But Yolanda knew in her heart that this was no small fry she was dealing with. The Tim Group was a mammoth, a veritable commercial behemoth. If she were truly to be pinned with a corporate crime, she'd be staring down the barrel of a hefty sentence.
Her gut told her this was a setup from Agnes.
After all, she copied the script from Agnes' computer, it was the same one Agnes had handed to her. Had she approved Agnes' draft and passed it along to The Tim Group, Agnes would have been the one in hot water for corporate theft.
Agnes had seen right through her, knowing she'd find fault and reject the draft, leading her to resign and Agnes to swoop in and take over the project.
No wonder Agnes hadn't hesitated for a second when she proposed resigning from The Tim Group's assignment—she'd agreed so readily.
It was all a trap Agnes had set.
She'd presented such a stellar draft, knowing she'd eventually find a way to use it herself. It was a such an obvious trap and she, Yolanda, had taken the bait. Step by step, Agnes' scheme unfolded in stark clarity.
Yolanda's head buzzed, her mind went blank, but one thought rose above the noise.
She would not take the fall for Agnes.
With a trembling index finger, Yolanda pointed at Agnes and said, “It was her! She set me up! The draft came from her, she plagiarized and stole The Tim Group's document. Agnes orchestrated this whole charade to frame me.”
The tables turned in an unexpectedly dramatic fashion.
The moment Yolanda finished her statement, the entire office, including the news department outside, fell silent. She sensed something was amiss but her mind was too clouded to figure it out.
That's when Agnes spoke unhurriedly, “Director Yolanda, didn't you say no one knew my computer password? If you managed to copy the document from my computer, that means you knew my password.”
With that, Yolanda began to see the light. It was all a trap.
From the beginning, Jared wasn't out to nail her for plagiarism or corporate theft. He was coercing her into admitting that she had accessed Agnes' computer, that she knew Agnes' password.
It was a double-edged snare. If she denied it, Jared would prosecute her for corporate theft. If she admitted it, she would essentially be confessing to tampering with Agnes' computer.
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