Chapter 645
Elliot stared them down coldly as he pursed his lips.
‘I’m finding that traitor even if that’s thest thing I do!’ He thought.
The next morning, Avery opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Mike’s face.
“You’re awake, Avery!” Mike adjusted her bed and passed her a bowl of soup. “Have some46 soup.”
She had not fully woken up yet and epted the bowl dazedly.
“How do you feel today?” Mike sat down by the bed and stared at her face. “Why didn’t you tell me that
something like that has happened to thepany, and came back on your own instead? I would die of
guilt if something happened to you.”
Avery sobered. “You are drunk, how was I supposed to let you know?”
“Alright! I shouldn’t have drunk with Elliot!” Mike sighed and said, “but we should really thank him this
time. He helped us find thecd traitor.”
Avery’sshes shivered at the words as she asked with a hoarse voice, “who was it? Who betrayed
us?”
“The technical department.” Mike lowered his head because he was the one responsible for the
technicalge department.
Avery frowned. “I asked who, not which department.”
“All employees from the technical department,” Mike took a deep breath and gritted out,” those fools
went causing troubles when they were out for a gathering and someone took photos of them. They
were then threatened to exchange the photos with the microchip and so they plotted together and stole
the microchip.”
“Who did they give it to?!” Avery was taken by surprise, but knew that she had to face reality.
“They said that they didn’t know, because the person wore a mask and used a voice changer, so they
couldn’t tell who it was.”
Avery had lost all appetite and handed the bowl of soup back to Mike.
“Have some, Avery! Don’t torture yourself,” Mike said guiltily, “it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have trusted
them.”
“I feel dizzy right now. I will have the soupter.” Averyid back down and started thinking of counter
moves.
The person who took the microchip had to be either Wanda, or anotherpetitor from the same
industry. Soon enough, there would be apany that wouldunch their products with
brand new updates and it would crush Tate Industries.
An hourter, Elliot arrived at the hospital to visit Avery.
He had dropped by at three in the morning, but left after a nce as Avery was still sleeping at the
time. It was half past eight in the morning and he had only slept for less than four hours; his eyes were
red.
When Mrs. Cooper saw him approaching, she immediately said, “Avery just had her breakfast
and said she felt dizzy, so she went back to sleep.”
He stepped towards the bed and stared at Avery’s paled face. Her brows furrowed and appeared
uneasy even in her sleep.
Suddenly, his phone started ringing. He immediately answered the call and walked towards the
balcony.
“Mr. Foster, I got it. The stolen microchip that belonged to Tate Industries is now in the hands of Wanda
Tate!” His subordinate said, “they have sessfully cracked the code open so there’s no point of
recovering it!”
Meanwhile, Avery slowly opened her eyes from the bed.
She stared at Elliot’s slim, yet strong figure from behind and struggled to get up from the bed.
She thought she was dreaming, because she could see the light surrounding his body. She stepped
towards him and he turned around abruptly; she saw his brooding eyes and sensed the warmth
radiating off his body and it was then that she finally sobered and realized that it was not a dream.
“Why did you get out of bed?” He held her by the arm and asked, “did I wake you?”
She shook her head. “I slept too longst night and feel dizzy whenever I am asleep for too long.”
“Why don’t we go down for a walk, 46 then?”
Elliot had asked the doctor and the doctor told him that there was nothing wrong with the baby. The
main issue was that Avery was emotionally unstable, which led to hyperventtion and increased heart
rate. Once she calmed herself and rested, Avery would recover; but if she failed to do so, it would
affect the child.
Avery nced outside the window and saw how sunny it was outside, so she nodded and stepped out
of the room with34 Elliot.
“Avery, the trouble yourpany is facing is no big deal.” As they walked out of the hospital, Elliot
hesitated and said, “you can’t get everything you want in life, whether it’s in daily life or work One can
only grow when there’s adversity.”
She gazed up at him. “Are you trying toforted me?”
“You need to strengthen your mental tolerance.” Seeing that Avery was energetic enough, he cut to the
chase and said, “so what if someone took your core technology and earned the money that belongs to
you? It’s just a financial loss. Health should always be your top priority for as long as you are alive.”
Avery nodded. “So, you drink and smoke when you are ill because you know that health is the top
priority in life. If only you had no clue of how important health is, you would have probably just drowned
yourself in a whiskeyge barrel!”
“…” Elliot realized that he had worried too much and Avery didn’t needforting after all.
“Haha!” Seeing that he was rendered speechless, she couldn’t help butugh. “Look at how red your
eyes are. Did you even sleep? If you need to get an electrocardiogram, maybe I can give my room to23
you.”
“I was worried that you might be upset, so I couldn’t sleep,” he exined, “but judging from the way you
are right now, I guess you are stronger than I thought you were.”
