“Good evening, distinguished guests. You must be wondering who the little girl in the video is. She is the real queen today,” Amber said before smiling at her fiance.
Unexpectedly, Julian also raised the corners of his lips and then invited the woman to continue talking. The two of them were clearly up to something.
“We have gone to great lengths to prepare for this surprise. So, please pay close attention.”
Suddenly, Gabriella’s photo popped up to fill the screen. Everyone was suddenly dumbfounded before the room grew even more noisy.
“Right. The little girl earlier was the woman in the black dress sitting beside Mister CEO. Should I call him Julian’s future sister-in-law? Tsk, I’m not sure.”
Gabriella’s body instantly froze. All eyes were on her. Cold and cynical.
Seeing his wife’s hands start to shake, Max quickly grabbed them.
“Don’t worry. No matter what they’re up to, they won’t be able to bring you down,” the man whispered while putting on a fake smile. He didn’t want Gabriella to know that his heart was restless too.
Suddenly, the phone in Max’s pocket vibrated. With a stiff expression, the man checked the incoming message.
“You seem calm, Mr. CEO. Can you no longer recognize the threat?”
In just an instant, Max looked in all directions, looking for whoever was holding the phone. However, the room was too dim and everyone seemed to be focused on Amber’s explanation of Gabriella’s role in Quebracha.
“What’s the matter, Max?” Gabriella asked, knowing her husband was upset.
“The mastermind is here,” the man replied as he was still narrowing his eyes.
“Is it true?” Without waiting for orders, Gabriella joined in the search, ignoring the large screen still showing her photos.
After a few seconds, Max’s phone vibrated again.
“Why are you fidgeting? It’s useless. My position is too hard to find. Better, you look at Amber’s explanation. In a moment, she will make you realize that I have never chosen the wrong target.”
The CEO’s breath suddenly rumbled. “What really happened? What does the mastermind have to do with Amber?” he thought as he gripped the phone and clenched his jaw.
Just as Max returned his focus to the screen, a photo of himself and Gabriella in the flower garden was displayed. The CEO’s brows suddenly raised questioningly.
“They have the photo? Could it be Julian? He teamed up with Amber to take me down?” Max thought before sighing in disbelief. With eyes shaking violently, he watched Julian who faithfully accompanied Amber.
“Right now, everyone in Quebracha admires Miss Gabriella. I’m sure you also know about her relationship with the CEO. But, do you know that their real status is not a lover?”
The next broadcast successfully widened everyone’s eyes, including Max and Gabriella. Their wedding photos were no longer a secret.
“Max Evans and Gabriella are husband and wife,” Amber exclaimed with a wry curve of her lips. While looking at the pale-faced woman, she folded her arms in front of her chest.
“Is our investigation wrong?” Amber asked, challenging.
Gabriella was unable to answer. Her lips continued to tremble without a word, just like the air blowing from her husband’s mouth.
Max Evans had no idea that his plans would fall apart.
“Not only that,” Amber said again, “we also found a more surprising fact, that it turned out, Miss Gabriella was the one who destroyed her own house.”
“No, that’s not true!” the pale woman shrieked as she couldn’t hold back any longer.
Meanwhile, the CEO tried to remain rational. “You can’t accuse carelessly.”
Unexpectedly, Amber shook her head with a disdainful expression. “We have the evidence. But before that, let me show you who Gabriella really is.”
As soon as Gabriella’s tenth birthday photo was shown, several people gasped and sighed in disbelief.
“That girl is his daughter?”
“Everything makes sense now.”
“That girl wants to avenge her parents.”
Hearing all the commotion, the corner of Amber’s lips lifted. “Gabriella is the daughter of a Quebracha employee who died on the job.”
Gabriella’s eyes flickered under the deep furrows of her brows. Her mouth was wide open, having trouble pronouncing words. “No! My dad worked for Concretree, not Quebracha,” she shook her head in a constricted angle.
Knowing that no one believed, the woman turned to her husband.
“You trust me, Max? I have absolutely no intention of taking revenge on my father’s company. I don’t even know where his office was.”
