Impulsive Vow to an Enigmatic Husband novel Chapter 639

The phone suddenly rang, cutting off their conversation. Cornelia shot a glance at Ben, signaling that he could scram, no need to keep hovering around her desk.

Once Ben took off, Cornelia picked up her phone. The caller was Zack. He knew Cornelia usually didn't carry her personal phone during work hours, so he dialed her office line.

As soon as Cornelia picked up, she heard Zack's voice, "Cornelia, the cops just called. After some serious legwork, they finally tracked down the perps who trashed our studio."

Cornelia replied, "Awesome! Was it a solo job or a gang thing? Any puppet masters pulling the strings?"

Zack responded, "There's definitely someone behind the scenes, but the cops can't do jack without evidence."

Without waiting for Cornelia's follow-up, Zack continued, "Two young punks in their twenties did us over, fresh from a stint in the slammer for a bar fight. At first, they were playing hardball, insisting they had some shady dealings with you. They claimed you turned them down that day, and they only went rogue after getting hammered."

Some total stranger threw innocent Cornelia under the bus. Zack was fuming when he heard this. He didn't want to bring it up with Cornelia, fearing it would hit her hard. But he thought, why should Cornelia bear the brunt of someone else's screw-up since she didn't do anything wrong?

Zack said, "Cornelia, I'm not keeping this from you because I trust you. I want you to know, you can't let people frame you for things you didn't do."

Cornelia chuckled, "Don't sweat it. Those who smear a girl with such dirty tricks will get their comeuppance. Carry on."

Zack said, "No matter how slick those two are, they couldn't escape the eagle eyes of the cops and the hard facts. The cops found not just one fishy money transfer, but a whole string of their misdeeds. With the evidence stacked against them, they spilled the beans, including that Clair was the one who orchestrated the sabotage of our studio. However, Clair is smart. The transfer wasn't from her account, and she never personally contacted the two punks."

Cornelia got the drift, "So, even though both the police and us know that Clair's the puppet master, no one can touch her without evidence."

"That's right." Zack sighed, "Those two blew the ten grand they got on gambling. They're broke, can't compensate us. Our loss of a few tens of thousands might be gone for good, and we'll have to cough up for studio renovations ourselves. It's heart-wrenching."

They were not made of money. Though the comic studio had been doing alright recently, all the earnings went towards buying a house and paying the mortgage. They already splurged a good chunk on renovations. The comic copyright sale hadn't cleared yet, monthly payroll was due soon, and their bank accounts were pretty much drained.

For the three of them, this loss was a hefty sum.

Cornelia felt the pressure too, so she had to make the person responsible pay up, "Zack, chill. I have a way to make Clair cough up voluntarily."

Zack asked, "What's your plan? Leave the risky stuff to me, don't go off half-cocked."