The Billionaire’s Aloof Wife

Leila slowly stood up and took a deep breath to calm herself because she didn't want to be seen as weak by an outsider.

Then she heard the principal speak with an apologetic face. "President Leighton, the person you are looking for is really here."

Upon hearing his words, Leila was confused. 'Why were they looking for her?'

Even though she had this thought, she was grateful that they found her here. If not, she would have to spend the night in the classroom.

"Why are you here?" she couldn't help but ask. It was the second time she had met the handsome man, so they were still considered strangers.

The young man sauntered and stopped before her with a faint smile on his lips, and he whispered, "I'll take you home."

His gentle words stunned her into silence. She lowered her gaze as her eyelids trembled.

'Home... I never thought I'd hear that word again since mom died seven years ago.'

Leila felt like choking up. She was only nine years old then—an innocent little girl who never knew how dark and cold her life would become after the light disappeared from her world.

Leila lifted her head. A dainty smile blossomed on her lips. "Let's go home, Zach."

Zachary held out his hand, and she took it. "Alright, Lei."

He squeezed her hand, and his eyes glimmered with fondness.

The lightning struck again, which woke Leila up from her reminiscence. She sighed and closed her eyes to sleep.

At the same time, in the Leighton Corporation, Zachary stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, staring outside while smoking.

It was already three in the morning, yet he didn't feel sleepy.

Suddenly, a knock sounded, but he didn't turn to see who it was. The door slowly opened, and Sunshine stepped inside while holding documents.

"Secretary Moore, did you send her home?" he asked as he blew out the smoke.

"Yes," Sunshine replied curtly.

"Did she say something to you in the car?" he casually asked, taking Sunshine aback, but still she replied, "No. She didn't."

Zachary couldn't help but laugh mockingly. 'Sure enough, that girl was really heartless.'

"Mr. Leighton, here's the information you want." Sunshine handed him the documents respectfully. Just as she was about to head home, Zachary called her and told her to investigate everything about Leila five years ago.

Zachary took the folder and sat on the swivel chair. He put the cigarette between his lips and almost choked when he took a deep breath.

"When Madam Leighton had an accident, the nurse said it was a young lady who sent her to the hospital. According to the information I gathered, it seems that girl was Miss Wright," Sunshine explained.

The incident five years ago was deeply imprinted on her mind. Even though she didn't know what exactly happened, Sunshine knew when Madam Leighton's car almost exploded, a girl saved her from the raging fire.

The Leighton family tried to find her, but it was fruitless. The nurses who saw her couldn't tell her appearance because she was covered with soot. Little did they know it was actually Leila.

Sunshine thought Zachary would no longer bring up this matter since they didn't get any lead in the investigation five years ago. Unexpectedly, he suddenly asked her to investigate Leila.

Surprisingly, the girl they were looking for turned out to be her! The things Sunshine discovered about Leila matched the incident five years ago, so she already had a hunch that the latter was related to that accident.

Hence, she looked for the nurse who saw Leila and showed her the picture, but the nurse said she didn't know her, so Sunshine played a record of Leila's voice, and this time, the nurse recognized it. Fortunately, Leila's voice didn't change. If not, Sunshine was afraid no one would know it was her who saved Madam Leighton.

"If that girl was Miss Wright, why didn't she say anything?" Sunshine suddenly asked.

Zachary's fingers on the documents stiffened. Gloom had swept over his eyes. He closed the folder, snubbed out the cigarette butt in the ashtray, and said, "Look for all the witnesses that night and ask them."

"Yes." Sunshine nodded and retreated.

Zachary closed his eyes when the door closed, and Leila's unsmiling face flashed into his mind.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had already passed. During this time, Leila had been swamped with work. Aside from working hours in the company, she also visited Allen in the hospital in the evening. After that, she would lie in bed once she went home. It became her daily routine.

Since her father handed her the cooperation with the Martin family, she worked hard to compensate for her lack of experience. She knew her father didn't genuinely believe in her ability. Instead, he wanted to monitor her.

However, for the sake of getting all of her things back, she would endure everything.

Leila shook her head and sorted out her thoughts. Like what her father told her, this project was important because it was a real estate development project, and the government was the primary investor. This project was already demanding on its own. And to have the government pay attention to every step of the process, Leila was under immense pressure because she had no experience handling such matters.

Leila sighed and took a sip of the coffee on her table. Then she scanned through the document in front of her, looking for previous similar development cases of Wright Corporation.

As she flipped through the documents, her eyes landed on the end of the paper. She saw a familiar signature—it was her father's.

The document was dated four years ago. It was the second project that her father personally managed.

Leila couldn't help but frown. What makes this project special that her father, the president, needs to manage it personally?

She closed the document and sent a message to Macey, telling her to meet at the cafe at eight o'clock, after work.

She sighed and started to work again. Time passed, and Leila saw it was time to get off work.

She stretched her hand and took her bag and the two folders on her table. Subsequently, she left the company and headed straight to the cafe.

Not long after she arrived, Macey sat in front of her.

Upon seeing her, Leila showed a faint smile. "Secretary Adams is always punctual."

Macey smiled lightly. She was wearing hip-hop-style casual clothes and a baseball cap. Her appearance right now was vastly different from her serious and cold image in the company.

