The Enticing CEO’s Chosen Bride
Chapter 2047

Charlie's stride halted, his fury cresting. "What..."

Camden shrank back, tears streaming down his cheeks. "My son and wife are in his hands, Mr. Diaz. I can't risk their lives for the company. I'm just a regular Joe, busting my hump for the firm, and I'm willing to do that. But I can't put my family's safety on the line. It's just not fair. Why me..."

Seth was silent for a long moment. Charlie watched his expression carefully, but it was as calm as a still pond, eerily composed. "How long would it take to start over?"

Camden, still cowering, thought for a second. "It's a six-month job. If we work our ass off, two months."

Seth closed his eyes.

The wedding next month... It was too late.d2

"Go find Ray, see if he has a backup ready."

Camden nodded eagerly, "Right, right, right! Maybe he still has a backup. We need to find him fast before he leaks our program."

Charlie jolted into action and dashed out.

Seth spent the whole night in his office, waiting for Charlie's response. Ray had suddenly become their only hope.

At the school, Cicely had fallen asleep at her desk numerous times, her rest fitful and uneasy. She had hoped it was all a dream, but each time she woke, the reality of her surroundings and the two busy figures nearby brought a suffocating feeling. Anxiety and helplessness welled up, followed by silent tears.

The thought of Seth, who had spent two years and a fortune on this, potentially facing ruin was unbearable. Disappointment? Regret? Defeat? Despair?

She didn't want to see him like that. Just the thought was heart-wrenching enough.

He could blame her and they could not get married, but she couldn't bear to see that look on his face.

Issac had been by her side the whole time, pained to see her this way. As dawn broke, he stepped out to buy breakfast. Two portions for Joel and Joel's friend. The remaining one he placed before Cicely. The school cafeteria's offerings were always the same - buns and oatmeal.

Joel and his friend, having worked all night, didn't stand on ceremony. They munched on the buns without taking their eyes off their screens. The room filled with the hearty scent of the steamed buns. Cicely woke again, and Issac pushed the bag toward her, "Have some breakfast."

Cicely, groggy, looked around, sniffed at the bag, then her face turned, and she bolted from the room, hand over her mouth. Issac followed quickly.

Outside the room, Cicely leaned against the wall, heaving with nothing to bring up.

Issac handed her water. After rinsing her mouth and quenching the churning in her stomach, she settled down.

Issac, concerned, draped her dropped jacket over her and whispered, "I'll take you to the hospital."

Cicely shook her head, "I'm fine. Just didn't sleep well."

She sat down by the flowerbed, pulling the jacket tight around her, and sniffed. "I can't stand the smell in there. Can you check on their progress for me? Can they crack it?" Pale and weak, her voice barely held strength.

Issac reluctantly left her to ask Joel about the progress.

Joel looked worn but hopeful, "We should be able to do it. We're trying to interface and modify, but we can't give a definite timeline. Just tell her to hang in there and that it'll work out." Issac nodded, "Thank you."

He reported back to Cicely. Despite being promised a certainty, no answer made sense to her without getting a successful decoder break.

She looked up at the brightening sky, biting her lip in worry. "Issac, what do you think Seth will do when he finds out the program is gone?"

After a pause, Issac replied, "He won't lose it. He's young but steady. Even with something like this, or if he ever fails at something, he won't act irrationally."

Cicely's swollen eyes reddened again. "But he's been working on this for two years."

Issac avoided her pained expression, "Everyone faces failure once."

"But I want his life to be smooth. I don't want him to face failure, especially not because of me."

Guilt and the harshness of reality made Cicely's heart ache with every thought. She hung her head, tears falling, drop by drop.

Issac approached, gently placing a hand on her head, soothing her. "The data won't run away from the flash drive. They'll crack the program sooner or later. You really don't need to worry this much. Speak to him clearly, and he will understand, especially since you did it for his sake. Even if it's not recovered, it hasn't leaked, and these programs are made by people. They can write them again; it's just a matter of time."

