Chapter 614
The food was served relatively quickly.
“Is Bowen not picking you up from work today?” Oliver asked, trying to sound casual, but there was a sharpness in his eyes. He’d run into Bowen a few times lately, and every time, it left him fuming inside.
Aubree paused, her fork halfway to her mouth. “You’re asking as if you don’t already know exactly where he is,” she shot back.
She thought, ‘A few days ago, Oliver had backed off immediately after being rejected, and he barely put up a fight. But now, suddenly, he was acting all bold. Isn’t that because he knew Bowen was out of town on a business trip?’
“You figured I’d have no choice but to give in with everyone pressuring me and Bowen being out of town, right?” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
She shot him a mocking look–she was honestly fed up with him.
Oliver, pretending not to notice her irritation, put on a surprised face and asked, “Bowen… went on a business trip?”
“You’re right–I’ve been keeping tabs on you two. I want to pursue you, and as far as I’m concerned, Bowen is my biggest obstacle at the moment. So yeah, I’m doing this. Can you say I’m out of line?”
He leaned in slightly and continued, “I know you can’t stand me, but there’s something you should know. I don’t know if Bowen’s on a business trip or not, but I do know he’s still in Rithol City.”
Aubree instantly lost her appetite at his words. Her eyes locked on Oliver, trying to read his expression.
He just sat there, calm and unmoved, letting her stare. He was telling the truth–and no matter how she pressed, his answer didn’t change: Bowen was still in Rithol City.
By the time they walked out of the restaurant, Aubree had regained her composure. Everything lately had made her more on edge than usual. Before, even if someone had told her Bowen was hiding something, her first instinct wouldn’t have been suspicion–she would’ve believed he had his reasons.
But now, just having these doubts proved something: Alvin and the others’ earlier efforts were starting to work.
‘What exactly are they trying to do?’ she wondered.
Logically, she knew she was being too uptight. If she kept obsessing over whether Bowen was hiding something, she’d be walking right into Alvin’s trap.
But emotionally, she couldn’t help herself; she needed the truth.
After dinner, Oliver stuck to his word and didn’t push to walk her home. Aubree took a cab back to her place.
As soon as she got in and opened her laptop, she found an email from Vincent–he’d sent the results of his investigation into Jacinta.
She read through the report carefully. At first glance, nothing seemed unusual. Jacinta majored in finance at Rithol University and joined Turner Group through their internship program.
She’d done exceptionally well during her internship and was eventually offered a full-time position.
Everything seemed normal at first glance.
But after reading it two more times, Aubree finally noticed something odd. When Jacinta first joined Turner Group, she had taken several months off for health reasons. HR had initially planned to terminate her, but a supervisor intervened to prevent the termination. They had managed to keep her, thanks to her outstanding grades.
Aubree immediately highlighted the supervisor’s name and sent it to Vincent. She instructed, “Look into who this supervisor is mainly connected to at Turner Group.”
It was a much easier lead to follow. Two hours later, Vincent had already finished the investigation.
Just as Aubree suspected, the supervisor was essentially a shareholder who had been placed in the company due to their connections. He was the type who clocked in and out, did the bare minimum, never accomplished anything, and barely made his presence known.
For something as minor as keeping an intern, no one would bother challenging someone with that kind of backing.
The ironic part was that this particular shareholder was one of the few who openly supported Alvin.