She didn't know why Leila called her there. Nonetheless, she showed up because she wanted to know what she would tell her. In all honesty, Macey had admired Leila for a long time. Leila's charisma and capability to lead people greatly astonished her when she was a new hire at the Corporation.

Even now, Macey still admired her very much.

Leila looked at the woman before her and didn't beat around the bush. She pushed the document in front of her and said, "Do you have any recollection of these two projects?"

Macey grabbed the folder and flipped through the papers. "Yes. But this document seems normal." She paused for a moment as if she recalled something. "I remember this project began when I started working for the company. But that's all I know since, at that time, I was still a small staff member."

Then she pointed at the second document. "However, this project left a great impression on me. President Clark was in charge of this one. He specifically told me not to intervene in this project. He said he could handle it alone." Macey looked at Leila with curiosity. "Why, Miss Wright? Is there something wrong?"

Leila sighed as she stirred the coffee. Her eyes narrowed. "This project wracked up hundreds of millions of investment, but there weren't any returns, not even a penny. I have a friend in London and told him to run a background check on those companies. He found out all of them were empty shells. They're paper companies."

Macey's eyes widened slightly. Then she said, "Well, I think it wasn't that surprising. I had doubts about the accident on this project before, so I asked President Clark about it. However, he was wary and handed everything over to Vice President Clark."

Leila took a deep breath and casually took a sip of her coffee. "My father is extremely sly as a fox. He gave this a lot of thought. He wouldn't let anyone catch him while embezzling money from the company. Moreover, even if some projects had losses, it wouldn't arouse suspicion from the directors because it was a normal thing in business, and they had to pay attention to other large-scale company projects. So this allowed my father to transfer all the investment in that project into his pocket."

Macey sucked in a deep breath. "So, what can I help you with?"

Leila clasped her hands and stared deeply at Macey. "The Wright Corporation is a huge company, yet it almost faced bankruptcy in just a few years. I think my father had a hand in this matter, and this project isn't the only one he used to embezzle funds for. There might be other projects. So please look into it but be discreet. Don't let my father find out."

After their discussion ended, the two parted ways, and Macey started to look into every project of the Wright Corporation.

Macey was highly efficient, and in less than a week, she found more than a dozen contracts with small investments. The contract signing time gradually began after Philip entered the top management of the Wright Corporation, and the projects' investments ranged from hundreds to hundreds of millions.

The Wright Corporation had a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars. And usually, the large-scale projects it ran amounted to billions of dollars. Hence, no one paid attention to the small investments in Philip's projects.

It was rather inconspicuous, so if Leila didn't tell her to look into it, she was afraid no one would know that Philip had already embezzled the funds for those projects.

Macey sorted out the documents and went to the cafe where they had met last time. When she arrived, Leila was already there.

"These are the contracts I found suspicious. However, most of them are early projects, and the investments are usually small."

Leila took the documents and scanned them, one after another. The earliest time dated the year she was born. Her jaw tightened, and she almost crumpled the papers in her hands.

'Did her father's conspiracy start when she was born? Or had he already planned to destroy the company from the beginning?'

Macey's fingers tapped the table. "What are you going to do now?"

Leila momentarily fell silent. She heaved a deep sigh and massaged her throbbing temple. "He's still my father, so I can't just throw him in prison. Well, go back first and give me some time to think."

"Okay." Macey nodded and left.

Leila leaned against the chair and fell into a daze. It took her a few moments before she regained her senses.

The next day, at the most extensive golf course in Tesanera City, Philip played golf to his heart's content.

Philip hit the white ball with great precision, which immediately rolled on the green lawn and fell leisurely on the hole.

After seeing this, he heard applause, which made him stick out his chest proudly.

"Your golf skills are getting better and better!" A man praised him. It was one of his business partners.

"Thank you." Philip smiled proudly. He handed the golf club to the caddie and walked to the forefront, where the ball fell.

He donned light-colored casual clothes and a white ball cap. Even though he dressed in a low-key manner, it was discernible it was expensive.

However, he had just taken a few steps when he saw a familiar figure. The grin plastered on his lips instantly vanished.

"Father," Leila called.

His face darkened. His reaction didn't seem like he was facing his daughter but a creditor.

Leila saw his expression and sighed inwardly. Ever since she had become aware of things when she was little, she knew her father didn't like seeing her, in contrast, when facing Talia.

"Father, I have something to discuss with you," she said firmly.

"It's the weekend, so I won't talk about business. Go back." After saying this, he brushed past her and walked toward his business partners.

Leila almost gnashed her teeth. She took a deep breath and spat, "But we need to talk about this matter."

As if no one heard her, Philip didn't respond.

Impatience and anger rose inside her. She fumed, "Then President Clark surely knows about American Dream Builders, don't you?"

Upon hearing her, Philip froze. He eyed her grimly, and his eyes turned sharper than blades. "You're mistaken. I know nothing about that."

"Alright. You don't know. But I'm sure you know Green Woods Enterprise, Riverstone Realty, and Retro Electronics because those are companies you have cooperated with. However, when I look into them, they're nothing but empty shells."

Even though she didn't speak loudly, the few beside Philip heard her. They didn't dare to look straight at Leila, but in the corner of their eyes, they looked at Philip and Leila alternately.

Philip's face turned blue in anger. He suppressed his rage and spoke through gritted teeth. "Let's talk inside."

Without waiting for Leila to respond, he strode toward the VIP lounge.