“I wasn’t admitted to hospitalst night because I was in despair. Shaun was sobbing so much when he
called me that I felt like thepany was going to crumble into nothing. Losing the
that I hired going unemployed… What if they can’t find a new job afterward?”
She was losing sleep over this.
Elliot studied the concern in her eyes. “It won’t get that bad. Technology industries depend mostly on
core technologies, but even if yours is stolen, you can upgrade on the foundation of what you had.”
She nodded and asked, “how did you catch the traitors?”
Text ? owned by N?velDrama.Org.
“Torture.”
“Oh.” She guessed so.
“Do you think that I’m cruel?”
Elliot wanted to exin to her that one simply had to be crueler than the people that harmed them, or
the others would only bully them.
If there was no severe punishment in ordance with what had happened to Tate Industries, there
would always be employees who would dare to betray thepany for profits or out of fear; what
happened the night before was a warning to all employees that worked there.
“You are cruel,” she said and his heart sank at the words.
“Not only are you cruel to others, but yourself as well. Your body can’t take it any longer if you won’t
sleep.”
Elliot froze.
“Go back and sleep.” She held his hand and looked at him. “I’m okay now and I should be discharged
tomorrow.”
He held back her hand. “Then let me walk you back to your room.”
“I want some fresh air down here. The bodyguards are with me, so I’ll be just fine.” She nced at the
bodyguards that were following them closely from a distance. Once Elliot left, she turned on her phone.
The headline of the news popped into her sight.
‘Core Technology of Tate Industries was stolen; Where Would This Enterprise Go Next?’
There were plenty ofments below.
‘Tate Industries only started two years ago, right? Are they closing down already? I highly suspect that
the building their office is in is46 haunted!
‘Does no one else realize how expensive Tate Industries’ products are? The quality isn’t bad, but the
high-end drone market ispletely ruled over by them, and I hate it!’
‘Hehe! So is the price for drones going to drop from now on?34 p-p!’
‘My dad works for Tate Industries and I don’t want to see it go down! It treats its employees with great
benefits and most importantly, the president is kind to everyone! My dream is to work there once I
graduate…’
Avery closed the news and opened her messenger to find Mike’scd message.
‘Wanda has the microchip!’
Avery was not surprised by this oue; she simply didn’t think that Wanda would act soge fast.
That afternoon, Wonder Technologies had opened a press conference in a hotel. Wanda announced
with joy that there had been a break-through in the technical department of herpany and they
would be releasing a brand-new line of high-end products by the end of the year with a lower than
average selling price.
Wanda might as well announce that she had stolen the core technology from Tate Industries at this23
point.
During the Q&A session, one of the reporters asked Wanda, “Madam Tate, the core technology of Tate
Industries has been stolen. What do you think of that?”
Wanda burst outughing, “I don’t think much of it, because I’ve always focused on surpassing my own
limits. Naturally, I wasn’t the one who stole their core technology, as I don’t have the guts for illegal
acts.”
“We heard that you were once Avery Tate’s stepmother. Now that she has been admitted to the
hospital, have you gone to visit her yet?”
Wanda’s lips curled into a sarcastic sneer. “I will go see her right away as soon as she calls me’ Mom’.”
Avery stared at the smug expression on Wanda’s face from the news and felt somewhat calm.
Everything that had happened was set and done. What she needed to do was to adjust herself as soon
as possible to handle the ever-changing situation.
In the evening, she requested to be discharged.
The doctor ran some tests on her and gave her the permission.
One weekter, Tate Industries had formed the ‘Win-Win Alliance with three other brands of drone
producers.
Tate Industries was to share their Super Brain system with these three other firms, while they returned
twenty percent of their annual sales ie to Tate Industries as a fee for patent royalty; at the same
time, Tate Industries announced that the stolen core technology was the undefined version, whereas
the technologies that applied to their products was ones that had been upgraded for eight times since
the initial version.
The report asked Avery, “Miss. Tate, were you admitted to the hospital because of this incident?”
“You probably won’t believe me if I say that it’s not because of that,” Avery drawled, “but it is true that I
was not affected much by the fact that our core technology was stolen. My team and I have always
been dedicated to innovation and that’s the only way apany could march forward.”
“Does your team include the man behind you?” The reporter asked with a smile.
Avery was stunned.
‘The man behind me? Is he referring to… Elliot?’
“There are quite a lot of men behind me. I’m not sure who you are referring to.” She smiled awkwardly
and tried to brush the question off. “My son, too, is a man behind me.”
“I am talking about the man who apanied you to your pregnancy check-up.” The only thing
missing from the reporter’s question was Elliot’s name.
Chapter 648 Her face flushed instantly.
