The Ex Who Became His Obsession Novel Ch 63
Alyssia fell silent.
This was probably the very definition of a soul–crushing blow.
Alyssia thought, “Yeah… apart from me, who else in this world would even care how long InveSight Capital had existed?
‘But even if I did care, what difference would it make?
‘All it does is carve another sharp mark into the wound in my heart.‘
Seeing Alyssia remain silent, Katherine felt she had the upper hand. She pressed on, “And another thing–how dare you delete the photo I went through great lengths to find?”
Katherine had initially thought that Alyssia had accidentally deleted it.
Now it seems she most likely deleted it on purpose.
‘How infuriating!‘ Katherine fumed.
Katherine fumed inwardly, ‘How dare a lowly proofreader at the very bottom of the Finance Department’s pecking order mess with my work!”
Alyssia fixed Katherine with a steady gaze.
A few seconds later, Alyssia’s lips curved into a smile.
Alyssia’s smile sent a chill down Katherine’s spine.
“W–what are you laughing at…?” Katherine stammered.
“Nothing,” Alyssia’s expression relaxed again. “I just find it funny, Katherine–you’re contradicting yourself. If no one cares about a defunct company, then why do you care so much about the picture? Or are you just that desperate for clout from the dead too?”
Alyssia asked lightly, “Profiting from tragedy is bad enough, but are you really so desperate you’d scrape up moldy old crumbs?”
“Y–you… what do you know?!” Katherine stammered in disbelief. She never expected the usually quiet Alyssia to make such cutting remarks, and now she was thoroughly provoked.
“Have you even heard of the InveSight Capital tragedy? Do you know anything about the connection between InveSight Capital and Tausar Capital?
“Oh… you probably don’t even know what Tausar Capital is! Shall I kindly enlighten you? Tausar Capital is none other than Clairivera Group—the very company suing you for defamation and demanding 25 million dollars in damages!”
“Really?” Alyssia asked, her voice unexpectedly calm and soft, almost feather–light. “So what?”
Katherine launched into a tirade. “Do you have any idea how hard it was to get this photo after InveSight Capital’s founder died? Clairivera Group banned every single image of him!
“I had to call in so many favors, put in so much effort–and you just deleted it without even asking? You must apologize to me right now!”
“But I’ve seen that photo before myself.” Alyssia deftly sidestepped the demand for an apology, her tone measured and controlled. “Which of your connections got you that photo?”
Katherine let out a shrill, mocking laugh. “You’ve seen it? As if! I had to pull strings with Clairivera Group’s top executives…”
“Katherine!” Brianna stormed out of her office. “Don’t you have work to do?”
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Her face turned ashen as she gritted her teeth, wearing the look of someone watching a hopeless case.
The Finance Department finally exhaled, realizing they’d all been holding their breath.
Holy shit!
What a show!
They were all swept into it before they even realized it!
Holy shit, the way Alyssia laid that trap for Katherine during their confrontation… that was absolutely savage!
Brianna was fuming with rage. “It’s just a proofreading error-
r–fix it and apply the proper penalties. Have you all lost your minds? Why are you wasting work time babbling about nonsense?”
Alyssia had practically stripped Katherine bare, yet she was still gloating!
Brianna was furious. ‘How dare she say she’s worked at Vanguard Media for three years?
‘She’s a disgrace to Finance!‘
The realization hit Katherine like a thunderbolt–her face instantly drained of all color.
‘S–she… she actually… Katherine thought, stunned.
As Katherine recalled everything she had just blurted out, it suddenly hit her–Alyssia, with just a few artful words, had effortlessly extracted all her connections…
The icy dread that had just shot up Katherine’s spine now consumed her entirely.
Brianna turned back to face Alyssia, about to unleash another round of criticism–but suddenly, she froze, caught off guard by the look in Alyssia’s eyes.
“W–what’s with that look on your face?” Brianna stammered.
Alyssia lowered her gaze, yet a predatory, ice–sharp glint flashed in her eyes—as if Brianna standing before her was nothing more than prey marked for the kill.
“Nothing much, Ms. Parker,” Alyssia smiled, her gaze softening back to calm gentleness. She added softly, “Looks like your stockings have another run in
them.”
