Burning The House Of Cards: taking revenge on my billionaire family-Chapter 120 - 119. Bullets

"Good morning, Mr. Financier."

[What kind of work are you going to give me this time, Miss Diamond?]

Sarah received a grumpy reply to her greeting. From the hoarse voice, it was clear that Austin was still asleep when she made the call. Not surprising--even in the office, only the CEO’s secretary and one other employee had arrived.

After leaving the restaurant with a pending decision last night, Sarah rewarded the patient puppy--who had been staying quiet and pretty--with permission to accompany her to bed. Just to sleep, though, nothing more. Essentially, it was an invitation for a cuddle, and Hajin seemed to like it more than an invitation for sex--weirdly enough.

Fallen asleep inside someone’s warm embrace, evidently, helped Sarah with her sleep. She only had a little restless sequence, if her watch could be believed. Because of that, she woke up feeling refreshed at dawn.

She would have chosen to stay and enjoyed her early morning with exercise and a slow meal if it wasn’t for the look in Hajin’s eyes. She felt like the man would seduce her for a little round of bed exercise, so she decided they should come to the office early.

Because she knew she would easily succumb to the man’s seduction.

The shocked employee was the first victim, who almost choked on his hot instant noodle. The second victim of this productivity was Austin.

A financier only needed to wake up when the stock market opened--Austin had said before. Naturally, he chose to sleep at any other time.

Sarah found it fun to tease Austin, but she cut to the chase this time. "Have one of your people probe around about the possibility of investment for that filming industry complex."

There was no reply for some time, but Sarah could hear a rustling sound that told her Austin was getting up from his bed. His brain must be wiring up the probability of what Sarah wanted. [You want me--sorry, us--to invest?] he asked after a minute, sounding sharper than before.

Sarah felt her lips stretched. "And found out if those two companies have any shares of HS."

Again, another grown. Sarah already had a list of shareholders, but there was no way the company would give her the whole extensive list. She was only given the major ones, whose ownership had exceeded a certain threshold. The fact that she asked Austin for it meant he had to look for a hidden list--stuff where he would have to use his full financial networks.

[Pizza and chicken won’t be enough this time]

"Check your K-talk," Sarah spoke to the speaker while clicking the send button for a reservation confirmation for a restaurant that was known to be very hard to get. "The bill is on me."

[Your wish is my command, Miss Diamond]

Sarah scoffed before Austin ended the call, probably so he could return to his sleep. Reward or not, he functioned better in the afternoon anyway.

The one with Daniel should be done face to face, probably when she met Kang Jun next week for the golf or whatever. In the meantime, she turned to Hajin who was diligently working over her account--the legal one.

"Are you done with the calculation?"

"Yes," Hajin wrote the numbers down on a card and brought it to Sarah’s desk. "Are you going to use everything, Master?"

"I have to," Sarah shrugged. "This investment is made in my name, so the fund needs to be traceable. And it needs to be big, otherwise they won’t be tempted when I tell them my condition."

Her illegal funds--which had turned legal with Austin’s thorough laundering and the establishment of the investment firm--would be used for the same purpose, but through said investment firm. That was its purpose from the start, after all: funding her revenge effort. On the contrary, Sarah never thought of using her inheritance money before.

"I didn’t mean to use it all, but..." Sarah pursed her lips. It kind of felt like a waste to let it just sit unused like that. "Well, wouldn’t Grandpa like it if I used his gift to do something nice?"

Hajin arched his brow. "Like destroying his empire?

"Yep," Sarah leaned back and crossed her arms, smirking darkly. "Serves him right for being thoughtless."

Hajin chuckled. Sarah truly had mixed feelings for her grandfather, whom she both loved and hated with equal amounts. Well...if he were a good king, he would have preferred his kingdom to be led by a proper leader, right? Even if it wasn’t by his direct descendant.

But even if he disagreed...who cares? He could roll in his grave in protest.

As Sarah chuckled at the thought of getting scolded by her grandfather in the afterlife, someone knocked on the door, followed by a soft voice. "I’m bringing your coffee, Miss."

