The Heiress’ Return: Six Brothers at Her Beck and Call (Wynter Quinnell) novel Chapter 2010

After a while, Wolf stopped and looked at Wynter. "It's done, Boss!"

Wynter came over upon hearing that and brought up the surveillance feed, then located the video of her conversation with Colten.

She smiled and instructed, "Save this part of the recording. Colten's pretty much done for now."

Wolf nodded and clipped the recording with a swipe of his finger.

After saving it, Wynter called Reese. "Everything's ready, Mr. Grier. Once the meeting begins, Colten will no longer have a chance to turn things around."

Reese replied in a low voice, "Okay. I'll leave you to expose his true colors at the meeting, then."

Wynter said calmly, "Of course."

Reese hummed in acknowledgement, then added, "I was skeptical back when the mainland contacted me, but your performance has made me change my perspective of the mainland.

"For the longest time, Havenia hasn't had a favorable opinion on the mainland, but now, it seems like we've been too narrow-minded."

Wynter's eyebrows rose slightly. "That's because rumors tend to snowball, and most people believe in them without bothering to see things for themselves. After all, one has to travel to the mainland to truly know it."

Reese smiled faintly. "You're right. Once I've retired, I'll visit the mainland and have a good look around myself, especially around Northwestern Cascadia, as you recommended."

Wynter said calmly, "No problem. If you plan to visit, I'll instruct some people to bring you to the best places to eat and have fun around Cascadia."

Reese's smile was as wide as ever. "That'd be wonderful. It's a promise, then. I'll experience the mainland for myself when the time comes."

Wynter declared in a clear and firm voice, "It's a deal. I hope you'll be able to enjoy yourself."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Reese hung up to attend to some other matters.

Wynter put away her phone and looked at Dalton. "I just thought of something. Do we need to bring some things along to Magota?"

Dalton looked up and replied, "I've already prepared your luggage for you. All you need to bring along are some clothes. Everything else should be available over there."

Hearing that, Wynter arched an eyebrow at him. "You actually have this well thought out. Does that mean our living quarters have already been prepared as well?"

"Of course," Dalton replied indifferently. "There's a house in the city center that we can live in."

Wynter put her hand on her chin. "Meticulous to a fault—these words perfectly describe you."

Dalton turned toward her. "Whatever floats your boat."

Wynter looked away. "It's getting late. I have to wash up and pack. We'll be able to settle things in Havenia tomorrow. My one small regret is that we couldn't find that old bastard."

"Let's just leave it up to fate. Sometimes, you may not be able to find someone or something when you're actively looking for them, but they'll abruptly appear in front of you when you least expect it."

"That's true. There are people watching over Cascadia from the shadows, so nothing unexpected should happen."

Wynter paused before continuing, "I probably won't be bringing you and Wolf along tomorrow."

Dalton reassured her gently, "It's alright. I'll be taking Wolf out for a walk, so you should be able to see us before you return."

"Okay," Wynter replied before walking toward the bathroom.

A while later, after they'd all taken turns washing up, they bid each other good night before returning to their respective rooms.

Time flew by, and by the time Wynter woke up, it was already 8:30 am.

According to her plan, she had to head to the meeting right now. At that thought, she sat up, got out of bed, and went to wash up.

When she was done getting ready and walked out of her room, Dalton looked at her and said, "Breakfast is ready. You can eat it on your way there."

She nodded. "Okay. I'll be heading out first, then."

Dalton offered her a calm reminder. "Be careful. None of the people at the meeting today will be simple to deal with. If anything unexpected happens, feel free to contact me anytime."

Wynter walked over to the doorway before looking back at him. "I'm more than capable of dealing with some pests on their last legs."

With that, she promptly walked out.

After getting into the car, she narrowed her eyes at the folder in her hands. She knew that Colten wouldn't believe her, which was why he'd pushed these tip-off materials onto her. This way, even if his plan failed, he would still be able to shift the responsibility onto her.

Her eyes dimmed. If she wanted to ruin his plans, she would have to play along with him first. Although she had that clipped recording of their conversation, the video contained no audio.

She would simply have to be patient and systematic in guiding him into thinking victory was in his grasp. When he inevitably proceeded to reveal his true colors, she would seize the chance to let Carven take the stage and put a bow on things.

Thinking about this allowed Wynter to regain her composure. The car also soon stopped in front of the government building.

After getting out of the car, Wynter gazed at the building in front of her.

In her mind's eye, it appeared like a set of stairs that everyone was trying their best to climb. These people were even willing to resort to underhanded tactics to bring their competitors down, so they could rise to the top themselves.

When she reached the entrance, the security guards at the door stopped her. She took out an identification document. "I'm Mr. Grier's assistant. I have to set up the executive meeting today."

The security guard glanced at the document before saying, "Please come in, Ms. Quinnell."

Wynter took the document back before walking straight inside. The meeting was going to be held on the 18th floor.