Brianna looked down.
Only then did Brianna realize–she’d gotten so caught up in everything that she completely forgot what she still had to do.
She had been so caught up watching Alyssia completely wipe the floor with Katherine–or rather, it wasn’t even a fair fight–that she only snapped back to reality at the very last moment.
Brianna had originally intended to send Alyssia out on yet another errand for stockings.
These past couple of days, ordering Alyssia–Charlie’s favorite–around to run errands had been an absolute delight.
Brianna glanced down at her ruined stockings and waved Alyssia off. “Yeah, they’re ruined. Go get me a new pair–you know the drill by now. And this time, don’t mess it up again.”
Alyssia stepped out of Vanguard Media headquarters, pulled out her phone, retrieved the photo she had deleted from Katherine’s draft, and sent it to Leonard’s father, Theodore Rivera.
[Mr. Rivera, sorry to bother you, I saw this photo at work today–my colleague said it’s been circulating among Clairivera Group’s senior management.]
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She was determined to hold Clairivera Group accountable.
Alyssia thought, ‘Katherine’s article not only got the founding year of InveSight Capital wrong but also included photos of my parents- fiery late last with thinly veiled schadenfreude toward the deceased.
‘Of course I deleted that photo on purpose.’
She was just waiting for Katherine to take the bait–ready for the confrontation that would force her to reveal the photo’s source,
Sure enough, Katherine took the bait…
Her parents were her inviolable line–she would never tolerate any desecration of their memory.
Alyssia thought, ‘To exploit them for clout, and then have the audacity to stomp on their memory…
In the chairman’s office at Clairivera Group, Theodore stood with his phone in hand, his expression grave.
Standing beside him, Leonard leaned on the desk with both hands, seemingly absorbed in the computer screen–yet he kept stealing glances at Theodore’s phone.
He had come to discuss something with his father.
Never did he expect to stumble upon Alyssia texting his father…
But in an instant, Leonard’s expression darkened.
Theodore placed his phone on the desk, giving him a full view.
“Will you investigate?” he asked.
Leonard remained silent for two seconds before giving a slow, deliberate nod.
“Get to the bottom of this and give Aly a proper explanation,” Theodore instructed. “Whoever had the audacity to do this–once identified, remove them from the company immediately!”
“I will.” Leonard straightened up, though his eyes remained fixed on the phone, unwilling to look away.
Theodore saw right through it, but chose not to call him out.
Leonard cared about saving face, but Theodore was even more obsessed with protecting Leonard’s reputation.
After all, in the entire Rivera family, he’s pretty much the only one left who still cares about saving face…
On her way to the mall, Alyssia received a call from Diana.
Diana’s voice rang out, urgent. “Alyssia! Where are you?”
Diana’s voice was tinged with frantic, hair–on–fire urgency.
“I’m out, Diana. What’s going on? she answered.
“Drop whatever you’re doing! I’ll handle Brianna—get over here now and do the interview with Mr. Harlow!” Diana’s voice was urgent, yet still dripping
with condescension.
“Oh, I’m afraid that won’t work,” Alyssia replied, her tone almost deceptively earnest. “What I’m doing right now is mission–critical and I can’t just pur it
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aside. Even if you go to Brianna, she might not agree–after all, I’m currently on her assignment.
“And anyway, what does the Entertainment Department have to do with the Finance Department?”
“Y–you… don’t you dare try to use Brianna against me! If this blows up, even she won’t be able to contain it!” Diana furned, her voice seething with angac “I’m waiting for you right outside William’s house–get over here, now! Any later and we’ll both face serious consequences!”
Alyssia sighed. “Well, let them fire me if they want. Honestly, I’m either out buying coffee or stockings every day–if I’m not walking, I’m on my way somewhere. Hey Diana, if I get fired after going full–time, do I at least get severance pay? That’d be a bonus.”
Diana was confused.
Alyssia simply hung up on her.
Alyssia thought, ‘Asking for favors with that attitude… Diana can dish it out but can’t take it. Looks like our dear manager still has a lot to learn about office politics!