Secretly Mine
Chapter 85: An Interesting Find [Christian POV]

Chapter 85: An Interesting Find [Christian POV]

I leaned over and checked my phone, seeing the flood of messages and meeting requests.

Why is it always like this when I come back from a trip?

"What’s wrong?" asked Leslie, looking at me with worry.

Her troubled look was so adorable that I wanted to lean over and place a kiss on those pouty lips.

"It’s nothing major. Just everyone seems to have a meeting scheduled with me today. It seems like I won’t be able to spend much time with you today," I said with a tinge of sadness.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was feeling reluctant to leave her side.

She looked at me, clearly holding back a laugh. I was relieved to see her smiling face, happy that her cheeks now had a rosy glow.

We chatted while I got dressed. She was telling me about her plans to meet up with the designer in charge of the Sophia season launch collection.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, urging me to leave for the meeting. I promised Leslie that I would try my best to see her for lunch as I made my way out.

Let’s get these meetings over with. The quicker I’m done, the faster I can see Leslie again.

My first meeting was a boring upper management meeting. It was a continuation from the previous meeting when Leslie decided to make things difficult for me.

A sharp glint appeared in my eyes as I thought about the way she surprised me that day, crawling over to me like a sexy cat.

When I came back out of my thoughts, I noticed the others looking at me with a slight fear in their eyes.

Clearing my throat, I looked at them. "Begin."

The meeting lasted for two hours, but I was pleasantly surprised by the satisfactory result. My angry-sounding outburst must have scared them during the video call.

I should thank Leslie once again. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have said that I needed a better result.

-

After the meeting, I was finally able to meet with Blake. We didn’t communicate much while I was out, so I wanted to tie up some loose ends, mainly the situation with the three wastes of space who only know how to praise Lorenzo.

"Good morning, sir. I hope you had a good trip," greeted Blake as soon as I came over.

"Yeah, it was really good this time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself," I replied with a big smile. "Now tell me, did you find anything with Lorenzo and those three?"

Blake’s expression turned serious. He motioned for me to take a seat in his office as he spoke.

"Yes, I did. It took me a while because it was so well hidden, but I have all of the documents and evidence here. Essentially, they were colluding with Lorenzo. He paid them off very well, in return for being hired as the designer every year. They must be getting antsy since they haven’t been able to honor their end of the bargain this year."

I frowned. Nothing made me angrier than people doing things behind my back in my own company.

"Good work collecting the evidence. With these documents, they won’t have any room for any sort of discussion," I said as I looked through the papers.

"I’m sorry for not catching on to this earlier, sir. It was my mistake," said Blake, bowing his head.

"Blake, don’t even start with me. I know you more than most people in the company. I have you take on so many things each day, I’m surprised you manage to do what you do. Things like these happen, and it’s not your fault."

Blake was one of my most trusted subordinates. There was no way I would get angry over something like this. If anything, it was a good opportunity to get rid of those three, like I’ve been wanting to for a while now.

"Okay, I have what I need. Send those three up to my office, I’ll fire them myself." I took the stack of papers, placing them back into the folder as I walked out of Blake’s office. "Oh, and can you order extra for lunch today? I’m feeling hungry."

"Of course, sir. I’ll take care of it," he smiled.

-

I only had to wait a few minutes for the three executives to arrive in my office. While I waited for them to come up, I reread the documents that presented all of the evidence, and was surprised at how much Lorenzo was willing to pay them just to get this contract.

I do suppose that claiming to have been a lead designer for Sophia will boost your popularity. He probably gets a lot of work from other companies because of that.

The knock on my door told me that they were here. My lips curved into a cold smile as I leaned back into my chair.

"Come in."

The three round men walked over, "Sir! You finally had a change of heart!"

"Are you having a hard time with the new project manager? Don’t worry, we can save you, but it might cost us some overtime," the second one chimed in.

They were all wearing the greediest of smiles, looking at me like a free source of money.

Well, this should be interesting.

"We’ve been having some issues with choosing a designer. Do you have any input?" I asked, fueling the flames a bit.

"Sir, if you had just listened to us and gone with Lorenzo, like we suggested earlier, you wouldn’t be having these issues!" the first man exclaimed. The other two nodded their heads in unison, agreeing with his words.

"What about this Lorenzo is so appealing to you? I’m curious why you all vouch for him so much."

The third man stepped forward, "It’s simply because he’s the best. Sophia only works with top talents, and Lorenzo is just that. Ask around, he’s a known figure in the jewelry design world."

"Is that so? So then why is it that he was a no-name three years ago?" I asked. The smile on my face widened.

"It’s...well...well, we saw his work and felt that it was truly masterful!" the first man stammered.

"Yes! Yes! It’s exactly as he said! His work truly speaks for itself," the other two agreed.

I listened to them praise and worship Lorenzo until I finally had enough.

"Thank you for explaining things, but I have a few key pieces of evidence that say otherwise. Take a look at these papers, gentlemen."

The three of them walked over to my desk and glanced at the multiple documents that showed secret transactions with their names and bank accounts.

"Sir! I don’t know that this is!" the third man cried out, clearly nervous. The other two were too scared to speak and just stared at the irrefutable evidence in front of them.

"You see, I see a completely different kind of story here. To me, it looks like some good old classic bribing."

At this point, they were too frightened to speak. After looking through all of the thorough evidence, there was no way to weasel out or feign ignorance.

"Unless you have any final words, I’d like you three to leave your badges here with me and leave. You’re fired."

Pressing a button on my desk, Blake walked in with a few security guards. They were waiting for my signal in the hallway.

"Please follow us out of the building. All of your personal belongings will be brought out to you," said the security guard leader.

The three men were frazzled, but thanks to Blake and the security team, they didn’t get a chance to cause too much commotion.