Just when Joanne was going to get off the car, the journalists who were crowding around the entrance of the company suddenly took the intiative to make way.

A few men in suits walked out with a few handcuffed employees of the company.

Winston's face grew pale instantly. He asked, "What happened?"

After a few seconds of commotion, Joanne quickly regained her composure and said, "The ones doing the arrest are from the Bureau of Commercial Crime, and the people who have been arrested... seem to be the employees from the finance department of the company."

Before Winston could respond, Joanne had already gotten off the car.

What Joanne had assumed initially was that she could sneak into the company while the journalists were preoccupied with the arrested employees. But she was only by herself; it was impossible to escape from that many pairs of eyes.

"Hey, Mrs. Lambert is here!"

It was unknown who had first discovered Joanne, and not long after she was singled out, Joanne was already swarmed by journalists who were bombarding her with all sorts of incisive questions-

"Mrs. Lambert, do you think Mr. Lambert will be able to manage this crisis of Lambert Group?"

"Mrs. Lambert, tax evasion is a very serious offense. What would you do if Mr. Lambert were to be persecuted by the law?"

Bureau of Commercial Crime... finance department staff... tax evasion...

Joanne did not respond, but was able to make better sense of what had happened from those questions-

Lambert Group was suspected of tax evasion.

Impossible-Joanne denied any possibility of it subconsciously. She did not believe Brian would do anything that foolish.

But she was still worried sick. All she wanted was to see Brian immediately. But she could not break through the crowd of journalists by herself. Furthermore the journalists were asking such harsh questions to force her to voice out-

"Mrs. Lambert, were you aware that Mr. Lambert had committed such a crime? Or is it that..."

"No, he did not!" Anger took over Joanne's internal turmoil. Her beautiful peachy eyes turned icy cold in an instant. She coldly stared at the journalist who had raised that question. "The whole world can see your news reports. I wish you can take responsibility for your words and writing. Do not malign anyone as you like before the police announces the truth!"

"But the police were already here. Can you still say that Lambert Group is innocent?" The journalists were aggressively overbearing.

"The police have only began with their investigation for now. How can you jump to conclusions that Lambert Group is guilty?" Joanne's hands subconsiously rolled into fists. She said with strong conviction, "I trust my husband."

The group of journalists fell into silence. At that moment, Gavin brought a few security guards out, quickly escorting Joanne away from the surrounding journalists to take the lift straight to the top floor, "Didn't I call Winston to send you back home? Why did you come and get yourself surrounded by journalists?"

Joanne did not bother to answer him, and asked frantically, "Gavin, what exactly is the matter?"

Gavin was momentarily deep in thought, then opened the doors to Brian's office. "Joanne, do you trust him?"

Joanne nodded without hesitation.

"That is enough." Chris gestured Joanne to enter. "He's still in a meeting. Wait for him inside. I'll be returning to my work."

After over an hour, Brian finally returned from his meeting.

His distinct, firm brows were tightly knitted. He undid his necktie the moment he entered his office. His deep gaze was cold, emanating chilling vibes.

Once he saw Joanne, he was stunned for a moment before approaching her, "Didn't I tell you to go home? Why did you come?"

Joanne grabbed onto Brian's hand, asking hesitantly, "...Rowdy-is he behind all this?"

She believed that Brian would never do anything unlawful, and she did not believe in Rowdy.

It was not difficult for her to be reminded of Rowdy, given that Lambert Group had not foreseen that crisis at all, and the things that Rowdy had told them previously.

"It's him," Brian said, "His goal is to destroy Lambert Group. This is only his first step."

Joanne's grip on Brian grew tighter subconsciously. Her gaze was somewhat empty as she said, "I believe in you. But can you tell me, did the company really...?"

"Joanne," Brian urged Joanne to sit down. "You may not be able to understand if I told you certain things. But since you believe in me, then trust that I can manage this well. Lambert Group won't be brought down by such insignificant underhanded means."

The emptiness in Joanne's eyes were gradually replaced by affirmation. She nodded, "I'll accompany you to work overtime."

Brian took his coffee mug out, and petted Joanne's hair, "Help me make a cup of coffee."

"Ok."

With the coffee mug in her hand, when Joanne passed by the secretary and assistant offices, she saw that everyone was in a chaos. The cacophony of typing on the keyboard and ringing phones was endless. Daisy was so frustrated that she ended up yelling at the phone which had been unplugged,

"Tax evasion my foot! Do you idiots even know how much investment Lambert Group deal with everyday? Do we need to steal such an insignificant amount of tax!?"

It must had been exhausting for her to handle the media politely, yet she had no choice to keep doing so-and so she ended up venting her frustration over an unplugged phone.

Joanne walked over, and casually grabbed Daisy's empty coffee mug, "I'm going to make coffee. Do you want some?"

