Chapter 211: Pay Back

"How strange," the collector muttered as he looked at the report before him.On the file was a picture of Ethan Carter, and according to the latest report, their little spy seemed to have an issue with two of the sons of the Smiths and he was fixing it pretty well.

The report showed that he had done a couple of withdrawals to help the restaurant get back on its feet and also become a sponsor for the Newton Academy where he previously worked.

And all that was fine...

The strange part was that he had been spotted with OmniTech’s COO, even before she became one, specifically just a few weeks before she became a COO.

Now this could either be a dog smelling a big fat bone, a coincidence or there was something else ongoing.

The Collector placed a hand on his chin before turning to the man that stood before him and ordering, "dig deeper into our little spy, I feel like he might be hiding a secret or two and I hate secrets."

"Right away sir," the man muttered and left the collector alone in the office, a second later, his assistant, a woman with golden blonde hair walked in.

She had no expression on her face, though that was mostly because she feared him, which he didn’t mind.

Fear was good, It kept people in check whenever he wanted to.

"So," He started with a smile on his face, "how far are you with buddy-ing up with OmniTech’s COO?"

Olivia looked at him for a second before replying, "she seems to trust too easily, almost as if she’s naive."

"That’s a good thing then," The collector said with a wide smile, "after all, her circle of friends is not that impressive and her only friend just moved to California, so she will be looking for another to lean on."

Olivia was silent for a while, before asking, "my mother’s —"

"Don’t worry about that," the collector muttered, "we just got her a Vitaband, so we should easily know what’s wrong and we’ll commence treatment when you successfully infiltrate OmniTech."

Olivia looked at him for a while before moving her eyes to the floor.

"What?" The collector asked, "his tech works pretty well, and it’s not like I hate him not to buy them."

"Besides," he continued, "they’re technological breakthroughs I can’t miss out on, after all, it’ll take a while for us to successfully clone it."

That wasn’t the reason behind her look, but she didn’t dare correct him, after all, he was a man of his word.

If she showed results, then her mother’s treatment will commence.

"I’ll take my leave," she muttered before turning to the door after the collector nodded.

***

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN DEMOTED?!" Chad screamed through the phone as he was contacted by HR.

He was supposed to be on paid ’leave’ so he never expected to get a call from his company while he was on it.

But instead of an emergency, they had called to inform that he had been demoted to basically errand boy and it wasn’t just for anyone.

It was for the kid he looked down upon, Arun.

"Even if you wanted to tell me this bullshit," Chad continued fuming, "couldn’t you have just sent it through mail?"

"We’re sorry," the person on the other end apologized, "but the CEO personally requested we call and inform you directly."

"..the CEO?" He repeated.

As far as he knew, he hadn’t offended the CEO or any of the higher ups, so why target him like this?

Was this the work of someone else? Maybe Ethan? No, that was absurd.

Even if Ethan Carter truly worked for OmniTech Corp, there was no way he would have enough reach to influence Chad’s company.

"You’re expected to return to the company on Monday to finalize the change in department," the lady of the other end informed and before he could say anything, the call was ended.

"Fuck!" He cursed as he threw the phone to the other end of the hotel room, "what the fuck is even happening right now?"

He paced around the room trying to think of which bug wig he might’ve offended but he came up blank.

Besides, all the big wigs he had previously met were below the Smiths and they wouldn’t dare make a move against someone who was basically under Leonard’s protection.

Then who?

"M-maybe Leonard can help?" Chad finally thought of his lifeline, since he had been doing a good job so far, then Leonard was bound to help right.

He immediately rushed out his hotel room , through the corridor and into the elevator, heading towards the penthouse, since that was where the brothers were staying.

The elevator let out a ding as it reached the top most floor and opened, revealing an infinity pool and just ahead, a glass surrounded house.

Hesitantly, Chad walked towards it and the moment he pushed the doors open, he was faced with Andrew who had no shirt covering his upper body.

He seemed to have just come back from the gym or maybe normal exercises based on the sweat on his forehead.

The red haired man looked at Chad with clear disgust before passing and heading to the bathroom with any verbal acknowledgement.

"Tch... what’s his deal with me?" Chad muttered with a frown on his face, Andrew seemed to hate him from the moment they met for reasons unknown to him.

Though, it was pretty obvious that it was due to the fact that he was nothing but a leech, one with no use to them.

Chad ignored Andrew and walked into the penthouse and the moment he reached the living room.

And sitting on one of the sofas was Leonard but unlike his usual calm expression, he had a darker one.

One that was pretty telling of his current mood.

Chad froze mid-step, his confidence evaporating the moment he saw Leonard’s expression. The usually composed, almost untouchable man sitting before him now radiated an intensity that made Chad’s stomach twist.

"Sit," Leonard said flatly, gesturing to the empty spot across from him.

There was no trace of his usual warmth in his voice as he spoke and if it wasn’t obvious enough, Chad was definitely sure that something was wrong now.

"W-what —" before he could ask, a tablet was tossed to him and his eyes immediately widened as he read through.

"T-this..."

"I guess Ethan wasn’t as ordinary as we thought."

Chad’s fingers tightened around the tablet.

"This... this is just market volatility," he said quickly, almost desperately, "tech stocks fluctuate all the time, especially with OmniTech shaking things up. This doesn’t mean it’s Ethan."

Right before his eyes was Leonard’s company which he was so proud of, going down the drains.

Investors, for some unknown reasons were pulling out one at a time, and the company’s worth was falling by the second with no signs of stopping.

"For once," Leonard said in a low tone, though the danger in it couldn’t be denied, "try using your brain."

Chad went silent as he heard Leonard’s words, it wasn’t like he could say anything in retaliation, he just listened to Leonard’s words.

"My company had been running steadily for multiple years now," Leonard continued, "it was basically a cash cow for investors and yet, suddenly, they decided to withdraw their investments?"

"This makes no sense," he added before pausing, "... except, someone was specifically targeting me and can you guess who has enough reason to target us?"

"Ethan?" Chad hesitantly asked.

"Exactly," Leonard said, "I don’t know how, but it seems he somehow has enough connections to pull this off."

He then stood up and walked towards one of the glass walls before adding, "or maybe he’s just using his connection with OmniTech Corp to do it."

Chad was still unconvinced, yes he had seen Ethan driving both a BMW and Audi but that didn’t mean he was capable of something on this scale.

But would he tell that to Leonard?

No, he wasn’t going to....after all, he was nothing but a disposable piece on Leonard’s board... Well, more like a piece that was leeching of him.

Chad swallowed and lowered his head slightly. "Even if it is him," he said carefully, "what can he really do? OmniTech, as a new company, wouldn’t risk a pissing off someone like the Smiths over someone like Ethan Carter... Right?"

Leonard turned to him, looked with a bit of disappointment in his eyes before sighing and saying, "we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?"