Never Too Far Novel

Fear enveloped Tori’s face when she saw Katrina sitting in the police station, and she reflexively hugged her arms when she sensed a chill.

How is this possible? How did Katrina get arrested? Didn’t she say it was foolproof?! Wasn’t she confident of not being caught?! It has only been less than three hours since Josephine’s scandal was out, and Katrina has already been arrested! She even sold me out! Thank goodness the cops didn’t mention my full name.

However, the words ‘female news anchor’ and ‘Alford’ made her panic, for she was the only female news anchor whose surname was Alford in the station!

Tori held her chest as uneasiness arose within her. What’s to become of me if Katrina’s been arrested?!

Just then, her phone rang. Seeing it was an unknown number, she took a deep breath and answered it, “Hello, who is this?”

“Is this Tori Alford?” the caller went straight to the point.

“This is her speaking. Who is this on the line?”

“This is the city police department. We need you to come and cooperate with us on a case and give a statement,” said the female voice on the other end of the line.

“Now? But it’s already nine,” Tori said, thinking her social status should give her some leverage.

“The station is available 24/7. Someone will be available to take your statement. I suggest you come now.”

“C-Can I go tomorrow?” Tori tried to bargain.

“We will personally go to you if you don’t come on your own. Your choice! Goodnight, Miss Alford.” With that, the caller hung up.

Tori bit her lip in anger. It seemed that her social status didn’t carry much weight with the police. She quickly thought of someone she knew and made a call for help.

“Thomas, I’m in a bit of trouble. Can you help me out?”

After getting the other person’s agreement to help her, Tori finally walked out with her bag. However, she found her colleagues staring at her as soon as she came out, and there were whispers and finger-pointing wherever she went.

No one normally dared speak ill of her behind her back. But this very day, she became a public target.

“It’s her, isn’t it? She’s the one the statement is referring to.”

“It can only be her! Is there another anchorwoman with the surname Alford in our station?”

“To think she’s an accomplice in Josephine’s scandal! Poor Josephine.”

“Tell me about it. I feel so bad for looking down on Josephine now.”

When Tori entered the elevator, she could even feel her female colleagues’ disdainful gazes on her. A bold one even deliberately asked her fellow female colleague. “Say, who do you think is Katrina’s accomplice? Do we have an Alford anchorwoman in our station?”

“Of course, we do! Do you not know?”

“Sigh! I swear these people have nothing better to do! To think they continue to frame other people when they’re already news anchors!”

“You can say that again. The wicked are still wicked no matter how pretty they look.”

Alas, Tori could only suck it up even when she had been insulted indirectly. Now, she finally realized what Josephine was capable of.

After leaving the station, Tori ultimately drove straight to the police station, and when she arrived, the man she asked for help held Tori’s hand with ill intentions from inside the car. “Don’t worry, okay, Tori? I’ll take care of this. This is nothing! Go give your statement and leave the rest to me.”

Tori endured the disgust of being taken advantage of, for the man in the car was in his sixties, and though he was well-dressed, he exuded an old man’s smell that she couldn’t stand. She would’ve rather died than ask him for help before this. But now, he was her only ticket out of this, even though she knew she would have to pay the price.

“Go on, go and make your statement. We’ll talk when you come out.” It was evident what the man was implying.

However, Tori was genuinely fearful. She worried she would end up in jail because of Katrina. That way, her reputation would be ruined. How could she continue to survive in television in the future?!

Hence, she would inevitably have to ‘serve’ this old man if she wanted to get away with it. Fear surged within her, but she had no other choice. He held the highest governmental position among the people she knew.

“Alright, I’ll go in, then. Please do speak up for me if there’s anything, Mr. Zeigler,” Tori said with a sweet smile.

“Go on!” Thomas Zeigler’s eyes beamed lecherously, surprised that Tori would one day come to him for help.

After Tori entered the police station, she was whisked away to give her statement, and the police asked her questions based on Katrina’s testimony. “Tori Alford, according to Katrina Sullivan, you’re the one who incited her to frame Josephine Jacobson, is that right?”

“Katrina’s framing me! That didn’t happen at all! Josephine and I are good friends. No way will I harm her. Besides, why would I want to do that?!”

“But Sullivan insisted that you incited her into framing Jacobson and even promised to promote her to Jacobson’s position after this.”

“What a joke! Her brother-in-law is the station’s major shareholder. She just needs to beg her brother-in-law if she wants a promotion. Who am I to promote her?! I swear I’m innocent, officer. I have nothing to do with this at all. Do you have proof of my involvement?” Tori cleared herself of any involvement in the incident.

