Locked in a Secret Room


    ?


    My father nced at me. "She plotted against As''s grandmother, and she saw Louis as a thorn in her side just after entering the Pierce family. Louis didn''t care about the Pierce family''s business originally, but he reluctantly took over the Pierce Corporation to provide cover for his mineral exploration."


    "I see."


    I sighed and poured a ss of warm water, handing it to my father. I noticed his lips were dry again.


    He took a sip before continuing. "He personally straightened out the Pierce family and put them on a legitimate track. His ownpany had already been established after he graduated, and it was doing quite well when he took over Pierce Corporation."


    "Could rk have leaked the news? Was he the trigger?" I questioned skeptically.


    My father thought about my question for a moment, then shook his head. "No."


    He was surprisingly sure that it wasn''t rk.


    He then gave his reason. "He joined thepany at least three years after that."


    "Are you saying someone else knew about the mines?" As''s gaze was intense as he stared at my father.


    "Yes. That must have been what happened." My father nodded earnestly. "At the time, we ruled out anyone who could have possibly known about it, but we couldn''t name anyone."


    "Could it have been one of the survey team members you sent out?" As asked softly.


    "The survey teams were led by only five people, all of whom we trusted implicitly. I don''t think it was any of them. Plus, each site had its own records and maps. Louis and I visited every site personally, so it took over ten years for us to do this."Content protected by N?v/el(D)rama.Org.


    My father fell into thought, murmuring, "Andter, those maps were each collected separately.


    "rk started to work for the Pierce family''s business three years after the incident. At that time, Louis had already renamed his ownpany to ATL Empire." He seemed to remember this very clearly.


    "rk was meticulous and serious.


    He was in dire financial straits at the time. He was also my ssmate.


    When he saw me doing well with Louis, he kept trying to get close to me. I took pity on him and let him do some minor tasks for me. Since he was really good at his work, I let him do more."


    As pondered momentarily before saying to my father, "I have him in my custody now. it seems I need to interrogate him thoroughly."


    "He''s in your custody?" My father was surprised. "No wonder I never saw him again."


    "You saw him?" I asked.


    "He contacted me on the day of the incident, saying that information about an investment proposal had been leaked. He wanted to exin things to me urgently, so he came to see me. I thought it was serious, so I went to meet him without hesitation."


    "Did As''s father know you went to see him?" I asked.


    "No, he didn''t. It was early in the morning, and we were in a hurry, so I didn''t even have time to inform Louis and his wife.


    "I thought I would meet rk then head back, since there was plenty of time. We had booked a flight back to Nocturnia that day because it was As''s birthday. We were going back to celebrate."


    I nced at As. This was a pain that wouldst him a lifetime.


    "I went to see rk. When we met, he saw that I had rushed over and gave me a ss of water to help me catch my breath. But before we had finished discussing things, I suddenly passed out.”


    My father was gritting his teeth and clenching his fists at this point.


    "After I woke up, I realized I had been locked in a small dark room. No matter how much I screamed, no one responded. I immediately sensed something was wrong. Everything that had been on me, including my clothes, was gone, but there was enough food and water in


    that small space.


    "It seems it had been nned in advance. He flew back to his business trip destination afterwards. He pretended he had been drunk in his hotel the whole time to cover up what he had really done," As said.


    "That bastard! This is all my fault. I didn''t know I hired a despicable man like that for thepany." My father regretted it deeply.


    "I banged on the walls until my arms were swollen and shouted until my voice was hoarse, but it was no use. I didn''t even know how long I was in there because it was pitch ck inside. There was only a dim littlemp that made it impossible to distinguish day from night I finally saw rk when all the food was nearly gone."