Stryder, let’s go inside.”
“Sure.” Melody raised her chin arrogantly when she appraised Toby while Cynthia stepped forward to knock on the door.
Back when they were in the private room, she didn’t get a good look at him. Now that she could, she determined that he was an outstanding man. His appearance alone was so gorgeous that not even her husband, Peter, could possibly compare to. Thoughts of the man who wanted to divorce her dampened her spirits as she averted her gaze.
“Miss Stryder, Tina is inviting us to go in.” Having opened the door, Cynthia was waving at Melody.
“Coming,” Melody answered. After nodding at Toby, she joined Cynthia in strides.
“Let’s go.” Toby tucked the documents that he was holding into Tom’s arms before marching toward the elevator.
Tom followed closely behind Toby. “President Fuller, are you not going to keep Miss Gray company?”
“No, I won’t. She’ll be fine with her friends,” Toby replied nonchalantly before sending Tina a text to inform her of his departure.
When Tina saw the text, she bit her bottom lip, feeling somewhat troubled. She then replied, ‘Alright.’
“What’s wrong, Tina?” Noting Tina’s displeasure, Cynthia inquired after putting the flowers aside.
Tina smiled as she tucked her phone away. “I’m fine. Thanks for visiting me.”
“It’s nothing. We’re friends after all.” Cynthia waved her hand to dismiss Tina’s concern.
Meanwhile, Melody was sitting on the chair by the bed with her legs elegantly crossed. “I heard you were kidnapped. What happened?”
Even though the news wasn’t made public, the Grays didn’t keep the fact that Tina was hospitalized a secret. Therefore, their associates knew about it, and could easily find out about the reason behind that if they investigated.
Upon hearing that, Cynthia’s jaw dropped. “You were kidnapped, Tina? Who’s behind it?”
Tina teared up, but she forced a smile. “It’s Miss Reed’s suitor. Because I accidentally injured her, so her suitor avenged her by kidnapping me.”
“What? This is outrageous! How dare he kidnap you when you didn’t do it on purpose?” Cynthia’s face flushed with anger as she got all self-righteous.
A wistful smile spread across Tina’s face. “It might be because he thought I must have injured Miss Reed deliberately, so…” She trailed off by that point.
Cynthia’s chest heaved with rage. “Hmph! I bet Sonia had a hand in this! She might even be the one who instigated her suitor to do it!”
“That’s not the case. Toby said Miss Reed has nothing to do with this.” Tina waved her hand immediately, seemingly fearing that her friends might misunderstand Sonia.
Caressing her chin, Melody muttered, “How could he be so sure?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he asked Miss Reed,” Tina replied in dejection after shaking her head.
With her hands on her waist, Cynthia shot back, “President Fuller must’ve been deceived by Sonia. Tina, we can’t let things slide like this.”
“But…” Tina bit on her lip while pretending to feel conflicted.
The sight of it made Cynthia feel sorry for her. “You don’t need to hesitate. Not only did Sonia bully you, but she even had someone kidnap you. She must be capable of even more atrocities. Thus, we need to teach her a lesson so that she knows we aren’t pushovers.”
“I can do that,” Melody volunteered aloofly.
Tina looked at her. “What are you planning to do, Miss Stryder?”
Melody flicked her red nails. “From what I gather, Paradigm Co. has been trying to get a loan from banks. I can pull some strings to stop the cash flow from the banks. Without the capital injection from banks, Paradigm Co. won’t be able to carry on with its operations.”
As she spoke, she took out her phone to call the presidents of multiple banks. While Cynthia watched in awe, an almost imperceptible smile tugged on Tina’s lips when she witnessed this.
Meanwhile, Daphne hurried into Sonia’s office in Paradigm Co. “President Reed, I’ve got bad news. Something just happened.”
“What is it?” Sonia raised her head from behind a stack of documents.
“I got a few calls from the banks. All of them claimed that our company doesn’t meet the conditions for their loans, so they refused to lend us any money. A few other banks that already offered us a loan even urged us to return the money, citing an error made during the auditing process,” Daphne reported.
“What?” Sonia’s expression changed drastically as she seized the pen in her grip. “How did it come to this?”
“I don’t know either. Seeing that so many banks are acting up together all of a sudden, I bet someone must be trying to give us a hard time,” Daphne surmised as she stared at Sonia.
Almost immediately, a name popped up in Sonia’s mind. “Titus Gray!”
“You mean Triforce Enterprise is behind this?”
Sonia narrowed her eyes. “I can’t think of anybody else other than them.” If Titus is behind this, it must either be because of that plot of land, or because of Tina. It surely has to do with either of these.
“What should we do now, President Reed?” Daphne asked.
