Chapter 359: Don’t You Get It?
The moment Wendy finished speaking, she saw Todd shaking his head.
She was disappointed, but she expected it.
"I remember that I wanted to surprise Mr. Woods on that day as I completed a design. So, I didn’t knock on the door but crept to his office," Todd said as he recalled the events.
"He probably didn’t notice someone came in because he was on the phone.
"But it was a phone call after all, so they already knew what they were talking about. They naturally wouldn’t go into details, and I only got a general idea about the conversation.
"I thought about it after. The reason why Mr. Woods would let me leave HG was probably that I didn’t know much and I had no evidence.
"He thought that I wouldn’t pose a threat against him."
Todd recalled the time when he found out that Wendy got HG’s shares, and he went to look for Timothy.
Timothy warned him then that he had no evidence, and it would only put him at a disadvantage if he were to talk nonsense.
Wendy nodded when he heard what Todd said.
What he said made sense.
"But you have followed Mr. Woods for so many years. You would more or less know about his other affairs, wouldn’t you?" Wendy pursued further, unsatisfied with the information she gathered so far.
"I..." Todd swallowed back the words. He lowered his head, refusing to look into Wendy’s eyes.
"Todd, are you still keeping a secret now? Are you considering Mr. Woods’s kindness towards you so you refuse to help me fight against him?" Wendy tried to persuade him, observing his response.
Wendy saw that Todd remained silent, and she continued, "I know that you are a person who valued friendship, but we have to draw the line somewhere.
"You are heavily indebted to him, but it is a fact that he violated the law.
"There must be many things that we don’t know about in HG. We aren’t sure of how many people Mr. Woods has killed and how many illegal things he has committed.
"But if we don’t investigate further, Mr. Woods would go deeper into the pit.
"How many people would lose their lives because of him? How many businesses would declare bankruptcy because of HG?
"Todd, don’t you feel guilty turning a blind eye over the years?"
"I..." Todd gripped the wine glass tightly.
Then, he raised the glass and downed the wine.
"Corrine, don’t force me. I swore that I wouldn’t tell anyone about this. I already told you so much. Please stop asking me questions," Todd pleaded.
"It’s impossible for me to not ask," Wendy replied. "It is associated with my safety and my children’s safety. Back then, Christian sent people to tamper my car brake to put me and my children to death. Weren’t you there too? If I wasn’t lucky, I wouldn’t be sitting in front of you right now."
"What if I tell you that I swore by you back then?" Todd put down the wine glass and looked into Wendy’s eyes affectionately.
"Swore by me? Why did you swear by me?" Wendy was surprised.
Todd gulped before he explained, "Mr. Woods could tell that I care for you long ago, so he forced me to swear absolute secrecy. If I were to go against my words, I wouldn’t be able to be with the person I love the most for the rest of my life, and I wouldn’t have a good ending too."
Wendy was astonished at what Todd said.
Everyone already knew that Todd liked her back then?
She was to blame as she focused solely on her career. If she had noticed it earlier, she would have made it clear to Todd long ago.
Todd looked carefully into Wendy’s eyes. He seemed to be observing her response.
"Todd, swearing an oath doesn’t work... If swearing works, there won’t be so many people breaking up and divorcing in this world," Wendy said and pretended to be at ease, chuckling.
"Plus, the people who violated the law are Mr. Woods and Christian. If there were to be retribution, they should receive it first."
"So, you don’t care that I swore by you, do you?" Todd asked.
"Todd, you’re young. Why do you still believe in those?" Wendy actually knew what Todd meant, but she wasn’t sure how to respond to it. She could only play dumb.
What Todd cared about then wasn’t the promise he made.
To him, it was a string of hope.
Wendy’s attitude and stance were a letdown. The answer that Wendy gave him was clear.
Todd lowered his head. He wore a lonesome smile on his face, shaking his head. "It seems that everything happened gradually but inevitably."
"Todd..." Wendy felt bad, looking at Todd’s reaction.
She didn’t want to hurt Todd.
Wendy really did see Todd as her friend over the years.
He was a great senior and also a great friend.
Her mentor, Timothy Woods, had a secret agenda for treating her nice, but Todd had no other intention.
She was indebted to Todd.
"I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have forced you," Wendy apologized, nodding her head faintly at Todd. She continued, "I will not force you if you don’t want to say anything anymore. Pretend nothing happened... I thank you for telling me these."