Instead of answering, the CEO sighed and bowed his head. When he returned to meet Gabriella’s eyes, a soft voice escaped his mouth. “I believe you can’t possibly take revenge, but ….”
Hearing that hanging tone, Gabriella’s anxiety grew more intense. “But what?”
“Concretree was Quebracha before it was renamed.”
Gabriella gasped in an instant. The tears that gathered in her eyes could no longer hold on, falling down following gravity and breaking when they landed on her dark dress.
Seeing his wife’s sadness, Max’s jaw throbbed with a burst of anger.
“How could I have missed such important thing? Tsk, what should I do to turn this around?” he regretted before taking a quick breath and standing up straight.
“You can’t accuse Gabriella just because of that background,” Max said loudly.
Unexpectedly, Julian’s laughter filled the room. “Apparently, you’ve been blinded by that girl, huh? Didn’t Amber already say that we have evidence?”
A second later, the light on the screen changed, showing a photo of Max and Gabriella’s first meeting.
“Don’t you realize that the girl has planned this for a long time? When she learned that her house would become our company land, she was overjoyed. The opportunity for revenge had finally arrived,” Julian said without a single frown on his forehead.
“She deliberately held her house to get attention. Evidently, the CEO immediately came to negotiate with her.”
“I never thought so!” Gabriella argued with tightly clenched fists.
Suddenly, Amber stepped forward and turned to face the screen which had showed a photo of Gabriella distributing cakes to the workers.
“This is proof that Gabriella is happy that the Quebracha project needs the land.”
“In addition, we have also found the person who hacked the CEO’s email. He confessed that he did it on Gabriella’s orders,” Julian continued just before the screen showed a command message sent from Gabriella’s email.
“I didn’t send the message! I haven’t used that account in a long time, and even forgot the password.”
“No thief wants to confess,” Amber said, shrugging her shoulders briefly. “It’s useless if you deny. No one believes what you say.”
“My wife couldn’t have done such a cunning thing,” the CEO argued, successfully grabbing attention. “Gabriella loves her house very much. There’s no way she would sacrifice her parents’ legacy for revenge.”
“It seems like you really had been enchanted by that girl, huh?” Julian interrupted with pity. A second later, he turned to other silent guests.
“After successfully tearing down her house, Gabriella approached the CEO. My brother who is kind hearted immediately melted by her innocent look. Max even offered a place to stay out of a sense of responsibility. Then, Gabriella launched the real action.”
Julian paused, maintaining the silence to pique the curiosity of the council among the guests.
“What action?”
“What is this girl planning?”
A lopsided smile automatically appeared on Julian’s face.
“She convinced Max to use her idea. Hybrid building. With the approval of the idea, she has the control over the top project of Quebracha.”
The CEO’s chest suddenly tightened hearing the slander from his brother. Unfortunately, he was helpless.
If Max claimed to be the initiator of the building, the council wouldn’t trust him anymore. However, if he didn’t argue, Gabriella would be branded a great threat to Quebracha.
“Unfortunately, our investigation has stopped here. Furthermore, only the perpetrator knows for sure what her plan is. Will she take over Quebracha and drive us out one by one? Or, bring down the company by thwarting the project later.”
Just as Julian’s words ended, the room became buzzing with concern. Councilors and high-ranking officials were not prepared to lose their position.
Watching the chaos that resulted from her, Gabriella could only stare with wet face. The gazes of the people had pierced her heart, while their comments did not hesitate to cut her courage.
“We can’t let that woman be in Quebracha.”
“That witch should be kept away from the CEO.”
“We can’t let Max stay as CEO. He has been influenced by that girl.”
An extremely heavy burden had lowered Gabriella’s head. The woman didn’t know what to do. Everything that come out of her mouth would be considered a lie.
Unknowingly, the woman’s eyeballs turned toward her last hope. However, as soon as she saw Max in silence with a cold look, the tears flowed even more profusely.
“What did I expect? Max won’t defend me for the sake of his position,” Gabriella thought before swallowing hard.
Clenching her fingers, she finally made up her mind. Running towards the exit door was the best way for Gabriella.