Passion 262

Chapter 262

The photos were composites of Xavier and Daphne together, with the word “cheater” doodled all over Xavier. By the time Xavier found out, the images had already spread and made the news.

The IT department had removed all the photos and was investigating the source. They discovered that the method used was similar to the one used to transfer funds from Xavier’s private account, both occurring around 3:00 am or 4:00 am.

When Xavier sobered up and saw the photo, he felt a headache coming on. “Have we figured out who did this yet?”

Mark hesitated for a moment before replying, “Sir, we traced the address to Mr. Shaw’s private seaside villa, but he certainly wouldn’t do something like this.

“We traced the person who hacked into your private account before to Kiki Torres‘ residence. Could the child be the person we’re looking for?”

Xavier fell silent when Mark brought up Zachary.

“Have the news removed,” he instructed before asking. “Have we found the children?”

Mark shook his head.

Seeing this, Xavier took another sip of his drink. As the liquid burned his throat, he tossed the empty bottle aside. “Keep looking.”

“Yes, sir. By the way, Mr. Lane, we found out about last night’s incident. Mrs. Lane offended a local thug known as Mr. Lowe, who’s been in and out of prison several times.” Mark sighed.

“We accidentally let him get away this time.”

Xavier frowned slightly upon hearing this. “Got it.”

With nothing else to report, Mark left the room.

Sitting on the couch, Xavier thought about what happened yesterday. Eventually, he opened his computer and borrowed the account of a customer service representative from one of his subsidiaries.

Meanwhile, Yvette’s new song hadn’t sold well, so she was discussing new collaborations instead. Fortunately, early that morning, a major website agreed to sign a profit–sharing contract with her

Yvette didn’t know that this website had contacted her under Xavier’s arrangements, nor did she know that Xavier was already aware of her work.

Online, Xavier personally communicated with her.

Yvette typed, “Hello, would you like to meet offline for discussions?*

“It’s alright. Let’s sign online. I’ll transfer the money to you,” Xavier replied.

Yvette was surprised by his promptness. After confirming it was a company account, she signed the

contract.

Sure enough, shortly afterward, 50 million dollars was deposited into her company account.

“Thank you. Looking forward to working together,” she messaged.

1/2

+15 BONUS

Xavier listened to her latest song as he typed back, “How many songs have you created in total?”

*32, including this one,” Yvette replied.

“I listened to your new song. It’s very good.”

“Thank you.”

After some thought, Xavier sent another message. “Could you also give the rights to your other songs to me? I only need usage rights. You can name your price.

Surprised by his generosity, Yvette didn’t raise the price. Since her other songs were already licensed elsewhere non–exclusively and weren’t earning much, she quoted a basic price of 10 million dollars in

total.

It didn’t take long before the money was transferred into her account. Yvette could only express gratitude repeatedly.

her

Xavier stared at the emojis sent by Yvette for a long time, hesitating before asking, “Forgive me for asking, are you married?”

Concerned that Yvette might misunderstand, he quickly added, “I’m asking because of your songs. They feel like they have stories behind them.”

“I was married once, but I’m divorced,” came the reply.

Reading her response, Xavier felt the urge to march over and ask Yvette when exactly she got divorced and how he didn’t know about it.

When his reply came late, Yvette assumed their company had specific requirements, like needing composers with a positive image.

After all, she’d had encounters with her fair share of companies with strange rules.

She immediately typed back, “Rest assured. I don’t have any bad habits. I don’t do publicity stunts either.”

Seeing the new message, Xavier replied to her, “You probably wouldn’t be under that much pressure if you hadn’t gotten divorced, right? I mean, you’re on your own now.”

Yvette had gotten together with Claude and had two children with him. And yet, Claude couldn’t even ensure her basic livelihood.

At that thought, Xavier wished he could dive into Yvette’s mind to understand what made her so naive that she wanted to earn money to support someone else’s sons despite the risks

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