There were no other options left for her.
She sold a small portion of her personal shares-just enough to get by. The agreement allowed her a chance to buy them backter, but all the paperwork took time, and the funds would take about a week to clear. She managed to scrape together twenty million herself, so she pulled forward part of her uing bonus payout, added it to the pot, and handed what she could to Faust. As for the rest, Faust was only willing to give her a three-day grace period.
Once the proceeds from her share sale finally arrived, she immediately covered the remaining bnce, settling up with Faust in full.
As long as the money was reced quickly and there was no major impact on thepany, there wouldn''t be a problem.
Besides, thepany''s finance team had already confirmed that the funds in question were her bonus—scheduled to be paid to her in just a week anyway. In essence, it was a temporary use of funds, nothing more.
She knew that even if this came to light, as long as the internal board agreed, there would be no real trouble. She would remain President Fielding of Neural Intelligence.
Especially considering the board consisted of only herself, her mother, and Jarrod.
As long as the three of them were in agreement, there was nothing to worry about.
Otherwise, she would never have taken such a risk.
She simply knew how to handle things with finesse, so—
There would be no problem.
Back at VistaLink Technologies, both Elodie and Alexander were still reeling from the news.
"She tapped her bonus payout... it must have been to cover the penalty fee," Elodie realized quickly, but frowned in confusion. "I always thought Jarrod would step in and pay for her."
That''s what she''d always assumed.
But this changed things.
Right now, the only reason Sylvie would be desperate for cash was because of that penalty.
Alexander couldn''t help but marvel, "She''s got some guts. Truth is, Jarrod''s always given her a safety. And she is smart-if she really did cover the shortfall that fast..."
They could easily resolve it internally and skip any punishment.
After all, everyone on the inside was loyal to Jarrod and Sylvie.
Elodie considered this. "Jarrod''s made it clear-he''ll clean up this mess. Sylvie won''t be affected."
Everything with Sylvie had happened so suddenly.
The stack of documents Elodie had brought over for her signature still sat untouched.
"So what about you? Any ideas?" Alexander narrowed his eyes, his tone ambiguous.
Elodie caught his meaning and lowered her gaze, deep in thought.
Later that afternoon, Elodie received a call from Jason with an update.
There were a few work matters at Nexus Analytics that needed her attention.
Once they''d finished discussing business, Jason couldn''t help but bring something up. "Ms. Thorne, have you heard about Ms. Fielding? She''s run into some trouble."
Elodie paused. "You know too?"
Jason chuckled. "Of course. When
Mr. Silverstein founded thepany for Ms. Fielding, he specifically transferred a few of our
management team from Nexus Analytics to help her out. We go way back. Word gets around."
"From what I hear, tomorrow there''ll be an official board meeting at Neural Intelligence. Most likely, the board will unanimously agree not to pursue any sanctions. They''ll say Ms. Fielding reced the funds in time, and as long as there are no major objections, it''ll blow over."
Even if she''d taken up to three months to make it right, it would have been allowed.
But she''d fixed things almost immediately.
And besides-
There was always Mr. Silverstein.
With someone like him looking out for her, there was nothing to fear.
"All right, got it," Elodie replied,
showing little reaction as she sifted through her papers. Then she told Jason, "Put your work on hold tomorrow. I need you toe with me."
Jason tried to guess her intentions, probing, "Where to?"
She capped her pen with a click. "Neural Intelligence. We''re going ghost-hunting."