Chapter 15
To everyone’s surprise, Zara simply said, “Give me ten minutes.”
Beatrice was caught off–guard, and Yosef’s brows furrowed in annoyance.
Ignoring the throbbing in her leg, Zara leaned on the hospital bed and limped over to the factory manager. “I need a word. It’ll be just between us,” she said.
“Speak,” the manager replied, eager to listen.
In a hushed tone, Zara said, “Could you reach out to that blogger who was taking photos back
at the factory? He helped to bring the injured to the hospital, so he should still be in the ER.”
The manager blinked, then whispered back, “Sure thing. I’ll go bring him over now.”
Zara gave a grateful nod. “Thanks.”
The others could not catch their quiet exchange. Yosef watched Zara with a frosty detachment, while Beatrice looked visibly rattled.
Was Zara just bluffing, or did she actually have something up her sleeve?
It was not long before the manager returned while clutching a black bag. Everyone looked at it, wondering what it was.
The manager told Zara, “When he heard about what was happening here, he told me he knew exactly what you were looking for and asked me to bring this to you. But he said he wouldn’t come along.”
Zara accepted the bag, unzipped it, and found a camera inside. That was right! She wanted to look for the guy just to see what his camera had captured.
That odd guy actually guessed it.
Zara did not have a second more to waste on him, though. She dove straight into scrolling through the camera’s photo gallery.
Her gut feeling at the factory was spot on. The guy had been snapping shots of her. The camera’s latest batch of photos were all of her.
“What’s with the camera?” Beatrice blurted out, unable to contain her curiosity.
The manager said, “Some guy swung by today to take photos of the Thanksgiving parade floats. It’s his camera. It beats me why Ms. Lowry’s so interested in it. Maybe he captured something?”
Beatrice’s eyes darted around, and her fingers tightened into a stealthy fist.
+15 BONUS
Zara, who was going through the photos, stumbled upon a video and hit play.
A few seconds in, she smirked, hit pause, and spun the camera screen to Beatrice. “You claim you saw me yank the rope, right? Then explain this.”
The video captured things clearly. Zara was chatting with Beatrice in front of rope No. 4, and her hands were nowhere near the rope the whole time!
The crowd huddled around to see for themselves.
3
The video was in 4K high–definition, and there were no obstructions. Everything had been recorded just as it was, and there was no possibility of faking it!
Beatrice was so sure of herself before, claiming she saw Zara pull the rope. What was her story
now?
All eyes, including Yosef’s, turned to Beatrice.
Beatrice did have a bad feeling about this earlier. In the face of the video, she went pale. “I…”
Zara, camera in hand, edged closer. “You what?”
Beatrice, stammered as she backed away, “I… I didn’t…”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t be able to dig up the evidence, or were you just shocked at how fast I did it?”
Beatrice clenched her teeth, her frustration boiling over. What were the odds? What were the odds? If someone had not taken that video at that moment, Zara would have been…
“You’re thinking that if you were lucky and that video had not been taken, I’d have no way out today, right?”
Beatrice was speechless. How did Zara always seem to read her mind?!
Well, that was because Zara was not just anyone. She was the chief secretary at Azure Cloud
Group!
While Zara was out there playing hardball with the experienced businessmen, Beatrice was still in school, memorizing lessons!
Just because she did not want to clash with Beatrice did not mean she could not hold her own.
She had such childish methods a million times.
“Even without the video, I could’ve called the cops to check if my fingerprints were on the rope. Things would clear up as soon as that was done.”
Beatrice was silent.
“You used such a foolish trick to frame me. Why did you think you would succeed? Just
2/3
like I did before?”
Beatrice was at a loss for words. She subconsciously sought help from Yosef. “Mr. Webb…”
However, the moment she turned to seek Yosef’s help, Zara’s hand flew out in a fierce slap.
She did not hold back one bit.
Beatrice was totally blindsided and sent sprawling onto the hospital bed, leaving everyone around them stunned.
Yosef reacted instantly, seizing Zara’s wrist and bellowing, “Zara!”
3
