Single Mom's Sweet Husband (Charlotte)

Chapter 47

In the surveillance room.

"Ms. Emerson, here are the surveillance videos from the past two weeks," said the security guard as he got up to offer his seat.

Charlotte nodded and thanked him.

She sat down and started watching the videos. Her eyes were glued to the screen.

However, the surveillance region only captured the corridor by the entrance of the company and those caught on tape were all employees of the company. No suspicious person ever appeared.

Charlotte spent the next three hours or so watching the collection of surveillance videos, but ended up empty-handed.

She lightly massaged her sore shoulders and wondered in frustration, 'Just who would do such a thing?'

Charlotte was so lost in her thoughts that she bumped into someone as soon as she stepped out of the room.

Instinctively, she took a step back. Still flustered, she looked up and found Christopher peering down at her.

"Mr. Gibson, I' m so sorry," Charlotte apologized, rubbing her aching forehead. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Seeing Charlotte clutching her forehead in pain, Christopher's heart filled with sympathy. "Are you okay? It hurts, doesn't it?" he asked in a gentle and caring tone.

"It's okay, I'm fine.” Charlotte quickly dropped her hand and shook her head as her cheeks burned up slightly in embarrassment.

"Are you here to check the surveillance videos?" Christopher took a quick glimpse at the surveillance room. "Any gains?" he asked.

Upon being questioned, all shades of disappointment were painted on Charlotte's face. She shook her head and replied, "Up till now, I haven't gotten any clues nor leads."

Shane's words started ringing in her ears again. Charlotte frowned and said, "I'll continue looking for other clues."

"I may have a way to get some answers, maybe we could give it a go," Christopher offered with a smile.

Charlotte's gloomy eyes suddenly lit up with hope. "What way?"

"Come with me," Christopher said, all mysterious.

Without a second thought, Charlotte followed him. Christopher brought her to the technical department and walked up to the department head.

He started typing on the keyboard and, within seconds, the screen in front of them started spewing out codes that looked as if it was all in a different language.

Charlotte glanced at Christopher in confusion.

Christopher simply smiled at her, motioning her to be patient.

About 20 minutes passed seemingly without progress.

Finally, the department head broke his silence and raised his head, tearing his eyes off of the screen. He turned to Christopher and said, "Mr. Gibson, everything’s set."

Christopher nodded firmly. He then stepped aside and gestured for Charlotte to come closer.

Although she still couldn't wrap her finger around what they were doing, Charlotte obediently approached.

On the man's monitor display was an active group chat window.

In the chat, there were talks about selling the design draft.

"This person, Steph - who is she?" Charlotte asked, pointing at the screen.

The department head went back at it again. A moment or two later, he raised his head again and said, "The IP address shows that it’s the fifth computer in the design department."

The fifth computer.

Charlotte pondered about the information and quickly realized whose computer it was. Wasn't this Stephanie Noland, who was a part of the design project?

Stephanie was a fresh graduate of the most recent batch and had just signed with the company not too long ago.

Thanks to her talents in designing, she was picked to be a part of the project. However, Charlotte didn't expect her to be the culprit.

Charlotte unwittingly looked up at Christopher only to find him smiling at her. Locking eyes with her, he said, T II leave matters in your good hands, then."

Upon returning to the design department, Charlotte's eyes landed directly on Stephanie.

Instinctively, Stephanie avoided Charlotte's intense gaze.

Charlotte sighed in her heart then stalked over to Stephanie's desk. With two fingers, she tapped lightly on the table and ordered, "Stephanie, come with me to my office."

All of a sudden, every pair of eyes in that office was focused on Stephanie.

Stephanie bit down on her lip and lowered her head. She trailed behind Charlotte and entered her office.

"Ms. Emerson, i-is there anything I can do for you?" Stephanie asked nervously as she counted her toes; she dared not meet Charlotte's eyes.

Stephanie was a very gentle and quiet girl. She had a tall, slim build. She wore a pair of glasses and always spoke in a soft, polite tone.

Charlotte had never expected that the culprit of the stolen design drafts would be someone like her. She couldn’t help but sympathize a little for her.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" Charlotte asked after a few seconds of silence.

Stephanie' s face turned white and she seemed to grow even more nervous. She stuttered, "N-no."

Seeing Stephanie bite her tongue with no intention of confessing, Charlotte took a deep breath and clicked open a screenshot of the chat log from earlier.

She showed it to Stephanie. "This 'Steph' is you, right?" Charlotte deplored, "Why did you steal the design drafts?"

Now that the evidence was in front of her, Stephanie finally broke down in tears.

"Ms. Emerson, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, but I really didn't mean to do it."

Stephanie was just in her early twenties, still new to the societal world.

Watching Stephanie whimpering in front of her, Charlotte couldn't bring herself to scold her as harshly as she deserved. However, when she thought of the severity of the situation, she coldly said, "What's done is done. Your apology is clearly useless to me right now. All we can do right now is wait for the company to settle the problem. On another note, to whom did you sell the designs? Was it Emerson Corporation?"

Stephanie kept her head down as she wept, reluctant to answer the question.

Seeing Stephanie's hesitation to answer the question, Charlotte pressed, "Are you still trying to hide the other party now that you've been caught? I can tell that you are passionate about designing and, as a matter of fact, very talented in it too. You have barely started your career; don’t tell me you'd willingly throw away your future in designing for a mere stranger!"

Charlotte’s words urged Stephanie's tears and she wailed even louder. After a while, she eventually calmed down and wiped away her tears. Only intermittent sobbing could be heard.

"I sold it to Ms. Page. No... I mean Tilly ”