Evelyn snapped out of her thoughts, depressed as she remembered the past. She scratched her long hair, annoyed and restless.
Her phone buzzed at that moment. It was a message from Sheffield. "Sorry, Eve. I didn't have my phone on me. I was in the lab. Are you okay now? Forget the past. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. It doesn't matter. But promise me that you'll never see that guy alone again."
She bit her lower lip and fretfully bent over the desk. Finally, she texted him back. "I want to see you, Sheffield."
"I'm coming!"
In an instant, Sheffield put away his phone, changed his clothes and walked out of the lab.
Around ten minutes later, he reached the entrance of ZL Group. One look at the heavy security and he knew that he couldn't just talk his way in. He took out his laptop and hacked into the face recognition system of the company.
After successfully registering his face, he turned off the laptop, put on his sunglasses and got out of the car.
As he walked to the entrance of the company, he deliberately lowered his head and pretended to play with his phone. Then, as low-key as he could, he stood in front of the face recognition scanner.
"Clear!"
the robotic sound from the scanner confirmed. The two security guards at the door, who were staring at Sheffield for a moment, looked away.
Sheffield flashed a smug smile as he smoothly walked past the security.
However, the very next second, the smile froze on his face. A group of people were coming in his direction and he broke out into a cold sweat. He thought to himself, 'Lady Luck has obviously turned her back against me! Of all the people in the world, I had to run into the one person who hates me the most right now!' Carlos was leaving the company with some men.
Sheffield was quick to react and immediately headed in another direction.
But it was too late. Even though he was wearing sunglasses, Carlos still recognized him.
Carlos' face darkened. He walked towards the doctor in quick strides. When he heard the footsteps behind him, Sheffield quickened his pace too.
The three assistants with Carlos exchanged confused looks, but followed their boss nevertheless.
The footsteps behind him became clearer and clearer. Sheffield muttered, "Oh crap!" He picked up his pace again.
"Stop! Which department are you from?" Carlos' cold voice came from behind him.
Sheffield turned a deaf ear to him and continued to walk faster. In no time, he was at the end of the corridor. He had to find another way.
Two assistants of Carlos' ran after Sheffield, yelling, "Hey you! Stop! Mr. Huo is talking to you. Didn't you hear him? You, the one in the black coat. Stop right there!" Ignoring them, Sheffield broke into a run.
Now, Carlos was certain that it was Sheffield. He gritted his teeth and told his assistants, "Bring him to me!"
He glowered. 'How dare that bastard! He had the balls to walk into our company through the front gate in broad daylight, ' Carlos thought, basking in rage.
"Yes, Mr. Huo!" While chasing after Sheffield, one of the assistants contacted the security guards and ordered them to besiege the intruder.
Sheffield found the stairs to the second floor, and somehow managed to get rid of the assistants chasing after him. He then rushed into the elevator and pressed the button. Evelyn was on the 33rd floor, but to mislead Carlos' subordinates, he pressed the button to the 30th floor.
When the elevator reached the 30th floor, he stayed inside and pressed the button to the 40th floor this time.
Once on the 40th floor, he quickly pulled up the hood of his coat and walked out of the elevator. He looked around for the stairs.
It was easy to find the exit from the floor, with the obvious signs.
He walked down the staircases promptly, and when he reached the 33rd floor, he rushed towards Evelyn's office. When he saw Nadia's widened eyes, he said, "Shush! Don't tell anyone I'm here!"
Without waiting for her reply, he pushed the door open and walked into the office.
If Nadia hadn't been able to recognize Sheffield's voice, she would have thought that he was an intruder.
And since she couldn't recognize him quickly enough, she couldn't warn him either. Nadia sighed inwardly, 'Too late now.'
"Eve!" Sheffield called as he shut the door. When he saw the other person in the office, his eyes almost popped out from its sockets. "Impossible! How come you are faster than me? This is insane!"
As he spoke, he rushed to the door.
Standing in the middle of Evelyn's office, Carlos looked coldly at Sheffield, who was making a dash for the door. This time, he didn't run after him.
He calmly pressed the button of the Bluetooth key in his hand. The lock on the office door fell into place and he was caught like a mouse in a trap.
Carlos took out his phone and dialed Dixon's number. "Ask our securities to guard the door to Evelyn's office." He hung up and sat down in the chair as he told the helpless Sheffield, "If you are skilled enough, why don't you try and break this lock too?"
Evelyn felt sorry for him. 'I should've just gone to his place instead of calling him here. This was my fault, ' she thought.
Knowing that he couldn't escape now, Sheffield threw back the hood and took off his sunglasses. He smiled sheepishly at Carlos and asked, "Mr. Huo, will you allow me to be with Evelyn if I unlock this door?"
Carlos cast him a cold glance. "Do you have a death wish?"
"No. Fine, scratch that. If I unlock the door, you should let me go unscathed. Deal?" There was a time to fight and a time to strategically retreat, and Sheffield knew that this was the time to flee for his life.
Carlos smirked and played with his Bluetooth key. "Deal."
Sheffield looked at Evelyn, hoping that she could give him a hint.
Evelyn opened her mouth to say something, but Carlos saw through the couple's trick and interrupted them. "Don't bother. I changed the password just now."
Evelyn frowned in frustration.
Sheffield gave Carlos a thumbs up and said in a sarcasm-laced tone, "Well played." He walked to the door and looked at the password lock for a few seconds.
It was the latest password lock, much more advanced than the smart lock in his apartment.
"Dad." Evelyn couldn't stand it anymore and got up from her chair.
Carlos raised his eyebrows and gestured for her to sit down. "I have taught you many times to be calm in any situation, no matter what happens. He's only been here for a few minutes. What's the rush?"
Evelyn didn't know what to do or say.
Sheffield winked at her and mouthed the words, "Don't worry."
Evelyn believed that Sheffield was a brilliant man. It was just that common people wouldn't be able to decode the lock.
After observing it for a while, Sheffield asked Carlos, "Mr. Huo, may I use Evelyn's laptop?"
Carlos had no idea what he was planning to do. "There are a lot of important documents on her laptop. No one is allowed to use it." That meant Sheffield couldn't touch it.
"Dad, he can use my desktop computer…" Evelyn cut in. Although there were some documents on her desktop computer, they were not as important as those on her laptop.
Carlos frowned at his daughter's meddling, but Sheffield dashed towards her computer and blew her a kiss.
Evelyn stepped aside and reminded him in a low voice, "Don't push yourself too much. We can find another way to get you out of here."
Sheffield sat down in her chair. Instead of replying to her concern, he patted her chair and said, "Your chair is really comfortable. I should get one of these for my home."
Carlos sneered, "You are not rich enough to afford that chair." He wanted to seize every chance to mock Sheffield, just in case the doctor turned the tables some day in the future.
