Chapter 129: ’Sleeping’ Neville
Instead of getting scared of Bryan’s warning, he looked like he had found himself again.
"Him?" He looked at Neville, who looked weak and seemed to be sleeping.
He continued to say in disbelief, "Really? He doesn’t look like it."
Bryan was about to have a verbal battle with Keaton when Grayson interrupted them.
"What do you want?" Grayson asked as he put down the teacup he had just sipped on, displeased.
Bryan took it as Grayson didn’t like the tea he prepared, and brewed another batch. But Keaton had a different take on it.
He stared at Grayson, gauging his reaction before sighing.
"Can you give me a break?" He said, leaning his back down on the backrest of the sofa and closing his eyes. "My company is already on edge. We have a board to calm and a succession of fights to manage. You... acting like this... doesn’t help."
Grayson pursed his lips, and his eyes became sharp and cold.
"Not near enough," he murmured.
He raised the teacup to his mouth slowly and took a measured sip. But he frowned, displeased again.
Bryan saw it and frantically wondered what had gone wrong as he continued to brew another tea for Grayson.
Keaton’s eyes narrowed and frowned. Then his gaze slid to Neville with scrutiny and looked back at Grayson intently.
"Is it because of him?" he said, pointing at Neville, who had droplets of sweat glistening on his forehead. Then, he leaned back nonchalantly. "I honestly don’t think he is worth all this trouble."
When Bryan came back, he reached out to set the tea onto the table when Grayson gestured at him. Grayson then pointed at Neville. Bryan understood and moved the tea set away. He hurriedly came over to check on Neville.
Albeit in pain, Neville could still hear everything. He felt his stomach drop as his palms grew damp where they rested on the blanket.
How could this guy say that when the person in question was still present?!
But Neville forced himself to remain calm and pretend to sleep.
The moment the blanket was removed, Grayson could see Neville’s shirt clinging to his skin. His skin was flushed red, but Bryan gestured to Grayson that Neville was okay and that it was just the medicine kicking in.
Grayson straightened his back and changed into a comfortable position.
"Whether he’s worth it or not doesn’t matter," he said flatly. "This was all bound to happen regardless."
"What?" Keaton blinked as his expression cracked in bewilderment. "What are you talking about?"
Grayson’s mouth lifted slightly into an expression that wasn’t quite a smile.
"Did Mr. Hewitt forget that you poached our new hires? Promising them sweet nothings, golden opportunities, and pulling them into your side?"
His tone remained conversational, but in Keaton’s ears, it sounded like a reminder of his sins, making him guilty.
Grayson continued, "And then what? When the consequences came, they had no choice but to do your bidding. How... clever of you."
The word ’clever’ dripped with disdain.
How was it my fault? I didn’t force them to do that?! Keaton thought indignantly.
Then, he saw Bryan tap a few things on his holographic display and looked back at him proudly with an undisguised grin.
Keaton couldn’t take this shot lying down.
"I couldn’t help it. It’s all business, Mr. Maxwell," he said in defense and even continued in a tone of a senior in the industry. "Even if it’s not us, others in the same position will do too. There’s nothing personal in it."
"Hmm." Grayson’s nod was slight, almost dismissive.
Then he looked at Bryan, who instantly understood what to do. He tapped a few things on his light brain and sent an encrypted file to Keaton. Keaton’s light brain pinged with an incoming file.
"Setting aside Second Young Master’s numerous crimes and... hidden crimes? Let’s not mention the poaching, too." Bryan drawled with his usual sharp but humorous tone. "You seem to have collaborated rather closely with one of our department heads. Not just in rumors, but it was also documented. There were transfers and meetings scheduled under different aliases."
Keaton opened his light brain; his expression remained blank as he scanned the encrypted file and opened numerous files into several displays. Neville could hear Keaton’s breath hitching and breathing hard from time to time.
There were ledger entries, timestamped communications between a mid-level head at Maxwell Corporation. There were also named figures linked to HW. Starships that were sold without proper documentation and invoice numbers were flagged by the system.
