Chapter 11: Ma Rui

Lu Chen deleted the message before Su Ye could turn his head.

"Who was that?" Su Ye asked, pulling up his trousers.

"Su Lu."

"What did she want?"

"To tell me she isn't happy about the board meeting."

It was true, and it was the only true thing he could say.

Su Ye looked at him a moment in the dim light of the car.

"Okay," he said. "Thank you for not lying."

Lu Chen almost laughed.

He had been lying for nine days.

His phone rang again as they climbed out.

It was Ma Rui.

"Chen," he said in a thin voice. "They're taking me out of the building."

They took the stairs two at a time.

The lobby of Su Group was glass and white marble, with a long reception desk and a round fountain.

Ma Rui stood in the middle of it, between two security guards, without his glasses.

His gray suit jacket was gone.

A cardboard box of his things sat on the floor at his feet.

The head of finance stood a few steps away with a folder.

Su Lu stood beside him.

She wore a black dress and her face was pale and grieved.

"Three hundred thousand yuan," the head of finance was saying, loud enough for the whole lobby.

"Missing from the petty-cash account. We found the cash in his locker this morning."

"That's not mine," Ma Rui said. "I've never seen that bag."

"It had your fingerprints."

"I opened my own locker!"

"We're not going to prosecute," Su Lu said quietly. "I begged them not to."

She sighed.

"He is a nice boy, and he's been under pressure. We only want him to go quietly."

She looked up and saw Lu Chen.

Her eyes were wet.

"Oh, Chen," she said. "I'm so sorry. I know he's your friend."

There were thirty people in the lobby.

All of them were watching.

Lu Chen walked across the marble and stopped in front of Ma Rui.

"He didn't take it," he said.

"Of course you'd say that," the head of finance said. "You're his friend."

"He audited your vendor account on Monday and found forty-one million yuan you can't explain."

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