Fiancee Deleted Core Tech, Hospitalized Mother; My Identity Exposed

The core technology I nearly killed myself building was deleted by my own fiance.

My adoptive mother collapsed from a brain hemorrhage, and while they fought to save her, I stood outside the emergency room clutching a critical-condition notice, shaking all over.

The next day, at her engagement party, I stormed in with red eyes to demand answers, and she just smiled and asked how a broke, adopted charity case like me thought he was good enough to marry her.

Then her childhood sweetheart shoved my head down into the cream cake, hard, while the whole room roared with laughter.

And just as they were hauling me up to throw me out, the head butler of the richest family in the city strode in with dozens of black-suited bodyguards behind him and said, with perfect deference, "Young master, the master sent me to bring you home."

I stood at the doors of the ICU, the critical-condition notice trembling in my grip.

The doctor's face was grim. "The patient suffered a sudden brain hemorrhage. There's a great deal of bleeding. Whether she pulls through comes down to tonight. Prepare yourself."

My adoptive mother, Kayla Fox, had never had it easy. She raised me on her own and built Fox Corp with her own two hands.

The company was finally about to break through. Land that project worth hundreds of millions and it would climb to a whole new level. How could she just collapse like this?

My phone buzzed. It was Ethan Chavez, the company's vice president.

His voice on the other end came fast and panicked. "Drew Fox, we've got a problem."

"Every bit of data for our core project, including the copies on the backup drives, has been wiped clean."

"The tech team's been on it all morning. There's no recovering it."

"The bid meeting is tomorrow. Without that data we're finished, just like that."

It hit me like a lightning strike. I froze where I stood.

That core project data was more than half a year of my mother's blood and sweat. It was the one thing keeping Fox Corp alive.

How could it just be gone?

My voice shook as I pressed him. "Did you check the cameras? Who went into the president's office?"

Ethan's answer came out furious. "Already did."

"Yesterday afternoon, Christine Pruitt came by. She said you sent her to the office to pick up the jewelry for the engagement. She used the access card you gave her to get into the president's office and didn't come out for almost half an hour."

"Besides her, nobody went anywhere near the safe where the data was kept."

Christine Pruitt. My fiance.

I had given her the company access card yesterday, asked her to go up and grab the custom cufflinks I'd had made for us.

"That's impossible..." I murmured.

"Why would she do that?"

Ethan let out a heavy breath. "Drew, I know you don't want to believe it, but the footage is crystal clear."

"And I've heard young Mr. Henson, from Henson Group, has been meeting with her a lot lately."

"Our biggest competition on this project is the branch Dean Henson runs."

Dean Henson was Christine's childhood sweetheart, one of the well-known rich heirs in Ashford.

The moment I hung up with Ethan, I called Christine in a rage.

She picked up, impatient. "Hello? What is it?"

"I'm busy with the engagement party setup. If you've got something to say, say it fast."

I ground the words out through my teeth. "Christine. The core project data at Fox Corp. Did you delete it?"

Two seconds of silence, then her voice came, all fake surprise. "Huh? What data? Drew, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

I roared. "The cameras caught you going into my mother's office, and you're still going to lie about it?"

Her reply was cold. "What are you getting at, Drew? Are you accusing me?"

"Your family's junk little company and its data, as if I'd want any of it."

"Let me tell you, the engagement party is tomorrow. Don't go making trouble for nothing."

My voice trembled with fury. "My mother is in the ICU with a brain hemorrhage. Because the data was destroyed. My family's company is about to go under."

"Christine, you don't feel even a shred of guilt?"

Now she was angry too. "Your mother's the one with the bad health. She works herself sick and that's my fault?"

"I'm warning you, Drew. Don't go throwing your dirty accusations all over me."

"Come to the engagement party tomorrow or don't. If you don't, there are plenty of men who'd love to marry me."

She didn't wait for me to answer. She just hung up.

Rage burned through me. My mother wasn't out of danger yet, lying in that ICU. This was not going to end here.

The next day, the top-floor ballroom of the Imperial Grand Hotel.

Inside, Christine Pruitt stood in a white strapless gown, her arm looped through a man's, raising a toast with the guests and laughing.

