Chapter 4

The wail of a siren cut through the parking garage entrance.

Two officers strode in and pushed through the ring of onlookers.

"Who called this in? What's going on here?"

I slipped my phone away and stepped forward.

"Officers, I called. It was me."

"These three are suspected of forging medical records for fraud, extortion, and violently vandalizing my car. On top of that, they tried to run a staged-accident scam for two million."

One officer glanced at the wrecked Porsche and frowned.

"Who smashed this car?"

Bertram shrank back. The old woman went quiet too.

But Alison found her nerve and jabbed a finger at me, flipping the whole thing around.

"Officers, don't listen to her nonsense! She's trained in martial arts and thinks her money lets her beat up my whole family!"

Right as she said it, the elevator doors opened.

A paunchy middle-aged man in a suit came hurrying out.

It was our company's HR director, Jude Whitney.

The second Alison saw him, she flung herself at him.

"Cousin! You finally came!"

"This Cordelia Fox is bullying us! She won't donate, she hits us, and now she's even called the police. She's trying to drive me to my death!"

Jude patted Alison on the shoulder, then walked up to me with his belly out in front of him.

He stared me down, cleared his throat twice, and put on his airs.

"Cordelia. This is where you're in the wrong."

"Alison's gravely ill. The company encourages everyone to help each other out. You're a senior employee—what's the harm in donating two hundred grand?"

I looked at him.

"Director Whitney, she isn't sick. The records are forged."

His face darkened, and he jabbed his index finger toward my forehead.

"Enough of this! I reviewed those records myself. There's no way they're fake!"

My eyes went cold. Before his finger touched me, I caught it and bent it down.

Jude couldn't take the pain and let out a howl, his body arching against his will.

Cold sweat soaked through the back of his shirt. I let go, took out a wet wipe, cleaned my fingers, and dropped it on the ground.

"If you want to talk, talk. Keep your hands to yourself."

Jude cupped his flaming red finger, shaking all over from the pain, and pointed at me, cursing.

"Cordelia! You dare hit a superior! You've completely lost your mind!"

"As HR director, I'm ordering you right now!"

"Apologize to Alison immediately, and compensate her family for every loss!"

He lowered his voice.

"If you don't, tomorrow you pack up and get out. And I'll put the word out across the industry, so you're finished in the legal world for good."

Alison lifted her chin from the side.

"You hear that, Cordelia? Cough up the money, now!"

The old woman pointed right at my nose and shrieked too.

"Two hundred grand today, plus damages for emotional distress, and you're getting down on your knees and kowtowing to apologize!"

The officer had heard enough and stepped forward, putting himself between us.

"This is an active investigation. Don't throw your position around!"

"Both sides come back to the station with us. The car goes for damage assessment, and that pendant goes to a professional lab for appraisal."

But Jude fished a cigarette out of his pocket and tried to hand it to the officer.

"Officer, it's a misunderstanding, just an internal company matter, no need to make it complicated."

"This girl doesn't know any better. I'll set her straight, that's all."

He turned and glared at me.

"Cordelia! What are you still standing there for? Pay up and drop the case, now!"

"Who do you think you are? You actually think you're somebody?"

I looked at the three of them and Jude, and let out a cold laugh.

"Who am I?"

I took a plain black encrypted phone out of my bag and pressed a button.

Over Bluetooth, the projection screen in the garage instantly linked to the highest-access backend of the group's finance system.

"Did you forget the company's mutual-aid fund this time got wired straight into a personal account?"

Every transaction was laid out plainly on the screen.

Not just the employee donations, but the five hundred grand in special funds released by the foundation—all of it flowing into a joint account held by Jude and Alison.

The cigarette dropped from Jude's hand. His face went white, and he no longer cared about the pain in his fingers.

"You… how could you have the password to the top-access backend?!"

I ignored him, dialed a number, and put it on speaker.

The voice of the group's chairman came through.

"Ms. Fox, how can I help you?"

I looked at the four stunned people in front of me, my voice echoing through the garage.

"Chairman Finch, bring the audit team down to the garage."

"There's a parasite down here. He teamed up with relatives to swindle over a million from the company fund, and now he wants me blacklisted across the whole industry."

"As the group's largest hidden shareholder, don't you think it's time I stepped aside and made way for better people?"