Assistant Zimmer quickly shook his head and stepped aside.

"It’s not that."

"President Croft, President Sheridan is in a meeting. Why don’t you wait in his office? I’ll make you a cup of tea."

As he spoke, he led Cecilia Croft toward Jude Sheridan’s office, reaching out to open the door.

Cecilia Croft looked away and walked toward her own office.

"That won’t be necessary. I’ll wait for him in my office."

Her office was right next to Jude Sheridan’s.

’Jessica Keller and Jude Sheridan have been coming and going together lately. Who knows what they’ve been up to in his office.’

She found it filthy.

Assistant Zimmer stood to the side, a few drops of cold sweat appearing on his forehead.

Ignoring him, Cecilia Croft reached for her office doorknob. She placed her finger on the scanner to unlock it, only to be met with a "fingerprint not recognized" error.

She tried twice, with the same result.

Assistant Zimmer hung his head, not daring to breathe too loudly.

It was only then that Cecilia Croft realized someone had changed the fingerprint lock and deleted hers.

’The administrator for this lock is Jude Sheridan. Fingerprints can only be changed with his approval.’

Cecilia Croft’s gaze turned ice-cold.

"Get her for me."

Assistant Zimmer spoke sheepishly.

"Secretary Keller is in the meeting with President Sheridan."

"President Croft, why don’t you wait in President Sheridan’s office for now?"

’Secretary Keller?’

’So after Jessica Keller was fired from Grandeur Enterprises, Jude Sheridan immediately arranged a job for her at the company and even gave her my vice president’s office.’

Cecilia Croft let out a cold laugh, looking at Assistant Zimmer with a mocking expression.

"You do such a good job covering for him right in front of me, and he repays you by letting some workplace rookie who just entered the workforce take your place, instead of giving you the recognition and benefits you deserve?"

Assistant Zimmer froze for a moment, then hung his head, thoroughly ashamed.

’He should have known there was no way Cecilia Croft was completely in the dark.’

"I’m sorry, President Croft."

Assistant Zimmer apologized in a low voice. Cecilia Croft didn’t spare him another glance and turned toward the conference room.

Inside the conference room, Jessica Keller had taken Assistant Zimmer’s place, sitting to Jude Sheridan’s right and taking meeting notes.

She was wearing a black business suit, but the skirt had been shortened and was paired with black stockings.

Jude Sheridan listened with a detached, serious expression as the department heads gave their reports. Feeling playful, Jessica Keller deliberately used the tip of her foot to tease the stern-faced man.

The man’s brow furrowed slightly. He glanced sideways at her, his eyes holding a warning, but even more so, indulgence.

Just as Cecilia Croft pushed the door open and walked in, Jessica Keller hastily pulled her foot back, hitting it hard against a table leg. The conference table shifted slightly.

Everyone in the conference room was a seasoned professional. Seeing Jessica Keller’s sudden movement and her flustered expression, they all knew exactly what had been happening.

Everyone was waiting for Cecilia Croft to explode, but unexpectedly, she just smiled and shot a glance at Jessica Keller.

"Is your foot alright, Ms. Keller?"

Jessica Keller’s face immediately flushed red, and she didn’t dare meet Cecilia Croft’s eyes.

"I-I’m fine."

Cecilia Croft raised an eyebrow and said coolly,

"Oh, I thought your foot was hurting, which is why you stretched it over to President Sheridan. Were you hoping he’d give it a rub for you?"

Jessica Keller lowered her head, her face a mask of shame and humiliation.

Jude Sheridan frowned and spoke in a deep voice.

"Cecilia..."

Cecilia Croft turned to him, cutting him off with a cold laugh.

"What, you want to rub her foot for her?"

Stung by her words, Jude Sheridan’s face hardened.

"Don’t make a scene. We’re in a meeting. Go to the office and wait for me."

Cecilia Croft looked away from him and strode toward the empty seat opposite Jude Sheridan. She spoke in a slow, deliberate manner.

"As a founding shareholder and the vice president of this company, what meeting could there possibly be that I’m not allowed to attend?"

"Surely President Sheridan doesn’t think that just because we’re about to get married, Vantage will become your company alone?"

As her words fell, the atmosphere in the room seemed to drop to freezing. Everyone lowered their heads, pretending to be busy flipping through their documents, not daring to look at any of them.

Jude Sheridan confronted her with a cold expression, but Cecilia Croft simply smiled back at him, unperturbed, and continued leisurely.

"I came today because of the Grandeur Enterprises issue. The project is already halfway through. A rash withdrawal of funding will have a significant impact on both Grandeur Enterprises and Vantage. I will not have anyone letting their personal feelings jeopardize the company’s big picture and cause tens of millions in losses."

Cecilia Croft let her gaze sweep over the department heads and said calmly,

"Everyone should be thinking about the company’s best interests."

The executives ducked their heads even lower, and not a single person made a sound. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Jude Sheridan, sitting at the head of the table, fiddled with the wedding ring on his finger and said flatly, "Meeting adjourned."

At his word, everyone scrambled to their feet and fled as if their lives depended on it.

Soon, only she, Jude Sheridan, and Jessica Keller remained in the conference room.

Jessica Keller proactively stood up and said, in a display of being well-behaved and considerate,

"I’ll go make Cecilia a cup of tea."

Cecilia Croft ignored her, her sharp gaze fixed on Jude Sheridan.

She’d only been away from the company for half a year, and now everyone at Vantage, from top to bottom, only listened to Jude Sheridan’s orders.

They probably all thought that no matter how capable she was, she could never overcome the mountain that was Jude Sheridan. They must have assumed she would be like all the other wealthy, married women, for whom their husband is their whole world.

Seeing Cecilia Croft’s displeased expression, Jude Sheridan rose from his chair and walked over to her. He braced one hand on the conference table in front of her, his tall frame casting a shadow over her.

"Cecilia, pulling the funding from Grandeur Enterprises was a unanimous decision by the company’s management. You haven’t been to the office in a long time; you don’t understand the current market situation. No one is letting personal feelings get in the way."

Cecilia Croft looked at the man leaning in close to her, her eyes frigid.

"President Sheridan, Grandeur Enterprises has made no mistakes in this partnership. We both know the real reason you’re insisting on pulling the plug."

Jude Sheridan’s expression darkened.

"Cecilia, so you’re admitting you were in contact with Giselle Sullivan all along, deliberately targeting Jessica to make her lose her job?"

Cecilia Croft sneered.

"Didn’t you say you have no relationship with her? If there’s nothing between you, would she be worth me going to all this trouble? Or is it that the two of you do have some kind of sordid affair?"

At her level of status and influence, there were plenty of people who wanted to curry favor with her. She didn’t need to do a thing; someone would naturally make things difficult for Jessica Keller on their own.

Jude Sheridan’s brows knitted together, his expression unreadable.

After a few seconds, he said quietly,

"What kind of relationship could I have with her? I just felt sorry for her, facing workplace bullying so early in her career. It reminded me of you when you were starting out. That’s why I brought her into the company. If you don’t like it, I can have her leave anytime."

From the doorway of the conference room came the sound of a teacup shattering. Jessica Keller’s hand, scalded by the boiling tea, was already a patch of red. She sucked in a sharp breath, looking at Jude Sheridan with wide, tear-filled eyes, like an injured rabbit.

Jude Sheridan’s worried gaze immediately shot in her direction, and his body even started to move toward her. But he stopped after just one step, a flicker of restraint in his eyes.

’When a man’s heart has changed, the evidence is in every little detail.’

’Just how confident was Jude Sheridan to think she would ever believe his clumsy lies?’