Chapter 15
An HR specialist was waiting for Evelyn at the elevator. She walked her through getting her ID badge, fingerprints scanned, and computer set up. The whole process took forty minutes. At nine-twenty, the HR rep dropped her off at the entrance to the Strategic Marketing Department.
"Ms. Kendall, the morning meeting starts at nine-thirty. Go ahead and get settled."
Evelyn pushed the door open.
The office area wasn't large—about twenty workstations with fifteen people occupying them. A few glanced up at her, then looked back down.
In the corner by the window was a private office. The nameplate read "Strategic Marketing Director—Luna Baker."
The door was open. Inside sat a woman in her mid-thirties with short hair and polished makeup, wearing a sharply tailored green dress. She was typing on her computer, fingers flying across the keyboard in a steady rhythm.
Evelyn walked over and stopped at the doorway.
"Ms. Baker, I'm Evelyn. Starting today."
Luna's fingers paused for a beat. She looked up.
Her gaze swept across Evelyn's face, lingered on the ID badge around her neck for two seconds, then pulled away.
"Got it. Your desk is at the end of the hall. It's already set up. We'll see you at the morning meeting."
Her tone was neither warm nor cold, just deliberately distant.
Evelyn nodded and went to find her workstation.
Nine-thirty. Morning meeting.
The conference room was small. Twelve people sat on either side of a long table. Luna sat at the head. Evelyn took the seat closest to the door.
Luna started by running through updates on several ongoing projects, then her gaze landed on Evelyn.
"Let me introduce everyone to our new senior project manager, Evelyn Kendall. Previously a project supervisor in Ashford Group's marketing department. Mr. Parker personally approved this position."
She put extra emphasis on "Mr. Parker personally approved."
A few people in the room exchanged glances.
Luna continued.
"Ms. Kendall, before you came to Parker Group, you worked in marketing at Ashford Group, right?"
"That's right."
"How big was Ashford Group's marketing team?"
Evelyn looked at her.
"Twenty-three people."
Luna nodded slightly.
"Our Strategic Marketing Department, including those stationed at other locations, has over sixty people. That doesn't even count cross-departmental resources. The scale is pretty different. Ms. Kendall, coming to Parker Group—do you think you'll be able to adapt?"
The meaning wasn't hard to grasp.
You came from a small pond. Don't think you can swim in a big one.
Evelyn didn't argue or try to smile it off.
She said one thing.
"My work will speak for itself. Three-month probation is more than enough time."
Luna's expression didn't change, but she flipped her pen in her hand.
"All right. There's a project that's perfect for you to get your feet wet."
She pulled a file from the stack on the table and slid it across to Evelyn.
"Parker Group's Pine Hill tourism real estate project. Investment proposal. Two previous managers couldn't crack it. The client's demanding, and the deadline's in three weeks. Want to take it on?"
Evelyn reached for the file and opened the first page.
Project name, land information, client requirements overview, archived past proposals.
She flipped through page by page, not rushing, but reading each one carefully.
When she got to the client requirements section, her eyes paused briefly.
The client's core demand was for a tourism-integrated commercial complex that balanced local cultural IP development with high-traffic consumer experiences, while also meeting strict government requirements for historical preservation.
These demands were almost identical to the underlying logic of the Eastside project.
When she'd worked on the Eastside project at Ashford Group, she'd spent three months researching this exact type of tourism real estate investment model. What clients cared about most, where government approval red lines were drawn, how to balance cultural preservation with commercial returns—she'd broken all of it down before.
Evelyn closed the file and looked up at Luna.
"I'll take it."
Luna raised an eyebrow.
"That fast? You don't want to review why the previous proposals failed first?"
"I already did."
Evelyn set the file on the table.
"The reason the first two versions failed wasn't execution—it was positioning. The first version treated tourism like a commercial complex. The client thought it lacked differentiation. The second version leaned into IP, but they didn't fully understand the government's historical preservation red lines. It got stuck in environmental review."
As she spoke, her pace was measured, but every judgment came with clear reasoning.
People in the room who'd been looking at their phones were now looking up.
Luna's pen stopped moving.
"How do you know the second version got stuck in environmental review? That information isn't in the file."
"There's an email screenshot in the attachments—client feedback from the second round. Third paragraph, fourth line. The client mentions 'relevant departments did not approve.' The only approval stages that would make it into client feedback and directly relate to tourism real estate are environmental review and zoning changes. The project site is in the core of the old city district. A zoning change would never pass. So it was environmental review."
The conference room went silent for three seconds.
Luna set down her pen.
"Fine. Take the project materials. I want to see a draft framework in three days."
"I can do that."
After the meeting ended, Evelyn took the file back to her desk.
She spread the materials out on her workspace, opened her computer, created a new folder, and started building the framework.
At noon, Evelyn grabbed a tray in the cafeteria and found a corner seat.
She was still scrolling through supplementary materials for the Pine Hill project on her phone, barely noticing what was going on around her.
At the next table over, two younger women were talking quietly.
"That's the one, right? The Ashford family wife? I heard her husband dumped her and she ran here."
"No way. Mr. Parker personally recruited her. She's got to have some skills."
"What skills? Being pretty is a skill now?"
The second woman laughed. A coworker next to her shot her a look.
Evelyn's utensil paused for a second, then she kept eating.
She'd heard them, but she wasn't going to engage.
Back at Ashford Group, people had gossiped behind her back too, saying she'd only gotten in because of Sebastian's connections. She never explained herself. Her work spoke for her.
Parker Group would be the same.
As she picked up her tray to leave, her phone buzzed twice.
The first message was from Allen, the butler at the Ashford estate.
Evelyn opened it.
[Mrs. Ashford, Mr. Richard Ashford isn't feeling well today. He's been asking for you. Would you be able to visit sometime soon?]
Evelyn was about to reply when a second message popped up.
Sender: Arianna.
[Eve, I heard you left Ashford Group? That's too bad. By the way, Grandpa hasn't been feeling well lately, so I moved into the estate to take care of him. If you come to see him, I'll let you in.]
There was a smiley face at the end.
Evelyn stared at that smiley face, her thumb hovering over the screen.
Moved into the estate to take care of Grandpa.
I'll let you in.
Arianna was making it clear—the Ashford estate was her territory now.