Shaun reminded the reporter, “please don’t pry on President Tate’s personal life.”
“I just want to know if Elliot Foster has anything to do with the ‘Win-Win Alliance’. It’s a brilliant n.”
“So, are you hinting that President Tate could not havee up with such an idea herself?” Shaun
questioned 46 sharply.
“Of course not. One of my colleagues captured the moment where Elliot Foster was seen entering Tate
Industries at night a week ago. Was he there to help manage the operation?”
The reporter had now officially mentioned Elliot’s name and the blush on Avery’s face34 darkened.
The crowd focused on her and waited for her to reply.
After a few moments of silence, she answered sincerely, “the Win-Win Alliance is a solution that I have
decided on after discussing with my Director of Operations. As for the rest, I have no furthercd
The reporter changed the subject and asked, “Miss. Tate, Madam Tate of Wonder Technologies
imed that they had a technical break-through and predicted that there will be a newunch for high-
end products by the end of this year. May I have your opinion on this?”
“About this, the only thing I would like to say is that an exclusive patent has been registered for the core
technology store within the microchip stolen from mypany; I shall seek legal action towards
anyone who utilizes the patent without myge consent!”
Avery’s statement at the press conference was soon heard by Wanda.
Wanda snorted. “We just need to upgrade and change the content inside the microchip a bit.
It’s no big deal.23 Haha!”
“Right. But that Win-Win Alliance she enforced is a bad influence on us! It means that she is pulling the
otherpanies over to her side,” Wanda’s assistant said with concern.
“Why are you afraid? I will eradicate them all at once!” Wanda said arrogantly, “one cannot seed
without eradicating all enemies!”
“With Chelsea helping you in secret, you are definitely going to seed, Madam Tate!”
Wanda red at her. “Don’t talk about that anywhere! Chelsea is extremely cautious and if she learns
that I let it slip about our cooperation, she will definitely cut all ties with me.”
After the press conference, Avery exited the hotel and got into the car. As the driver drove, she turned
on her phone and saw the message from Mike.
Mike had been working overtimetely with the development department on upgrading their products,
but someone seemed to have taken a video of the conference from earlier and sent it to him.
‘The Win-Win Alliance was an idea that Chad mentioned to me. I asked Chad about it just now and he
said that it’s actually Elliot’s idea.’
Avery typed.’…’
‘Let’s treat him to dinner! What do you say?’
Avery felt overwhelmed. Elliot had taken all the burden on his shoulders during this crisis and had
resolved the most troubling issue she had in hand. Though she could have solved it herself without his
help, she still appreciated what he had done.
Just as she was about to reply ‘yes’, she received yet another message from Mike.
Chad told me that they have been really busy with the new projecttely and Elliot has had a lot of work
piling up for the past few days. Let’s buy him dinner after a while!’
“Sure.’ Avery replied.
Elliot’s work piled up because of her. In order to apologize to her, he had hurried over to Bridgedale and
had stayed awake through the night to resolve herpany’s crisis. She could be stone-hearted and
would still be moved by what he had done for her.
At night, she lied on the bed as she made a video call to Tammy.
“Avery, he did well this time, but don’t you think that it’s disgusting for him to keep Nora around in his
with him. This woman is like a prick that could stab you on the skin anytime!”
Avery could feel her face burning. “When have I ever mentioned anything about getting back together
with him?”
“Just now! You mentioned how much he had done for you and said that you want to buy him a gift and
dinner… It’s so obvious that you’ve fallen for him,” Tammy said, “don’t forget what I said. I am really
urate when ites to reading people. That Nora girl might look tamed, but she has to be even
better at scheming than Zoe!”
Avery remained thoughtful for a few seconds and said, “but she doesn’t have any leverage.”
“She could create some. So long as she doesn’t give up, you will always be her biggest enemy. She
and Chelsea will definitely team up against you.” Tammy removed the facial mask on her face and
continued, “Elliot Foster is one big chunk of meat and everyone wants a bite. Avery, be46 cautious!”
Avery felt more calmed after talking to Tammy.
“Not only does he have to fire Nora, he also needs to fire Chelsea!” Tammy proposed, “if you are too
embarrassed to talk to him about this, I will go tell him for34 you!”
“Tammy! Things between me and him are not like that…” Avery immediately interrupted her.
“Alright, but think about the things I told you just now. Also, I heard that Ben used to pursue Chelsea so
he is probably on hercd side.”
Reminded of all the misunderstanding between her and Elliot, Avery instantly lost all romantic interest.
“I was being reckless just now, Tammy. Let’s see how things go after the baby is born!”
“That’s fine, too. The most important thing right now is for you to give birth to your baby safely. Are you
busy tomorrow? If you’re not, I’ll go find you,” Tammy said with age smile.