For once, Keaton’s face didn’t move. He read, slow and careful, lines of text acting like a hand unwinding the knots of something hidden. Although he recognized most of it, there were some that only involved his name, but none that he could remember doing.
Even if he was curious about it, he couldn’t deal with that right now.
Keaton looked back at Grayson and said firmly, "As I said, this is all purely business matters."
"I see," Grayson said and paused, letting the silence stretch into an uncomfortable one.
No one noticed Neville waking up at this moment, talking to Bryan in hushed tones. Then Bryan led him to the kitchenette to ask for his advice.
Grayson went along with Keaton’s logic, steepling his fingers uncomfortably.
"You can say it’s just business," he continued, his tone deceptively mild, "but the military won’t see it that way."
Keaton’s composure instantly dropped like a curtain. His skin turned several shades whiter.
"What the hell do you mean?" he said, raising his voice in a panic.
He knew for sure that he had never dealt with anything personally that could alert the military. Every move he made was within the gray zone.
Grayson looked at Keaton, reading every change in his expression.
"The military is after Cox," he said slowly. "I don’t know the reason behind it, and I don’t need to because I’m not part of that world anymore. But if Cox’s office is being watched, anyone with dealings linked to him will be a target. And I’m certain Hunter will know the depth of it."
General Xavier Hunter.
The mention of this person’s surname instantly made Keaton inhale sharply. He became dizzy from all of this information. He tried to regulate his breathing, trying to calm himself, but the slight trembling of his hands betrayed him. He resorted to clasping his hands together until his knuckles turned white from pressure.
"You know if the military smells even a hint of corruption tied to our name, it’ll go beyond boards and lawsuits," Grayson continued, tapping a finger on the desk. "There will be headlines. There will be raids. There will be a scrutiny that will kill not only our Maxwell Corporation but also other companies."
"Even if I had a hundred guts," Keaton’s voice came out rough, "I wouldn’t mess with the military. You know that, Maxwell. I’m ambitious, not suicidal."
The sentence was a prayer, half-hope and half-plea.
"I know, but they don’t," Grayson said and then paused.
Grayson noticed Neville approaching him from behind. Neville somehow woke up and teleported there in the middle of their heated conversation. It almost made him impulsively ask Neville if they had disturbed his rest.
Silence filled the room with tension.
Grayson was letting Keaton think this whole thing through. Keaton suddenly lifted his head and stared at Grayson, understanding dawning in his eyes.
He was trapped, caught in the middle of a bigger power struggle than a measly family brawl.
Silence descended again, thick and oppressive.
Neville could practically see the wheels turning in everyone’s heads. He found himself unconsciously leaning closer to Grayson and started gracefully pouring the tea into Grayson’s cup as an excuse.
Taking a deep breath, Neville stepped forward.
"Sir," he said directly, "wouldn’t it be better to clean all of them up at the same time in the grand meeting?"
All heads turned towards him, and for a moment, Neville felt like he was being stripped naked.
Grayson’s eyebrows furrowed, and he said, "Explain."
Neville swallowed, still trembling from weakness, but he gathered enough courage to voice his opinion. After all, this was the perfect time and opportunity to enact his revenge.
He carefully organized his plan and said, "The Project Aegis collaboration meeting is in a few days. All the major players will be there too–Director Cox, the other department heads, the board members who have been turning a blind eye to this will surely be there."
He paused, gauging their reactions. Bryan leaned forward, intrigued. Keaton’s eyes narrowed, but he was listening. Grayson’s expression remained unreadable, but his intense gaze made Neville more nervous than before.
"If we move against them individually, they’ll scatter like roaches when the light turns on," Neville continued, warming to his topic.
"But at the meeting, with everyone present, if we even add some of the PR team watching..." He spread his hands. "One coordinated strike could eliminate all of the rotten heads at once."
"Interesting." Grayson’s tone gave nothing away.
Neville, albeit still a little weak, giddily and excitedly pulled out his long-awaited secret file that he had been hiding all this time.
