CHAPTER 172: CHAPTER 172: WENDY ARCHER REPORTS RACHEL RIVERS

As the afternoon was coming to an end, the sunset outside the window was a vibrant orange-red.

The entire world was bathed in the sunset’s afterglow, and the floor of Poppy Hale’s office was covered in the same light.

Several messages appeared on her phone.

Poppy picked it up and glanced at it.

The messages were from an unfamiliar account.

[Is this Poppy Hale? I’m Wendy Archer. Let’s find a time to talk.]

[I know you’ve encountered some difficulties recently. I can give you some money to help you out of your predicament.]

Poppy’s palms broke into a cold sweat.

She opened her phone’s recording function, dialed the number, and called.

After three or four rings, the other party picked up.

Wendy Archer’s voice came from the other end.

She got straight to the point.

"Poppy Hale, as long as you admit that you leaked the game data, I’ll give you three hundred thousand!"

The attitude sounded overbearing to the extreme.

"Are you Wendy Archer? I didn’t steal that data, and my current job has nothing to do with games. That data is useless to me."

Wendy let out a cold laugh.

"You must be short of money, right? Who knows if you want to exchange that data for money? Your mom and daughter’s health certainly need money. Three hundred thousand—will you agree or not?"

Poppy calmly responded, "It’s not something I did, how could I possibly agree to admit it?"

Wendy thought Poppy was bargaining.

She gritted her teeth and raised it to five hundred thousand.

Now it was Poppy’s turn to be curious.

Wendy’s background wasn’t known to be that wealthy.

How could she come up with so much money in one go just to make her admit to a groundless accusation?

Poppy gently shook her head. "I won’t agree with you. Goodbye."

After saying this, she hung up.

She sent the recording to Declan Hawthorne.

It seemed that Declan should have noticed any anomalies among the employees around him, but with so many employees at Hawthorne Group, he might not have been able to catch everything.

After sending it, Poppy returned to reviewing the quotation sheets provided by the factory.

The Hale Group planned to use their factory to polish a part of the jewelry while outsourcing some semi-finished products from outside factories.

She was busy handling her work and didn’t have time to worry about Wendy Archer’s little plans.

Over at Hawthorne Group.

Wendy Archer was surprised and furious after Poppy’s refusal.

Wasn’t Poppy supposed to be desperate for money and sure to agree with her?

She offered five hundred thousand, why wouldn’t that woman take it?

Since her current job had nothing to do with games, admitting to it wouldn’t have any effect on her, so what was she afraid of!

Wendy paced back and forth in her office, immensely anxious.

She finally dialed a number without a saved name.

"Sir, is what you said before about helping me still valid?"

The person on the other end chuckled.

"Helping you depends on whether you’re stupid or not."

After saying this, the other party hung up.

Wendy called several times, but no one answered.

At this moment, Rachel Rivers’ call came through.

Wendy forced a smile. "Miss Rivers."

"I asked you to tell Hawthorne Group to investigate Poppy Hale. Why is there no response?"

Wendy gritted her teeth, "I did investigate! But she, she really didn’t steal the data..."

Not only did Hawthorne Group investigate the current employees, but they also investigated the former employees. When Poppy handed over her work, not only did she not steal any data, but she also deleted all the previous data.

Rachel raised her voice.

"She says she didn’t steal it, so she didn’t? Can’t you say she definitely did?"

Wendy cursed Poppy in her heart, helplessly saying, "All her work has left traces. Every bit from the beginning to the end of her employment is traceable. She even had her work email bound with tracking software, and no emails were sent out from her side."

She’s working so meticulously.

Wendy never expected Poppy to be this cautious.

You wonder with this much precaution, why she’d even bother working when she could be doing underground work.

Rachel didn’t expect Poppy to be so cunning either.

"Forget it. I’ll just buy some online trolls. How does Hawthorne Group plan to handle this matter?"

"They’re planning to sue President Sutton’s game company; the game’s launch is this week."

Rachel smirked.

"Then have your artist friend draw more game pictures. When the time comes, accuse Hawthorne Group of plagiarizing our game."

"I... I don’t even know what the current game’s visuals look like..."

The production team over there is on high alert and strictly safeguards everything.

Even if they did know, they don’t allow phones.

There’s simply no way to leak any game data!

Wendy couldn’t possibly describe the scenes she saw.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Forget it. I knew you were useless. During the release, we’ll surprise them a bit."

Hanging up the call.

Wendy stared at the text message she received in her phone.

After hesitating for a moment, she proceeded to the president’s office.

Declan Hawthorne’s authoritative voice sounded, "Come in."

"President Hawthorne, I have something to report."

"Go on."

The man sitting at the desk didn’t look up; just a glance was enough to send shivers down Wendy’s spine.

She stood in the doorway, trembling uncontrollably, barely managing to steady herself by leaning against the door.

"President Hawthorne, in the past few days, Rachel Rivers has been contacting me, trying to make me accuse Poppy Hale of being the one who stole the data."

Declan lifted his eyelid.

With a cold glance, he looked at Wendy.

"Rachel Rivers?"

"Yes, she added my contact information when she was still interning here. Afterward, we hung out together, and now I suspect that she stole the company’s data."

Declan responded indifferently.

"Evidence?"

"These are photos of her with President Sutton and some of our previous chat logs, which can be provided to the company."

Declan took a glance.

Rachel and Matthew Sutton were sitting together, and the vase on the table reflected the person taking the picture—Wendy.

There were also a few sneaky shots of computer screens showing chat logs between Matthew and Rachel.

Rachel had indeed transmitted game data to Matthew multiple times.

All from a stealthy perspective.

Matthew Sutton’s game company undoubtedly had someone Wendy knew.

Declan nodded, "Send it to Morgan Sloan, then leave. Investigators will contact you for verification later."

Wendy felt her calves trembling uncontrollably, "Okay."

After leaving, she let out a long sigh of relief.

As long as everything could be blamed on Rachel, it would have nothing to do with her.

If Rachel planned to cause trouble at the release, she would definitely be the one to suffer, as her influence could not possibly shake Hawthorne Group.

Wendy swiftly changed sides, abandoning her teammate.

Inside the office.

Declan played the recording sent by Poppy repeatedly.

He finally transferred a sum of fifty-two thousand one hundred and three hundred fourteen yuan to Poppy.

A rather tacky number.

When Poppy saw it, she couldn’t help but send a question mark.

"Declan Hawthorne, you’re such a dork."

"Do you really like dogs?"

Moments later, Poppy received a selfie-style photo.

Declan had undone his shirt button, wearing a brown leather collar around his neck—clearly too small to fit properly.

It also had a bone-shaped tag with Barrett’s name written on it.

It was meant for Barrett, but he put it on.

Poppy quickly covered her phone, afraid someone might see.

When there was no one around, she released her fingers to take another look.

Declan sent a message.

"Do you like this kind of dog?"