Cicely's mood steadied with Issac's comforting logic. She looked up, "What time is it?"

"Seven. What you need to do now is get some good sleep, then explain things to him at the company."

"But he'll be worried if he finds out. I can't sleep."

"There are two hours until work starts." Issac held her back as she tried to rise, "You can definitely sleep for two hours before going to the company. I booked a room for you in the hotel next door. Go rest a bit.' Cicely felt truly awful, and this time Issac was insistent. She acquiesced and went to get some rest.

Yesterday, Patty dropped by the set to see Danielle. Danielle promised to show her around the studio city that evening, so they ended up staying at a hotel.

The next morning, they were up early, ready to head back to the city center. After they finished breakfast in their room and packed up, they headed downstairs.

Just as they were about to walk out the front door, Danielle was suddenly grabbed by the arm by someone who appeared out of nowhere. She let out an instinctive scream.

"Danielle, it's me."A familiar, anxious voice rang out. Danielle snapped back to reality and saw that it was Ray.

"What... how..." She glanced at a startled Patty and quickly shook off Ray's hand. "Let go of me!"

Ray didn't let go, but looked around and took out a cellphone from his pocket and handed it to Danielle. "Danielle, I really like you, but I can't expect you to be with me. This is the last thing I can do for you. I hope you get what you want, and I wish you happiness."

"Also, don't go to Diaz International before noon to see Seth. If you want to talk to him, you can ask him to meet you somewhere else."

Danielle was confused, "What are you talking about? Why can't I go to Diaz International, and why should I go see him..." "Danielle, I'm out of time, I have to go. Just remember what I said."

Ray kept an eye on his surroundings as he spoke, then abruptly cut Danielle off, pulled his cap down low, and hurried away.

Patty, frowning at the scene, asked, "Who was that guy? All sneaky like a fugitive. What's with the phone? Is there something important on it?"

At that moment, Patty's driver approached, and after greeting them, Danielle linked arms with Patty and they walked down the steps.

"Let's check it out in the car."

After finishing his breakfast and taking a stroll outside, Creighton received a call from Patty. Right off the bat, Patty's shrill voice almost pierced someone's eardrums.

"Creighton, you sure raised a piece of work! She's so heartless and ruthless, the Diaz family can't afford to have her, nor would we dare. This wedding is off! Forget it! I will never agree to let her marry into the Diaz family in my lifetime."

If Patty had just criticized him, Creighton wouldn't have minded, but she started off by belittling his daughter to nothing, and Creighton's temper flared. "Patty! What's gotten into you this early in the morning? Where did Cicely wrong you to deserve such strong opinions?!"

Patty snorted, "Where did she wrong me? She nearly ruined Diaz International. Where do you think she wronged me?! Is she at home? If so, tell her to come to Diaz International right now. We're going to settle this today."

After Patty hung up, Danielle suggested, "Patty, Ray advised us not to go to Diaz International this morning. Let's ask them to meet us somewhere else instead."

"Why can't we go to Diaz International?! Since when does my family's territory depend on his say-so."

With the company on the brink, it was understandable for Patty to be livid. Now with her chest heaving with indignant rage, her fury was palpable. "I always knew she was a curse, and yet I had to be entangled with her. We got nothing from the Ellis Group but managed to drag Diaz International down first. What a disaster!"

"To Diaz International!" Patty almost roared at the driver. Danielle frowned but seeing Patty's raging and domineering demeanor, didn't dare to speak up and just accompanied her to Diaz International.

Creighton was left confused and annoyed after being yelled at and abruptly hung up on. He wanted to call Cicely to ask what was going on, but considering the time, she might still be asleep. Instead, he called Issac, only to find his phone was off.

His brow furrowed in concern.

He immediately called Seth.

Seth's phone was picked up quickly, and he sounded exhausted.

"Seth, did you and Cicely have a fight?"

Seth paused, "No."

"Then why did your mother just call me wanting to call off the engagement, badmouthing Cicely like she's the worst? Are you with Cicely now?"

