Chapter 271 ...fuck
Without caring about what Arieh was feeling, Nova continued playing the recorded phone call between Charlotte and Terry.
Then it moved to video footage of Terry meeting the leaders of the different groups he had hired to ambush Rina. Unfortunately, there was no sound, but that was covered by the phone calls between him and their teams explaining the mission he was hiring them to do. Those recordings were accompanied by detailed transaction records of weapon purchases that he made to sufficiently arm them.
The recording soon moved on to the day Rina had been being driven from the Rothschild compound to the airport and showed that whenever the convoy deviated from the planned route, it was because an ambush was awaiting them. The ambush sites were shown as still images, with names and headshots linked to each individual shown in the images. They were matched to different 'dark' mercenary groups, those that were unafraid to get their hands bloody... as long as the price was right. Each of the leaders were highlighted, and still images were displayed that showed their meetings with Terry.
They were shown with every unplanned route deviation that Rina's convoy took until they reached the access road. Then a video taken from the follow car's rear-facing camera showed all of the mercenary groups chasing after the convoy until it split up. The video footage continued, showing the plainclothes ARES members dealing with the chasing mercenaries, then cleaning up the attack site to muddy the evidence.
The video ended there and was followed by the recorded phone call between Arieh and Terry, where Terry confirmed her death. It was the first time the mastermind of the attack had been recorded, but everyone in the room recognized the voice and they all turned to Arieh, death stares on their faces.
Arieh paled and broke out in a cold sweat as his heart pounded like it wanted to escape his chest. He prayed that the display of evidence would end soon, but that was simply just not to be.
The projector mercilessly continued, showing a few more pieces of evidence before ending with the recorded phone call from Terry to Arieh shortly after Rina was caught on camera during the Edenian parade. Arieh was shouting and raging about "the bitch" still being alive.
Then Nova released her control of the projector as the autoplaying file came to an end.
After the display ended, the room was as still as a mausoleum. Nobody moved, not even to bring the lights back up to full; everyone was pondering things that only they knew.
A few of them wondered why Arieh chose to go to such an extreme, despite the consequences.
Others wondered how Rina had collected all of that evidence without alerting her brother, who would have already started looking for countermeasures if he were to know that she had such a 'nuclear bomb' in her possession. They were sure he wouldn't be able to explain that amount of proof away, but perhaps a miracle could have occurred.
The family head was giving his son a death glare and sitting in his usual silence, but everyone in the room knew that this silence in particular was different. Anyone who tried messing with him right now would receive a punishment that would make them regret it forever. "Anything you want to say?" he asked, struggling to remain partial.
Flustered and panicking, Arieh's voice broke as he screamed, "SHE'S FRAMING ME FATHER AND THAT'S ALL FABRICATED EVIDENCE!"
"Are you sure about that? You know that if we investigate and it's revealed that you lied about her framing you, the punishment would be doubled," the family head asked. Lying to him came with severe consequences.
"...fuck." Arieh knew the family head wasn't joking at all and had no answer to his father's question. He knew when to advance and when to retreat, and now was definitely the time for the latter. Anything he said would result in just increasing his punishment, which would already be heavier than normal.
"Arieh Noga Yehonatan Stav Rothschild, you are to be held on house arrest as our team investigates the situation. If it is revealed to be true that you attempted to assassinate your sister, you will be removed from the competition and have five generations of your descendants barred from participating in the future." The family head stood and walked to Rina, then calmly patted her shoulder and left the board room, officially marking an abrupt end to the board meeting.
It looked like Rina was now officially the next Rothschild family head, as no one was left in the competition but her.
That meant that she could now publicly use the influence she had already been using before by blackmailing the board members, but without worrying about someone raising a question about it. Now, they would simply attribute it to her being the next family head; they would never even consider the possibility of her having held leverage over them before the competition had ended.
...
"Man, that was even better than a movie," Aron said as he watched the mess caused by his girlfriend in the board meeting. He had a bucket of popcorn next to him and was intermittently sipping from a soft drink that was as close to the flavor of Coke as Nova could make it. The taste of "cola" was something that not even Nova could simulate, which meant that humanity was doomed to forever be unable to answer the question of Coke's secret recipe.
"Hey Nova, this Coke tastes a bit... off," Aron said.
[Well, that's because nobody knows what Coke tastes like. Not even with all of my computing power could I simulate that,] she joked.
"I think we should consider going into the entertainment industry," Aron mused. The board meeting had excited him, as it was one of the things where, although he knew the result, he couldn't really tell what twists and turns would happen along the way. There was a constant increase in variables as more information was introduced into the situation.
[Movies and TV?] asked Nova. n.o/vEL,u(s(b/.-c-O.m
"Yes. But at the moment, we should only start exploring and planning. As for when we should officially enter the field? Make it after we've released our own VR and AR devices," Aron answered, tabling the project for the future.
[Sir, it's time for Henry's lesson,] Nova reminded Aron about the upcoming class.
He had taken the responsibility of teaching his little brother and had been doing it together with Rina over the past month. Henry loved and hated it at the same time, as whenever he was good, he would receive a gift from his elder brother. But whenever he misbehaved, one of them would be taken away. It made him the most attentive student of all the kids in his age range, as he couldn't risk losing his things when he had worked hard to win them.
"Let's go teach our student," Aron said as he logged off. He wasn't really the one that came up with the teaching material; Nova was. After all, she had Henry's brain data and knew how to make things easier for him to understand, while also making him a critical thinker.
And thanks to the best teacher in the world being responsible for teaching him, Henry was rapidly growing in both knowledge and critical thinking skills. One day, when he went to a "proper" school, his assigned class would have everyone dropped down by a rank in the best student competition.
What a lucky child.
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