Indeed, Katrina was the only culprit based on the evidence they found. She superimposed the photos and uploaded them online herself.

“Tori Alford, we reserve the right to prosecute you for this matter. You can go home for now. If necessary, we will ask you to come back.”

Tori was instantly relieved. Katrina’s verbal statement wouldn’t do her any damage. However, she wasn’t sure if Katrina had other forms of evidence.

At that, she looked through her chat history with Katrina, and much to her dismay, they had discussed the matter over text, and she was the one who asked Katrina about the photos.

‘How did it go?’

‘They’ve been superimposed and ready to be uploaded any time. Just sit back and enjoy the show, Tori!’

Tori covered her mouth in fear at once, and she deleted the messages in a panic. However, she still felt disturbed, for she would be doomed if Katrina showed the police the messages.

Later, Tori gulped when she saw Thomas still waiting for her after exiting the police station. Ultimately, she took a deep breath and approached his car.

Meanwhile, Josephine returned home at about 10.00PM, and at this point, the news had turned around as the licentious photos had all been taken down. When she checked the comments again, everyone sympathized and apologized to her. Now, it was Katrina who was receiving public condemnation.

If her hunch was right, Tori was the instigator. Hence, Josephine wouldn’t stop at only having Katrina bear the brunt. She wanted to see Tori punished for her actions and apologize to her.

The woman couldn’t be left out of this.

She had switched her phone off, for she had been bombarded with calls, and a dozen or so of them belonged to Atticus, presumably because his wife wanted him to ask her to settle do a private settlement.

No way! Josephine would pursue the matter to the end. She would have everyone involved suffer the consequences they deserved.

At the same time, the Sullivans had been thrown into chaos, with Ivanka bawling and repenting to her parents, who were also all over the place, worried that this would be the end of their younger daughter.

“Mom, Dad, I promise you I’ll sort this out. I’ll have Atticus save Kat!” Ivanka swore to her parents.

Later, Ivanka threw the responsibility onto Atticus, who had no choice but to drive to Josephine’s home.

It was already 10.00PM, so Heidi couldn’t help but be bewildered to find her daughter’s boss at their doorstep. “What brings you here at this hour, Mr. Kowalski?”

“Is Josephine home, Mrs. Jacobson? I’d like to have a word with her, please.”

“She’s upstairs. Let me get her for you.”

Meanwhile, Josephine got dressed and went down when she heard noises. “I know why you’re here, Mr. Kowalski,” Josephine said, gazing at Atticus in the garden. “But there’s no room for negotiation. Please leave.”

“Josephine, I know that Katrina has gone overboard this time, but as long as you withdraw the charges against her, I assure you that I’ll fire her, and she’ll disappear from your life. Also, I’ll compensate you appropriately and ask her to apologize to you,” Atticus promised.

Unfortunately, Josephine could feel her blood boiling in her veins this time as she sneered, “Mr. Kowalski, this matter has breached my bottom line and you can forget that I’ll ever settle this matter peacefully. If you have any opinions against me, then I’ll submit my resignation first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll leave the company!”

“No, Josephine. That’s not what I mean. I’m not asking you to leave. I just want to know if we can settle this matter in private. After all, we’re colleagues and I would like you to make an exception for my sake.”

“No, I will not. Not only Katrina but Tori is involved in this as well. Please ensure that Tori is also well taken care of. If she remains in the company, I’ll resign as well. I do not want to see these two as long as I continue working here,” Josephine threatened.

Atticus gulped. It didn’t matter who resigned, but that person should never be Josephine! Otherwise, Ethan would be the one asking for him to tender his resignation. “Is there really no other solution, Josephine?”

“No. There’s no other way aside from tossing her into prison. Also, my grandfather is still hale and hearty, so I won’t be allowing anyone to pull any connections to get her out of serving time,” she warned coldly.

Finally, Atticus understood her intentions and could only let Katrina pay the price for her actions. “Okay, the company will take action against Tori as well. Don’t worry and please come back to work.”

At midnight, Tori sobbed while cleaning herself in the hotel bathtub, retching from time to time. Even if she didn’t end up in jail, the Heavens had bestowed upon her a different punishment because of what she did with Katrina.

