Chapter 270

Chapter 270

When I finished speaking, William and Emily remained silent, but I knew they had my back.

Emily glanced at the harsh scars circling my wrist, her eyes reddening with emotion.

She grabbed my hand, her voice trembling with anger and heartbreak."Grace, you need to take care of yourself. Don’t let those heartless people drain you.”

William stood to the side, his expression dark and unreadable throughout.

After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly spoke, his voice edged with coldness: "Sarah is reporting to work tomorrow and joining the project team, right? “Maybe we should give her a warning—make it clear that Star Tech isn’t a place where she can just walk in and do whatever she wants.”

Emily's eyes lit up at once, and she nodded eagerly. "Yes, yes, yes, William's right. Let's teach her a lesson. I'll go tell Ember, Daniel and the others right now. When we’re in the meeting, no one should talk to her. Let’s see how confident she is then.

Watching them both act like they were ready to fight my battles, I felt warm glow inside, but I also found it slightly amusing.

"Alright, alright,"I said, waving my hand to cut off their plotting. "William, you're the boss of Star Tech, not a child anymore. Why are you getting involved in this too? And you, Emily—"

I turned to her and continued: "Don't go stirring up Ember and the others. At the company, we're colleagues. Keep things professional—don’tt bring personal grudges into work."

"Grace!" Emily glared at me in frustration. "Can you please be a little more sensible?” “We’re talking about Sarah—the woman who stole your husband, and now wants to steal your project and has already hurt you. She's the mistress."

"Who actually works alongside their husband's mistress? Aren't you afraid she'll betray you again?"

Seeing Emily so agitated, I understood she trulycared about me and didn't want me to get hurt.

But I just smiled calmly, my tone indifferent:

"I don't care about George. Whether she's a mistress or not has nothing to do with me."

"As for the project, she might get in, but whether she can access the core parts—that's not up to her."

William and Emily exchanged glances, both seeing helplessness in each other's eyes.

I didn't bother explaining further.

Some things, I just needed to know myself.

But I clearly underestimated William and Emily's determination to protect their own, and overestimated Sarah’s ability to behave herself.

The next day was Sarah's official first day at Star Tech and the project team's first full meeting.

The meeting was scheduled for 10 AM.

At 9:50, the core project team members—including me, William, Emily, Ember, Daniel and others—were already seated in the conference room.

The first seat to William's left was mine, Emily sat on his right, and further down were the technical leads.

On the other side of the conference table, near the door, directly facing the projector's glare and right next to the trash can, sat a temporary printed nameplate with Sarah's name on it.

That spot had poor visibility and was inconvenient to access.

I quietly asked Emily: "Did you arrange this?"

Emily smiled mischievously and said: "Yes, but William approved it."

I glanced at William , who was sitting at the head of the table. He was looking down at some documents, but when he noticed my gaze, he smiled.

But his smile wouldn’t last long, and neither would ours.

At 10 o'clock sharp, Sarah hadn't arrived.

At 10:05, still no sign of her.

William's assistant glanced toward the doorway and picked up his phone to make a call.

The call went through, but no one answered.

He sent a message - no reply either.

10:10.

Emily's expression expression darkened. She lowered her voice in anger. "What on earth is that woman trying to do?” Just because she brought 5 billion dollars, does she thinks she's royalty? She’s late on her first day and not answering calls or messages—what is she trying to do? Give us a warning? Does she think she's in charge?"

William's face had also darkened.

He glanced at the time, then at that empty, glaring nameplate with Sarah's name on it, his eyes cold as ice.

"Stop calling." William said, his voice quiet but commanding. “Remove that nameplate. Let's begin the meeting."

The assistant acknowledged and quickly walked over to remove Sarah's nameplate. He hesitated for a moment, probably thinking it would be too obvious to just take it away, so he casually placed it on the floor by the door, leaning against the wall.

William cleared his throat, about to announce the start of the meeting.

At that moment, the conference room door was forcefully pushed open from outside.

Sarah walked in wearing a beige business suit, her hair neatly pinned up, and her makeup flawless. She carried a luxury handbag and moved gracefully in her heels.

By sheer coincidence, the thin heel of her shoe stepped directly onto the nameplate with her name on it, which had been left by the door.

A light crack - the plastic nameplate's edge split.

Sarah seemed to stumble on something under her foot. She looked down, and when she saw clearly what she'd stepped on and that cracked name, the smile on her face instantly froze.

It was replaced by a look of offended embarrassment and anger.

She slowly lifted her foot, bent down, and picked up the dirty nameplate between two fingers, her expression full of disgust.

Standing up straight, her gaze swept across everyone in the conference room staring at her, finally landing on William and me at the head of the table.

She forced a smile, trying to maintain her composure, but the dissatisfaction and accusation in her tone were impossible to hide:

"There was traffic. I'm a few minutes late - is this how I should be treated?"

Sarah gently placed the broken nameplate on the conference table, her eyes full of grievance and accusation.

The conference room fell silent.

No one answered her.

William didn't even lift his eyelids, as if he hadn't heard her speak.

Emily simply turned her head away, looking out the window.

The other colleagues either looked down at their documents or fiddled with their phones - no one responded to her.

Everyone could see she did it on purpose.

Traffic?

Sure, it’s rush hour, but not so bad that you’d be more than ten minutes late without answering a single call or replying to any messages.

She was clearly trying to give Star Tech, especially William and me, a warning.

Using this method to announce her special status and that she wasn't to be messed with.

Sarah probably hadn't expected this kind of cold reception from everyone.

The smile completely fell from her face. She stood there awkwardly, unable to advance or retreat.

The atmosphere was so awkward it was almost suffocating.

A few seconds later, she seemed to finally realize she'd overplayed her hand. Her expression changed, and she forced out a smile, her tone softening with a hint of flattery:

"I'm sorry, Mr. Jones, Ms. Brown, everyone. It's my fault. My phone somehow went on silent mode and I didn't hear the calls. I'm really sorry for wasting everyone's time."

This apology sounded completely insincere.

Phone on silent?

But everyone knew about that 5 billion dollar investment and that she was someone the investor had pushed in, so they couldn't be too harsh.

William finally lifted his eyelids and glanced at her, his eyes cold and emotionless.

"Sit down." He only said two words, his voice not loud but carrying a commanding tone.

The muscles in Sarah's face twitched. She took a deep breath, walked to that undesirable seat, straightened the broken nameplate, and sat down.

Her back was ramrod straight, but her slightly tense shoulders betrayed her inner displeasure and suppressed anger.

The meeting began.

I mainly outlined the project's overall structure, current progress, and next steps for task allocation.

As I spoke, I could feel Sarah's gaze lingering on me, filled with scrutiny and a barely concealed hint of jealousy and hatred.

When it came time for new members to introduce themselves.

Sarah immediately sat up straight, her face once again wearing that impeccable smile full of confidence and superiority.

"Hello everyone, I'm Sarah." Her voice was clear and pleasant, speaking at a measured pace. "After graduation, I worked for two years as a senior algorithm engineer, contributing to the core development of a next-generation intelligent recommendation system. At the Smith Group's investment department, I managed several post-investment projects in the TMT sector, so I have some understanding and experience with business models and technology trends in the tech industry."

She paused, her gaze sweeping across everyone, especially lingering on a few young technical leads, her smile deepening: "I'm very happy to join the dynamic team at Star Tech, and I'm grateful to Mr. Jones and Ms. Brown for giving me this opportunity. I hope to contribute to the project with my expertise and experience, and also learn from all of you."