Chapter 9

Trent expected Matteo to be shocked, but his reaction was unexpectedly calm. "Zach still hasn't given up?" "You mean… This isn't the first time Zach has tried to poach Mila?" "Yeah," Matteo said indifferently. "He won't succeed. Mila won't go with him." Trent thought the same and smirked. "You're right. How could Mila ever bring herself to leave Royal Investment?" Setting everything else aside, as long as Matteo was still in Royal Investment, Mila would never leave the company. "Mila's way too calculating. I bet she purposely invited Zach to Lunar Bistro just so I would run into them and pass the news to you. She wants you to think she's considering jumping ship, so you'll speak up and keep her," Trent teased as if he had seen through everything. "She probably saw you favoring Penelope and neglecting her, so she started playing these little tricks. How tacky. She doesn't have a sense of boundaries at all. Doesn't she know that men hate it when women get jealous and pull petty stunts? The more she acts up, the further she'll push you away. "She really doesn't know her place. Who does she think she is? What does she have to compete with Penelope? Anyone with half a brain would know who to choose." Matteo didn't have time to listen to Trent's ramblings. He brushed him off with a few perfunctory responses and ended the call. When he went through the stack of documents waiting to be signed, the first thing that caught his eye was Mila's resignation letter. His eyebrows furrowed tightly. He set it aside and continued signing the rest of the documents. … Mila had a great time chatting with Zach and was in a genuinely good mood. On her way home, she even stopped by the florist downstairs and bought herself a bouquet. It wasn't until she got home that she remembered she didn't have a vase. Her mood dimmed slightly as she took in the apartment, which was full of things that didn't belong to her. She found a cardboard box and packed all the documents into it, finally clearing off the dining table. After looking around, she eventually found something that could serve as a vase. A trophy. The Royal Investment Banking Outstanding Employee Award. Matteo had presented it to her, and she'd treasured it like a priceless keepsake. The last time Ginny got drunk and stayed over, she woke up in the middle of the night feeling sick. She grabbed the trophy to throw up into it. Mila snatched it away without hesitation. She'd rather have Ginny throw up on the bed than dirty the trophy. Mila filled it with water and placed the flowers inside. She stared at it for a long moment before murmuring to herself, "At least it's useful now." That night, she started forming a habit of turning her phone off at night. She slept soundly through the night. … At 9:00 pm the next morning, Mila arrived at the office right on time. Her colleagues were surprised to see her showing up at that hour. Mila had always been the first person in the office. Today, she wasn't wearing her usual serious business attire, but a light-colored blouse dress. "Ms. Wright, you seem a bit different today." Mila smiled. "How so?" "You're really pretty." To be precise, she was extremely pretty. Her entire presence had changed with just light makeup, and she looked radiant. It was the kind of beauty that appealed to everyone, regardless of gender. "Thank you," Mila said, her mood lifting even more. She had eaten breakfast on the way, so she went to the break room for water and her stomach medicine. Just as she reached the door, she heard people chatting inside. "Who do you think is prettier, Ms. Wright or Ms. Lewis?" "They're not the same type. You can't really compare them." "If it were before, Ms. Lewis would definitely win. Ms. Wright used to be way too rigid. Her clothes and makeup were stiff, and she looked ten years older than she was. But she has the looks. With just a little effort, she could charm anyone." "Right? She's so classy." "If we're talking looks alone, Ms. Wright has a slight edge. But Ms. Lewis's education and background are both outstanding. That's something Ms. Wright can't compete with." "Yeah, intelligence and family background are innate. Being born right is a skill in itself." "I heard Ms. Wright comes from a single-parent family…" Mila appeared at just the right moment, cutting the pantry gossip off. "Good morning." She greeted them as if she hadn't heard a thing and got her water. After exchanging greetings, the group quickly dispersed. Mila had just returned to her desk after taking her medicine when Spencer Willis, a manager from the investment department, hurried over. He needed the evaluation report on Volare Corp's drone project. Matteo had specifically requested it. When Mila handed over the materials, he casually asked, "Ms. Wright, is your phone broken?" She denied it, feeling puzzled. "No. Why?" "We couldn't reach you," Spencer explained. "Mr. Hall left on a business trip this morning and urgently needed this report, but no one could get to you." "Maybe it ran out of battery," she responded flatly. Her excuse was so flimsy that even Spencer didn't believe it. Still, he didn't press further and said, "Mr. Hall is accompanying Ms. Lewis to have a look at Volare Corp's drone project. They probably won't be back until next week. I'll send this evaluation report over to him first." Mila nodded lightly and turned on her computer to start her day's work. She had been the one driving the drone project from the start and did both rounds of site visits and negotiations. Matteo had never paid attention to it, let alone personally accompany her on out-of-town inspections. It was just one of the many projects under Royal Investment, after all. It wasn't worth his involvement. But this time, he had gotten involved. It was obvious that he wasn't there to inspect the project. He was there to back Penelope up and keep the scene under control for her. That was pretty nice. They were just like a perfect couple. With Matteo out of the office, Mila's workload was cut in half. On top of that, she no longer had to handle the investment department's projects. She felt unusually relaxed. Mila had scheduled to see Aaron after work to ask him to prescribe some medicine for her stomach. Her health was in poor shape. She really needed to take better care of herself. Aaron Hilyer was a well-known veteran in traditional medicine in Jesterville. It was notoriously hard to get an appointment with him. Mila had once queued at dawn to secure appointments for clients' families, and they became acquainted over time. He admired her drive but always reminded her not to neglect her health. When Aaron noticed that she was finally paying attention ot her health, he agreed to stay late for her. But while Mila was halfway to his clinic, she received a call from Raphael Sullivan, the owner of Volare Corp. "Ms. Wright, something's come up. You need to come over right away!" Mila frowned and asked what was going on. Raphael explained that Royal Investment had come over to inspect the project. Everything had been going smoothly, but when it came time to discuss valuation, Penelope insisted on cutting the valuation down by 3%. She even claimed that Volare Corp's drones leaned too heavily toward industrial use, had limited commercial value, and lagged behind other consumer drone brands in market share. That was why she kept pushing down the price. "Ms. Wright, if it weren't for your sincerity, your collaboration plan, and your future projections, we wouldn't have chosen Royal Investment in the first place. You knew that there were plenty of investors who wanted to work with us back then. What you're doing now is extremely underhanded." Raphael's tone hardened. "I'm only willing to talk to you. If you don't show up at the valuation, we won't be discussing this project anymore."