Chapter 3
"Wait, your girlfriend works at our company too?" I asked, surprised.
Grinning slyly, Nelson replied, "Yeah, Tina Jones from the Marketing Department."
"I keep forgetting to bring my card with me, so I ask her to keep it for me," he added, "Hurry up! She places it in the first folder on the east side of the file cabinet, labeled Archives."
"You really know how to boss people around," I said with a sigh. "Fine, I'll go look for it."
Realizing I compromised, he then said, "Thanks, Amigo. The next round's on me. By the way, if you could attend the gala, it would—"
"Fuck off!" I yelled at him on the phone.
*****
The archive room was far larger than I'd imagined, with rows of metal filing cabinets standing in perfect order.
Following Nelson's instructions, I quickly located the contract he needed, snapped some shots with my phone, and sent them over.
"Done." I let out a sigh of relief. Just as I was about to head out, suddenly, a familiar voice reached me from the end of the hallway.
"Who else could still be in the office this late?" I wondered. Curiosity getting the better of me, I followed the voice—only to hear familiar laughter drifting from the VIP lounge.
Peering through the crack, I saw a celebration in Yosef's name for Yosef—my stolen triumph.
Reflected in the glass wall were Yolanda's swaying pearl earrings as she clinked her champagne flute with Yosef.
"What's Yolanda doing here? She's just an admin assistant!" I wondered in shock.
Besides, she texted me three hours ago, saying that she was taking care of her mom at her place.
How come she was wearing a Guciano trench coat I'd never seen before? Let alone that awfully expensive brooch pinned at the collar!
Her voice drifted through the crack in the floor-to-ceiling and crept into my ears: "He did an outstanding job on this M&A deal, but I still don't want any of you to breathe a word about it."
"Looks like she's with other senior executives," I murmured.
But as I listened to her, I just couldn't make sense of it.
"Let's go with this year's executive dividend plan as it stands. We can announce it at tomorrow night's annual gala," said a lady. "By the way, make sure to transfer his share to my Alpenwald bank account."
That was Yolanda's voice, strange and cold.
"Ms. Scott, in that case, Yale's year-end bonus would shrink again," said Ms. Shirley Lynn.
"Ms. Scott? Why so respectful? Is there a big shot also named Scott?" I asked myself quietly.
"Just do as I say," Yolanda replied in a domineering tone.
"Besides, you know what they say—money changes men for the worse," she continued. "That's why I keep his finances on a tight leash. Just my way of testing him."
"Is Ms. Scott Yolanda? Is she just an administrative assistant?" I lost myself in thought, with my fingers frozen on the contract and my ears buzzing.
Their next words completely rocked my world!
Yolanda didn't stop talking. "Besides, his money is mine by right. Isn't it only natural for a wife to keep her husband's money?"
"Your husband will never know you've been manipulating his career behind the scenes all these years," said the CFO Mandy Shelton. "How pitiful!"
"Tell you what, when I checked his department budget last week, I found he even kept receipts of coffees he bought for the clients," Mandy continued.
"That's what I call risk management," Yolanda said smugly. "How adorable he looked back then, emptying his college fund just to buy me that diamond ring."
Having realized something, she suddenly lowered her voice. "You know what? He still believes I only make $2,000 a month."
Then she lowered her head and started typing on her phone.
Seeing that, my blood ran cold. Seconds later, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I just got a message from Yolanda.
"Honey, don't forget to eat the pork rib soup. I've set the microwave timer for it," she wrote in that message. The lock screen still showed the picture of us enjoying hotpot at a street food stall.
"Besides, even if I didn't dock his pay and gave him every penny, he'd just end up handing it all back to me anyway." Yolanda continued, looking up after sending out that message. "That's why I've decided to skip the middle part and give him some character-building experience."
"Character-building experience?" Mandy retorted. "You've been holding him back for years. If it weren't for you, with his track record, he would have been promoted to CTO already."
"I just don't get you!" she continued. "You're from the prestigious Scott family and running a listed company. Why on earth would you give your husband a hard time?"