“I didn’t,” I said firmly, my voice unwavering.
I had been in the design industry for years, and certain things were instinctual to me by now. Besides, I had faced similar situations in the past at Harmon Group, so I knew to be extra cautious.
I had learned from my mistakes. I wouldn’t be foolish enough to repeat them.
I was also well aware of the importance of keeping a record of your work, and I had no intention of leaving them any ammunition to use against me.
Moreover, with the strict legal environment here, I could end up facing a long prison sentence if my actions caused trouble for the company’s projects. That thought made my gaze darken.
It seemed these people weren’t just trying to push me out of the company. They were trying to frame me to the point where I’d end up in jail.
Sure enough, Anne took out her phone.
“You’re not admitting it, huh? That’s fine. We have so many witnesses here. We’ll just call the police. Once the police take you in for a few days, you’ll confess everything.”
“Call the police? Sure, but there’s still the company’s surveillance footage, right?”
I sank into the chair, feeling exhausted. My gaze fell on Mr. Finnley’s slightly panicked expression.
“Great, so that means there’s no surveillance footage and no network logs either? In that case, I’ll request an internal investigation. With so many departments involved, if all of this is really my doing, just calling the police won’t be enough.
“I’ll have the security department, the network security department, and the design team involved in the investigation as well.”
I pulled out my phone, and Mr. Finnley’s face turned even paler.
“Rinatta, what are you trying to do here? This is still your fault. Even if there’s an investigation, you’ll still end up taking the blame!”
I had heard such sharp language before, but it didn’t intimidate me. His words were clearly laced with guilt and fear.
“Sorry, I’m not taking the fall for anyone.” I shrugged helplessly. “I’ve been a design director before, and while it was in a different country, the management in every company is pretty much the same.”
I turned to Anne, who was still
glaring at me “You’re also in charge
of this project. Why didn’t you
up the files? I was on leave yesterday, but my phone was on.” Why didn’t anyone contact me to ask if I had backed up the files?”
Anne quickly jumped on what she thought was a mistake on my part.
“Rinatta, you’re admitting it, aren’t you? You backed up the company’s files without permission. Do you realize that’s a violation of company policy?”
I sighed inwardly. It seemed like Jack wasn’t the only one who was unlucky. The employees here didn’t seem to have much common sense.
“I didn’t take the files. I just uploaded
them to the headquarters’ cloud storage. So, we have a backup. That way, Mr. McLennan can access the company’s progress at any time i followed the protocols from the Manovia headquarters. If needed, the files can be downloaded
anytime.”
I had used Astrid’s account for this. She had always been worried about me being set up, so she gave me a higher-level access account. I hadn’t expected it to come in handy like this.
Mr. Finnley seemed surprised that I had a backup file. He stuttered for a while, trying to find a response.
I took that opportunity to stand up. “So, do you want to call the network department to handle the virus issue? Or should I just send the backup to Mr. McLennan?”
Although I didn’t want to play the “big boss” card, I realized that just mentioning it made everyone nervous. Using that leverage felt strangely satisfying.
I ignored their reactions and quickly opened my tablet to download the files.
“Mr. Finnley, do you still want to negotiate with the other party about the collaboration?”
I waited, watching them squirm. I thought I had won this round.
Mr. Finnley took off his glasses and wiped them, looking at me with an exasperated expression. “But you still downloaded the files using your personal device, didn’t you? Rinatta,
that’s a violation of company policy.”