109 No Mercy 1

Walking into the room in which Liz was waiting for him, Will was surprised to see that she actually had a calm expression on her face.

He had been livid when he saw the article, and he had already made calls to get it taken down.

However, gossip was sometimes like the plague. Once there was one case, it could quickly spread to others.

Although the major magazines stayed put and barely alluded to that article, the smaller ones started to pick it up.

At one point, he had been so furious that he considered whether to use…'extraordinary' measures to resolve this situation.

Yet, he decided to talk to Liz first.

Yesterday's date had been truly wonderful, and he had even gone to bed the night before with a smile on remembering how they had a normal meal for once.

As for that incident with the puking and the way Liz had resolved it, it just went to show how special she was.

He had loved the way things were right now, as they were both having fun with nothing being messy or complicated.

This stupid article changed that, and he was one step away from going into a tirade of fury.

However, Liz's calm expression changed that.

Different people acted in different ways when they were angry. Being called a gold-digger was a very serious accusation, so he wondered whether this was the way Liz acted when she was enraged.

"I'll fix it. They are just a small magazine who had the gall to-"

"No, let me."

For once, Will was the one who was at a loss for words.

Just like her expression, her tone was also eerily calm, and this actually made his skin crawl.

Yeap, she was angry.

"I can take care of it. I've handled things like these before."

"I know that you must have. But I'm the one being accused here. And if it's all the same to you, I would like to be the one to 'fix it'. Do I have the authority to use Happle's resources?"

"Miss. Liz, are you sure-"

Seeing Liz stand up and look straight into his eyes with an expression like that of a commander who was ready to march to war, Will sighed and realized something, remembering the fate of the other person who had messed with Liz before.

Whoever was responsible for this, was doomed.

"You have the authority. Good luck."

....

Sitting in the office of the security head of the hotel, Liz watched the computer screen where the footage of the day before was being shown.

Her expression was still the same, and this had even scared the security head, who was used to handling hardened criminals.

"Ma'am, we have gone over this 10 times. There's nothing here-"

"Sir, if you have someplace to be, please leave. I don't care if I need to see it a hundred times. I can do it alone. Please carry on with your work."

Her voice carried a faint warning with it, which made it clear to the security head that he should tread carefully.

He had already been scolded once by the hotel head, who had been angry because of the scandal caused in their hotel. However, he had nowhere been as affected as he was now, when he heard this woman speak.

Indeed, the phrase "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" was really true.

With a nod, he got up and left the room after showing her where the records of the other days were kept.

After the door closed, Liz found herself alone and felt like smashing the table in front of her.

She was furious. More furious than she had been in a long, long time.

She didn't blame the CEO. Gossip like this was common in the world of high-profile individuals, and many just raised their hands in the air and gave up on seeing accusations like these.

However, Liz wasn't one of those people.

She was going to find the one who was responsible for this, and she was going to make such an example out of them that-

No, she had to stay focused.

Observing the footage once again, Liz tried to figure out who shot the photos.

The CEO had been smart enough to have the hospital lobby evacuated for the most part when the whole thing with the carpet had been set up.

However, there were a few essential personnel around who were responsible for keeping everyone else out.

Yet, they had all been vetted already by the hotel staff, but nothing had been found.

In total, there were 20 people: 10 security guards, 4 receptionists, 3 waiters and 3 people from the local Happle office who had been there to ensure that everything went as per the instructions of the CEO.

Sadly, just like the security head had said, there was nothing to be gained from watching this footage, as the perpetrator had been clever enough to take the photos using some kind of hidden camera.

Liz wasn't ready to give up,

Sitting back, she began to think of the motive.

The most obvious one was money. Yet, she had read up on Happle's media policies and the background of the magazine which had printed the article.

It was a small one, so it didn't have the capability to pay a large sum.

So, it only made sense for the perpetrator to have some sort of secondary motive.

Could it be revenge against the CEO? To ruin his relationship?

It was possible. Someone could have been contracted to take these pictures for that purpose.

If so, how was she going to look for clues?

Looking around the room, Liz saw the records of the previous days.

Yes! If someone was doing that, they would also be up to suspicious activities on the days before!

Bringing the footage of the entire day before that, Liz zeroed down on the span of time during which they had been in the lobby.

As she noticed something strange, she realized that she had missed a different kind of motive that she hadn't considered.

Jealousy.

As a cold smile came on Liz's face, she started to plan her next move.

There would be no mercy.