Chapter 4 - The Secretary Who Thought She Owned My Company
We reached the sixty-seventh floor in less than two minutes.
Jang Chin Tong’s office was empty.
Her computer was still on.
A coffee cup sat beside the keyboard.
Her handbag was gone.
Daniel immediately called security.
“Seal the building exits.”
Shiaoza grabbed his phone.
I looked at him.
“Who are you calling?”
“Tong Tong.”
“Don’t.”
“She may panic.”
“She is deleting company records.”
“We don’t know that.”
Daniel pointed at the monitor.
“We do.”
A remote deletion window was still running.
Four hundred and seventeen files had already disappeared.
Shiaoza’s face turned gray.
“Stop it.”
IT arrived within minutes and disconnected the machine.
The damage, fortunately, was limited.
Backups existed.
Jang apparently hadn’t known.
Arrogant people rarely plan for systems designed by people they consider beneath them.
Twenty minutes later, security found her.
Not outside.
In Shiaoza’s private office.
She was opening his locked cabinet.
When I entered, she was holding a folder.
Her face changed.
Then she recovered almost immediately.
“This is President Shiao’s office.”
“And?”
“You can’t search his private things.”
I stared at her.
“I’m the CEO.”
“He’s the president.”
“And this company belongs to its shareholders, not to either of you.”
She looked at Shiaoza.
“Say something.”
He stood behind me.
Silent.
For the first time, her confidence cracked.
“Shiao?”
Not President Shiao.
Shiao.
Several people heard it.
His eyes closed briefly.
I felt something inside me die.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Like a light being switched off in an empty room.
“How long?” I asked.
Neither answered.
I looked at Jang.
“How long have you been sleeping with my husband?”
Her face went blank.
Shiaoza whispered my name.
I raised one hand.
“Don’t insult me by lying now.”
Jang stared at me.
Then something ugly entered her expression.
Defiance.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“He was lonely.”
Shiaoza snapped, “Tong Tong, stop.”
She laughed bitterly.
“No. Why should I?”
She turned toward me.
“You were always traveling. Always negotiating. Always too important.”
I looked at her.
“And that made my husband available?”
“He needed someone.”
“Apparently he needed someone who also required eighty-six-thousand-dollar watches.”
Her cheeks flushed.
“That watch was a gift.”
“Purchased with company funds.”
Her mouth closed.
I stepped closer.
“Do you know what fascinates me?”
She said nothing.
“You spent this morning calling employees incompetent because they weren’t executives.”
I glanced around her office.
“But you apparently needed stolen company money to pretend you were one.”
Her face twisted.
“You think you’re better than me?”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“I think I’m responsible for this company. There’s a difference.”
Security moved forward.
Jang stepped back.
“You can’t fire me.”
“I can.”
“Shiao won’t allow it.”
Everyone looked at him.
For the second time that day, my husband had to choose.
This time he looked at Jang.
Then at me.
Finally he said, “Tong Tong, cooperate.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“Cooperate?”
“This is serious.”
Her laugh sounded almost broken.
“Now it’s serious?”
“Please.”
“After everything I did for you?”
My eyes narrowed.
Everything?
Jang realized too late that she had said too much.
I asked quietly, “What exactly did you do for him?”
She said nothing.
Shiaoza looked terrified again.
Then Jang smiled.
It was not a happy smile.
It was revenge.
“You really think your husband’s biggest secret is sleeping with me?”
My chest tightened.
Shiaoza moved toward her.
“Stop talking.”
She ignored him.
“You should ask him about Project Harbor.”
His face turned white.
I looked at Daniel.
“Find it.”
Shiaoza grabbed my arm.
“This has nothing to do with our marriage.”
I pulled free.
“Then why are you scared?”
Jang laughed.
“Oh, it has everything to do with your marriage.”
Security took the folder from her.
She allowed them.
Then, as they escorted her toward the door, she turned back.
“You want to know why he kept me around?”
I said nothing.
“Because I know what happened seven years ago.”
My heartbeat changed.
Seven years ago.
The year my father died.
The year our company nearly collapsed.
The year Shiaoza somehow found the investors who saved us.
Jang smiled.
“Ask your husband where the rescue money really came from.”
Then she walked away.
I turned toward Shiaoza.
He looked like a man watching his entire life burn.
“What is Project Harbor?”
He sat down slowly.
For a long moment, he said nothing.
May you like
Then he whispered:
“It’s the reason you still have a company.”
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