Chapter 10 A Matter of Dignity

Jeremy stood frozen in shock. I was equally stunned. What was happening?

He was being ordered to clean the toilet?

I quickly realized what was happening and felt a surge of joy. This was karma for how he'd been targeting me.

"Mr. Kane, you can't possibly..." Jeremy stammered.

I paused for a moment. Mr. Kane?

His last name was Kane?

Could it be possible that the man I met at Phantom Night—Raven Kane—was him?

I discreetly studied his physique, which did seem somewhat similar.

But if he was Raven, wouldn't he have recognized me?

Wait—perhaps he had recognized me and was now taking revenge on Jeremy on my behalf?

This thought was intoxicating. If true, I couldn't be more fortunate.

"Save it. As recruitment director, you've allowed such a careless person into the building. You share the blame. You have five minutes to clean this thoroughly, or I'll report this to Mr. Ravenscroft."

"No, please don't. I'll... I'll clean it," Jeremy conceded, his face a mixture of regret and discontent.

I watched with immense satisfaction as Jeremy approached the toilet with cleaning supplies, gagging repeatedly.

Seeing him like this was incredibly gratifying.

We remained until he finished cleaning. The security officer frowned and said, "Remove this toilet completely and replace it with a new one."

"What?" Jeremy looked utterly devastated.

I couldn't contain myself and burst out laughing. This was perfect justice! Well done!

As the security officer turned to leave, I quickly followed, still chuckling.

In the elevator, I studied the man's back and decided to test my theory. "Raven?" I called softly.

He turned around. "Were you talking to me?"

Seeing the genuine confusion on his face, I began to doubt my assumption. Perhaps I was mistaken?

I shook my head. "Sorry, I was just talking to myself."

He led me to the restroom on Griffin's floor, then left.

Looking around the bathroom, I noticed an empty space where something had clearly been removed, with marks still visible on the floor. If I wasn't mistaken, that spot had previously held a fountain.

This meant Griffin had actually removed all bathroom fountains because of what I'd witnessed yesterday.

What a petty man.

Griffin's POV

"Guess someone's gossiping about me," I muttered, rubbing my nose after the sneeze.

I looked at Adrian Kane as he returned. "Did you take care of it?"

Adrian nodded, "It's done. By the way, Griffin, the staff member previously assigned to clean your bathroom has been dismissed. Why did you fire him when he was doing fine?"

I gave him a pointed look. "How do you think someone else got into my bathroom yesterday?"

Adrian's brow furrowed. "Are you saying he deliberately let someone in?"

"Whether it was deliberate doesn't matter. He made a mistake, and he deserved to be punished." I paused. "What took you so long down there?"

Adrian proceeded to explain what had happened with Jeremy and Aviah.

After hearing the full story, I nodded. "Good. I know what you did. You can go now."

Once Adrian left, I waited a moment before heading toward the bathroom.

As I approached the door, I overheard Aviah talking to herself inside.

"Such a petty man! If I'd known he'd make such a big deal about the fountain, I wouldn't have mentioned it. Now I have to clean this extra space. Exhausting! Griffin must have some psychological issues—who needs such an enormous private bathroom? What a waste."

I clenched my fist and entered.

Hearing footsteps, Aviah turned around. When she saw me, her expression immediately tensed.

"Good morning, Mr. Ravenscroft. You... you're here," she stammered.

I regarded her calmly. "Why are you nervous?"

"I'm not nervous! I'm just excited to see you. You're quite handsome, after all," she replied.

I found her response amusing and decided to let her off. "You can leave now."

As she walked away, I couldn't help but smile. There was something entertaining about her.

My phone rang; it was Adrian. "Griffin, we've traced the person who stole the Q-Chip. They're near Emerald Street."

My expression hardened. "Is that so? Get a team together and head over there. We must catch them!"

"On it!"

After hanging up, I quickly used the bathroom and hurried out.

Aviah's POV

After Griffin went into the bathroom, I wasn't sure exactly where I should wait. It was only my second day, after all, so I waited outside the door.

Just then, my phone rang—it was the children's school. I quickly answered.

"Hello? What? Ethan got into a fight? Okay, I'll be right there."

As Griffin exited the bathroom, I nervously approached him. "Mr. Ravenscroft, may I take some time off? It's an emergency."

Griffin looked at me and simply said, "You may."

I thanked him profusely.

Griffin had already walked a couple of steps away when he suddenly stopped. "You did a good job cleaning the bathroom. Go to accounting and collect a thousand dollars as a bonus."

"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

I had actually been wondering if I should ask Raven for a loan. Griffin's unexpected bonus of a thousand dollars for simply cleaning properly made me reconsider my initial impression of him. Perhaps he wasn't as harsh as I'd thought.

My feelings toward him totally changed, and I was honestly touched.

After collecting the money from accounting, I rushed to the school.

At the school's teacher's office, I found my three children sitting across from a boy and his parents.

I immediately asked Ethan, "What happened?"

Ethan pointed at the boy. "He was bullying a classmate. There's a little girl in our class they pick on every day. Today they tried to make her crawl between his legs. I couldn't stand it, so I stepped in."

Upon hearing my son's explanation, the teachers' expressions grew noticeably uncomfortable.

I knew Ethan never lied, so I trusted his account completely.

Standing up, I addressed the boy's parents. "You've heard what happened?"

They looked uncomfortable but remained defiant. "So what? Your son hit our son first, regardless of the reason. You're clearly in the wrong!"

"Look how badly he hurt our son—his eye is swollen! We demand compensation, or this isn't over!"

I scoffed at their twisted logic. Children weren't born bullies; they learned such behavior from somewhere, and it was clear these parents were the source.

"What kind of compensation are you looking for?" I asked coldly.

"Take our son to the hospital for a checkup, and pay us ten thousand dollars for damages."

I laughed bitterly and turned to the teachers. "There's bullying happening in your school, and you, as educators, are doing nothing about it. Now that this has happened, you bear responsibility as well."

One teacher protested, "But Ethan struck first."

Hearing such an irresponsible statement from an educator made me determined to switch my children to a better school as soon as I could afford it. No matter the cost, they deserved better than teachers who couldn't recognize right from wrong.

"In that case, let's call the police," I said firmly. The situation clearly wasn't going to be resolved through reasonable discussion.

"Go ahead and call them! Your son hit mine first. You've got no case," the boy's mother shouted.