Two Hundred and fourty three

CHAPTER 243

"Thank you for your time, I hope we can work together to improve Alpha Company in the future."

Christine ended the conversation. They shook hands after enjoying lunch together. Alicia, who was still standing at her desk, watched Christine and Felix leave. They were getting farther away, and became invisible as they passed through the door.

One hand reaching into her jacket pocket, she examined Anna Parker's business card and read it carefully. After a moment's thought, Alicia pulled out a cell phone from another pocket and called Nicholas.

It took a few moments before Nicholas finally received the call.

"Nick! Where are you right now? Can we meet? There's something very urgent."

[...]

"Alright. Let's meet at Town Square, my location is quite close to that building. See you then."

Since it was only a few minutes away from the restaurant, Alicia decided to run to Town Square. The place where she and Nicholas had promised to meet. Without waiting long, Alicia could see Nicholas' car coming towards her standing on the side of the road. Alicia waved and Nicholas pulled over.

Before Nicholas could turn off the engine, Alicia had already jumped into the car.

Nicholas gasped, he had just finished unbuckling his seat belt. "Why did you come in? I thought we were going to talk here."

"No, Nick. We'll talk as we go." Nicholas frowned in confusion, but Alicia immediately pulled out Anna's business card. "Do you know about this? A person named Anna, worked for my mother for five years. She was my mother's personal secretary, but she didn't live in the company."

There was a small murmur from Nicholas. He took the business card handed to him by Alicia and tried to observe it. "Anna? I met her a few days ago." Alicia's eyebrows shot up. "Noel and I went to check, and well, she said some things well."

"Do you know how close she was to my mom?"

Nicholas handed back the business card. She nodded her head, then turned the wheel, heading back to the main road leaving the side streets. While watching the road, Nicholas explained again, "I heard they are close, but they only talk about the company. Anna has worked for more than five years, but she works for two bosses. Felix knows about it too, but he only seems to know about the things she does in the office. I think there's a rivalry between Felix and Anna. Anna isn't open about her work either."

Alicia held the business card tightly. There was a puzzle piece inside, and Alicia was guessing where she could find the missing piece. She looked out the window, then back at Nicholas. "Christine is the deputy CEO, she's quite close to my mom, but she also only deals with work. But strangely, Christine said that Anna had visited my mother's house."

Nicholas' eyebrows furrowed, he was quite surprised. "Is that such a strange thing?"

"It is strange, Nick. No one else knew about my mother and father's private home. My mom always gives out the old home address for deliveries and stuff because they are very private. Even Christine admits that none of the office staff have ever visited, or even known where my mom's house is."

"But Anna knew and even visited your mom's house."

"That's the problem, Nick!"

Nicholas pressed his tongue against his mouth and looked out the window. The city streets were still as busy as ever. But Nicholas' gaze only focused on the asphalt that was being repaired. He slammed on the brakes a lot to avoid getting stuck in the potholes on the broken asphalt.

"Do you intend to see Anna?"

Alicia nodded quickly, she looked at Nicholas determinedly. Putting Anna's business card back into her jacket pocket, Alicia fastened her seatbelt and looked confidently at the road ahead.

"Yes. I want to see him myself. I want to know what my mother told me that led her to bring Anna to her house."

Nicholas nodded in agreement. There was no request Alicia could refuse. He turned the wheel and hit the brakes under his feet in a hurry. While overtaking several vehicles, Nicholas tried to reach the Star Corporation as quickly as possible.

They arrived at the Star Corporation in the late afternoon. Alicia had spent a lot of time in the restaurant, she couldn't possibly send Christine and Felix away, so waiting for her two guests took up a lot of time. Alicia looked at the clock on her left hand when she got out of Nicholas' car.

"It's after work in general, can we see Anna?"

Nicholas, who was standing by the door, saw Alicia on the other side. He looked around, people were coming out of the building. The crowd greeted them. But Nicholas tried to build a sense of optimism within himself in order to calm Alicia down. Nicholas said, "We should check it out ourselves, we should go in now, maybe we still have hope of meeting Anna."

"Okay."

Alicia walked with Nicholas. This was not the first time for Nicholas, so he was already familiar with the entrance route to the Star Corporation. He was walking in the opposite direction, when the employees of the company were leaving the building. It was late afternoon and it was office hours, Anna would have gone home and joined those people, but Alicia still wanted to try.

"Excuse me, can we see Anna Parker?"

Nicholas asked the receptionist at the front desk. The woman was also preparing to leave, it was shift change time.

"Anna Parker?" The woman took off the nameplate on her chest that read Charlotte. "Didn't you meet her yesterday? We met here yesterday, didn't we?"

Nicholas nodded in the affirmative. He grinned, then looked at Alicia. "This girl wants to meet Anna Parker. Anna works with this girl's mother," Nicholas said, then tapped Alicia on the shoulder. "Can you help me meet Anna Parker today? I Have something to do with her."