"No. There was an issue at the company last night. I didn't go home, I'm still here. She was out with friends last night."

"I see. I hope everything's fine. I can't reach her. Could you try? By the way, your mother mentioned that there was a problem at the company. What happened?"

Seth pursed his lips, "I'll contact Cicely right away."

"Alright."

Creighton hung up feeling unsettled, especially since Seth avoided talking about what happened at the company. Given Patty's hysterics on the call, he worriedly sent Brody to check on Diaz International.

Cicely had no intention of sleeping. No matter how uncomfortable she was, she couldn't close her eyes, so she just took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and left the room.

Issac had been waiting at the door, and seeing her like this, he sighed deeply. "Going to Diaz International?"

Cicely nodded.

"Want to grab some breakfast first?"

Cicely shook her head.

Issac no longer insisted. They headed straight for Diaz International.

Upon arriving at the company, they saw Charlie, looking exhausted.

Cicely thought that with such a big issue, Seth would definitely be at the office, even on a weekend. That was the logical conclusion. "Charlie, is Seth in his office?"

Charlie looked up, his gaze locked on her with an unfamiliar blend of anger and sarcasm. "In the Engineering Department."

His tone and terse reply caused a hitch in Cicely's heart. She pressed her lips together tightly and with a dim expression, she muttered, "I'll go up and find him."

Issac followed Cicely this time, accompanying her upstairs. The office was eerily quiet on the weekend.

Cicely instructed Issac to wait at the door while she pushed open Camden's office. Three pairs of eyes turned to her in unison.

Patty and Danielle stood before Seth, seemingly in the middle of a conversation with him.

Camden's desk was in disarray, the computer tower and monitor now separated and strewn across the room.

Her first glance was towards Seth, whose bloodshot eyes met hers with an unfamiliar coldness and ferocity. "Sleep well last night?" he asked, his voice raspy to the extreme. Cicely gripped the door handle tighter and after a brief silence, mustered the courage to speak. "Seth, I didn't go home last night. I came back to the office late..."

"Is it because you spent the night partying with Emiliana that you didn't come home?"

Seth's gaze never wavered from her, each question sounding like an evasion of something else.

Cicely bit her lip and shook her head, "No, that's not it."

Seth's eyes darkened, and he looked away. "As long as you haven't been cheating on me behind my back, there's no issue. I'm busy now, you should leave."

Cicely glanced at the chaos of the office. As she was about to open her mouth to say something, Patty's shrill voice suddenly cut through the air. "That's it? Seth, did you even hear what we just told you, or are you deliberately playing dumb?"

"She deliberately sabotaged your two-year project! Doesn't this mess prove it? The confidential data is gone, and the computer is trashed. All your efforts are wasted, and Diaz International might go under because of her. This evil woman!"

Cicely's frown deepened as she turned to Patty and Danielle, who was smirking behind her. "How did you know about it?"

Patty, teeth clenched in anger, pointed at her, her eyes red with fury. "Listen to her! She admits it and you still don't believe it?"

Cicely, however, stepped closer to Danielle, her gaze sharp. "I'm asking you, how did you know about the data wipe?"

With a crisp slap, Patty's hand struck Cicely's face hard.

Seth's eyes shook violently, and he abruptly stood up from his chair. Issac, having heard the commotion, burst through the door and shielded Cicely behind him.

Patty, now in a rage beyond control, glared at Cicely. "What right do you have to confront Danielle like this? After what you've done, you still act so superior. It's shameless!" Issac's expression was icy. "Madam, the situation isn't clear yet. Please calm down."

"Not clear? What more clarity do you need? Does this suffice?"

She laughed mockingly, pulling out a phone from her bag - the one Ray had given Danielle - and after pressing something, tossed it onto the desk before Seth.

