Chapter 9_

Raine and her party of two walked out of the restaurant and towards their car with the manager in tow.

On getting to the car, Cindy bowed to send Raine off but Raine turned back to her instead of climbing into her car.

"I haven't been to the restaurant in a month and I doubt Rachel has had the time to manage the affairs of the restaurant as well right?"

Cindy's bowed back went stiff for a while. If her head hadn't been bowed then the others would have found something weird with her expression.

"Yes, Madam."

Raine nodded her head in response then climbed into the car. Just as April was going to close her door she spoke again. "I will be back soon for inspection."

Cindy remained in her bowed position with her hands clenched till the car had completely gone then she lifted her head, gritted her teeth for a while then sighed. She knew she did not have control over her situation or whatever occurred from that point onward.

Meanwhile, after the car had rolled out of Cindy's sight. Raine had called for April's attention.

"Yes, Ms. Raine?"

"I have a task for you. Send people to monitor Cindy and to dig into what has been going on in the restaurant lately. I want a full report on everything I've missed in the last month and include the list of guests that patronized that month as well."

"Ms. Raine is giving this task to me? Not Rose..."

A throat clearing interrupted April and she smiled apologetically at Rose. "I mean Secretary Rose."

Raine raised her eyebrows and her glance at April seemed to say 'Would I have mentioned your name if I planned on asking Rose to do it?'

April gulped and asked a redundant question of which she already knew would be shunned. "Why me?"

"I do not believe I need to tell you why I chose you instead. Why do you ask? Are you unable to do it or you are not confident to perform as well as Rose would?"

"What is Madam President saying?" April scoffed. "I was just curious. Of course, I can do such a simple task. It will be a piece of cake for me." April boasted while Rose shook her head. She had earnestly given up on April. Teaching her manners was such a hopeless case as she would revert to her old ways at the simplest provocation.

Raine glanced at her indifferently before killing off her enthusiasm. "That is great because I would have no use for you if you can't do such an easy task."

April opened her mouth in shock and Rose tried her best to hide her laughter. In Rose's opinion, she thought that April had gotten what she had looked hard for. It was private but common knowledge not to make remarks or promises that Raine could hold on to as Raine was a pro at making a person dig their own grave.

It was always very entertaining to watch Raine's victims surrender themselves for slaughter.

"Ms. Raine noticed something strange?"

"Hmm...something like that. Cindy's posture as she sent us off was weird."

April and Rose scrunched their eyebrows in concentration as they tried to remember if there was anything off about Cindy's previous behavior but they couldn't find anything.

Though, they couldn't, they didn't mention anything to Raine as experience had taught them to follow Raine's intuition. Therefore, if Raine had said she had felt something was off then something was wrong.

Moreover, if everything ended up being a false alarm then there would have been no harm done. After all, prevention has always been better than the cure.

"That aside, how many more minutes till we get to the dinner venue?"

"It should not take that long Ma'am. Are you really going to attend it? Your presence isn't necessary there." Rose said in a last attempt to change Raine's mind.

With Raine's present position as the president of the P&J conglomerate, she was worth more than attending such a trivial business dinner.

'While it was an important dinner, it was important enough for her presence.' Rose thought as she frowned. There were other people in the company who should have gone and even if they were indisposed, then it still wouldn't have been Raine's turn to attend it; at least not when she or April was available.

Raine was about to reply but got cut off by the ringing of a mobile phone. Rose apologized and picked the call.

She was quietly listening to the person speaking on the other side of the phone for a while before she gave her accent and hung up.

The car was quiet for a full minute but the quietness was like the quiet before a storm. The tension radiating off of Rose was affecting the atmosphere in the car.

April who had learned her lesson earlier that evening made it a point to not be nosy and engrossed herself with admiring the buildings outside the car. As for Raine, she knew that Rose would mention something If it was an important issue so she was not bothered at all.

Rose who was deep in thought noticed the quietness after a while and took advantage of it. Even though she had wanted to stop Raine from attending the dinner, she wasn't glad about the situation that was bound to finally change Raine's mind.

"Ms. President...your mother was on the line. She said that she had sent miss Rosa down to you to be disciplined and that you were to personally retrieve her to prevent any mishaps."

Raine turned her face to Rose and frowned. "Is attending the dinner still feasible."

"Miss Rosa is to arrive in thirty minutes and your mother said it was a code purple." Rose said a bit hesitant.

She had been working with Raine for a long time and knew most of their family codes. A code purple was deemed third highest in rank and although not life threatening in it's self, it could lead to major loses depending on the situation.

The code was only used when a family member had knowingly or unknowingly divulged a family secret to a stranger or competitor of the family and it came with a huge punishment.

Raine tried her best to suppress her anger but everyone could feel the volcano that was close to erupting. "Let's go pick up my beloved younger sister." Raine bit out in agitation and those present in the car couldn't help but light candles in silence for Rosalina.