The man was Dean Henson.

Dean wore a custom-tailored suit, his face lit with smug satisfaction, one hand resting at Christine's waist, the pose intimate.

The people around them laughed and teased, "Mr. Henson and Miss Pruitt really are a perfect match. A pair made for each other!"

Christine laughed behind her hand. Then her eyes caught me at the door, and her smile faltered for a second before it snapped back into place. She even leaned in closer to Dean on purpose.

I clenched my fists and walked toward her, one step at a time.

Every gaze in the room landed on me, curious, sizing me up, some openly mocking.

"Who's that? Dressed that shabby, and they let him in?"

"You don't know? That's Miss Pruitt's broke fianc, Drew Fox. Runs some little company, I think."

"What? How could Miss Pruitt ever go for him? Wasn't she childhood sweethearts with Dean Henson?"

"Come on, she's just passing the time. A poor guy like that can't compare to Dean."

The talk grated in my ears. I ignored it and walked straight up to Christine.

"Christine, Fox Corp's core data. Did you delete it?"

"My mother's still lying in the ICU. Give me a straight answer. Why did you do it?"

Christine put on a wounded look. "Drew, haven't you made enough of a scene?"

"I'm sorry your mother's in the hospital, I really am. But you can't dump the blame on me just because your company can't stay afloat!"

I roared, "The security footage shows it clearly. Yesterday afternoon you went into the CEO's office, and no one but you touched the data drive."

"If it wasn't you, then who?"

Dean stepped forward, putting Christine behind him, looking at me with total contempt. "Drew, I think being broke has driven you out of your mind. You want to use your mother's hospital stay to shake Christine down for a payout, is that it?"

I snapped back, "Dean, you put her up to it, didn't you?"

"You're after this project too. Pull a filthy trick like this and you're not afraid it'll come back on you?"

Dean threw back his head and laughed, arrogant. "In Ashford, the Henson family is God. Even if there's payback coming, it wouldn't dare land on me!"

"Drew, take a good look at yourself. You think you're fit to fight me for a project? You think you're fit to marry Christine?"

The guests around us burst out laughing, pointing at me.

"I said it, didn't I. The poor guy's just here to run a shakedown."

"Right. A man of Dean's standing, why would he ever need to pull tricks?"

"How did Miss Pruitt end up saddled with a fianc like that? What rotten luck."

Christine looked at me with disgust and gave a cold laugh. "Drew, I was actually trying to save you some face."

"But you had to come make trouble today, so don't blame me for not being kind."

"I got engaged to you because you seemed honest and good to me."

"But your company's about to go under and your mother's in the hospital. What are you going to give me a good life with?"

"I'll be honest with you, I never wanted this engagement anyway. I broke up with you a long time ago!"

My chest was choked tight. Furious, I stepped forward, wanting to grab her and get the truth out of her.

But the moment my hand reached out, Christine screamed and stumbled back several steps, the champagne glass in her hand shattering on the floor.

"Ah! You pushed me!" She clutched her arm, eyes rimmed red, looking terrified.

The whole room went silent in an instant, every gaze nailed on me, full of accusation.

"That's outrageous, he actually got physical!"

"Poor guys really have no class, making trouble at an engagement party and shoving people!"

"Dean, you can't let Christine suffer this!"

Dean's face darkened. He jabbed a finger at me and cursed, "Drew, I've been too generous with you, haven't I?"

"Christine already called off the engagement and you still dare lay a hand on her? I think you're sick of living!"

I stood where I was, watching the flash of triumph in Christine's eyes, and felt cold all over.

So this was how rotten a person's heart could be.

"Security! Where's security?" Dean shouted, twice.

Four men in black uniforms came running and stood at attention in front of him.

Dean pointed at me and spoke down to them. "Drag this lunatic out of here. He's making a scene."

"Break one of his legs and throw him on the trash heap out back. I don't want to look at him."

The guards moved to grab me.

"I'd like to see you try," I said, my voice cutting.

"Christine destroyed my company. She put my mother in the hospital with a brain hemorrhage. You twist everything around, and you're not afraid of what's coming to you?"

