Chapter 19

The door was held open by the doorman when Ethan walked into the Loyd Hotel in Manhattan. All the staffs greeted him as he walked past them. He strode across the lobby and made his way towards the private elevator which lead towards his pent house. He was about to enter when his phone rang.

"Yes? When was that? Alright." He responded briefly. He looked at his phone and opened a picture of Cale and Audrey in a restaurant. It was sent by his private investigator who was tailing Cale while trying to find possible information regarding the lawsuit. His teeth clenched looking at the picture. He went straight to the lounge bar instead and ordered a glass of Glenfiddich. His mind was swirling, pondering on the possibilities of their encounter.

They're still seeing each other? She's still seeing him knowing that he was the one to push the lawsuit! Did that bastard sent her? Was she a fake?

Then, his mind was brought back to the time when he was eight, where his father warned him of how vicious a woman can be. Ethan was lost in his thoughts, not realizing that someone had walked up to him and sat beside him.

"Hey, you alright? I was just around the corner and thought to drop by. What are you doing here? Waiting on some girl?" Zach spoke patting on his shoulders. He explained on the situation with the lawsuit and the picture that his private investigator sent. He was afraid that Audrey might be working with Cale on this, but he did not want to accuse her without any proof. Nonetheless, Cale had been trying to bring him down and his father has always warned him to always be careful with people, they always have a hidden agenda.

"I know that Cale is cunning, but sending a woman to do his dirty work? That's something. Moreover, she doesn't seem to be that kind of person, she's... so innocent."

"Since when does the great Ethan ponder about a girl? You should know that not everyone is like her, Ethan." He taunted.

"Don't start Zach. I don't want to talk about her, now go home!" He dismissed and stood up from his chair waving his hand with his back facing Zach and continued walking out of the lounge. Ethan had always been uptight whenever she was brought up.

==

Audrey placed two plates of omelette and mushrooms on the table with Ava seated eagerly to eat her breakfast. Ava chewed slowly, savouring the delicious sautéed mushroom while Audrey took a small bite of hers. Ava was already dressed in her black pencil skirt and white chiffon shirt with a bow tie at the side. While her housemate was still in her creased oversized shirt and shorts, and her hair was tied in a messy bun looking devastated. They chatted for a few minutes updating on what was going on then Ava left to work. Audrey was cleaning the table when her phone rang. She answered the phone who was from one of the staff from Loyd'd corporation requesting her to quickly make her way to the Loyd building. She took a quick shower, changed into a navy short sleeved dress that flowed slightly above her knee. Tied her hair into a high pony tail and rushed to the Loyd building. She arrived at the building that was familiar to her. The receptionist greeted her and took the elevator to the 27th floor.

Audrey stepped out of the elevator and was guided into the meeting room by another receptionist. Inside the room, Ethan and several of his staffs looked rather busy. Most of them were busy scanning and typing on their laptops. There must be about a dozen laptops on the table. She was confused to the hectic situation in the meeting room and the odd atmosphere radiating from the staffs. They were looking intently at the computer screen when she entered. Ethan looked up to notice her and called her to stand beside him.

"Audrey, you need to see this. They compiled the footage from various angle, although they could not find a clear footage of that person meddling in the kitchen but it was clear that he was doing something suspicious. If you look here, this is where he entered the building, he was wearing a white chef uniform. Then he went into the kitchen, and you can see that he is trying to look around first, then he took out something from his pocket and poured it into the pan. There! And you can see he walked out almost immediately. We're trying to find a clear footage of his face. Is he one of your staff? Do you know him?" Ethan explicated showing her the footage that his staff compiled, pointing on the screen occasionally.

"I don't think I recognize him. And I have a customized chef uniform which should have a logo on the left chest area. If you could rewind... Do you see that? He's not one of my chefs. There's Lottie and he passed by Carrie there. Why don't I show this to my staffs, maybe someone might recognize him." She watched the footage intently. She took out her phone and tried calling Carrie.

"Sir!" One of his staff who was sitting at the far end of the table called out. Ethan and Audrey walked towards him and looked curiously at his laptop screen.

"I rewind the entrance footage till the early morning of that day and I think I found him entering, there!" His staff tried to zoom in further towards his face and pointed to the familiar face on the screen that Audrey recognized.