Chapter 38: Chapter 38

' Screw Mark!' Courtney cursed.

The offer being made to her by Maggie was enough to start a new life. She could get herself more of her dream guys like Mark, who weren't as evil as he is. Mark is a total jerk... and screw Val. Kaitlyn didn't really care about her life anyway. She only couldn't pass off this offer. It was now or never!

' Now or never!'

" It wasn't her!" Kaitlyn yelled out loud with quivering lips as her heart beat frantically.

She stared fixedly at Val, hiding her gaze away from Mark and everyone else.

Silence prevailed all around.

Kaitlyn tensed when she realized the consequence of her action. She could feel the prying gaze of everyone being directed at her and it was only now that she realized how stupid she was. How was she to back up her words now, she didn't know...

She hadn't wanted to meddle at all, but she had already done so. It was only natural that she went through with it now right?

But, how? Just how was she to prove her point?

Kaitlyn had only spoken out of fear that she'd lose the opportunity to live the life she really wanted after Maggie's warning gaze.

Meanwhile, Maggie smiled seeing Kaitlyn do exactly as she'd wanted.

" What do you mean?" She asked however, to instigate the drama.

"I-it wasn't Ms Valerie who stole the Laguna teardrop..." Kaitlyn raised her gaze and lowered it again as she reaffirmed in a meek tone, hearing Maggie's question.

' What to say, what to say!' She had no idea what else to say.

' That's right!' Suddenly an idea popped in her head.

" I-I had seen him tuck in the Laguna in his pocket last night." She pointed at Mark. Her hands were quivering against her will, her voice was shaky, and her heart sank, but she persisted nonetheless. Even though her body seemed to reject the idea of running Mark under the bus, she couldn't risk letting up the offer. After all, it was clear that she was only Mark's fuckbuddy.

' What is this feeling?' Kaitlyn was bitter.

Having been watching all these while until Kaitlyn pointed towards him, Mark frowned and stepped forward.

" What are you talking about, Kaitlyn?" he feigned a sweet smile and corked his head to the side as he slowly moved closer to Kaitlyn. He spread his arms to the side as if he were Kaitlyn'sing lost father who had just returned home to a bitter daughter. He felt the need to convince her to be silent, as he could see the struggle in her eyes.

" Don't come near me!" Kaitlyn yelled not knowing what she was to do. She just wanted everything over with already.

Mark stopped abruptly and looked around awkwardly, sweating buckets already. He never anticipated this at all.

' What the fuck is wrong with Kaitlyn?!' Mark couldn't fathom why she was doing all of this.

" H-he had met with that weird Ollie last night and I'm guessing he had him steal the Laguna teardrop from the showroom!" Kaitlyn blurted out with shaky voice. She had long realized why Ollie and Mark had met the night before, it couldn't be for any other reason.

" What? that's not true!" Mark scoffed. " L-look, if this is about the fight we had last night, you don't ... you don't have to do this you see. I'll apologize if you want me to. But this?... Don't you think you're going too far?" Mark tried to convince everyone that Kaitlyn was only doing this because they had a fight. Since everyone knew of their relationship, he thought to wittily use this to defend himself. However, it proved to be of no avail. Not much...

" Could it be true?"

" I mean, they're always seen together. She can't be lying"

" Could it be that Mr Hawkins is trying to get rid of Ms Val, being his ex-wife?'

" That's true!"

Murmurs rose all around.

" Miss, what do you think?" Manager Callie stepped forward to ask. She was so confused about everything that transpired.

" The boss isn't around. We need to make a decision." Manager Ashley also argued.

Maggie who previously had a smile worn on her face attained her usual nonchalant expression as she said.

" Mr Mark, we'd have to conduct an interrogation on you as well, I'm afraid." She said and stepped back.

" I'm calling in a private investigator. No one leaves the company. And if its going to take days, then no one leaves town" She calmly informed as she pulled out her phone to make the call. All she said conformed with the policies of the company so everyone had nothing to complain of. Though, the agitation in everyone didn't see a reduce.

" Hello, Is this Dann Harrows?" Maggie asked the moment the call rang through.

" Very well, we at Citadel's will like to employ your aid for a certain investigation." She went straight to business after confirming the private investigator's identity.

" An hour? we'll be expecting you... Thanks!" She ended the call.

" Everyone else should go continue their works. The company won't run itself. If there's need for any of you to be interrogated, you shall be informed." Maggie urged after the call.

Sounds of heels and clicks of shoe soles resounded in the room and grew farther as everyone except Maggie, Val, Mark, Kaitlyn, the two other managers, and the Chief security officer left Val's office.

" Come with me to my office. We'll all meet with the private investigator there" Maggie said quite seriously.

Mark was at unease now. This wasn't supposed happen, this progress is all wrong. A stop had to be put to it.

He couldn't look at Kaitlyn from the disgust he felt at her. He clenched his teeth hard, holding back all the urge he had to lounge at her at the moment.

Weren't they supposed to be together? what was she being a blabbermouth for? He knew he didn't tell her about his plans but why can't she get a clue!?

Nevertheless, he thought he'd deal with her later. Giving a thought to it, in truth, all of this was still going well, Maggie must still have plans to change everything.

' That's probably why she must have called in a private investigator right? to make everything seems real as it could be, Val as the managing director couldn't be kicked out of office for a trivial reason and an uninvestigated case of theft after all. Moreover, as the overseer, she couldn't disregard Kaitlyn's words. That would be suspicious. Right. I should put my trust in her. Tsk! stupid Kaitlyn!' He cursed.

" Hah! Alright" He sighed as he followed behind the group, ignoring Val's cold glare.