A familiar voice began to play, its clarity allowing one to imagine the speaker's expression at the time:

"Everyone knows that Seth is cold and aloof. The most important things to him are his mother and Diaz International, left to him by his father. My affection for him is no secret, and even though we're set to marry, he's never said he loves me. I don't know when he might leave me, so I thought, if I could control something so important to him, he wouldn't just walk away. You're well aware his mother favors Danielle, and to this day her desire to set him up with Danielle is still alive and well. There was no way for me to break in from his mother, so my sights were set on Diaz International.

"I've mentioned transferring Diaz International to my name a few times, but he's resisted, saying that if the software development fails and the company faces losses, then Diaz International would easily fall into my hands. Honestly, compared to the Ellis Group, Diaz International is small fry. Whether it fails or not, its value is irrelevant to me; I just want it.

"My goal is to completely destroy this program. Diaz International will then face huge bank loan issues, then the Ellis family will help, and Diaz International will fall into my hands.

"There are no cameras, no proof of who did it. He has no reason to suspect me.

"Mr. Ray. If I'm to destroy, I'll do it thoroughly. I know a bit about coding. If you move these files with a regular USB, any engineer here could recover the lost files exactly. What's the point of what you're doing? "That USB is infected with a virus I had specially prepared for today. Once plugged into the computer, it will automatically destroy everything inside, including the computer's operational data, resulting in both data destruction and hardware failure."

Ray's voice was interspersed, but it no longer mattered.

Cicely's face, which didn't have much of a color to it, went completely pale all of a sudden. Instinctively, she looked towards Seth, who was also looking back at her, his eyes slowly morphing from grim to mocking, and he even let out a cold laugh. "You're quite something, obliterating even the computer's operational data. You've done a thorough job indeed."

Cicely shook her head frantically and approached him, "It's not like that, Seth."

Suddenly, Seth raised his hand, batting away hers as she reached for his arm. Cicely staggered, steadying herself on the nearby desk.

"So what is it?" Seth eyed her coldly, his gaze like nails laced with frostbite, piercing through her nerves inch by inch. "You've mentioned more than once that you wanted to get your hands on Diaz International and you've even talked about tearing it down. I thought you were just being flippant, Cicely. All this time, you find everything dull, and you can't stand to look at a single company report as if it's like pulling teeth, but you're oddly fascinated by those intricate programming codes, always scurrying off to the engineering department. What's the deal with that, huh?"

"Which words on the recording would you say are not true? Maybe you're right about one thing. Without surveillance, I'd have no reason to suspect you. But you're wrong too. There's no surveillance, just the audio."

Danielle stood to the side, her gaze fixed on a crack in the floor, a smirk tinged with irony playing across her face. It looked like she didn't have to lift a finger; Cicely was done for.

Cicely felt terrible, her head was spinning, and her heart ached.m"Seth, I did say those things on the recording, but none of it was true. I only said that to trick Ray."

Seth narrowed his eyes and turned to look at her, his clenched fist resting slowly on the desk beside him. It seemed like he was thinking, trying to believe Cicely's words, looking for a way out for her.

But at that moment, Danielle suddenly spoke up, "If it was just to trick Ray, having him copy the files onto a flash drive would have been enough. Why did you remind him that he might get caught, and to destroy the evidence thoroughly if he was going to do it? Don't you see the contradiction in your words?"

That one sentence from Danielle completely overturned all of Cicely's explanations.

Seth's eyes flickered, and when he looked up again, they had returned to their previously dark and cold state. Just as Cicely was about to bring up the matter of the flash drive, his look silenced her.

At the same time, four uniformed officers stepped in.

Patty quickly said, "You guys are from Department of Justice, right? It's her, she conspired with others to maliciously destroy company secrets, causing significant losses, and the evidence is irrefutable. Please take her away immediately. We're preparing to press charges."

Seth's brow furrowed slightly as he turned to look at Patty, but Patty went on, handing Ray's phone over to one of them.

Hearing the words 'Department of Justice,' Cicely's head shot up, her expression a mix of panic as she looked towards the tall, imposing man beside her. "Seth, are you suing me? Are you going to press charges against me?"

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