‘This one—’ Ashton gestured at Violet—‘tried every trick in the book to get an invite to the Laurent family’s gala. I heard she wore a necklace she “borrowed” from Nyx Collective. I wonder if she ever returned it.’
Violet stiffened, her face going even whiter.
‘What?’ Savannah stared at Violet. ‘What necklace? Violet?’ Discover more novels at ɴovelfire.net
‘The one that Eliza Black wore a while ago,’ Ashton added helpfully. ‘Seems to have generated quite a bit of buzz.’
‘Veyra?’ Savannah gasped. ‘But that’s kept under lock and key. And nobody’s ever borrowed it since—’ She seemed to have finally understood what Ashton meant by ‘borrowed.’
‘I believe it was taken from your showroom. You might want to check the security footage.’
‘I’ll get right to it.’ Savannah turned to her office, then stopped, turned back. ‘But our meeting—’
‘Can wait,’ Ashton said. ‘I’ll just chat with my wife while you sort this out.’
He looked at Rexford. ‘Mr Caldwell, when I sign that deal, I expect the company to be clean. No toxic staff, no lingering scandals, and certainly no employees with sticky fingers. If there’s rot, I expect it gone before the ink dries.’
‘Of course, of course, Mr Laurent.’ Rexford hurried over to join Savannah, cursing a blue streak. ‘What the hell did I tell you? This is an important day for me, and you fuc...’
I grabbed Ashton by the arm, pulling him into a corner away from the madness. ‘How do you know Violet stole the necklace? You weren’t even in the room that day.’
‘I checked the footage. It came with audio. I knew exactly what you two were saying back then.’
‘Huh. But she had the footage deleted—I mean, the one here. I saw her the other day... Wait, that’s not what I wanted to ask. So many things are happening at the same time, my brain’s a bit fogged.’
‘Ask ahead.’ Ashton sounded amused.
‘What’s going on? How did you end up being the owner of this place? You really bought Nyx Collective?’
‘Well, yeah. I mean, you never said a word to me.’
‘I was going to wait until your birthday to tell you.’
‘My birthday? You mean, you bought the company for me?’
He nodded. ‘The lawyers have drawn up the papers. Your name’s listed as the owner.’
I stared. ‘But I can’t accept it. It’s too much.’
‘It’s not too much for the wife of a man who owns a dozen companies. It’s just a small studio.’
‘Yeah, small to you.’ I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. ‘If it’s a surprise, why the visit today?’
‘Wanted to see you,’ he said simply.
I pretended it didn’t make my heart do a little flutter dance in my chest. ‘And now you’ve seen it, regret it yet? We’ve got enough infighting and backstabbing here to give Macbeth a run for its money.’
‘All the more reason for you to take over. Clean it up.’
I thought about it. ‘Tempting, but, honestly, I wasn’t planning to stay at Nyx for long. I’ve been thinking about moving on. There’s not much future here for me.’ I looked at him. ‘If you haven’t signed the papers, there’s still time to back out.’
‘Oh? Oh, well... I don’t know what to say. Now I feel bad.’
He touched my hand. ‘Don’t. I’d have bought it anyway. Caldwell’s not wrong; the place has potential.’
I wondered how much he’d paid for the company.
If he’d given me a heads-up, he could’ve just handed me the cash for the buyout.
That money would’ve been more than enough to start my own studio.
Hell, I could’ve done it on my own terms.
I must’ve had a pretty obvious look on my face.
‘If you want to leave, go ahead,’ he said casually. ‘I’m not forcing you to stay here.’
‘But you bought the place...’
‘As a gift to you, not a shackle.’
‘I’ll... I’ll think about it.’
There were so many things to think about, and this was not the place or time to do it.
‘Mr Laurent.’ Savannah shuffled up, looking dejected. ‘I’ve had people poring over the security footage, but, um, there was nothing unusual in the showroom that day.’
‘The footage wasn’t deleted?’ I asked, surprised.
‘No.’ The look she gave me was so complicated, I didn’t bother analysing its dozen emotions. ‘We retrieved the footage. It showed everything as per normal. No one touched the display case.’
‘Then you didn’t check thoroughly enough,’ Ashton said.
Savannah looked like she wanted to argue, but didn’t. She cleared her throat. ‘Maybe we missed something. Should I check again?’
I speculated, ‘If there’s no sign of a break-in, they must’ve used old footage to cover it up.’
Savannah glanced nervously at Rexford Caldwell, who was clearly wishing he could vanish into thin air.
If the footage had been overwritten, there was no way to prove Violet had stolen anything. It was a dead end.
‘If Mrs Laurent says it was overwritten,’ he said, his voice tight, ‘then it’s been overwritten. We’ll handle this properly, later. Let’s just head to the conference room, shall we?’
He gestured with a forced politeness, but Ashton didn’t budge.
‘Mr Caldwell, you’re acting like my wife and I are the ones causing trouble here.’
Rexford Caldwell’s forehead was sweating. He waved his hands frantically. ‘No, no, of course I trust you. It’s just that... It’s just a necklace, I mean, how much is it worth, really? I know how valuable your time is and I don’t want to waste it. There’s no need to get worked up—’
‘Mr Caldwell, if the security footage from Nyx Collective can be tampered with, I wouldn’t trust you to handle the security system for our new mall.’
Rexford paled. He snapped into action. ‘We’ll get to the bottom of this! I’ll have someone here to investigate right now. Whether it was deleted or overwritten, we’ll find the traces!’
He dialled a number, barking instructions to someone on the other end.