Chapter 263 Can You Give Everyone an Explanation?
Lucia's words silenced the room instantly.
Everyone's eyes turned to Stella.
Whispers started:
"Mrs. Foster and Miss Wilson never got along."
"But would Mrs. Foster really risk the company's reputation?"
"Maybe she thinks Mr. Foster will back her no matter what."
The murmurs grew.
In the midst of it all, Stella stayed surprisingly calm.
She glanced at Lucia, her eyes wide with surprise. "Are you sure computer number 52 is mine?"
Lucia nodded, frowning. "Yes, I assigned it to you."
Stella's brow furrowed. "Really? How could this happen?"
She looked puzzled, first at Lucia, then at Jasper, her expression shifting from surprise to shock to anger.
"This has to be a mistake! How could it have come from my computer?" Stella said, walking over and grabbing Jasper's arm. "Jasper, there must be some misunderstanding."
Jasper frowned, giving everyone a cold look. "I don't believe Stella would do this."
Scarlett quickly nodded. "Someone's framing Mrs. Foster."
"This is awful! They recorded our meeting and uploaded it using Mrs. Foster's computer!"
"They're trying to ruin our group's reputation and cause trouble between Mr. Foster and Mrs. Foster!"
Scarlett turned to Jasper. "Mr. Foster, we need to find out who did this and who put them up to it!"
"Since the video was uploaded yesterday afternoon, let's see who used Mrs. Foster's computer then!"
"I agree!" Stella said, still holding Jasper's arm. "We need to find out who did this and who's behind it!"
The room fell silent again.
Adeline sat quietly, holding her folder.
Scarlett had been getting closer to Stella lately.
Their growing friendship was definitely a problem.
Thinking this, she turned to look at Jasper but noticed Anne, who was sitting next to her and looking pale.
She frowned and whispered, "Are you okay?"
Anne jumped at her voice, knocking over a water cup.
The porcelain cup shattered on the floor, water spilling everywhere.
Anne panicked and bent down to pick it up.
Adeline grabbed her hand. "Let me handle it."
Adeline stood up, grabbed a broom, and swept the pieces aside.
Anne followed her to a secluded spot.
Adeline lowered her voice. "What's wrong?"
Anne looked pale and tearful.
She bit her lip, her voice barely a whisper. "Yesterday afternoon, Mrs. Foster said her computer had issues and couldn't send emails. She asked me to check it."
"I checked, and there was nothing wrong. Mrs. Foster asked me to send the emails for her."
"Then she said there was a program running on the computer and asked me to watch it for a while as she had to leave."
Anne's eyes filled with tears.
She whispered, "Adeline, what should I do?"
Adeline felt a wave of dizziness.
Stella and Scarlett teaming up was definitely bad news.
She never thought Stella would pin the video upload on her.
After all, Adeline had spent the entire afternoon at the police station waiting to see Daniel.
But she didn't expect Stella to target Anne.
Anne was an assistant Blake had found online when she was too busy.
Blake said Anne was smart and capable, someone he had carefully selected.
Adeline trusted Blake, so she let Anne join without going through HR.
In the Foster Group, almost everyone assumed Anne was Adeline's person.
But now, Stella framed Anne for uploading the video and claimed to find out who was behind it.
"Am I going to be fired?"
Anne looked at Adeline with tearful eyes. "No, getting fired is the least of my worries. Am I going to jail?"
Adeline sighed.
The more Anne cried, the more chaotic Adeline felt inside.
At that moment, Ryan returned from the monitoring room with the surveillance footage and saw the two of them at the meeting room door. He couldn't help but call out, "Aren't you coming in? I brought the surveillance footage. Once we watch it, we'll know who recorded and uploaded the video online!"
At Ryan's words, Anne's face turned even paler.
Adeline sighed and grabbed Anne's wrist, following Ryan into the meeting room.
Avoiding the problem wouldn't solve it.
"What took you so long?" Seeing Adeline and Anne return, Stella, sitting beside the main seat, mocked, "I thought you weren't coming back."
With a more comfortable posture, Stella continued, "Adeline wasn't even in the office yesterday afternoon, but why do I sense a hint of fear in her eyes now?"
Scarlett quickly added fuel to the fire, "Could Adeline arrange to release yesterday's video? It's impossible. Wouldn't that be incriminating herself for plagiarism? Or maybe..."
Scarlett glanced around, "Adeline already knew that Brian would send an apology letter today, so she intentionally used Mrs. Foster's computer to release the video and frame her for plagiarism."
"To sow discord between Mr. and Mrs. Foster, perhaps?"
As Scarlett's words became more extreme, Lucia couldn't help but furrow her brow and speak up, "Could you please hold your tongue for a moment?"
"We can just check the surveillance footage to see who did it. You talk too much!"
Sitting in the main seat, Jasper glanced at Adeline and then at Ryan. "Play the surveillance footage."
Ryan nodded and projected the office surveillance video from yesterday afternoon onto the large screen.
When the video was uploaded online around three in the afternoon, the person sitting at Stella's computer was not Stella but Adeline's assistant, Anne.
Stella exchanged a triumphant glance with Scarlett.
Scarlett raised her voice, "It's Anne?"
"How could it be? Anne was personally selected by Adeline as her assistant, bypassing the HR department."
"Without Adeline's orders, how could Anne do such a thing?"
"Adeline." Stella interrupted Scarlett's words with a faint smile, "Can you explain to everyone?"
"Why was it your assistant, Anne, who uploaded the meeting video to mislead the public into thinking you plagiarized?"
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