Dean gave a cold laugh. "What's coming to me?"

"Drew, take a good look at whose turf you're standing on."

"At the Imperial Grand, what I say is the rule."

"Whether your mother lives or dies is no business of ours. Your company went under because you people don't have what it takes."

Then he leaned in close to my ear, his voice pitched so only the two of us could hear. "I'll tell you the truth. I'm the one who had Christine delete that data."

"That old wretch, your mother. She deserved to drop dead."

"Fighting me over a project? She thought she rated?"

The fury burned through what was left of my reason, and I swung my fist at his face.

But the guards beside me were faster. They rushed in, pinned my arms, and held me locked in place so I couldn't move.

Dean narrowed his eyes at me, his voice vicious. "You'd actually raise a hand to me?"

"Give this piece of trash a shred of respect and he pisses on it."

He turned and glanced at the three-tiered engagement cake beside him, a nasty smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. "You wanted an engagement, didn't you?"

"Fine. Let me give you one."

At Dean's signal, two guards hauled me by the arms and dragged me over to the cake table.

Across the huge three-tiered cake, written in cream, were the words "Happily Ever After."

"Dean, what do you think you're doing?" I struggled, a bad feeling rising in my gut.

He laughed coldly and clamped a hand on the back of my head, his voice low and cruel. "Let you get a real taste of an engagement cake."

"After all, this is probably the closest you'll ever get to high society in your life."

The words were barely out when he threw his weight down, forcing my head under.

My face slammed straight into the cream.

Cold, cloying frosting smeared across my face in an instant, dripping off my chin, leaving me a wreck.

The whole room burst out laughing.

"Oh my God, this is too funny!"

"That broke loser's probably never eaten a cake this expensive in his life."

"Dean really knows how to put someone in their place. Let's see if this loser dares make trouble again."

Their laughter tore me apart.

Dean kept his hand pressed to my head, grinding it down harder, his voice arrogant to the extreme. "Drew, I'll give you one chance."

"Admit in front of everyone that you're not worthy of Christine Pruitt, promise in front of everyone that you'll never dare show your face to us again, and I'll let you go."

I said nothing. I only clenched my fists.

Dean lifted his foot and stepped down on my back, sneering. "Not talking?"

"You've got some backbone. Let's see how long that lasts."

Pain shot through my back. My knees buckled, and I nearly went down.

Christine smiled sweetly. "Dean, just make him apologize and leave it there. We did know each other once, after all."

Dean scoffed. "Know each other?"

"Christine, you're just too kindhearted."

"A guy like this, if you don't teach him a lesson, he won't know his place."

He kicked me hard and jeered at the top of his voice. "You hear that? Christine's putting in a good word for you!"

"Get down on your knees and apologize, then crawl out of here, and we'll call it even for today."

I raised my head. The cream on my face blurred my sight.

They stood under the gilded lights, the perfect couple, and I looked like some clown, filthy and wrecked.

Rage burned through me. "You're going to regret this."

Dean's face was pure contempt. "I've lived my whole life without ever learning how to spell the word regret."

He waved at the security guards and said coldly, "Drag him out of here. Break his legs and dump him in the back alley. Let him sober up."

The guards hauled me up by the arms and started dragging me toward the door.

At that moment, the heavy doors of the banquet hall were shoved open.

A line of bodyguards in crisp black suits filed in, their presence cold and hard, and in an instant the noise across the room died.

At their head was an elderly man in a gray suit, his expression severe, commanding without a trace of anger.

Everyone froze, not knowing what was happening.

Dean's eyes lit up. He let go of me at once, straightened his suit, put on a smug smile, and strode over to meet him.

"Barrett, what are you doing here? Did my father send you?"

His tone was familiar and a little boastful. "Perfect timing. There's some blind fool in here causing trouble. Help me tell the bodyguards to give him a real beating"

Barrett paid him no attention. He walked straight toward me.

The whole room went silent, every pair of eyes following him.

Barrett stopped in front of me, looked at the cream on my face, and something like pain and anger flickered in his eyes.

The next second, he bowed to me with deep respect.

"Young master, the master has sent me to bring you home!"