Livian's face contorted with shock. "Did I hear you right?"
He stared at Cedric with bulged eyes. "Say what you said again, because I thought I heard you say that your girlfriend is a member of La Rose Noire."
"Hm." Cedric's chest vibrated in rhythm with his slight chuckle. "I just said that. She is a member of La Rose Noire."
Livian was shocked speechless for a while. He felt as though his brain had experienced a short circuit. If that woman was a member of La Rose Noire then it was highly likely that…
He recalled an incident from about a month ago and realization dawned on him. "Is that the same girl you said you had met—the one from La Rose Noire who might help us eradicate Shera Black?"
"That's the one." Cedric knew that a scolding was coming.
And it did come. "Why didn't you say this earlier?"
Livian sighed to control himself before he could beat his brother into a pulp and grabbed Cedric's laptop from the shelf. He ordered Cedric to unlock it and when the latter did, he typed a few letters.
"Elena Garcia, you said?" He turned to ask for confirmation and when Cedric nodded, he continued to search.
"There's no information about her." Livian gritted his teeth.
"What do you mean?" Cedric rushed over to take a look and was surprised that the search results were indeed blank. "There should be everything about her: her address, her age and everything else there is to know about her. That's how my assistant found her."
Livian suddenly had a bad premonition about all this. "Ask him to search again."
Cedric obeyed and grabbed his phone. Just before he dialled the number, he remembered something that 'Elena' said after injecting him. "She did say…"
"What did she say?" Livian probed.
"She said that Elena Garcia does not exist."
Livian ran a hand through his messy brown hair. Sh*t… "It was a trap." He wanted to strangle the soul out of Cedric. "That woman wove a trap for you and you fell right into it like the dumb fool she takes you for."
Livian paced as thoughts flooded his brain. "She could have hired someone to anonymously poison you. She can do that after all—I'm not praising her. But why did she let you know that it was someone from her organization who did it? Perhaps she wanted us to know that it was her. She must want something from us, but what? From your interaction with that fake woman, did you get anything that could… Cedric!"
It was only when he turned that he realized that his brother had fallen against the bed. He rushed to turn him and placed his forefinger on Cedric's philtrum. He was not breathing.
Livian hurriedly tool his phone and called his parents and a doctor.
As Helen and Julius rushed to their son's room, Livian grabbed a laptop and continued his search. He would get that fake Elena Garcia by all means.
After finding nothing after several tries, he was about to give up his search. But then something popped up from one of Imperium City's gossip sites. Shera's personal assistant, Purple, had been banned from La Rose Noire.
His eyes narrowed. Why would Shera ban anyone from La Rose Noire? Especially since Purple must know many things about La Rose Noir, it was strange. Shera looked like the type of person who would kill someone so they wouldn't loosen their tongues after leaving La Rose Noire.
Whatever the reason was, this was definitely not a trap. Shera had already achieved what she wanted so she no longer needed to trap them.
He gathered a group of bodyguards and barked orders after sending them a photo of Purple. "Find where that woman is and bring her here. Treat her well." Then he grabbed his car keys.
…
Meanwhile. CT Corporation.
After Purple left, her position was naturally taken by the smug Ash.
That morning, Shera called Ash into her office.
"You already know that you are my new secretary." She spoke without lifting her head to look at Ash. "I have no rules except, use your brain."
Ash nodded. "Yes, President."
"Also, I have no interest in women. Keep that in mind."
"Y-yes." Ash's face was clouded in shame. She almost dashed out of Shera's office when she was granted permission to leave. How heartless.
She had just exited Shera's office when she turned back and reported, "Master, Livian Qin is here. He is asking to speak to you."
Shera frowned. "CT Corporation is not a place for pests to come and go as they please. Next time, don't let random tom, dicks and harries in."
"Understood, president." Ash said in a tiny voice. Shera was so heartless with her words.
As expected, Livian was angry when Ash told him Shera's response. "Who does that woman think she is?"
He thought about it for a second and knew that he couldn't possibly barge into Shera's office. So he could only ask Ash to pass a message. "Go and tell her this. Whatever she wants, the Qin family will give it to her. She knows what we want in return."
Ash nodded and promised to pass the message. Seeing how desperate Livian looked even though he was trying to hide it, she almost felt pity. Then her lips twitched. She didn't understand why Shera was so hell-set upon making things difficult for the Qins, but she was not about to feel sympathy for them. They must have deserved it. Her only business was to relay the message just as a formality.
Ten minutes later, she went back to Shera's office and reported Leo's arrival.
Shera waved for her to let him in and laughed as the man walked in.
"Are you here to negotiate—beg for the antidote just like your brother did?" She leaned onto the backrest and looked him up and down.
Leo's handsome face contorted. "Wait. There's an antidote?"
Shera smirked, and he sat opposite her with a serious expression. "You can destroy it for all I care. Why would I waste my time negotiating for it?"
"Then why are you here?" Shera scanned him with interest. It had been long since they last met. Ever since their project went back on track, they would only exchange emails if they needed to.
"Because I miss you." He declared, earning a harrumph of ridicule.
"Here I was thinking it was something important." She bent to open a compartment on her desk and took out a bottle of wine. "Want some?"
Leo did not answer, and Shera's imagination ran wild.
She shrugged. "Since you are here, you might as well be useful."
Before he could ask what she meant, she walked over to him, opened his jacket slightly and tapped his chest. He was still thinking that she probably wanted to make out but when he saw her go back to the desk and take out a detonator, he froze.
He looked at his shirt to see what she had slotted onto it and it was a small bomb!
The woman smiled in satisfaction and even clapped for herself, mocking him while at it. "Don't waste your time. You cannot pull it off. Unless you want to slice off that part of your skin, of course."