Chapter 237: She is Gone

"For Eve's resignation letter."

Ambryan stared at the envelope that Madison held it out for him to take. His hands fidgeted inside his pant pockets. His other senses shut down for a minute. The words echoed in his head. They started out soft and slowly became louder—until they consumed him.

Madison scrunched his eyebrows. "Yan…?"

Snatching the resignation letter, Ambryan opened the envelope and read the paper inside. Everything was in order. Not a single detail was left out. The tone was also professional and polite. It had her way with words, her preferred vocabularies and her precise punctuations.

It couldn't have been done by anyone but her.

"That's her signature right there," Madison added, in case Ambryan was still skeptical.

"I can tell," he mumbled and folded back the paper. Turning on his heel, he walked back to his desk. The resignation letter fell on its surface. His hands gripped the edges and scowled. 

Now that he thought about it, this wasn't like her. If she had something to do, there wasn't a need to quit. She could easily ask for a leave of absence—and if she did want to leave, she would have been the one to hand over the resignation. 

Something was wrong. 

And she was keeping it from him.

Madison followed behind Ambryan with Riffle hot on his heels. "She left it at the reception. Anyone who saw her said she seemed to be in a hurry. None of them were able to ask her about it."

Ambryan snapped his head towards the President. He glared in alarm. "Hurry in what way? Like she's being chased? Threatened? Stalked?"

Taken aback, Madison blinked his eyes wide open. "I'll ask for security footage if you think it's necessary. It would be easy to see how abnormal she was acting and if anyone was tailing her."

It wasn't enough. Ambryan scrambled his mind for the quickest answer. He set his priority to her safety. She had two near-death experiences related to the company. If an enemy was behind them, they could have gotten to her and that she needed to get away, find a place to hide— 

Ambryan marched to a corner of the room and pulled out his phone.

He swiped on the screen in search of a purple icon. 

"Hello?" Eve spoke through the earpiece. 

The agitation dissipated from his body the moment Ambryan heard her voice. The sun gleamed on his beige skin when he closed his eyes shut. His lips pressed together and he paused from breathing. 

He listened as his heart rate slowly went back to normal. 

"Hellooo~?" Eve repeated, chuckling at the end. She sat on a chair with her head bowed. A magazine laid on top of her lap. She had been flipping through it before Ambryan called. 

"Evan," Ambryan breathed out and opened his eyes. Relief didn't begin to describe how he felt.

Eve closed the magazine and gave him her full attention. "Yes…? Isn't it working hours?"

Ambryan cleared his throat. "It is but I was wondering what you were doing."

"Well…" Eve stared at the mirror.

The hairdresser tousled her hair, assessing its state. Its roots had gone back to their natural scarlet shade. No temporary hair color spray covered it. Cale stood nearby and discussed all the available hair extensions with the assistant. 

They came in different shades of red and style.

"Cale got me a last minute project. I'm at the apartment getting ready," she finally replied. It wasn't an entire lie. There was a photoshoot but it wouldn't be until tomorrow. The preparation just needed to be done the day before—which explained the present.

"No tutoring classes?"

"Not today." She coughed. "That was also a last minute thing. It's like I suddenly have all this free time that I begged Cale to find a photoshoot that I could do. I just couldn't sit still."

The hairdresser went to the colorants he brought and searched for the same shade as her wig.

Meanwhile, Ambryan debated if he should be amazed or worried that Eve knew how to be both truthful and a liar at the same time. It was a life skill she needed but he hoped that someday she wouldn't need to do that towards him anymore.

"How long will you take?" He asked, forgetting about the resignation letter.

"A little before lunch?" Eve tried to estimate. She didn't have a lot of hair so the full processing wouldn't take too long. Only the extensions would be left. 

The idea of having semi-permanent long hair boggled her mind.

Ambryan glanced up the ceiling. "Then, would you like to have lunch together?"

"Depends. Where do you have in mind?"

"Somewhere that serves Italian."

