Chapter 2

Carly's expression shifted just slightly. She probably hadn't expected me to admit it so readily.

"But that doesn't mean I admit to selling anything to a competitor, and it certainly doesn't mean I profited from it."

I pointed at the screen.

"You have no money trail. On the strength of one email, you're willing to convict me in public."

"Mr. Gilbert, has Gilbert Group's legal team really sunk this low?"

Carly held the stuffed rabbit up in front of her and looked at me, all wounded.

"Baby doesn't understand all those legal words my sister is using."

"Baby only knows that a little kid who does something wrong should say sorry first, not go around scaring people."

The legal manager came back quickly with a confirmation of misconduct.

Beyond admitting to the leak, I'd have to compensate the company thirty million and promise never to disclose any information connected to Gilbert Group.

This wasn't a confirmation. It was a gag order.

In my last life, terrified my adoptive parents would really cut ties with me, I signed it on Silas's urging.

Afterward Gilbert Group used the agreement to announce publicly that I had confessed to leaking trade secrets over an inheritance dispute.

From then on, no matter what evidence I produced, it was just a business criminal taking revenge on the Gilberts.

"I won't sign."

Carly seemed not to have expected me to refuse. She froze for a couple of seconds.

"Sister, you didn't go through any company approval process when you sent that email."

"This time, even if those grown-ups outside show up, they won't protect a sister who won't behave."

Her voice was still soft and sweet as she said it, but the certainty in her eyes was completely undisguised.

She'd already moved part of Gilbert Group's assets overseas long ago. Even if the company really went down, she had a way out.

That was why she dared to blow this up across the whole internet.

She thought that as long as she nailed me down, the Gilbert family's dirty books would never see daylight.

I didn't press the point any further. I just pushed the agreement back across the table to the legal manager.

"Until the trading party and the profits are properly investigated, I won't sign any confession document."

My adoptive father slammed his palm on the table.

"Lesley Gilbert, the Gilberts raised you for twenty-four years, and now you won't even sign a simple confirmation of the facts?"

He knew better than anyone that hidden inside those so-called business files was the thing Gilbert Group could least afford to have exposed.

Over the past few years, to keep costs down, Gilbert Group had spent a long time buying near-expired raw ingredients, then extending the shelf life by relabeling them.

The financial books had been split into two sets as well.

My adoptive father wasn't simply playing favorites with Carly.

He was afraid that if I stayed at the company, sooner or later I'd find these secrets.

Now that Carly was handing him the knife herself, of course he couldn't wait to kick me out of Gilbert Group.

"Daddy, let's just call the police officers in."

Carly gave the rabbit-ear cup in her hand a little shake, as if she'd finally made up her mind.

"Baby doesn't want to watch my sister make one mistake after another."

Just as she urged them to call the police for the third time, a message came in from my lawyer.

【The report materials have been submitted as planned. Your mother has been moved to the confidential ward. The costs and security have both been arranged.】