Feeling rxed, Avery said, “I’m not busy. Mike won’t let me handle much rted to thepany
“He has Chad, so don’t worry about him.” Tammy nced at the time and said, “it’s gettingte, Avery.
You shouldn’t stay up, go23 rest!”
“Sure.”
Three dayster, Avery received a message from Tammy in the afternoon.
‘Avery, I’m in Room V609 in Caesar Hotel. There’s a surprise for you. Come now!’
Avery chuckled at the message and called Tammy.
The message was odd. If there was a surprise, why mention it in the message? Tammy was no fool, so
was she trying to prank Avery?
Avery’s call was hung up right after being picked up. She stared at her phone dazedly, when another
message from Tammy came in.
‘I’m only waiting until five, Avery! If you don’t show up before five, then there’s no surprise for you!
Avery looked at the message and smiled with resignation, before taking her purse and hurrying towards
Caesar Hotel.
At six in the evening, Ben and Chelsea appeared in Caesar Hotel.
Chelsea had a social gathering to attend that night, but had called Ben to help as she wasn’t felt so
well. Almost halfway through the gathering, Chelsea’s face was flushed from drinking too much and
struggled towards the washroom.
Ben followed her and said, “I will ask the driver to send you back, Chelsea. Leave the rest to me.
Chelsea nodded with a pale face.
As they walked by a private room, they overheardughter and chatter of a couple from the inside.
“Be gentler! Don’t make me lose my baby! I am still counting on this baby to get my Elliot Foster’s
fortune! Once he dies, all his money is going to belong to us! Mm… He might be tall, but he is useless
in bed! He is nothingpared to you and he couldn’t even satisfy me!” The woman’s voice sounded
exactly like Avery.
Chapter 650 Ben froze. His expression darkened as he clenched his fists.
Just as he was about to push through the door to the private room, Chelsea grabbed onto his arm.
“Ben! No!”
“Why not?!” Ben gritted out, “not only am I going in, I’m calling Elliot too so that he can see who this
woman truly is!”
“See who she truly is, and then what? What about the baby she is carrying? ording to my
knowledge, Elliot wants to keep the baby. Tell Elliot about this after Avery gives 46 birth.”
Chelsea’s words had convinced Ben to suppress his anger.
‘That’s right! That baby!’ He thought, ‘without the baby, I wouldn’t show Avery mercy! What she said
just now was pure venom! Not only can I not stand to hear it, Elliot might just kill her if he heard it34
himself!’
However, in order to ensure that the baby was delivered safely, Ben had to pretend that he didn’t know
a thing and keep it a secret from Elliot. If he told Elliot about this, there was a great chance that the
baby would not be born into the world.
Chelsea dragged Ben away andcd left.
After exiting the hotel, Ben could barely contain his anger and took out his phone to call Avery.
…Sorry. The number you have dialed is out of service at the moment. Please try againgeter.’
“F*ck!” Ben tightened his grip around the phone and red viciously at the hotel. “I f*cking thought that
I heard wrongly! How could Avery be this kind of woman? How could she?”
He even suspected he might be hallucinating after drinking too much, otherwise, how could something
so ridiculous23 happen?
“You heard them right, Ben.” Chelsea grabbed onto his arm tightly out of fear that he might run back
into the hotel. “I heard it loud and clear, That was Avery’s voice. Avery said that Elliot couldn’t satisfy
her in bed, so she-”
“Shut up! Chelsea, it’s bad enough that someone has said something like that, how could you repeat
it!” He roared and swung her hand away. “Go back on your own! I need some time!”
Before leaving, Chelsea reminded him, “don’t do anything reckless, Ben. If Elliot’s baby doesn’t survive,
he might very well not have another child for the rest of his life.”
Ben scowled. “Chelsea Tierney, I don’t need you to keep reminding me that! I know what I’m doing!”
This was the first time Ben had shouted at Chelsea. After Chelsea left, Ben strode back into the hotel
and towards the reception.
“Help me check if there’s a woman under the name Avery Tate checking into this hotel today.”
The receptionist responded hesitantly, “sir, we can’t disclose private information about our customers.”
“This is my business card,” Ben said, “I know your boss!”
He handed his business card to the receptionist and she took one nce, before helping him check
right away.
“Mr. Schaffer, Miss. Tate did check into our hotel earlier today.”
Ben’s heart sank at her words, thinking, ‘Avery, you have guts!’
Avery woke up in an unfamiliar room, with no one else around but her.
Suddenly, she noticed Tammy’s phone on the coffee table. She immediately picked up the phone and
checked, before confirming that it belonged to Tammy. ‘Why is Tammy’s phone here?’ She thought.