Chapter 199: Sarah Johnson Goes Missing!
Ryder Clark raced toward SR Group on his electric scooter on a Houston street.
Half an hour earlier, he had been surprised to receive a risqué photo from Sarah Johnson.
At first, he thought Sarah had taken a bold turn and sent him a treat. But on closer examination, he realized they were digitally altered fakes, and someone had started a coordinated smear campaign against Sarah Johnson online!
It all seemed premeditated.
Ryder knew instantly that something was amiss. That was why he had immediately called Sarah.
But on the phone, Sarah had implied that this would be a permanent goodbye, then she had abruptly hung up and turned off her phone.
This had driven Ryder into a state of deep worry. Without wasting a second, he made his way straight to SR Group on his scooter.
Ten minutes later, Ryder reached SR Group.
When he entered, he found the office in total disarray.
Most of the employees were huddled in groups, chatting about something.
As he listened closely, he gathered that they were all discussing the debacle surrounding Sarah Johnson.
"Man, this thing's blown up big time! Now it's all over every social media platform in Houston!"
"Hey! Do you guys believe those photos are real?"
"Look closely. Those pictures are clearly doctored. I don't know what's wrong with people online these days. Our company's official Twitter account just posted a statement debunking the pictures, but there's still a barrage of insults and skepticism in the comments."
"Do you think they can't tell the photos are fake? They just don't want to believe it. Isn't that just like the internet now? Sensational fake news gets all the attention, while the truth that debunks it goes ignored."
"I bet someone's targeting our boss, on purpose. I don't know if she and our company can weather this storm..."
...
Most of the SR Group employees were firmly on Sarah Johnson's side.
After all, they had been through the warehouse fire scandal not long ago.
Those executives who were at odds with Sarah Johnson and the troublesome employees who covertly supported Klay had been dealt with, so the remaining employees in the company were all pretty level-headed.
But people outside the company were a different story.
They only believed the 'truth' spread online and the 'dirt' that had been exposed by so-called 'insiders.'
And if someone spoke up for Sarah Johnson, they were immediately dismissed as paid shills trying to 'whitewash' her.
Enough idle talk.
Ryder Clark didn't linger in the office area and headed straight for the elevator to go up to Sarah Johnson's office.
He knocked, but there was no answer.
Ryder pushed the door open and entered, only to find the office completely empty.
The window was shut tight.
A sudden chill of foreboding raced through him.
At that moment, footsteps echoed from the hallway.
Ryder turned and saw Emily approaching.
He quickly asked, "Where's Sarah?"
Emily paused, puzzled. "Sarah's supposed to be in her office!"
"Well, she's not there!"
"Then... maybe she's in the restroom. I'll go check!"
Emily hurried to the nearby women's restroom...
A short while later, Emily came out, her face etched with worry. "Ryder! Something's wrong, Sarah isn't in the restroom! Her phone's off, too! I just saw her in the office a while ago, how... how could she just disappear?"
"Calm down! Let me think..."
After a few seconds of deep thought, Ryder's eyes lit up. "Take me to the security office. They should have footage from the hallways and entrance. Checking the surveillance tapes is bound to give us some clues!"
"Sure! I'll take you right there!"
Emily escorted Ryder Clark to the security office to get the footage from the surveillance camera outside Sarah Johnson’s office.
They started reviewing the footage from just before Sarah’s “private photos” were leaked.
Ryder’s brow furrowed in confusion when he saw Ernest Johnson and his wife appear on the screen.
The Johnsons were notoriously indolent.
When Sarah ran the branch office, the couple rarely set foot there. And ever since she had taken over SR Group, they hadn't visited at all!
But there they were, showing up at this critical juncture.
It struck Ryder as odd, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. He needed to finding Sarah.
And reviewing the security footage proved effective.
Ryder noticed that Sarah emerged from her office at around four-thirty.
But she didn’t take the passenger elevator. Instead, she slipped to the back and took the rarely used freight elevator.
She descended to the basement level and vanished from the parking garage.
"She's left the company," Ryder said, his voice laced with concern. As he remembered what Sarah had said on the phone, his heart raced with anxiety.
Emily looked worried too. "Ryder, should I go back to the office and get everyone to help search for Sarah? I'm afraid something might have happened to her!"
Ryder shook his head and replied, "No, we need to keep a cool head. If the whole office starts searching for her, someone could exploit the situation and blow it up into an even bigger scandal. You need to stabilize things at the office and gather any evidence circulating online. Someone’s definitely pulling the strings behind the scenes. If we follow their trail, we might uncover something big. Leave finding Sarah to me.”
With those words, Ryder left the security office and began his search for Sarah Johnson…
As twilight deepened into night, the streets of Houston lit up with a scattering of bars.
In one of these bars, a strikingly attractive woman sat at the counter, nursing a drink, lost in a daze.
It was Sarah Johnson, who had slipped away from SR Group.
Her eyes were red and swollen with a look of despair.
As she thought about the accusations, the slander, and the condemnation against her that was flooding the internet … She was terrified.
So, she fled.
With a gulp, she downed the fiery liquor, feeling the burn, and coughed so hard tears streamed down her face.
The physical sting of the smoke was nothing compared to the agony in her soul.
Even though Sarah wasn't much of a drinker, she kept pouring booze down her throat as she could drown her woes.
Not far from the bar, a sleazy-looking middle-aged guy sat staring at her, eyeing her up and down while nursing his own drink.
‘Legs, figure, booty—absolutely flawless!’ He marveled silently.
With a predatory grin, he dropped a red pill into a drink and approached.
"Hey there, gorgeous! Alone tonight? Mind if I join you for a drink?" he said with a sleazy smile.
Despite being tipsy, Sarah's instincts were on high alert. She knew trouble when she saw it and curtly refused. "I do mind! Go find someone else to drink with!"
His ego bruised, the man's eyes narrowed, then lit up with a wicked idea. "Ha! I just realized you're Sarah Johnson, the one from those private pics online. No need to play innocent; come have a drink with me, and I'll buy you a nice purse," he coaxed, sliding the tainted drink toward her.
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