Chapter 686 Shiver
"Why are you here?" Sophia felt a weird flutter in her chest.
Jake flashed a gentle smile. "I'm here to give you a lift to work."
"Aren't you swamped lately?"
"Nah, I'm good."
Sophia hesitated but got into the car.
Jake glanced over. "You don't want me to drive you?" His voice had a hint of hurt.
Sophia sighed. "No, it's just that it's a hassle for you. I have my own car, I can drive myself."
If Jake hadn't shown up out of the blue, she would've driven herself to work today.
Jake grinned. "It's no trouble at all."
He thought to himself, 'If I found reclaiming what's mine troublesome, I wouldn't have come back.'
Jake pulled out a bouquet of flowers from somewhere and handed them to Sophia.
Sophia was taken aback.
"Passed by a flower shop, saw these beauties. The shopkeeper said they were fresh this morning, so I couldn't resist."
Jake had given her flowers before. Back then, she even mistook flowers from Gabriel as being from Jake.
'But why is Jake giving me flowers now?' she wondered, feeling something was off.
She couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Sophia met Jake's eyes and suddenly got it.
At some point, his gaze had turned more affectionate, not just friendly.
A suspicion crept into Sophia's mind.
"Don't you like them?" Jake asked, a bit uneasy since Sophia hadn't taken the bouquet yet.
Sophia pushed down her suspicion, telling herself not to overthink it, and finally accepted the flowers.
"I really like them, thanks, my friend."
Jake pretended not to notice her distance.
At Fusion Dynamics Corporation, Sophia got out of the car.
"Sophia," Jake called out.
She turned around. "Something else?"
Jake made a gesture. "Good luck!"
Sophia smiled. "Thanks!"
She turned back and walked towards the company, suddenly realizing Jake had called her name very affectionately.
It seemed he had done the same last night, but she was too worried about Gabriel to notice.
Jake's change in tone made Sophia feel awkward again.
'I see Jake as a friend, but does he want more?' she wondered.
The flowers in her hand suddenly felt thorny.
Jake, in a good mood, drove to his own company. Before getting out of the car, he was still smiling, but his face turned cold and indifferent as soon as he stepped out.
Micah was waiting for him in the office. As soon as Jake walked in, Micah started his report.
"The task you assigned yesterday is done."
Jake responded lazily.
"Gabriel is making a big fuss trying to find the leaker, but even if he does, it won't help. The project can't continue, and all his investment is down the drain."
"Based on our calculations, Gabriel's investment in this project is about half of Lancaster Group's market value."
Jake's lips curled into a wicked smile. "Not enough, Gabriel has a lot of personal assets."
If it came to that, Gabriel would use his personal assets to cover the company's financial gap, causing him personal loss.
Micah hesitated.
Jake shot him a cold look. "Spit it out!"
Micah shivered. "We have some data on this project. If we can redevelop it, Micro Circuit Group will surpass Lancaster Group and become unshakable in the country."
Jake's gaze turned icy, and the tension in the room skyrocketed as he stared down Micah.
Micah's voice got quieter and quieter until he couldn't speak anymore.
He hadn't forgotten what happened to Grant.
After being sent back to Country M, Grant couldn't handle losing his authority and had a huge falling out with Jake. Now, Grant was struggling in Country M, with almost no company willing to hire him.
Jake sneered, "Do you think Micro Circuit Group can only succeed by stealing others' work?"
Micah trembled and quickly shook his head. "No, that's not what I meant."
"Good."
Micah had braced himself for Jake to blow up. He was almost in despair, but Jake only said one sentence.
Micah cautiously glanced at Jake and saw he wasn't angry.
He let out a sigh of relief. "Mr. Hughes, what should we do next?"
Jake lightly tapped the table. "Next..."
Sophia got a call from the mental hospital where Tiffany was being held.
"Miss Kelly, last night, Tiffany somehow got out of her room and got stuck in an elevator all night. This morning, when we found her, she was worse. She's now terrified of elevators, like there's a ghost inside."
Sophia was stunned and thought, 'Tiffany stuck in an elevator? A coincidence? No way!'
Sophia said, "Okay, I understand. Keep an eye on her for me."
"Okay, Miss Kelly, don't worry."
When Tiffany was diagnosed with a mental illness, Sophia worried she was faking it to dodge legal responsibility. So, she had someone monitor Tiffany under the guise of a caregiver.
Sophia held her phone, thinking hard.
It felt like someone was using the same method to get back at Tiffany.
Sophia thought, 'But who could it be? Gabriel? Isn't he busy with the company's mess? Does he have time for this? And why now? It doesn't add up.'
Sophia suddenly thought of Jake.
Last night, she had just told Jake that Sam was traumatized and started speaking after being locked in an elevator by Tiffany. And today, Tiffany went even crazier after being stuck in an elevator all night.
The phone slipped from her hand and clattered onto the table, snapping her back to reality.
Her heart was racing.
She thought of Patricia.
The bouquet of flowers from the morning was still on the table. When she walked into the office, Larry and a few colleagues had teased her, thinking Gabriel had sent them. She didn't bother to explain.
The flowers were beautiful and fragrant, but now they gave her an inexplicable chill.
'What kind of person is Jake really? Is he truly as pure, kind, gentle, and healing as he seems?' she wondered.
Watching the Watson Group decline, Aragorn angrily sat up from his hospital bed, startling Ashley, who was dozing off nearby.
"Aragorn, what are you doing?" Ashley patted her chest in shock.
"Get me discharged. I want to leave the hospital," Aragorn said sternly.
"No, you're not well enough to be discharged. If you need something done, let Paul handle it."
"I need to go to the company. The Watson Group cannot collapse!"
Aragorn threw off the covers and tried to get up, but a wave of dizziness almost made him fall back onto the bed.
He gripped the bedpost tightly, swaying a few times before steadying himself.
His pale face was now flushed with anger.
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