After Ethan left the hotel, he went to the TV station. As the biggest shareholder of the station, he had a spacious and bright office that he didn’t usually use for work. Instead, he was here for fun. Right after he arrived, he checked the list of phone number extensions next to the phone. He narrowed his eyes as he carefully scanned the list until he found Josephine’s extension number and dialed it with his slender fingers.

that farce of a meeting when the phone on her desk started ringing, and she instinctively picked it up. “Hello, this is

upstairs,” a husky

widened a little.

floor,”

here to

man showing up at the company was the last

repeated once more and hung

she sneakily glanced around, she pressed the button for the eighteenth floor and went all the way up. The eighteenth floor was reserved for higher management,

He was here to pick her up. She had her head lowered as she trotted to him. Her entire demeanor made him grin in

did you call me here?” she

closed the door, slumped back lazily on

could feel her face burning.

you,” he

this guy okay? Why did he buy me a sports car? “No! I can’t and won’t be accepting

problem back to her. “I’ve already placed my purchase and it will be delivered in the afternoon. What

blinked as she bit her lip and

“Nope.”

before making such a purchase!” Isn’t this guy

it whenever you want.” Ethan had always been a rather overbearing person, so he would never take back the gift that he had specifically bought for someone else. The instant it was out of his hands, it wasn’t his problem any longer.

several run-ins with overbearing people, she had never met one such as Ethan, who was completely unreasonable. “Return it! My car still works, and I don’t need a sports car,”

he shrugged gracefully. “Oh, it’s fine. A sports car isn’t a big deal to me. Plus, if you

caught sight of his pearly whites and felt her heart racing. This man can truly sway hearts with

her phone started ringing, and she saw that it was Luke calling her. So,

made a reservation in a restaurant tonight. I’ll pick you up

meal, she readily agreed as she didn’t see a

was one thing—she had decided to make things clear to Luke that they

Therefore, she reckoned that he might not give up so easily if she simply rejected him verbally. If she let him know that her heart belonged to someone else and that

was only one person around her who checked all the boxes. So, she turned her attention back to the person

his brows.

do me a favor?” she asked,

To her surprise, he seemed

boyfriend and make Luke

became excited, and a look of delight flashed in his eyes. “Okay,

to his senses today. That way he would not waste

“Sure, go ahead!”

just when she returned to her desk, a commotion started in the group chat. Someone posted some pictures they had taken at the basement parking lot. Under the lighting, an eye-catching

god, whose car is that

cool! I think it costs

to? Will someone in the group tell me who this

in on it as well, so she turned to Josephine next to her and whispered enthusiastically, “Joey, do you know whose Ferrari is that?

at that sports car displayed on the iPad in utter astonishment. Is this the car Ethan bought for me? It’s parked on the VIP spot and brand new to

wonder which wealthy man gave it as a gift. Could it belong to Tori? She has had many suitors recently, and I heard that

was beautiful, talented, and also single. Thus, she was everyone’s

blurted, “It’s

be if not Tori’s?” Immediately, Wren became more interested

an assistant placed a paper bag on her desk.

couldn’t tell what was in the bag from the outside. When she picked it up and peered in, she could feel her scalp numbing from the shock. Just as she feared, there was a box with the Ferrari logo emblemed on it. Then, as she

bought for her! She sighed inwardly as she felt a throbbing pain in her head. What am I going to do now? The entire office is talking about this and if I admit that it’s my car… Given everyone’s current guesses, they’ll think that I’m the mistress of

narrowed her eyes and pondered over this

discretely slipped the bag under her desk and held her

solved while Katrina became the public’s target of verbal abuses. The Sullivan Family could barely sleep that night, especially Ivanka, who couldn’t sleep a wink at all because she was busy blaming herself. In the meantime, Katrina was in the lockup. The beautiful makeup she wore in the morning now looked utterly ghastly. She wrapped her arms around herself as she trembled

If Tori hadn’t instigated her, she would have never made such a mistake. Undoubtedly, she started to resent her sister as well for devising such a foul idea.

work as usual. She was the target of sneers and ridicule yesterday, but some who scorned her were

genuinely afraid of crossing her. On the other hand, Josephine appeared as though nothing had happened as she did her makeup and memorized the script in preparation for

breathed a sigh of relief as she stated, “Katrina is completely rotten. I would have

another person besides her,” Josephine said. “The one who

just assumed that she was just a little arrogant. I could have never imagined that she’s capable

rather happy that Katrina made such a dumb move. Because of this, she

she was completely unaffected by the scandal that had taken the company by storm. Instead, her performance was amazing, and several netizens deliberately waited to watch her news broadcast just to see how talented the framed host was. By the end of it, some of them were even smitten with her looks and professionalism and turned

under investigation and suspended without pay.

idea how people

they said you’re pretty, graceful, and

spread across Josephine’s face. “Really? I’ll do my best to take care

when she was about to step into the elevator, Tori suddenly dashed out from one of them. She appeared to be in a rush, but when she saw Josephine, she glared at her furiously.

