The CEO’s Substitute Lover

Tredan looked at Lilian Drye, who had acted like a madman as soon as she had entered, extremely baffled at her present caprice.

“Lilian, what are you doing?” Tredan asked as he took Lilian Drye’s arm and pulled her over, looking at her face filled with confusion and anger. To his surprise, Lilian Drye laughed frantically, looked at Tredan coldly, and presented the dark blue gift box in her hand to Tredan.

“What are you asking me to do? Oh… honey, can you tell me what it is? Okay?” Lilian Drye opened the dark blue gift box and pulled out the book of pictures from it, pointing to the name ‘The Good Picture’ and questioning Tredan angrily.

“Nice picture, how many nice things have you two done? How many of these disgusting affairs have you had? Did Octavia Chihiro think I wouldn’t know who was hitting on you using her pseudonym?” Lilian Drye moved closer to Tredan, looking at him with resentment and possession in her eyes, and stroking his bearded chin with both hands, she said to him, “Didn’t you say that I was the only one in your heart? That you would always love me? Do you remember when you told me that there was no one who could take my place in your heart, and what tricks did that bitch Octavia play on you to get into your bed?”

Tredan was so stunned that he hadn’t expected Lilian Drye to find out about Octavia Gills.

“Why? Are you sure that Octavia Chihiro is Octavia Gills?” Why is it that Lilian Drye knows her name and he doesn’t?

“Octavia Chihiro is her alter ego, a modern-day comic book artist of some sort. She has a good career in comics, but she chose to work for Group Davi as a meaningless clerk. Tredan, can’t you see what she’s doing to get close to you?”

Tredan was silent, Octavia Gills was a little-known cartoonist? He hadn’t expected Lilian Drye to be so familiar with Octavia Gills, an identity he did not even known Octavia Gills had, and Tredan was angry that he was beginning to realize how little he knew about Octavia Gills.

Looking at Tredan, who was silent, Lilian Drye aggravated the drama by saying, “Tredan, did you know that Octavia quit one of the top comic book companies in Japan when her career in comics was going very well, and came back to Japan to apply for a very modest job as a financial secretary? Tredan, whatever Octavia Gills tells to you, don’t believe her.”

As Lilian Drye clings to the expressionless Tredan, who exuded an impenetrable aura. Lilian Drye can’t tell what he was thinking of now, and can’t figure out how much of what she’s saying does he really believe.

Lilian Drye, who was in tears straightaway, took Tredan’s hand and put it on her chest and said to him, “Tredan, can you feel my heart for you? I love you like no one else, I love you so much, how can you do this to me? How could you be so cruel?”

“Lilian, I… I…” Tredan couldn’t sort out what his feelings in his mind. Every time he was with Octavia Gills, he would always have mixed feelings towards her. What was wrong with him? Had he changed his mind? But his heart kept searching for the warmth of that time so many years ago. He needed a moment to think about it.

“Lilian, I have a very important document to deal with here, I have a meeting in the morning, and I need some peace and quiet now. Be a good girl, and I’ll talk to you when I’m done!” Lilian Drye knew that Tredan was giving her and order to leave, and knew that if she continued to pester him, she would get nothing out of it, so she let Tredan carry his guilt against herself so that she could get a better grip on the man.

“Tredan, let’s get engaged!” Lilian Drye needs to find a glimmer of security for her sake by getting Tredan’s promise.

Tredan patted Lilian Drye on the back and nodded as if with some difficulty.

“You promise?” Lilian Drye finally let go of the anxiety in her heart and laughed openly.

The darkness of the night lingered in the sky, countless stars peeked out through the night curtain, and the scent of the night saturated the air, spreading a sentimental atmosphere.

After Lilian Drye left, Tredan took his cigarette case out of his pocket, stood in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window, lit one in his mouth and took a deep puff, exhaling the white smoke along with his own sigh of annoyance, the house seemed colder than ever. He was so lonely and desolate!

