Chapter 271 Anne Accepts the Investigation
"Diana, this is all your fault!" Anne hissed before storming off to find me at the Cooper Group.
Right then, a bunch of cops ran into Anne at the office entrance. The lead officer flashed his badge and said, "Ms. York, we're with the police. We've got reports of some shady stuff going on with the Howard Group's overseas accounts. We think you might be using the company's name for your own gain. We need you to cooperate with our investigation."
Anne's world crumbled in an instant. She muttered, "I knew this would come out eventually."
She held out her hands to the officers, saying, "Take me away. I'll tell you everything."
The officers, looking a bit confused, pushed her aside and walked into the office.
"What are you doing? We're here to investigate, not arrest you right now. Open your computer," the lead officer instructed.
Anne, feeling numb, opened her computer and let them copy all the data.
As the officers finished up and were about to leave, Anne suddenly stood up and rushed to the lead officer, her eyes wild with desperation. "Officer, I know I messed up. Can I make it right? I can tell you everything I know. Please, give me a chance!"
The officer frowned, gently pried her hands off, and said, "Your cooperation might help, but the final outcome will be up to the law."
With that, the officers left, leaving Anne alone in the office.
Lucas was the one who told me about this.
That day, I was in a video conference with Fiona and David.
An email popped up in my inbox, the subject line grabbing my attention—"Trouble at the Howard Group."
Curiosity got the best of me, and I opened it right away. Lucas had laid out everything that had gone down at the Howard Group.
I was so wrapped up in the email that I didn't even hear David, who was presenting from Ignis, until he raised his voice and asked, "Diana, are you still with us?"
Snapping back to reality, I quickly responded, "Yes, I'm here. Go on."
Fiona noticed my distraction and asked, "Diana, did something happen?"
I nodded and said, "Yeah, something happened, but not on my end. It's the Howard Group."
Fiona chuckled and teased, "Diana, looks like you still care about Edward."
I could only smile wryly and shake my head.
"It's not about Edward; it's about Anne misappropriating funds from the Howard Group to invest in a research project that originally belonged to our company—even though I'm not involved with that project anymore."
Not wanting the Griffin Group to get too tangled up in this mess, I said, "It's just the Howard Group and Anne's issue. It doesn't concern me. We need you two to focus on our project."They both nodded seriously, assuring me, "Of course. The project's success benefits both of us, so we'll give it our all."
After the meeting, I immediately called Lucas. The call connected, and Lucas's voice was calm as ever.
I got straight to the point, "Lucas, is everything you said in the email true?"
Lucas replied confidently, "Absolutely."
"How do you know?" I asked, puzzled.
Lucas replied, "I overheard Anne telling my dad that she's being investigated for embezzling funds."
He paused, then added, "She's my dad's mistress. Do you know how much liquid capital the Howard Group has left?"
"How much?" I asked, intrigued.
"Less than ten million dollars," Lucas said it nonchalantly, but his words shocked me.
"Less than ten million dollars? How is that even possible? The Howard Group is massive. How could they have so little liquid capital left? Does Edward know about this?" I asked in disbelief.
Lucas was silent for a moment before asking another question. "Guess who reported Anne?"
A suspicion arose in my mind: Could it be Edward?
But I quickly dismissed the thought, shaking my head and muttering, "No way. He values family too much to report Anne."
Lucas seemed to understand my thoughts and said, "He does care about his relationship with Anne, but with such a serious issue at hand, even if Edward can remain calm, the other employees won't easily forgive her. The one who reported her was Edward's personal assistant."
"Albert?" Albert's upright face instantly flashed through my mind.
I wanted to ask more, but Lucas suddenly said, "Alright, Diana, I have to go. I need to cut some fruit for Lila."
With that, the line went dead.
But my mind was still tangled with countless questions.
I had Clara handle the investments, partly to let her learn a tough lesson, but I never expected that she and Anne would end up draining the Howard Group. With the situation critical, I immediately called an emergency meeting with Theo, Cassius, and others.
I turned to Theo and said, "This issue started with us, so we must handle it carefully. Theo, find out how much Clara invested in that tech project."
Theo quickly worked on his computer, then turned the screen to me and reported, "She invested less than a hundred million dollars in total. Even if all that money came from the Howard Group, it shouldn't have been enough to bring them down."
Cassius added gravely, "I had a hacker friend access Clara's accounts. Aside from the tech project you recommended, she invested in many other projects, all of which unfortunately lost money. Even the tech project started to decline after you handed it over to her. So, as far as we can tell, this won't have a significant impact on the Cooper Group."
Hearing this, I finally felt a sense of relief and sighed. "That's good. No matter what, the Cooper Group can't fall into crisis." But as soon as I said it, a sharp pain pierced my heart.
I silently asked myself: When did I become someone who values profit so much?
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