Her Corporate Takedown: Entangled with a Billionaire

*CHAPTER 56: CONNIVING CHARLATANS*

"Explain. Now. What is in that envelope?"

I looked upon the emblem with disdain, my scornful face twisted beyond proportions. I may have thought about her briefly when I met Daniel again, but the fact that I would be hearing about this girl again through Andrei's mouth just ruined the rest of my day.

Ari sat beside Andrei swivelling the chair as she gulped down another glass of wine. She occasionally glanced at our conversation while she was attending to her own work.

"Why do you sound so upset?" Andrei asked jovially, knowing exactly why my mood turned sour.

"Could you please tell me why you have an envelope with a seal from the Shakovia family? It looks so official too. Did Michelle force this on you in your negotiations at the party?"

"Well, you're right. Except for one misunderstanding. She didn't force it on me. I was happy to take it on. I accepted her proposition at the party but this envelope just arrived this week."

"What is it?"

"It's a job request."

"What?! Are you really going to accept that? Are you going to work for her?"

"That's right, though, more specifically, YOU are going to work for her."

"Absolutely not!"

"Are you sure?"

"I've never been more sure."

"I see."

Andrei placed the abominable envelope on the table, then stretched his arms up as he leaned back in the ergonomic chair.

How could he even suggest such a thing? I wanted to take the envelope from him and burn it.

"I know your plan was to build a multi-million dollar business that outperforms theirs, but another way to destroy their company is to actually destroy their company. I thought you might want a hand in that yourself. Or better yet, why don't you just take the whole job?"

"Woah, you're saying something totally different now."

"Am I?"

"Yes, first you said you were going to work for them, now you're talking about destroying them."

"No, the only objective we've ever had was to destroy that company. Do you not want to tear down Michelle's empire?"

Of course I want to.

"I'm not sure if I'm capable of doing this alone."

"You won't be completely alone. Ari and I are always on standby if you need help or backup."

"I've never done anything like this before."

"What are you talking about? You did a magnificent job on your first mission that you just completed."

"Huh?"

"With Jeremy…"

"That was…um…okay…I see." Technically, that was an undercover mission, so he's not wrong.

"See, you got plenty of practice and gained experience from that mission. Speaking of which, do you want to see that mission through to the end?"

"Are you saying, …that mission…is not over? What exactly are you trying to accomplish regarding that and what do you mean by finishing the mission?" I was a little reluctant to say yes, since I thought I was finally done with Jeremy's antics.

"You can continue to remain undercover working with Jeremy and help me to expose the senior executive who's trying to sell my company's secrets."

I took a seat across from Andrei and Ari so that I wouldn't faint from the crazy request I had just heard.

"Is this the same senior executive that is backing Jeremy?"

"That's right."

"Then, why did Jeremy steal the program to use it for Mr. Lango if the senior executive's goal was to sell it?"

"Jeremy only used a portion of the Bolst program in his new program. He only used enough to make the software powerful, but not enough of the program to compromise its sale value. I surmise the real objective was to have Mr. Lango accept Jeremy's program, which would then be compromised after they sell the main Bolst program. My company would then lose its reputation and plummet in value."

"Then, since you sold Bolst first, Jeremy's program was the one that became worthless instead. When did you plan this? Didn't the secretary say that Athren bought it a few months ago?"

"I've known about the traitor for a while but I was waiting for the best chance to weed them out."

"And is that chance now? As soon as I arrived?"

"Well, a number of coincidences lined up around your arrival, including the fact that the traitor became more active. With you here now, I've gained another pair of trustworthy eyes on the inside, so it was a great chance to take care of them once and for all."

"I'm not so sure about that. Plus, you also want me to take on this new job for Michelle," I replied, feeling ambivalent about the new developments. "What's the deal with this job, anyway?"

"I'm glad you asked. We have been preparing for this for a long time now. Having you come on board completed the final piece of our preparation."

"I see you have already counted me in your plans for a long time? What if I didn't choose to join your company?"

"I would've adjusted my plans if you hadn't."

"I see."

"As soon as Michelle found out that I was an underground intelligence agent, I knew she would approach me since there's any number of things she could ask me to do. Officially, though, she wants to hire me as an independent auditor for her company."

'Auditor? That sounds similar to the name of the program I've been working on.'

"And unofficially, she wants you to do dirty jobs for her?"

"Yes." He laughed at the way I said it. "I plan to send you in as my proxy auditor. I'll take care of the other odd jobs she asks of me."

"Is this related to the Audix program we've been creating?"

"That's exactly the program you are going to use. There's nothing complicated about the job. Just go into their office and run the program. That's all you have to do regarding that."

"Sounds simple enough."

"However…"

'Yes, here comes the real hard task.'

"While you're in their office, you will need to find an opportunity to take down their company from the inside out. First, find someone you can trust and get on our side."

"How are we taking down their company?"

"While we do have a legit reason, it's not exactly open knowledge and there is no hard evidence. So, we'll have to plant a seed, and cause a rift in the board of executives. Then, when the timing is right, we are going to buy out the company."

'That's why he was serious about winning the games at the engagement party. So, this is how he makes his elaborate plans,' is what I would've thought before, assuming that he told me everything just now.

"What else do I need to know before I stick my neck out for you?"

"You talk as though this has nothing to do with you. Doesn't this perfectly fit with your revenge plans?"