Wendy stood up and said, "It’s late. Let’s go back."
Todd watched Wendy’s back as she turned to leave. He felt as though his entire body grew weak.
He slumped against the back of the chair. When Wendy walked out of the private room, he said, "I really have no idea who Mr. Woods killed. I don’t know if evidence exists either. But I know that there is a safe in Mr. Woods’s office. He doesn’t allow anyone to get close to the safe. Of course, there aren’t many people who know such a safe exists."
"Safe?" Wendy immediately turned back. "I’ve been to Mr. Woods’s office many times. I have never seen any safe. Are you sure it’s in his office?"
Todd nodded and continued, "The safe is, of course, not something you could see right when you enter the office. There is a concealed compartment on his office wall. It is in his break room."
Todd paused for a while before he added, "I found out about it by accident. A cleaner was cleaning the office and accidentally pressed the access button.
"I happened to be in his office then. I saw that he looked extremely nervous.
"I had yet to find out that he was involved in criminal activities then. He explained to me that he stored the company’s important information inside and that no one could see them.
"I didn’t suspect much then. After all, the company did have a lot of confidential documents.
"Ever since that day, he asked for a new cleaner.
"When I come to think about it now, Mr. Woods was probably worried that another incident like that would happen, so he changed the cleaner.
"As for what happened after that, I have no idea.
"If you hadn’t come and ask me about Mr. Woods, I would have almost forgotten about this."
"It seems that there might be evidence in the safe...," Wendy muttered, hanging her head low. She was deep in thought.
"It’s not definite if there’s evidence in the safe. There might really be some important company documents. HG is huge. It’s normal that some internal documents are kept from others," Todd said, trying to downplay it.
"If Mr. Woods cared so much about the safe, it wouldn’t be that simple. Regardless, I have to figure out a way to find out what’s in the safe," Wendy said seriously.
"Corrine, that’s exactly what I’m worried about. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. What I’m afraid the most is that you’ll put yourself in danger," Todd said.
"They don’t know that you’ve already found out about all these matters. It’s not too late for you to stop.
"But once they realized that you already found out, it would be too late even if you wanted to quit."
"I have never thought of quitting," Wendy replied, shaking her head. "Todd, I’m different from you. There’s no turning back for me.
"If you’re afraid, I won’t force you to help me.
"But please don’t stop me either.
"No matter what happens in the future, I won’t tell them that we spoke about this before."
"Corrine, don’t you get it? I’m worried that something might happen to you," Todd emphasized. His tone was full of concern.
From the very beginning, Todd didn’t want to tell Wendy about what he knew. Besides his promise to Timothy to not tell anyone about it, the main reason was that he was worried Wendy would put herself in danger after she found out about all this.
However, Wendy would stop at nothing for Michael and her two children.
Todd, oh, Todd. He actually stood no chance from the start.
Everything was merely his unreasonable desire.
Looking at Todd’s eyes, Wendy couldn’t help but apologize to him again.
However, Todd had never wanted an apology.
Todd clenched his fists tightly and blinked his eyes. He took a deep breath and asked, "Let me ask you one last time. Are you not willing to stay out of this?"
Wendy shook her head without hesitation.
"Fine..." Todd smiled. He seemed to have disregarded everything and made up his mind. "Call me if you need any help."
"You don’t have to get involved in this," Wendy said. At first, Wendy did wish for Todd to help her, but then she knew that Todd was in a difficult position.
To her, Timothy treating her well was a trap to begin with. However, to Todd, no matter how vicious Timothy was, he had never hurt him before.
"Michael is in Lake City. His power can’t penetrate Rheinsville. Plus, didn’t you say that he was busy fighting against Christian for a tender? I reckon he doesn’t have much time and effort to put in HG," Todd explained.
"As for Mr. Woods, I think there is no one who knows him better than I do.
"I have been in Rheinsville for so many years. Although I have only been in the design industry, I do have some connections.
"Although you are a top designer now, your focus has always been on the drawings but not making friends. Thus, your connections aren’t great. You want to fight against HG, Christian, and Mr. Woods alongside Michael.
"Without my help, you won’t have much chance of succeeding."
"I..." Wendy knew that Todd was right.
That was also the reason why she wanted to ask Todd for help in the beginning.
"It’s late. Let’s go. I will send you home," Todd said as he stood up. He took a step and suddenly recalled that he had some drink earlier. He smiled and said, "I might need you to drive instead. How about you send me home then?"