As soon as she arrived on the first floor, she found many people walking around. Some had documents in their arms, while others were on their phones.

She walked toward the elevator and entered it. After swiping her access card and pressing the button for the 18th floor, the elevator began slowly moving upward.

With a chime, the elevator announced that she'd arrived at her destination. She walked out onto the floor specially reserved for meetings.

Glasses of water had already been placed around the table. All she had to do was wait for the meeting attendees to arrive.

A familiar voice commented from behind her, "You're here early, Wynter."

She turned to look at Reese. "I haven't been here for very long."

She paused and looked around before continuing in a lowered voice, "We'll have to put on a little show later, Mr. Grier."

Reese was slightly confused. "Oh? What kind of show?"

Wynter said very quietly, "You'll understand once you've had a look at the contents of this folder."

After Reese took the folder from her and took out the documents from inside, he frowned. "This is… Did Colten give these to you?"

Wynter nodded lightly. "Yes. He wants me to present this evidence at the meeting so that he can accuse you of accepting bribes."

Reese placed the documents back in the folder. "You mentioned that to me before. What role do I need to play in this show you mentioned, then?"

Wynter lowered her gaze and whispered into his ear for a moment before standing up straight again.

Reese hummed in acknowledgement. "I'll do as you say."

As soon as the words left his mouth, someone stepped out of the elevator and walked into the room.

The people attending the meeting this time were all at least at a deputy director's level. As such, each person in attendance pretty much had enough authority to control half of Havenia.

Wynter's eyebrows rose slightly. "What you're seeing is the truth, Mr. Grier. Do you dare claim that you haven't been taking bribes? A simple investigation was all it took to get hold of this evidence."

Reese wanted to explain himself, but there wasn't a single weakness to exploit among the contents of the document.

Colten plastered an expression of disbelief on his face. "Is this true, Mr. Grier? You're destroying your own future with this!"

Reese replied coldly, "I've never accepted any bribes. The situations mentioned in this document never happened, either!"

Nobody else spoke up. They were all aware that this was no minor affair, so Colten was the only one qualified to question Reese.

"How are you going to prove it?" Colten asked righteously. "If you can prove your own innocence, then your assistant must have maliciously framed you for this incident!"

Reese clutched the document tightly. "I… I meant what I said. I didn't do it, so don't be misled by other parties."

He then raised his voice slightly and ordered, "Security! Please lead Ms. Quinnell away."

However, nobody heeded his command.

Colten's expression darkened. "This matter needs to be thoroughly investigated, Mr. Grier. Otherwise, Ms. Quinnell will have to remain here lest we have grounds to suspect that you want to eliminate any loose ends."

He looked at Wynter and asked, "Are the contents of this document true, Ms. Quinnell?"

Wynter replied calmly, "Absolutely. I obtained these pieces of evidence through multiple investigations, so Mr. Grier can't explain his way out of this. You must believe me and take my side, Mr. Audley."

Colten nodded. "As long as I'm around, nobody will be able to lay a hand on you on the condition that your testimony is true. I won't be able to protect you otherwise."

Reese looked at Colten. "Do you not trust me, Mr. Audley?"

Colten looked directly into his eyes. "Of course I trust you, Mr. Grier. However, do you truly not have anything to say regarding this situation?"

Hearing that, Reese simply clenched his fists and said nothing.

Colten was inwardly elated, but he pretended to sigh and said, "If you have no explanation for this, Mr. Grier, I'll have no choice but to ask everyone here for their opinions."

Upon hearing this, everyone started speaking up one after another.

"You're certainly a very high-ranking official, Mr. Grier, but a crime is a crime, no matter what position you hold. You may be the chief executive, but according to the current laws, you should voluntarily resign and submit yourself to an investigation for accepting bribery."

"That's right. We'll follow Mr. Audley's lead on how to resolve this issue."

Reese looked up. "Can't any of you tell how obviously fake this evidence is?"

"I can't tell," Colten replied with a faint smile. "How are you going to prove that it's fake? Why would anyone transfer hundreds of millions of dollars to your bank account for no reason? Why would something like this only happen to you?"

Reese argued with flagging confidence, "My bank account information is private, and few people know about it. Therefore, I must have been framed."

Colten sighed. "I've already given you a chance to admit your guilt, Mr. Grier, but you refused to do so."

Then, he declared in a louder voice, "The chief executive should be an example to the rest of us, not someone who refuses to admit their guilt or think of resolutions when someone files a report against them. You've let us down greatly, Mr. Grier."

He looked at Wynter and added, "Nobody can lay a hand on you today, Ms. Quinnell. Please tell us what else you know."

Wynter said calmly, "So far, I've only discovered Mr. Grier's acceptance of bribes. I haven't found out anything else."

Colten nodded. "In that case, let's vote on this. Please raise your hand if you think Mr. Grier should be allowed to keep his position."

Only a few people raised their hands in response.

Colten smiled at that. "Since that's how things are…"