"I don't know," Eve said. "It sounds a little too fancy. Maybe we could reserve it for a dinner night instead. I am in the mood for something casual."

"Mexican?"

"Your breath would smell," she pointed out, remembering when that happened for a business lunch. Then, her eyes lit up. "How about a picnic? Or do you not have the time?"

Ambryan shuffled his feet. Stepping sideways and turning, he caught two blurry figures from the corner of his eye. He twisted his neck away from them and hid a rising blush. "I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Great!" Eve giggled. The hairdresser came back with a bowl and a brush. They exchanged a smile through the mirror. "I have until lunch time to hear an answer or I'll go to a fast food with Cale."

"Duly noted. Take care."

"See you later. At least, I hope."

The call ended and Eve put her phone down. 

She wondered if Ambryan saw her resignation letter yet. Never in a million years did she think that this would be how she'd leave the company. Her hand clenched into a fist and she took a deep breath. It was a necessary step for her to take her power back. 

And for Jane not to be suspicious, Everlee Hart had to completely disappear.

A second identity sure came in handy under the circumstances. 

"Alright. I'll start coloring your hair now," the hairdresser informed her.

Eve nodded her head. "Thank you."

At the other end of a dead line, Ambryan strolled back to the center of the room. He tucked his phone inside his breast pocket and addressed the two visitors. They had gone awfully quiet since he made the phone call. 

They also didn't ask him about it.

"What are you still doing here?" He demanded. 

"Well, there's also another reason why we're here," Madison explained.

Ambryan arched an eyebrow. "And that is…?"

"Riffle will be your new secretary from now on." The President pushed his secretary to the front, saying, "I think Eve sent him an email about everything he needs. Just give him an hour or two to get the hang of it."

"And what about you?"

"I already asked someone to fill in for Riffle. Her name is Hannah."

The request was rather specific but Madison understood the intentions. Eve's decision may be sudden but she placed a lot of thought into it. The position she left contained big shoes to fill. To have Riffle put them on was the least she could ask for as an apology for her abrupt absence.

Ambryan shifted his attention to his new secretary. "And you're okay with this, Johnson?"

Riffle Johnson nodded his head once. "I consider being able to work under two of the highest positions in head management a fulfilling experience."

"I appreciate having you on board." Ambryan couldn't care less. As long as the person could do the job, it had his approval. It wasn't like anyone could replace Eve. 

He rubbed his chin and scowled at the floor. "Now, if I'm right, there's someone here who doesn't have an appointment and whatever reason he had to visit is now completed."

"You don't text. You don't call. But when it's someone else, you drop everything to contact them?" Madison complained. He marched over to Ambryan and gripped the latter's shoulders. Imaginary tears welled up in his eyes. "How else was I supposed to see you?"

Ambryan responded with a deadpan expression. "King, you're not a teenage girl."

The President huffed and gave up. He pulled his hands back, fiddling with his cufflinks. The corner of his lip curled into a mischievous smile. "Everything is going well with Evangeline, then?"

"Stop stalling."

"I mean, you must love her a lot to forget about your secretary's sudden resignation and call her," he continued, ignoring the blunt comment. His luminous green eyes swept around the office while his hands tucked inside his pant pockets. 

"It's like Eve never left your side at all," he finished. 

"I—No…"

Madison tilted his head sideways. "Hm?"

At that moment, Ambryan realized something. His eyes darted back and forth between Madison and Riffle. The latter seemed confused by his actions while the former feigned innocence. His blood gradually rose in temperature.

"Get out," he sneered, staring underneath his lashes.

"Excuse me?" Madison blinked.

"Get out. Right. Now."

The President moved his hands onto his hips and sighed. "I guess you're back to being Mr. Coldest Person on Earth. You have my blessings, Riffle. Try to survive more than a week."

Ambryan headed for his desk.

His fingers tapped furiously on the keyboard. His mother, Mikael, Andie…, and now Madison. How many people knew it before him? And which of them found out on their own? The questions swirled his head like mocking birds.

Had he been that blind?