It does, but I was honestly getting a bit tired of being strung along by Michelle after all this time. It was starting to feel a bit pointless now.

"We need to shut down their company anyway, so I thought why not let you take them out yourself?"

"How very generous of you to make that offer?" I said sarcastically. I thought he was only helping me with my petty revenge, but this plan sounds a bit too serious and extravagant for something like that. I do remember him also saying that he had another reason for helping me. "Why are you so adamant about shutting them down?"

"I'm glad you asked. They've been involved with a certain black market organization in order to obtain funding and they've been using illegal software to boost their profits. I don't know how much Daniel is involved, but what Michelle has been doing is a disgrace to the reputation of the Undercover families."

"By a certain black market organization, you wouldn't happen to be talking about Paladin, would you?"

"That's exactly the one. From our investigation, Michelle has been involved with them since the third year of junior high. She might have been the one who organized the meeting with Paladin in Las Vegas that weekend."

"If you had been able to finish your mission, you would have found out about this much earlier."

"Or she could have ousted me much earlier. I would like to thank you for preventing that."

"You're just trying to make me feel better."

"It's true though."

"But could Michelle get away with that for so long? I'm sure Daniel and Carlos would have said something against it."

"Carlos would not say anything about it," Ari finally pitched in the conversation while munching on chips.

"They all own the company. She can't just do what she wants."

"According to this, only Michelle and Daniel own the company," Andrei showed me the ownership details of Merz on their website.

"Since when?"

"It's always been like that," Ari replied. "Even our agent in the Shakovia family confirmed that Carlos is just Michelle's Support code partner…for the time being."

Carlos was Michelle's Support code partner! Then, he had been helping the conniving scoundrel conspire against me this whole time. Wait, but that means Michelle was originally supposed to marry Carlos, however, she basically had him help her to get a new fiance? I can't imagine how Carlos must have felt all this time. How cruel can she be?

Though I'm in no position to comment on that.

"Well, I always figured as much. The family heir usually has their Support code partners very close by after all."

"All the time?"

"All of the time." Andrei smiled as he dropped an unnecessary hint.

In the brief silence that followed my pondering, I could hear my loud sighs as I drowned in another pool of negative thoughts.

A black case soon entered my visual field and I looked up to see Andrei handing me the case.

"You can wear these earphones whenever you go to their office. The top button speed dials me and the one below it speed dials Ari. You may be going alone in person, but you won't be handling this job by yourself. You'll always have back up."

I looked at Ari for reassurance but she just ignored me and continued working on her computer. I couldn't yet see a path to resolving our differences, but I didn't want to give up. One day, I'm sure Ari and I can become friends.

"By the way," he paused for a second, then continued, "I have reason to believe Michelle was the one who informed Paladin about your ability to see Undercode."

"What?" I said in a snarky tone as a switch flipped inside. "Are you just saying that to piss me off?"

"No, I'm not. It was in the recent intelligence reports."

"How certain is your intelligence about that?"

"99.9% sure."

Not only did she steal my fiance, traumatized my heart and ruined my life, but she also turned a criminal organization onto me!

My relief was short-lived after I heard that Saffil hadn't sold me out to Paladain, but, in the end, I went back to worrying about a potential Paladin invasion again.

"So, let me ask you again. Do you accept this mission?" He asked while extending his hand out to me.

"Allow me to personally go and obliterate that company," I replied bitterly, feeling enraged, while firmly shaking hands on our new agreement.

"What about the other job? Will you also continue your undercover mission at Bolster?" he asked while trying to smooth the creases of my angry expression.

"Absolutely." I need as much practice as I can get right now. I just hope I don't mess up either mission.

After a few more hours of working on the Audix program, I left the safehouse. I could have stayed there overnight since I didn't have work in the morning, but I really needed a space for myself. I needed a space to clear my head. The idea backfired though, as every second that passed, my mind kept piling on more self-doubt and anxiety.

I would essentially be doing the most important mission of the year alone. How do I approach such a job? What would happen if Daniel or Michelle were to discover me? Compared to the mission with Jeremy, the stakes were much higher and I was even less confident.

I threaded my fingers along an imaginary horizontal line on the glass windows of the apartment as I paced back and forth.

One second ago, I was strolling about still lost in thought in the dark apartment. In the next second my vision darkened. Was it a burglar? Before I let my anxiety get the better of me, I tried to slow my racing heart and rapid, shallow breathing.

I tried to remain calm and think. Unless the burglar was another tech genius Undercode user (although someone from Paladin might fit this description), the only other person who could enter this apartment was Andrei.

His soft fingers imprinted on my thin eyelids, but before I became engrossed in the surface anatomy of the fingers of a man I thought was Andrei, I should actually confirm it was him.

I tried to pry his hands away from my face, but they wouldn't budge. The unidentified man, who wanted me to assume he was Andrei, showed his true intentions as I was pulled back against him. One hand was removed from over my left eye and his right hand moved to cover both of my eyes.

The undesirable actions of the left hand of the yet-to-be-identified man surprised me as it drifted lower and enclosed itself around my waist. My heart rate skyrocketed at the ill-intentions I perceived of the person that refused to identify himself.

"Relax, it really is me," a familiar voice said as soon as I lifted my right foot behind me to land one in the groin.