When Tredan had finished smoking the cigarette in his hand, he seems to have managed to compose himself, and suppressed his emotions. He returned to his desk and worked methodically on the papers, looking deeper into it for flaws in the data. As the minutes ticked away on the wall clock, it was one o’clock in the morning when Tredan finally put down his pen.

He looked up and saw the dark blue gift box that Lilian Drye had thrown on the floor. Looking at the name Octavia Chihiro, he felt his heart churning uncontrollably, it was so intense!

Why did she hide her identity? Why would she give up a good career to become a clerk at Group Davi? He gripped the book tightly but didn’t turn the page at all. He would not allow anyone to make a play at him!

Tredan eventually put the copy of ‘The Good Picture’ back in the gift box and took it with him. Wanting to throw it away, Tredan hovered by the bin for a moment, he turned around, went back to his study and put it in the last drawer in his desk and locked it with the key. Whether he wanted it or not, what was his was his!

There was a big announcement at Group Davi early this morning. It was announced that the Chairman’s brother-in-law had been publicly fired by Group Davi’s President at a board meeting today.

Ottilie Berkes’ brother had joined Group Davi because she was the chairman’s lover, and got a good supervisory position, specializing in the purchase of materials for the company. He even bullied many female employees in the name of his boss. Due to his insatiable greed in cutting corners and secretly swapping poor quality materials in a major project, it was inspected by the regulatory authorities and was shut down.

Tredan knew it was like cancer, so this morning at the board meeting, he had to take this opportunity to remove him from Group Davi in front of his father. Tredan presented the evidence he had gathered last night, showing the amazingly clear and indefensible data sheet that made it impossible for his father to bail him out. All the staff in the company applauded the wisdom of the president for this, but Tredan clearly felt his father’s reproachful look at him in the boardroom and said to Tredan before he left, “You shouldn’t have driven him out by yourself.”

Tredan was a little sad to hear these words from his father, but he had long since gotten used to them and had learned to pretend to be indifferent and told his father, “Everything I do is truly for the good of Group Davi, selflessly! It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or not!”

When Ottilie Berkes heard about this, she angrily complained in front of Floyd Davi, “Floyd, why didn’t you stop Tredan from sacking my brother. Did Tredan deliberately target my brother because he hated me? He’s the only male in my family, and my parents are counting on him, and if he doesn’t have this job and is fired for this reason, how is he going to survive in this business?

Floyd Davi pushed Ottilie Berkes away with particular chagrin and slammed the information that Tredan had compiled last night into her face, saying to Ottilie Berkes, “Take a good look for yourself and see what your good brother has done. You know how much money the company has invested in this project! Because of him, we have been ordered to rectify it, which will greatly delay the planned speed of this project. This is a loss of ten million dollars a day, ten million dollars! I can’t even protect myself on the board, how can I protect your good brother!”

“No, no, Floyd, he wouldn’t?? my brother?? he wouldn’t do that, it must be Tredan who set him up! You have to believe him!” Ottilie Berkes’ face turned pale with fear after reading the information and hearing Floyd Davi say that. She knew that, not only would her brother be expelled, but once the state authorities dug deeper into the investigation, her brother would have to be held accountable for this.

“Floyd you can’t do this to him, you must save my brother, he’s the only male in my family of three generations, my elderly parents can’t afford it, Floyd, you must save him!” Looking at the crying woman he owed so much to, Floyd Davi was helpless. “It’s not that I won’t help, it’s that your brother is in too much trouble and I can’t help him now, either in public or in private. If he is really taken away by the prosecutor’s office, I can only promise to get the best lawyer to defend him and try to get a lighter punishment, no matter how much it costs, I will try to get your brother out on bail! That’s all I can do!”

Ottilie Berkes cried even harder when she heard Floyd Davi say that. She thought to herself?? this was all Tredan’s fault, and if anything happens to her brother, she wouldn’t let Tredan off the hook!

As Ottilie Berkes walked past the president’s office, she gritted her teeth and looked at Tredan sitting inside, slowly walking in. Ottilie Berkes was even more resentful because she thought that one day, this position could be occupied by her son Eddison.