Chapter 48

The voice from outside interrupted the intimate atmosphere in the conference room. Isabella seemed startled by his gaze and lowered her head in a panic. William gritted his teeth and took two steps back, putting distance between himself and Isabella, then went to open the door while suppressing his impatience.

At the door, assistant Chase was holding documents. Seeing William's gloomy face and the displeasure in his eyes, he was so scared that he swallowed his words and respectfully handed over the documents with both hands.

Chase was so nervous that he started to stutter.

"Mr. Wright, this is an urgent document. I really had no choice. When I didn't see you in your office, I asked around and found you in the conference room. Did I disturb you?"

As he spoke, his eyes caught a glimpse of Isabella's slender figure in the conference room, and he immediately got the wrong idea. He cursed himself for not asking more carefully - if he had known someone else was in the conference room, even if it was an emergency, he wouldn't have come knocking.

He might get a scolding from William for this.

William glanced at the document and quickly signed his name. Seeing Chase keep looking into the conference room, his displeasure deepened.

"Don't get any wrong ideas, and don't gossip about this. If you want to keep working here, keep your mouth shut. The document is signed. Now go do your own work."

Hearing this, Chase became even more convinced of his suspicions. He respectfully took back the document and quickly disappeared from the conference room doorway.

William suppressed his irritation and returned to the conference room. He glanced at the time and said.

"How about we go grab dinner together? It's already that time."

Without realizing it, they had spent the entire afternoon in the conference room. They had just been working, discussing details over design drafts, yet an intimate atmosphere that others couldn't sense had gradually spread around them.

Isabella nodded. This time, she didn't refuse.

She could work with GE again, and ultimately, William's role in this couldn't be ignored. If he hadn't helped connect her with GE, this opportunity to work with them definitely wouldn't have come to her.

Not to mention this time, she had a chance to possibly go international.

"Thank you. If it weren't for you, this design project definitely wouldn't have come to me. Thank you so much, William."

Isabella looked at William and thanked him sincerely, then quickly added.

"How about I treat you to dinner this time? After all, you've helped me so many times before, and this time with Freya's situation, you also helped me out. I really should treat you to a meal. How about taking this opportunity to buy you dinner?"

William frowned slightly, understanding Isabella's intention.

She was planning to repay him with a dinner invitation, but at least she was willing to have dinner with him. That was better than being directly rejected like the previous times.

William's Adam's apple bobbed slightly. "Alright, then I'll let Ms. Taylor treat me to a meal."

He accepted graciously, which made Isabella feel better. She was afraid William would refuse.

She smiled with her eyes narrowed, brilliant joy filling her eyes. William was momentarily lost in the sight.

"Great, Ms. Taylor will treat you to a really good meal, so don't be shy about it."

Isabella rarely joked like this, showing that she was truly relaxed at the moment. William became even more certain that accepting her dinner invitation was the right choice.

This way, they could quietly close the distance between them. Slow accumulation would lead to a qualitative leap.

Isabella had no idea what William was thinking. Isabella and William left the office one after the other. Chase had just delivered the documents and ran right into Isabella and William. He instinctively dodged to the side with wide eyes.

An atmosphere that was hard to see through surrounded Isabella and William. William's eyes were full of tenderness, the corners of his mouth turned up, and although the woman beside him wasn't smiling, her eyes were full of laughter.

They were talking about something, walking side by side until they disappeared from Chase's view.

"That's Mr. Wright's girlfriend!"

Chase's eyes widened in surprise.

Compared to the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere here, the Taylor Group was like someone had planted a bomb ready to explode at any moment. The Taylor Group had fallen into a deathly tense silence.

Ordinary employees were especially anxious, afraid that doing something wrong would anger their superiors and get them fired directly. Although they didn't fully understand what had happened, they knew some of it.

The conference room above them wasn't any better either - filled with tension. Employees passing by the conference room could hear constant arguing inside.

"Mr. Taylor, we all worked together to push you to this position because we valued your rigorous, serious attitude and how you put the Taylor Group's interests first. But we never expected you to disappoint us like this!"

The senior leaders sat around Hayden, very angry. A few with bad tempers had already started cursing.

"Why are you protecting someone so heartless who doesn't care about the Taylor Group at all! You'd be better off properly training Isabella. I think she's a hundred times better than Freya. At least if the Taylor Group fell into her hands, it wouldn't lose a hundred million dollars!"

Mentioning this hundred million dollars made the senior leaders feel heartbroken. Some of the older ones even shakily took out blood pressure medication from their pockets.

At their age, being tormented by Freya like this - you can imagine how devastating what Freya did was.

"I'll say the harsh words upfront - this hundred million dollar loss isn't something that can be solved in the blink of an eye. This is what your daughter did, you figure out how to fix it yourself!"

Hayden was surrounded by them in the middle, his head throbbing from their arguing. Wasn't this exactly the scene from not long ago when he used the senior leaders to pressure Isabella?

Now this scene had come back to him.

Hayden gritted his teeth, his resentment toward both Freya and Isabella deepening. Freya really was hopeless - he had already protected her so many times, yet she still planted such a huge bomb for him.

Now the bomb had exploded. She could play dead, but he still had to swallow his disgust and clean up this mess.

"Everyone, calm down first."

Hayden took a sip of water. "I know you're all very angry right now. This matter is indeed my fault. I didn't discipline my daughter properly, which led to such a big disaster. Don't be anxious, and don't keep attacking me - that won't solve the problem."

"Why don't you tell me what kind of compensation you want? This matter needs to be resolved. After this is over, we still need to continue working together peacefully at the Taylor Group."