CHAPTER 253: CHAPTER 253

At that moment, Malisa then say that that was exactly what she had suspected from the beginning. Her voice wasn’t calm anymore. It carried weight now frustration, realization, and a quiet sense of dread. "This Mr. B situation," she said slowly, "none of this is a coincidence, Cora. You know it. I know it. Mr. B suddenly buying those shares? That’s not random. It’s too calculated. Too precise. He didn’t just fall from the sky and scoop up shares like that unless he knew exactly what he was doing."

Then the room fell quiet for a brief second. Only the low hum of the AC and the distant noise outside could be heard. But inside Cora’s head, Melissa’s words kept repeating.

And then just like that something in her chest tightened.

She slowly turned her eyes away from Melissa and stared blankly at the floor, but her mind wasn’t on the floor. It was racing. Thoughts rushing in like a storm that had been waiting to explode. In that very moment, deep down in Cora’s mind, she couldn’t help but start thinking about Robert. Everything began to line up in a way she hadn’t noticed before. The timelines. The behavior. The silence.

Then she looked up and said to Malisa, her voice low but filled with sharp certainty, "I think... I strongly think that it’s Robert who’s doing all of this."

Melissa’s eyes widened slightly.

Cora nodded as if trying to convince herself even more. "Just imagine, Melissa. Robert hasn’t even given me back the 10% I transferred to him. That was supposed to be temporary. But up till now, nothing. And now this mysterious 30% shows up out of nowhere?" She leaned forward, her fingers clenched tightly together. "If we add that up, that’s 40%. You hear me? Forty. That gives him almost the same power I have. He doesn’t need to make noise or challenge me outright he just has to wait. Wait for the right moment to drop the rest. And when that happens, he’s no longer just someone I helped... he’s my equal."

She let out a long, sharp breath and shook her head, her voice trembling not out of fear, but from regret. "That’s what my mind is telling me. That this is all Robert’s doing. And if I had known if I even had the smallest hint I would never have considered him in the first place."

She paused, glancing toward the window for a second before turning back to Malisa, her eyes clouded with frustration. "Oliver was there. He was right there. I wouldn’t even have bothered to tell Robert."

At that moment, Cora’s chest rose and fell as she stood still in the middle of the room. Her hand lightly pressed against her forehead, and her lips trembled slightly. "It’s a mistake," she said in a low, almost trembling voice. "A great one. And the worst part is, I never thought I was even capable of making that kind of mistake... not with Robert."

She turned away for a second, pacing, her voice growing sharper with emotion. "I thought I was being strategic. I thought handing over 10% of my shares to him was safe, a temporary move. But now? I feel like I handed him the dagger he’s using to stab me."

Malisa, watching Cora unravel in front of her, quickly moved closer and gently held her arm, trying to steady her. "Cora... breathe. Calm down," she said softly. "It hasn’t gotten to that point yet. Don’t start blaming yourself for something we’re not even entirely sure about."

Cora let out a weak chuckle, filled with irony. "You don’t get it. The moment I chose Robert over Oliver, I set this in motion."

Malisa gave her a firm look. "I do get it. I do. But even if everything is pointing at Robert, and believe me, it is, I still don’t understand something. Why would he go this far? Why would he pull strings from the shadows just to climb up ZXZ?"

Cora turned slowly, her arms folded now, her brows furrowed in confusion. "Exactly. What is he really after?"

Malisa’s eyes narrowed as her mind raced. "He already has his own businesses. Lucrative ones. If it’s about money, Robert has multiple channels that bring in far more than what ZXZ can even promise. So why this company? Why this specific route?"

She paused, her tone deepening. "If it’s really him behind Mr. B... then it’s not just about control. It’s something deeper. Something personal."

Cora slowly sat back down, her hand now supporting her chin, her gaze distant. "That’s what I don’t understand. If he needed power, he could have asked. I trusted him. I gave him 10% because I believed he was different."

Malisa’s voice softened. "Maybe he’s not doing this for power. Maybe it’s revenge. Or maybe..." she hesitated, "...maybe he’s doing it for someone else."

The thought hit Cora like a sudden breeze of cold air. Her eyes slowly blinked as she stared ahead, trying to make sense of it all.

Malisa continued, "I know it’s hard to think straight right now. But before you tear yourself apart over what you did or didn’t do, maybe we need to ask: If Robert really is behind all of this, what is he trying to win? Control... or something else entirely?"

At that moment, Cora couldn’t help it anymore. A soft chuckle escaped her lips, growing into a short burst of laughter. Her hand gently pressed against her forehead, and she leaned back on the chair as if trying to shake the absurdity of the whole situation out of her mind.

Malisa raised a brow, slightly confused. "What’s funny now?" she asked cautiously, her tone low, curious, but tinged with concern.

Cora looked at her, eyes narrowed slightly, and a smile still tugging at the corners of her mouth. "I’m not even in the mood to laugh, Melissa," she said, wiping the corners of her eyes. "But honestly, what you just said is too funny. You think we should go and confront him?"

Malisa’s shoulders lifted slightly in a helpless shrug. "Well... I mean, what else do we do?"

"Confront him?" Cora repeated in disbelief. "So we’re going to just walk up to Robert and say, ’Hey, are you Mr. B? Did you just buy up the company shares behind our backs?’ And then what? He’s going to nod and say, ’Yes, actually, I did. I just wanted to see how you’d react,’ right?"

She shook her head, clearly amused but at the same time tired. "Malisa, come on. Robert isn’t foolish. If he really is behind this and believe me, I think he is he’s not going to admit it just because we throw accusations at him."