The Rise of Damien Whitlock

Chapter5

Unmasking Betrayal

Hearing Mr. Ethan's last statement, Jaxon's head nearly exploded.

Damien, on the other hand, was happy and shaking his head in disbelief. In a few seconds, Ethan had reached for the CCTV camera.

“What's all of this nonsense?” Ethan said.

“Mr Jaxon, but you said Mr Damien was rude; I've not found what he did wrong. You didn't say anything about Rose and Vivian. The two must face the consequences of this act.” Ethan said annoying

“Can I see Damien's assignment that led to this nonsense?” Ethan requested

“Good for him,” Rose murmured. Eyeing Damien.

Deep down, Jaxon was happy that Damien would be ridiculed by their Boss. He doesn't like Damien. This is the second time he'd be queried by his Boss because of him.

“This is rubbish. How come the person who could solve “Everest” in minutes did this? Ethan exclaimed in surprise.

“Maybe he did it by luck; I was surprised at the rubbish he did, too; that was why I was putting him through,” Jaxon replied.

“Sir, it's not safe that he represented the company in the upcoming event, Sir; seeing this rubbish might degrade the company's reputation.” He continued.

Ethan clasped his hands, nodding his head affirmatively. Upon seeing that, Damien moved closely to Mr. Ethan to check through Jaxon’s laptop.

“Gosh! This is not my assignment. This wasn't what I submitted.” Damien said

“How do you mean it's not your work? Your data is boldly written on it. Do you need some glasses? Ethan's anger began to rise.

“I said it, Sir; he argues a lot,” Jaxon said, his tone growing in anger

“No Sir, this isn't my work. It must have been swapped.” Damien said calmly

“Swapped? Who could do that? What effrontery do you have to accuse Mr. Jaxon? Now, I understand clearly what Jaxon has been saying.” Ethan said.

“I'm sorry, Sir, but I suggest we check the CCTV again for the activities done on Mr Jaxon’s laptop earlier today, Sir. Moreover, I have another copy of the assignment Sir.” Damien said.

“Before we check through the camera, let's have your work again,” Ethan said.

Immediately, Damien fumbled for his flash drive from his chest and trouser pockets. Eventually, he found it, brought it out and handed it over to Mr. Ethan.

“Here's it Sir,” Damien said.

Ethan collected it and inserted it into the laptop.

“Here?” Ethan asked Damien, navigating the arrow keys to the titled assignment

“Yes Sir.”

Ethan clicked on it, and in a few seconds, the page opened, and he read through. It wasn't up to three minutes when Ethan glanced through it when he shouted “brilliant, impressive,....” and all sorts of nice comments.

There was a smirk on Damien's cheeks, his body now calm. Vivian looked at him and smiled, giving him a hidden thumbs up. Other members of staff started looking at each other, some nudging each other's arms, wondering what was wrong.

“This is more than what I expected. But how come there's an incomparable difference from the other?” Ethan said, his face laced with seriousness.

“That wasn't my work Sir. Something must have been wrong.” Damien said.

“How come Jaxon?” Ethan faced Jaxon.

“I…. I… that was what I found there Sir.” Jaxon responded.

“Let's check through the CCTV camera as Damien requested,” Ethan said.

Hearing Mr. Ethan's last statement, Jaxon was dumbfounded; he could have prayed the ground open, and he entered it.

He went for the camera directly at the centre where Jaxon sits. It took Ethan about ten minutes before he found a scene where Jaxon had deleted a file from his PC, and renamed another with “Damien's assignment” exactly as Damien had titled it.

“Jaxon! You did this? I wouldn't have believed it if it was not a camera.” Ethan said, annoyingly.

Immediately, Jaxon received Damien's assignment, and he checked through it; he deleted it and did some irrelevant replacements for his work. He was just too mean to see him being sacked.

“Jaxon, for this ridiculous act, you're fired!”

The last word keeps re-sounding on everyone's hearing. Fear is written over all of their faces, if Jaxon could be fired, who then are they?

Damien stared blankly towards Vivian's direction. She wasn't in her normal state anymore; she didn't know what would be the result of the clash she had with Rose.

“And as for you, the two barbarians that turned the office into a marketplace, there's a month's suspension for you both. Get your letter at the secretary's office.”

While they wanted to start pleading, Ethan cut them.

“The rest of the staff can I have your assignments? I need to go through it all.” Ethan inquired.

“All is on my PC, Sir,” Jaxon replied, trying to get close to the boss, wanting to see the good side of him.

Ethan stared at him up and down with disdain and went through the rest of the work. It's been up to fifteen minutes since he fixed his gaze on the laptop that he was hissing and shaking his head.

At one point he kept smiling and raised his head.

“This is another excellent work. This is the kind of format and result we want. With this, the company would grow. Not all the jargon I've been seeing so far.” Ethan said, smiling.

“Who could this be? This person needs to be rewarded.” He continued.

Ethan raised his gaze to the apex of the laptop, where the personal information was, to know who the person was.

“Vivian Shaw?” He said amazingly.

Although Vivian works smart, he is amazed to see her work being extraordinary.

“Because of your amazing work, your one-month suspension has been terminated.”

Damien and Vivian looked at themselves with a deep smile. Others were staring at them, being jealous, knowing fully well that he did Vivian’s work. They had wished they'd told him to help them too.

“Jaxon and Rose, get your letter at the Secretary's office,” Ethan said, his voice laced with anger.