mercilessly, “You brought this upon yourself. Why should I be delighted when I’m the victim

criticism from Josephine, she felt the very

you doing here? Didn’t I already tell you not to show up at the

news. This doesn’t affect my work in any

still want to come back to work after destroying the company’s image with your actions? Just look at what you’ve done to Katrina!” Atticus was furious. Because of this matter, his wife was in

I’m begging you. I can’t lose this job. I promise that I won’t cause any trouble after this.”

perfectly clear about this. If you keep pestering me, I’ll fire you effective immediately,” Atticus

her job as she suddenly dropped to her knees in front of Atticus and said humbly,

in the industry because none of the other TV stations would accept her.

at the sight, and Tori hurriedly sprang to her feet to protect

you leaving now?” the assistant inquired

the opportunity to open the door and walk out. Unfortunately, Tori followed closely behind like a

of Tori holding her husband so intimately, she lost her temper, lunged forward, and slapped Tori harshly across the

Slap!

out the situation, and they seemed to be enjoying the show when

Tori had such a day coming for

Ivanka showed the masses just how shrewd she could truly be as she ruthlessly grabbed Tori’s hair, pushed her to the floor,

head as she had never encountered such a situation before. Since she had no experience in this, all she could do

were watching on the sidelines as she received

jail instead?! How could you still have the cheeks to show up here?

the show. When Josephine silently watched the sight of the disheveled Tori as Ivanka rained

hand, Atticus couldn’t allow things to escalate any further. So, he pulled his wife

air and barely looked anyone straight in the eye. Now, she could clearly see that the people she thought were nothing but nobodies, were mocking and criticizing her. Amongst the crowd, she even found Josephine with her hands crossed over her chest as she watched

an elevator as well. By now, she was aware that her career was over. Not long afterward, someone uploaded the video of Tori receiving a beating on the Internet, causing a heated round of discussion in an instant. The one who uploaded the video was an assistant whom Tori had bullied in the past. The assistant had nursed a grudge of rather massive proportions due to Tori’s abuse. So, there was no way she would let go of this golden opportunity when she finally had the chance to get

hit, causing it to drop straight to the dumps. The top searches of major websites were dominated by Katrina and Tori. Not only do they have to endure public criticism, but someone

opinions about her, and she no longer had a future. She could continue living in reality, but she had lost her favorite job. Even if she

to pay a high mortgage every month. She felt

spending habits prevented her from saving anything. Now, besides

achieve, but it was difficult to go from luxury to simplicity.

Josephine. I really hate you,”

Ivanka still visible on her face. She looked disheveled and

custody, suffering more than Tori. She not only lost

bunch of gifts in

leave. But Ivanka immediately extended her arms to stop her.

us, Mrs. Kowalski.” Josephine was unwilling to

“Josephine, I apologize on behalf of my sister. She is foolish and naive, just a young woman in her twenties. Josephine, I beg

do this. My stance on this matter is

in the same company. Can’t you be forgiving and spare my sister? I promise she’ll never appear in front of you again,” Ivanka pleaded, no longer concerned about her image.

Josephine had no intention of relenting. When Katrina caused harm to her, she didn’t consider the consequences. So now, Katrina should pay the price for her

an adult, and she knows very well what is right and wrong. If she insisted on ruining my reputation, then she should have expected

husband has always been generous to you. Can’t you spare my sister for his sake?” Ivanka tried

her and asked abruptly, “Mrs. Kowalski, may I ask, did you know about your sister’s actions? If you were aware, why didn’t you stop

a hint of guilt flashed in her eyes. How could she have stopped it when it was her idea to begin with? Otherwise, Katrina wouldn’t have

Please spare her! I’m sorry, I

dismissed Ivanka, urging, “Mrs. Kowalski, take your things and there’s no need to

pleaded with Josephine. Usually, she was an arrogant person who didn’t care about others, but today, not only

the same company. Your boyfriend and my husband are also partners. Are you purposely trying to make things look ugly?” Ivanka stood up as her

heard this statement, thinking it was blatant moral blackmail. She looked at Ivanka and said, “Mrs. Kowalski, if you want my boyfriend and your husband to maintain a working relationship, it’s important to separate the company matters from personal issues. Let’s keep them separate and not let

hundred thousand on these gifts just to apologize to you. Can’t you show some understanding and

to blame-shifting. She even suspected that Ivanka and Katrina were colluding,

escalating things further.” Josephine gestured toward

picked up the gifts and left. As she walked

and picked up her phone to send a message to Ethan.

a meeting, but thinking of you.’ Apparently,

relief. Her pictures had been deleted, and they couldn’t be found on

leaving for

signal once I arrive at the Arctic, so I won’t be

occasional communication is enough.’ Josephine reassured