Director Armstrong hesitated for a mont and said, "Alright, but you have to help keep this from Quinne."
Joy: "I’ll talk to Theodore, tell him to stay out of it, but I’ll be upfront—if anything goes wrong, you’re on your own."
"Joy, don’t scare ."
"I’m just giving you a warning; it should be fine. Anyway, I’m heading back now. Be careful around the company with Audrey Sutton there, and make sure to keep that USB drive safe."
"Don’t worry, I know."
With that, the conversation ended, and Audrey Sutton felt that with this conversation, she could already question their actions.
She just didn’t expect Theodore to actually be involved in this, but the result wasn’t surprising.
Shane Warner had told her before that villains don’t wear their evil on their faces. Theodore appeared like a well-mannered scholar, giving off a façade of honesty, which makes it easy to be fooled by his appearance.
Luckily, Barry Barrett hadn’t developed deep feelings for him yet, or he would have been hurt.
"I see you’re not rushing to et any deadlines, just playing with your phone. Go take a shower and go to sleep."
Audrey put down her phone and turned her head to look at Shane Warner, who had just co out of the bathroom.
She debated whether to let him listen to the recording, but decided the timing wasn’t right. She thought it best to confront him with the company’s corrupt individuals after arriving at the company tomorrow.
...
After Joy left the eting place with Director Armstrong, she received a call from Theodore Quinne.
He wanted her to go to his place, usually just implying the usual between n and won.
Joy parked her car below Theodore’s residence and sat dazed in the car for a while. She then looked down and took out her compact mirror from her bag, glanced at the three lipsticks, hesitated, and chose the shade Audrey said suited her.
Most people are like this, unintentionally catering to others’ preferences, just hoping for a complint in return.
Joy touched up her lipstick in the mirror, and as she was about to close the lid after twisting the lipstick back down, she noticed sothing was wrong.
She froze montarily, flipped the lipstick tube over, and saw the shade sticker on the bottom was clean and new. She rembered her previous lipstick’s sticker was worn out.
And today, the only one who had used this lipstick was Audrey Sutton...
Joy frantically checked the lipstick, twisted it all the way up, broke it, and when she cleaned out the residue with a tissue, she discovered a glowing red dot at the base...
"Buzz—buzz—"
Joy’s hands trembled as she picked up the vibrating phone. As soon as she answered, Theodore’s voice ca through: "Why haven’t you co yet?"
"We’re done."
Theodore: "What?"
Joy, frustrated, grabbed her hair and mumbled to herself: "It’s all over..."
Theodore: "Speak clearly, what’s over? Where are you now?"
...
After Audrey Sutton fell asleep, Shane quietly got out of bed, took the tablet from the table, and went downstairs to handle so docunts.
In the sound of a gentle rain, the phone rang in the silent bedroom.
It rang for a while before waking Audrey, who had just fallen asleep.
Audrey frowned, reached out in the dim light by the bed to unplug her charging phone, and saw the caller was Joy, whose contact she had only saved a few days earlier.
Thinking about the day’s events, getting her call so late at night made Audrey instantly alert.
Hesitating, she answered the call, but before she could speak, an urgent voice ca from the other end: "Ma’am, it’s . I hope I didn’t disturb your rest?"
Audrey paused, cautiously asking, "Joy, it’s so late, what’s going on?"
The other end was silent for a mont before Joy’s voice ca through: "...You must know by now, right? Who would have thought, being so careful, I’d slip up over a lipstick."
Hearing this, Audrey understood that Joy had discovered sothing was amiss.
She had thought she might be found out eventually, but not so quickly.
Joy: "Ma’am, I beg you not to tell President Warner yet, give a chance, okay?"
Audrey furrowed her brows and asked, "Do you think I’m easy to talk to? You should have thought of this when you did those things."
Joy: "I was forced; after doing this, I live every day on edge. I have my reasons. Considering we were friends until now, please let go just this once, Audrey."
"I can’t trust you."
"I can trade the information you want with you."
She said that, piquing Audrey’s curiosity: "What can you offer in exchange?"
"Sothing regarding Clarissa Morgan."
"Clarissa Morgan? How do you know her?"
"You probably don’t know my real na."
Audrey recalled seeing a na on her work badge before, "lody Yardley?"
"That’s the na my mother gave later on, originally, my surna was Morgan, lody Morgan."
Audrey’s frown deepened: "So, what’s your relationship with Clarissa Morgan?"
lody Yardley: "It’s a long story. Co to my place tomorrow morning; I have a lot to tell you, and I hope you won’t accuse just yet, okay?"
Audrey wasn’t sure if lody Yardley was planning sothing, perhaps planning to silence her.
So Audrey thought it over and said, "No, if we are to et, I choose the location. You co alone."
lody agreed readily: "Alright, it’s up to you. Send the location, and I’ll et you there tomorrow morning."
After the call ended, Audrey’s mind was filled with more questions.
lody Morgan? Could she be Clarissa Morgan’s sister?
And what’s their relationship like? Are they deeply bonded sisters or adversaries? What does lody Yardley know about Clarissa Morgan?
Troubled by these questions, Audrey tossed and turned before finally falling back asleep.
Even her dreams were filled with thoughts about lody Yardley and Clarissa Morgan.
Early the next morning, Audrey, eager to et with lody Yardley, woke up early.
She arranged to et at the school and asked Seraphina Vaughn to accompany her for safety, still wary that lody Yardley might try sothing.
In the morning, Audrey told Shane she needed to return to school to handle so matters, so she didn’t go to the company with him.
After arriving at school, she t Seraphina and headed straight to a café on campus.
Early morning ant very few people were around, giving the place a slightly chilly but quiet atmosphere.
They had just arrived at the café when ten minutes later, lody Yardley drove over: "I’m sorry, I had to take leave from work, so I was delayed."
Audrey smiled and gestured to the seat opposite: "No worries, Joy, please sit. About what you told last night... what exactly is going on?"
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