The Cheap & Dupe CEO

CHAPTER 14

Adam choked on the water and ended up spilling some on the table.

James’ father, Joseph, watched calmly. He didn’t say a word, but Adam began sweating. This old man in his seventies didn’t ask him if he took the money but confidently asked him to give him the money his son had given him.

What should he reply?

Should he ask for some time? No, that would mean he would be agreeing to have taken the money. Should he play innocent like Leher told him to? Hell no! That would mean he was no different from his aunt.

But then, what was he supposed to say?

“Mr. Adam?” Joseph said his name and nothing, but it made rails run through Adam’s heart. He had never been so tensed to answer a simple question in his life. His head surely gained weight in the last few seconds.

“I need time,” Adam somehow managed to squeeze out some words.

“How long? Two days?”

“That’s…”

“A week?”

Adam ended up nodding halfheartedly.

“Then I’ll see you in a week,” Joseph stood and patted his shoulder once before walking away with the help of a stick.

“See you later, Mr. Joseph,” Adam just remembered his name.

After Joseph left, Adam sipped more water in a hurry. “Shit. Shit. Shit. I just screwed up, didn’t I? What am I supposed to do now?” he ended up biting his forefinger, which was a bad habit he picked up during his beggar days.

Joseph was the Dean of Conreid University, the most prestigious learning institute in Conreid Lore. On the side, he owned two soft drink companies called Light and Strong. Light was a sweet and cool drink preferred during summers, where Strong was a spicy drink preferred during autumns and winters. They weren’t big hits, but they returned decent profits every year.

Joseph’s net worth was around 150 million dollars. And messing with such a man surely wouldn’t be in the interest of the Conreid family, yet Adam was told to lie to Joseph.

Adam was beginning to regret taking this job as his life could be at stake if things go wrong. He knew how quickly things could get ugly between two parties when money was involved. It happened with his own aunt, so he couldn’t help but feel stressed as to how to move forward with this issue.

Suddenly, his eyes widened. “That’s right. How can I forget this?” he went to his office and checked the desk. He found many bank cards, but they were all debit cards. “C’mon, where is it? There’s got to be one.” He searched for many minutes, but he couldn’t find it. “Where the hell is the credit card? The exclusive ones should have higher limits. If I can pay with that…”

He couldn’t wait, so he ended up calling a number.

Evelyn suddenly woke up thanks to her phone vibrating. She checked the screen, and it showed the name Boss. Her eyes widened, and she immediately sat up. She didn’t from where she mustered so much energy. “Why’s he calling now?” He never called her after she slapped him. So why now?

Whatever the reason, she thought she should pick it up, and she did. “Hello,” her voice was weak, though not on purpose. She cleared her throat and spoke again. “Hello, this is Evelyn. Who’s speaking?”

“It’s me, Adam,” the voice coming from the mic suggested that he was in a hurry. “Do you know where my credit card is? I can’t seem to find it.”

“Your credit card?” she raised her brows. “Why are you asking me that?”

“Aren’t you my personal secretary?”

“Yeah, so? How would I know where you’re keeping your cards? It’s not like I live in your office.”

“Y-You are not wrong,” his voice trembled. “Just tell me when was the last time you saw me use a credit card?”

“Mm, let me think,” she pondered for a while, “wait, come to think of it, I’ve never seen you use one. You’ve always swiped the same cards that I use.”

“What do you mean?” Adam didn’t like where this was going. His expression froze. It was at that moment he realized that he probably fucked up big time.

“I mean, you always used debit cards as far as I can remember,” she said.

“NOOOOO!” Adam cried out, startling the heck out of her to the point she briefly ended up jumping on her butt.

“What happened, sir?” she worriedly asked. “Is everything alright?”

However, the call ended.

“Just what happened?” she still looked bothered. “Did he get into some kind of trouble? He doesn’t even let me, his personal secretary take his calls, so I’m can’t even guess what kind of trouble he might have gotten himself into.”

Then again, she thought he had a lot of people to take care of him. She was about to put the phone away, but she checked the mails and noticed that a message came from Adam.

She opened it quickly.

“Hey, they said you took a sick leave. Hope you'll recover fast.”

The message was short, it left a bit of an impact in her heart. A man who wasn’t her father worrying about her was a first for her.

“There was a board meeting today. I should have been there to help him, but… he won’t get mad at me for taking a leave, right?” she let out a heavy breath. “He can scold me, but anything more, and I won’t tolerate it,” she thought.

Meanwhile, Adam already called another person. “Hey, Jefferey, this is Adam. Do you know where my credit card is? I can’t seem to find it.”

“You mean your debit card?”

“No. I mean credit card. C-R-E-D-I-T. That credit card.”

“Didn’t you find any better time to pass time with me, Young Master? I’m in the middle of taking a dump right now,” Jefferey sounded a little frustrated.

“What’s that got to do with telling where my credit card is?” Adam sounded more frustrated.

“How can I tell where it is when it doesn’t exist?”

“H-Huh? What? Come again?”

“Enough with your play, Young Master. Let’s continue this later.” He hung up.

“D-Did he just… cut the call?” Adam’s jaw dropped, but he had bigger things to worry about. “What the heck did he mean by 'my credit card doesn’t exist’?”