Standing Right Next To You - Chapter 452

“Did Wade know about this when he signed a contract with her?” Lina’s query echoed in the silent room.

She had built Obsidia with her own two hands and treated it like her precious child.

To hear that her child’s reputation might be tarnished if people were to learn about their association with such a person, Lina was beyond furious.

Though the two men were unable to decipher why she seemed so bothered, one of them was willing to answer her queries.

Stephen shook his head as he did not know what the VP was thinking when he signed that woman into their company.

Jasmine Tong was talented but there surely were others who were better than her.

They might even be designers with cleaner reputations as well who had not made use of such backhanded tactics to take down their opponents.

Thus Lina was now eager to meet her cousin and see what was wrong with him that he had offered a contract to someone with such a reputation.

However, before she could match upstairs, a voice coming from her side shook her out of her agitated trance.

“Noona, the information I spoke about is not known to many,” Stephen explained what might have taken place.

Jasmine Tong had kept up the appearance of a wealthy madam and never got herself involved with the matters of her husband.

Even when there were speculations about the misdeeds of Mr. Tong, he had never been convicted of any crime due to the lack of evidence.

Therefore, while people could gossip all they wanted, no one had enough proof to make any solid claims against them that could stand in the court of law.

In the eyes of the law, Mr. Tong was a businessman like any other influential man in their city.

He had not yet done anything wrong and was an innocent man unless his crimes were proven in the court with hard evidence which had never been found until now.

The normal citizens of this city did not know much about the inner workings of the upper echelon.

Thus they just believed that Mrs. Tong was a genius designer who shot to fame solely through the merits of her talent.

However, those belonging to the inner circles of high society knew just what kind of people those two were.

One did not hesitate to utilize her husband’s authority while the other would go to any lengths to keep his wife happy.

Those who were aware of Mr. Tong’s nature made it a point to be wary of them and never offend the wife lest they incur the husband’s wrath.

When Lina heard of this information, her frustration being aimed at Wade subsided.

After all, he had been away from the country for a very long time as he was accompanying her and her family after abandoning his post in the Luo family business.

Therefore, there was a tough chance that he wasn’t aware of this concealed information about Jasmine Tong and her husband’s background.

The more she thought of this, the more she felt that it was possible.

“His businesses are just a front for his casinos and money laundering business,” Benji spoke up after a while when he sensed her silence.

“His people did an excellent job at disguising his shady businesses.” He added while shutting his laptop which was his source of information.

Earlier, he had been scouring the internet to find any useful piece of information about that old lady.

However, he had not expected to chance upon this shocking information.

Mr. Tong had skillful people by his side who could turn black into white, authenticating all his illegal activities as those that were legitimate under the law of this city.

The numerous lawyers assisting him were also brilliant at their jobs, acquitted him of any crime that he might have committed, thus strengthening his image as a law-abiding citizen of their society.

Every time someone tried to take legal action against him, they would, of course, lose the case but later on, would disappear from the eyes of the public altogether.

This was what the assistant had found after the short investigation he had made while Stephen was speaking earlier.

Benji had also learned something else but chose to keep it hidden for the time being as he had to make sure of what he had found first.

‘I should contact him later.’ He thought of a certain someone who might have more information concerning this matter.

Thus came the end of the interrogation Lina had commenced before their lunch break could conclude.

She had learned quite a lot from Leon and Steph so she thanked them before sending them away.

Before Steph could leave, he did not forget to warn his Noona about keeping a safe distance away from Mrs. Jasmine Tong.

He too had concealed a portion of information he possessed, the same part that even Benji had chosen to not reveal at this moment.

They each had their own reasons for doing so and were sure to keep her away from that old lady at all costs.

The two men did not know about the other’s plans but their goal was the same.

Thus Stephen took one last look at his Noona before leaving the room while Leon rubbed his belly which was beginning to ache as he soon followed the Little Devil outside.

This left Lina and Benji alone in the room and looking at the frown on her face, he knew that she was not liking what she had learned today.

These people could do what they wished but in no way would she allow them to mess with her baby, Obsidia, and let its reputation fall to the ground.

The same reputation that she had worked hard to build right from the ground to the heights it had reached today.

Hence, with a stern look on her face, Lina rose from her seat and walked towards the door, causing Benji to pick up his laptop and follow after her soon enough.

No words were said but having followed Lina for so many years now, there was a tacit understanding between the two which allowed him to know exactly what was on her mind.

As Lina strode in the direction of the elevator, Benji stopped to lock the office as numerous important documents in there could not be seen by any other employee of this company.

After Wade had grumbled that Lina was overburdening him with all the work meant even for the President of the company, she had decided to get back on track and share this burden with him.

Thus right at this moment, inside her office were files that should be in the possession of Obsidia’s President.

They would not have a reasonable explanation for these files being in the office of a simple consultant of the Marketing department which led Benji to make sure that the room was locked even when they were going upstairs only for a short while.

Once he was sure that the room was secured, he hurried to catch up with Lina who had already entered the elevator and was waiting for him to arrive.

Leon was fetching himself a glass of water from the cafeteria on their floor when he noticed the tall assistant heading into the elevator where Lina was also present.

The place was a little crowded with the other employees returning to their seats after lunch hence he was a step too late to catch up with them.

Thus standing before the elevator whose doors had shut by now, he looked up at the panel displaying the floor which the pair had reached.

‘Hmm… The VP’s floor?’ He rubbed his chin while swirling the glass of warm water in his other hand.

He already knew what she must have gone there for but what he could not decipher was why she seemed to be so bothered about Jasmine Tong’s presence in Obsidia.

‘It’s not like it affects her in any way…’ He shook his head as this was Obsidia’s issue and had nothing to do with Lina who was just a consultant here.

“Leon Jiu!”

Upon hearing his name, Leon no longer had the time to speculate about this matter when he turned around and found his boss, Anthony Shen glaring at him, gesturing to enter his office at once.

‘Sheesh… Back to work already…’ He sighed but did not dare to walk leisurely after noticing the fierce look on his usually gentle boss’s face.