Chapter 34 Guilty and Deceptive
The doorbell rang as Sharon was watching a soap opera on her tablet.
Seeing Alex on the surveillance monitor, holding two food boxes, Sharon frowned slightly.
When she opened the door, Sharon had no intention of letting him in. "Give me the food boxes."
Alex understood her meaning but didn't move. He looked a bit aggrieved. "Sharon, I was so busy at noon that I didn't have lunch. I just got off work and wanted to have dinner with you."
Sharon thought he didn't have to come and she didn't need him. But thinking of her plan, she hesitated for a moment and let him in.
Alex's tall figure made the already small living room feel even more cramped.
He placed the food boxes on the dining table, opened them, and called Sharon over to eat.
Alex asked, "In two weeks, it's your birthday. What do you want this year?"
Sharon paused for a moment, lowered her eyes, and said, "Nothing in particular."
At the beginning of the year, Alex had promised to take her on a vacation to Glimmer Isle, a place she had always wanted to visit, for her birthday.
Only a few months had passed, and Alex had apparently forgotten all about it. But that was fine; it would make it easier for her to stick to her plan against him.
Alex said, "Then I need to think about what to get you. If you think of anything, just let me know."
"Okay."
After dinner, Alex told Sharon to relax on the couch and watch TV while he cleaned up the dishes. In the past, when Alex and Sharon wanted to enjoy some alone time, they would take a few days off, and Sharon would cook during those days.
Sharon nodded and got up, no longer feeling sorry for his exhaustion after a day's work.
After cleaning up the table, Alex washed his hands and sat down next to Sharon.
Sharon slightly turned her body to create some distance between them and asked, "You're done with dinner. When are you thinking of leaving?"
Alex looked at her helplessly. "Sharon, I just sat down. Ever since you stayed out all night, we haven't had a proper talk. If this continues, our conflicts will only get worse."
As she observed his sincere expression, a trace of mockery flickered in Sharon's eyes. She believed that the only solution to their problems, ever since he cheated, was divorce.
Sharon asked, "What do you want to talk about?"
Alex asked, "It was my fault for cheating. How long do you plan to punish me?"
The uncertainty of when they might reconcile was torturing him. He wanted a timeline.
Sharon's hand tightened slightly, and she said in a low voice, "I've told you before, I don't know. Maybe when I no longer love you, I won't care about these things anymore."
A wave of bitterness surged in Alex's heart. He would rather she continued to hate him than she no longer loved him. At least that way, he would still be in her heart.
After a long silence, he got up and left quietly.
It wasn't until she heard the door close that Sharon reached up to rub her swollen eyes.
Sharon thought, 'He has cheated, but why did he still act so affectionate in front of me? No matter what he does, we can never go back to the way things were.'
Just then, a phone call interrupted Sharon's thoughts.
Seeing that it was Susan calling, she quickly answered, "Susan, any results from this morning's issue?"
Susan replied, "Yes, we've basically figured it out. Someone did switch the labels on the dilute and concentrated sulfuric acid."
Sharon bit her lower lip and asked in a deep voice, "Who was it?"
"Elizabeth," Susan replied.
Sharon said, "Just as expected."
After the explosion in the lab this morning, Sharon's first suspicion was Irene. But Irene wouldn't be foolish enough to do it herself; it had to be someone trying to flatter her.
Susan asked, "I called to ask how you plan to handle this. Should we call the police or settle it privately?"
Sharon raised an eyebrow. It seemed Susan preferred a private resolution; otherwise, she wouldn't have specifically asked for Sharon's opinion.
But Sharon hadn't wronged Elizabeth; it was Elizabeth who had tried to harm her.
Thinking of this, Sharon said coldly, "Call the police."
There was a brief silence on the other end before Susan responded, "Alright, the police might ask you to come to the station tomorrow to give a statement. Keep your phone on."
Sharon replied, "Okay, thank you for handling this, Susan."
Susan sighed and said earnestly, "Sharon, you're still young. It's good to be decisive, but sometimes forgiving others is also a way to help yourself."
Sharon said, "Susan, I understand, but I can't be soft-hearted with everyone. If Mr. Smith hadn't been there today, I might have been disfigured."
Moreover, this incident could affect Sharon's job. If she got fired from Medica Care International Pharmaceuticals because of this, which pharmaceutical company would want her in the future?
It was not that she didn't want to let Elizabeth off; it was that Elizabeth didn't want to let her off.
Knowing she couldn't persuade Sharon, Susan said no more and hung up the phone.
Sharon put down her phone. Thinking about how Seb had shielded her from the concentrated sulfuric acid in his suit this morning, she couldn't help but frown.
Considering that this was the second time Seb had ruined a suit for her, should she buy him two new suits to make up for it?
She never liked owing people favors. So after a few seconds of hesitation, she opened a high-end custom clothing website, estimated Seb's size, and ordered two suits, sending them directly to the CEO's office at Silvercrest Group.
Meanwhile, in Susan's office.
After hanging up the phone, Susan looked at Paul, who was sitting across from her, and said wearily, "Mr. Harris, Ms. Wright wants to call the police."
If Paul hadn't come to personally oversee this matter, she would have tried to persuade Sharon further. After all, this directly affected Elizabeth's future.
But on second thought, if they hadn't found out it was Elizabeth, Sharon would have had to take the blame, and she was nearly disfigured. If not handled properly, it could also affect Sharon's future.
Paul nodded and said, "Alright, I understand. I'll handle this personally. Mr. Smith mentioned that this incident also highlights Medica Care International Pharmaceuticals' lack of oversight. Ms. Lewis, Mr. Smith hopes you can improve employee management."
Susan replied, "I understand. Thank you, Mr. Harris."
After Paul left, Susan picked up the fingerprint comparison report on her desk and couldn't help but sigh.
In reality, no fingerprints were obtained from the labels. The false information was deliberately leaked to observe potential reactions and mistakes.
The fingerprints gathered later in the day were cross-referenced with the initial hiring records. All the prints matched except for Elizabeth's, revealing a mismatch.
Had she not attempted deception, her identity might have remained concealed. Elizabeth's own cunning had ultimately worked against her.
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