Daisy was stunned, then plugged the telephone wire back. As expected, the phone started ringing again, and her shoulders sloped in defeat. But very quickly, she picked up a smile again, and said endearingly to Joanne, "Please add double servings of sugar. Thank you, Mrs." Then picked up the call, and continued responding to the media in the same tone.

Joanne smiled, and went to make two pots of coffee, then sent them respectively to the secretary and the assistant offices. She finally brought the two cups of coffee back. Daisy was still on the phone, and mouthed a "thank you". Joanne simply smiled back, and took Brian's cup of coffee back to the office.

He was so busy he did not even have the time to look up. He said, "I don't know for how long I'll be staying. Let Winston send you back home to rest, alright?"

Joanne placed the cup of coffee within his reach. She replied, "I want to stay with you. Even though I can't offer much help, I guarantee that I won't get in your way!"

With her determined expression, Brian knew it would be impossible to dissuade her, so he just gave in to her. "How about you help us place an order for food delivery? The entire office has to work overtime tonight."

Joanne thought for a while, then ran off to the lounge to make a call.

She meant what she had promised-she did not disrupt Brian at all. Whenever someone came to talk to him, she would be hiding in the lounge. Only after the subordinate had left, she would quietly return to the office, and helped him to tidy up the documents on the table, or poured him a cup of water.

The skies had turned completely dark at about seven o'clock. When Joanne was starting to feel hungry, there was a knocking on the door. She went to open, and it was indeed Martha.

Martha handed Joanne a thermal lunchbox, "Young Madam, this is Young Master's and your dinner. Old Qian brought Mr. Gavin, the other secretaries and assistants' dinner to the small conference room. They've started eating, and wish to give you their thanks."

Joanne only smiled, and took the lunchbox back to the office. She knocked on Brian's table, saying, "Mr. Lambert, it's time to eat."

Brian had overheard what Martha had said earlier on, and knew what Joanne was going to do. He took her hand and led her to the sofa, "Mrs. Lambert, are you trying to conduct a bribery?"

"Correct!" Joanne said blatantly. "You spend one third or more of the day in the office, in contact with all sorts of beauties. I would definitely need to bribe a few people to become my informers!"

Brian helped Joanne take the food out of the thermal lunchbox. He said, "Let me remind you, Daisy's the easiest target."

"Oh," Joanne said, then said proudly yet with great composure. "I'm already close to buying Daisy over!"

Brian, "..."

After finishing dinner, Brian barely had the time to digest before diving back into work. He ended up working until 11p.m.

When he finally realized, and looked towards the sofa area, indeed-Joanne had fallen asleep on the sofa, hugging onto her tablet tightly, seemingly worried that her tablet would fall and disturb him.

He got up, walked over and carried Joanne to the lounge.

The small room was sufficiently warm, the bed was already warm and comfortable. Brian placed Joanne on the bed, and she habitually snuggled under the blanket, pulling onto his shirt, unwilling to let go-just as she had always done when she was asleep.

He carefully plucked her slender fingers off, then tucked her properly in bed; then heard his phone rang in the office outside.

Worried that it would wake Joanne up, Brian walked swiftly to get his phone. When he saw the number displayed on the screen, his gaze grew cold in a flash, but picked up the call in the end.

"This is the first big present I gift to you." Rowdy's chilly voice pierced through Brian's ear drum like a gust of cold wind. "Do you like it, Mr. Brian?"

"Do you think you'll be able to take down Lambert Group just by getting the police to investigate on Lambert Group' taxation?" Brian's voice contained a sense of sarcasm. "Rowdy, how naive have you become with age?"

Bouts of Rowdy's laughter could be heard from the other end of the call. "If your Lambert Group were that weak, how would you be fitting of being my opponent in the first place? Don't worry, getting the police and tax bureau to investigate you is just the appetizer. The main course... is still to come. Guess what I've prepared for you?"

Brian placed his phone on the table forcefully.

He had no idea what Rowdy would do to Lambert Group next.

But he knew, Rowdy's ultimate goal was Joanne, and that was the main course he had referred to.

After calming down, Brian dialed to Wesley on the phone and asked, "How is the investigation?"

"I've sent out all available manpower and exhausted all means. It is still in progress," Wesley said, "Rowdy's slyness is comparable to Peter. He cleansed his records before returning to the country. Even the Interpol could do nothing about him. It would take some time to collect evidence of his crime... The crisis with Lambert Group today, was it his doing?"

Brian confirmed with his silence.

Wesley asked, "Is it troublesome?"

"The police is been involved. The investigation will take some time," Brian said, "I clearly know the situation of Lambert Group. It's not problematic, but the investigation period would have a negative effect on the company."

"So this is Rowdy's goal?"

"No." In the darkness, Brian's jet black eyes were deep like a starless and moonless night sky. "He will surely be doing more."