"Come in," Sarah said, waving her hand to send Hajin back to the couch.

The door clicked softly, done by a professional habit of not disturbing people inside the office. Perfect for sneaking around. Carrying a tray of cups and coffee, Sunny entered the room.

"That’s for my puppy," Sarah said before the secretary walked past the couch.

"Ah, yes..."

The girl kept her gaze down as she put the tray on the table. Again, she never set her gaze on Hajin, just like the first time. She stepped back slowly as if she wasn’t sure of what she was supposed to do next, so Sarah gave her the answer.

"You have something else to give me," Sarah told her.

Sunny stiffened, before hurriedly coming to the desk with a flash storage in hand. She carefully placed it in front of Sarah, her face painted with a complicated expression. She was usually someone who could hide her feelings well, so she must have been weighed down by a lot of heavy thoughts.

"What is it?" Sarah tilted her head.

Sunny pressed her lips, eyes fixated on the flash storage before replying. "Are they...working for you, Miss?"

Sarah smiled as she observed the turbulence inside Sunny’s eyes. Unlike with Mari, she used a rather roundabout way, making her contract with Austin instead of her directly. While Sarah wanted to use her, she had no idea whether Sunny would be up to it. Different from Mari, she would have to keep doing what she wanted to escape from. Only after she was bound by the contract did Austin tell her to report to Sarah instead of him.

She probably felt blindsided, being given false hope.

"Why? Do you feel like I was deceiving you?" Sarah asked with a bright smile that she always used when she entered the office. "Do you think I’m taking advantage of you?"

Sunny did not reply, but her sour expression said everything.

Sarah curled her lips, but the brightness in her smile had gone, replaced with a cold one. "Sunny, I’m not a charity."

The secretary flinched at the sudden dry tone and cold voice. There was a numbness inside those deep, black eyes that reminded her of an abyss. It was nothing like the spoiled young miss they had been witnessing.

"This is not a fantasy where someone would be willing to help without getting anything in return," Sarah continued, staring straight into the secretary’s eyes. "We offered you a job, explained what you would have to do, and the pay you would receive. We didn’t force you; you signed the contract knowing the full information."

Sunny bit her lips, finding her gaze lowered in reflex. Of course, no one dared to go against Sarah because of her status and how she could ask anyone to be dismissed. At that moment, however, Sunny felt a rather different kind of fear.

Something that had nothing to do with her status as the daughter of a conglomerate.

Those deep black eyes stared at her. "Weren’t you?"

"Yes...Miss..."

"Then what’s the problem here?"

"...nothing, Miss."

"Good," Sarah nodded and tone done the coldness in her voice. "You may leave."

Sunny bowed deeply, a bit faster than usual; almost as if she wanted to get away right away. Sarah curled her eyes as the secretary turned around. Well, that was enough for the stick.

It was time for the carrot.

"The better you are at this job," Sarah said before Sunny reached the door. "The faster we could drive him away."

Sunny paused and straightened her back. For a few seconds, she only stood there without saying anything. "What..." she turned around, carefully. "What am I supposed to do next, Miss?"

"Phone and computer first," Sarah replied right away, as if she had been waiting. "And if you can...the vault."

Sunny took a deep breath at those orders. Those were honestly difficult, but Sarah wanted to test her. Sunny would have to be very clever and probably even use her appeal to access those.

"That being said, you need to do it carefully," Sarah added. "If you were to be found out--"

"The Miss has nothing to do with it," the secretary nodded. Her gaze was no longer as complicated as before.

Sarah sent the girl away with a friendlier smile. She leaned back and swayed in her chair. "That should be enough, right?"

"You said it yourself, you’re not a charity," Hajin leaned against the desk, gazing at Sarah with a soft smile. "So you don’t have to feel guilty, Princess."

Sarah looked up, drinking in the gaze that was reserved only for her. That gaze did not change no matter how pathetic she acted, no matter how cruel she became. And just like how it didn’t change in the past, Sarah had a feeling that it wouldn’t change in the future.

"Puppy," her eyes curled, softening in a way that made Hajin widen his own. "Kiss me."

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