Madam Escaped Again Sir

Chapter 1324

After Tom left, Sonia began eating with the nurse and Rita's help.

The brunch the nurse bought for her was bland to the degree that it was only a little salty and lacked other interesting tastes. After all, she had to compromise with limited food options since her current condition forbade her to eat nothing but bland food.

She did not have any complaints about the tasteless food. She was well aware of the importance of following the doctor's advice and taking care of her body for the time being.

She could go to Toby's side and take care of him as soon as possible, but only if she recovered sooner.

Sonia needed him. Indeed, she would not deny the fact that she needed him instead of the other way around.

Toby could have avoided the pain and misfortune if it had not been for Sonia implicating him.

She had to see for herself that he was recovering. Or else, she could never forgive herself. That was the reason why she needed him.

"Yikes! I can't believe I forgot to ask Tom how Asher got arrested in the first place." In the middle of brunch, she slapped her thigh hard suddenly as realization belatedly dawned on her.

However, Tom had left a while ago.

Rita found Sonia's behavior amusing. "President Reed, don't fret. He'll be visiting later and you can ask him then. Besides, Asher was only arrested not long ago. The police are still interrogating him on his methods and motives. By that time, he could brief you on the results in one go, and you could avoid wasting your time."

"You're right." Sonia nodded, agreeing with Rita's words. Thus, she put the thought aside and continued having her food.

Asher was apprehended and he couldn't get out of jail for the time being, anyway. She could always ask about his situation sometime later.

It turned out she had the right guess.

Just when she finished brunch, the representative of the police approached her. It was the civilian police officer from last night.

Learning from Tom that Sonia was awake, the officer visited her to record her statement. After all, she was the victim. According to their procedure, the police were bound to ask her a few questions.

"Good afternoon, Miss Reed," the officer greeted her before taking a seat next to her bed.

She cast a slight nod in his direction. "Good afternoon to you too."

"How are you doing, Miss Reed?" he expressed his concerns about her health.

She smiled. "My lungs still hurt, and I'm suffering from a vision problem. Apart from that, I'm doing just fine."

"Get well soon, Miss Reed," the officer said.

Sonia hummed a response. "Thank you. Are you here for Asher?"

"Yes." He flipped open the notebook that he always carried and twisted open his fountain pen to record her statement. "First of all, Miss Reed, is there any animosity between you and Asher Dafoe?"

She shook and nodded at the question. "We aren't enemies, but he's holding a grudge against me."

"Can you elaborate on that?"

"He's about my father's age. My father is the founder of Paradigm. Indeed, my father worked with a few people including Asher at the beginning of its establishment. He's even considered one of the founding members. However, he didn't invest in the start-up funds when the company was building its foundation nor was he good in management and technology. Therefore, my father gave him a small number of shares for his hard work even though he lacked contribution to the company. Asher has always deeply resented my father since he thought he was credited with founding the company and had made many contributions as he affirmed that he deserved more shares. Thus, he had been against my father over the decades back when my father was the president. My father never took any action to get rid of him as he saw Asher as a companion who had been through highs and lows with him."

"What happened next?" the officer inquired.

"Asher always desired more shares and full control of the company. However, his efforts had always been unsuccessful when my father was alive. Things took a turn for the worse after my father passed away. People bought out the shares, and Asher eventually became the largest shareholder, followed by obtaining the company's full control. Even though he had no real skills, he held Paradigm in one piece for another six years. Thus, I've always been grateful to him. Based on the same reason, I didn't oust him from the company after I took the role of the president."

Pausing her story, she took a deep breath. "I regret it now. I should've chased him out of the company and Seafield. Then, Toby and I could've avoided what happened to us last night."

The man cleared his throat. Are you sure it's wise to declare that you want to get rid of him right before me?

Even so, he eventually decided not to say anything. After all, the woman in front of him barely made it out alive last night. He could understand that her words were mostly a whine after being caught in

a life-and-death situation.

As soon as the words left her, Sonia realized her words were inappropriate and cast him an apologetic smile. "Pardon me. Where are my manners?"

"No big deal. Just be careful next time."

"All right," she promised. After that, she continued, "Over the last six years, he had imposed his rules on the company. Even though there were many shareholders, they lacked the interest to manage the company considering its condition. Thus, Asher had been doing as he pleased. Therefore, he prioritized power and Paradigm's management over other things and refused to let it go. If he had enough money in the first place, he would've bought out the shares from other shareholders and obtained absolute control, then he could finally become the president."

What Sonia meant by absolute control was when a shareholder held more than fifty percent of shares in total compared to the other shareholders.

"However, Asher didn't buy back the shares my father sold a few years ago. Instead, my grandfather, a friend, and Charles, the president of Lane Corporation, were buying back the shares in secret on my behalf. Half a year ago, I returned to the company with an absolute majority."

The officer nodded. The police knew the story well enough. Before they visited Sonia, they had investigated her background.

"I returned to the company at the same time while he was away on a business trip abroad. Otherwise, I couldn't have made it back to the company without any obstacles because he would've taken advantage of my lack of professional knowledge and stopped me from competing with him for power, even though I had absolute control. However, I wasn't aware of his ambition at that time. Even more, I felt bad returning as his superior after he worked hard to sustain the company for years. After all, he was a senior and contributed much to the company's survival. Therefore, IBelongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.

temporarily chose the position of the vice president out of respect and waited for his return so we could proceed with a discussion about the change of position."

"He didn't agree with your offer?" he asked.

She nodded. "That's right. He had shown me nothing but animosity once he came back. Even more, he asked me to hand over the authority, but I refused. However, he had many supporters in the company during that time. I eventually handed over half of my power to avoid fighting them head- on. At the same time, I took the president's position without discussion. It brought his dissatisfaction with me to a whole new degree and aggravated our conflict. After that, he had been caught in an unfavorable position all the time when we had different opinions. Thus, he resented me more, which I guess he could no longer tolerate my presence and attempted to get rid of me."

The officer wrote down his story before shutting his notebook. "That's all I need to know."

"Toby has nothing against Asher. He's only there because I implicated him." Sonia emphasized while looking in his direction. "If anything, Toby lent me a hand when I was competing with Asher for the company. Thus, I think Asher holds some grudge against Toby."

Asher told the same thing to the police before.

The officer rose to his feet. "All right. Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Reed. I won't keep you any longer. I'm heading back to the station to present your statement to my colleagues."

"Wait." She stopped him from leaving.