Chapter 73

73 73. The Culprit

Paula smiled sarcastically at Freya who could only open her mouth silently. “That’s if you are lucky enough not to get fired from the company.”

“What do you mean, Eva?” asked Freya angrily.

Paula just smiled sarcastically. She then left Freya without more explanation. Paula continued walking towards the office of the president of AJ Tokyo.

Slowly, she slid the door to Kato’s room without asking permission. Of course, this made Kato startled.

“How dare you enter my office without knocking on the door!” Kato looked panicked.

“Hmm, the custom in this office is that if your door is open, anyone can come in right away, right?” said Paula with a smile that wasn’t sweet at all. “What are you doing? Are you doing something forbidden? Or are you looking for personal gain by taking advantage of the calamity that befell the company?”

“As I thought, you must be Robert’s spy. Always suspicious of everyone,” Kato responded sarcastically. Pretended to be calm.

Paula continued to walk deeper into the room. She checked Kato’s desk lazily.

“I’ve always wondered why this well-known company doesn’t give satisfactory results no matter what we did. It turns out, there is a virus that spreads some internal disease.”

.....

“What do you mean? Don’t accuse me with no proof!” Kato shouted. Goosebumps went down his spine because he was scared. The current Paula, to him, was scarier than a ghost.

Paula smiled bitterly. “Are you scared?” asked Paula curtly. “Aren’t you innocent?”

Cold sweat dripped from Kato’s temples. Paula took a tissue to hand to the man. “Take it. You need it.”

Kato reached into his pocket and took out his handkerchief. Paula smiled at Kato’s refusal. The man was really scared. Really looked like a guilty person.

“I know, you have family,” Paula paused, watching Kato’s face closely. However, the man’s sweat was dripping profusely. Looked frightened.

“I don’t like infidelity. However, I admit it’s none of my business. It’s just that you violated the company’s rule by doing that in the office”. Paula chuckled as she shook her head slowly. “But don’t worry, you won’t get fired for that because the news didn’t leak to the public.”

Kato’s face, which had been colorless, had now turned slightly relieved. He dared to look at Paula again. “That’s ridiculous!” Kato said, slightly trembling. “You’re talking without evidence.”

“Evidence? Is this considered evidence?” Paula handed him a photo in her smartphone, showing Kato’s meeting with Akane. Of course, that made Kato’s eyes widen even more. They met like Paula and Miyuki. Not at one table, wearing a hat, and also coming and going separately.

“This is just a photo. Won’t prove anything. It could be fake,” Kato evaded. He still hoped to get away from charges.

“I have solid evidence. Audio and video. Who’s going to deny it?” Paula asked, laughing sarcastically. “This is more than enough to explain that you are guilty of selling company’s secrets.”

Shortly thereafter, police officers entered the room and arrested Kato. Kato was shocked half to death by it. His eyes widened, staring at Paula with hatred.

“I didn’t go that far, really I didn’t. Akane only knows the concept! I’m not guilty! It must have been the damn designer! The fake smart guy who thinks he’s the most talented! Most meritorious in the company!” Kato shouted, still trying to defend himself.

“You shouldn’t be selling company secrets! Now you will surely regret what you did. Let the court decide what your punishment will be!” Paula said with a straight face.

She hadn’t talked about Kato’s dismissal to her father yet. However, she didn’t find the best way because Kato was planning to go abroad the next day. He wanted to run away with his family. She had no time for discussion.

“This is all Robert’s fault! How could he put a spy in this company and give that person a big salary, even as big as mine! He’s the crazy one! I also want to live comfortably with my family!” Kato screamed and cursed as the police handcuffed him.

“It’s rich coming from a cheating husband like you. There’s no point in you saying this and that because you’re no longer part of this company,” Paula said as she threw Kato’s nameplate in the trash box. There was the sound of plastic colliding with metal, making a loud noise.

“Who do you think you are? You can’t just fire me! Only Robert can do that,” exclaimed Kato who was struggling because his hand was cuffed. “You’re just one of Robert’s dogs who can only boot-lick him to get a job, right?”

Paula laughed and casually took something out of her bag. A nameplate: Paula Anderson-President.

Kato’s eyes went wide as he read the nameplate inscribed with Roman letters and Katakana in brackets.

Haltingly, Kato said, “No way! So you are...”

“Yes, I am.”

***

The sight of Kato being taken out of the office by the police of course made many people dumbfounded. Paula’s gaze then turned to the person who had been scapegoated as a guilty person.

Paula smiled at him, then shook his hand. “Thank you, Ken! You’ve been patient even though I fired you. If it wasn’t for you, Kato would always be on guard.”

“I believe you are a good person. Robert’s daughter will do her best for the company,” Ken replied with a genuine smile.

Misa and Himawari ran toward Ken. When they found out that Ken’s dismissal was a pretense, they asked, “So it’s been a fake all this time?”

“I thought Paula was going to fire me for real. I was already preparing to defend myself. However, I was surprised that I was only fired, no police came to me. Turns out she immediately sent an email and asked me to wait patiently,” Ken explained to his colleagues.

Paula smiled at Misa and Himawari who looked down shyly at her. They did not expect that all this time they were working together with the daughter of the owner.

Paula took out both Misa and Himawari’s tablets. It made the girls’ eyes widen.