Semua Bab Mr CEO,I’ll be your fiancée : Bab 21 - Bab 30

Nickie's POV My dad found the mug ring on Leon's desk the next morning. I don't know how he got in there. I don't know why Leon's office door was open. What I do know is that I was in the kitchen making breakfast and I heard my dad say interesting and I walked down the hall and found him standing in the middle of Leon's office looking at the ring shaped stain on the fourteen thousand dollar desk with the expression of a man who had just learned something useful. "Dad what are you doing in here," I said. "The door was open," he said. "That doesn't mean come in," I said. "In my experience open doors are invitations," he said. He looked at the desk. "Someone put a mug here without a coaster." "I know," I said. "Was it you," he said. I said nothing. He turned and looked at me with the eyes that saw everything. "It was you," he said. "We should go have breakfast," I said. "Nickie," he said. "Dad." "A man lets someone put a mug on his fourteen thousand dollar de

Nickie's POVI finished the data at two in the morning.Not Thursday morning. Wednesday night bleeding into Thursday at two AM with cold coffee and my dad asleep in the east room and Leon somewhere in the penthouse doing what Leon did when it was late and the company needed things.I read through the corrected Meritus file one final time.Everything aligned. Every transposed column fixed. Every corrupted data point identified and corrected and documented with a full explanation of what it had been, what it should have been, and how the error had been introduced. Eighteen months of deliberate damage undone in three weeks by someone who had built the original and knew every inch of it.My name was on it.Nickie Chen. Lead bio-engineer. Corrected version. Date and signature.I closed the laptop and sat in the quiet kitchen and looked at the city through the floor to ceiling windows.Tomorrow was Friday.In thirty something hours Victoria Knight was going to walk into a shareholder meetin

Leon's POVI saw her face change."What's wrong?" I said.She showed me the phone.I read it fast."Call the hospital," I said. "Now."She dialed with shaking hands. It rang three times before someone picked up."This is Nickie Chen. I need to know about my father's room. Room 412."A pause. Too long."He's not there anymore?" Her voice cracked. "What do you mean he's not there?"I stood up and grabbed her other hand."What's happening?" I said.She held up one finger. Still listening."Moved where?" she said. "Why would you move him without telling me?"Another pause.Her face went white."Thank you," she said quietly. She hung up."Nickie," I said."They said a woman came this morning," she said slowly. "She had paperwork. She said she was his emergency contact. She had my father moved to a private facility.""What woman?" I said."They didn't have a name," she said. "Just papers. Official looking papers."My stomach dropped."Victoria," I said."But how?" Nickie said. "How would sh

Leon's POVI called my lawyer at midnight.She answered fast, like she was already awake."I need everything on my father's hospital insurance," I said. "For Nickie's father. Right now.""What happened?" she said."Someone is threatening to touch his medical bill," I said. "Tonight or tomorrow morning."She was quiet for a second."I'll pull the records," she said. "Give me an hour."I hung up and looked at Nickie. She sat very still, staring at her phone."They can't just cancel it," I said. "The payment already went through. It's done.""You don't know these people like I thought I did," she said quietly. "They find ways."I sat beside her."Nickie," I said. "Look at me."She looked up."We caught Crane. We caught the funding trail. We caught Vance," I said. "We are going to catch this too.""What if they hurt him?" she said. Her voice was small. "What if this isn't about money anymore?"I didn't have a good answer for that. So I just held her hand.We sat like that until my phone r

Chapter 29Leon's POVI saw the fear in Nickie's eyes and I hated it."I need you to trust me," I said. "Before I explain anything else.""Then explain," she said. Her voice was steady, but her hands were shaking.I took a slow breath."Her name was Isabelle," I said. "We were engaged four years ago. Before Knight Industries became what it is now. Before any of this.""What happened?" Nickie said."She wanted things I couldn't give her," I said. "Money faster than I could make it. Status faster than I could build it. When I told her I needed more time, she got angry. We fought. Badly.""And then she disappeared," Nickie said."Two days later," I said. "No warning. I called everyone. Her family wouldn't speak to me. The police said she was an adult who could leave if she wanted.""Did you look for her?" Nickie said."For months," I said. "I hired investigators. Nothing. She was just gone."Miss Thorne cleared her throat again."Sir," she said. "There's more in the file. I didn't want t