Chapter 4

Whitney, the woman standing beside Lexi, was technically Julia's younger sister—and Myra's cousin.

Meanwhile, Whitney marched up to the senior supervisor's desk, all the while completely ignoring Julia's existence. She picked up the documents Ruby had placed on the desk and tossed them into the trash can.

"Julia, what's going on?"

Ruby was on the verge of tears. She thought she had the position in the bag, only for it to be snatched away from her. On top of that, she was even being treated like this.

The others were indignant on her behalf, too.

"Everyone knows Ruby has worked herself to the bone to secure the senior supervisor position!"

"Our department already has more people than positions to go around. And now they've parachuted someone in to take a spot? What kind of nonsense is this?"

Julia was even more agitated than the others, and she felt especially bad for Ruby. She hurried after Lexi, who was walking away.

"Ms. Jones! Who approved the appointment of an outside hire as senior supervisor?"

Lexi regarded her with the usual coldness. Instead of answering outright, she asked, "Who do you think has the authority to do that, Ms. Lester?"

If even the vice president had approved the promotion paperwork, then the only person who could've stopped Ruby's promotion was none other than Robert.

After Lexi left, Whitney sauntered over, her hips swaying exaggeratedly.

"I didn't ask Robbie for anything. Myra knew I wanted to join Juventia and just happened to mention it to him."

She had a gloating expression as she continued, "Robbie dotes on Myra so much. She told him she wanted me to be a senior supervisor, and he agreed without a second thought!"

Suddenly, it all made perfect sense to Julia. Myra was retaliating against her for the humiliation she'd suffered the night before. She'd brought in Whitney, the person Julia hated most, just to torment her with Whitney's proximity.

What kind of exceptional capabilities did Whitney have anyway?

She was practically useless. With her capabilities, she wouldn't even have made it through Juventia's front door if she'd applied through the regular recruitment process!

Yet a simple request from Myra had been enough to make Robert break company policy for her sake.

Julia was reminded of her own entry into the company. Back then, she'd passed both the written exam and the interview, yet Robert had still rejected her with a single excuse—claiming that she lacked experience. Because of that, she had to start as an intern first.

Her own experience had been worlds apart from Whitney's.

There was no way Robert hadn't guessed that Myra was trying to provoke her, but so what? Myra was the one he cared about. He was making it blatantly clear that even Whitney, who was merely Myra's cousin, mattered more to him than Julia did.

It was such a cruel and absurd realization to have.

Julia laughed until her heart trembled, feeling all numb and pained inside.

"Julia, have some dignity, will you? Robbie stopped caring about you ages ago. Why are you still clinging to this place and refusing to leave?" Whitney openly mocked her. "Do you know what Robbie thinks of you? He says you're a lowly, filthy woman. Just thinking about you makes him want to throw up! Only someone like Myra is worthy of him!"

Julia shot her a cold glance, her gaze cutting.

Whitney instinctively shrank her neck in fright before hearing Julia retort, "Oh? Did he say that to you while you were in bed with him?"

Whitney's face turned bright red. She stamped her foot in fury. Ignoring the rest of her outburst, Julia headed upstairs. She was going to fight for what she believed was right.

Standing outside the CEO's office, Julia said coldly, "I want to see Robert!"

Lexi merely raised her eyes, maintaining her strictly professional demeanor. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Oh? Does Robert's wife need an appointment to see her own husband now?"

It was the first time Julia had invoked her status as Mrs. Stone to put pressure on Lexi. For a moment, Lexi's expression turned unpleasant. She was displeased, but she didn't dare say anything more.

Just then—

"Ms. Jones."

Myra seemed to flutter in with the wind, the fragrance trailing from her swaying skirt drifting into Julia's nose. As if she hadn't spotted Julia, she asked, "Is Robert in his office?"

"Yes, he is." Lexi immediately nodded and bowed slightly as she ushered Myra inside.

Only then did Myra's gaze drift toward Julia, though she continued to speak to Lexi.

"Sorry, I came in such a hurry that I didn't have time to make an appointment with Robert. I hope I'm not disturbing him."

"You'd never be disturbing him."

So Myra didn't need to make an appointment to see Robert.

As far as Julia knew, the only people exempt from making appointments were a handful of important clients, Flora Graham, Robert's grandmother, and Julia herself, whom Flora had personally declared an exception.

Even Sherry Hill, Robert's mother, wasn't exempt from the rule—but Myra was.

Lexi turned back to Julia, a faint trace of mockery now lurking beneath her ostensibly professional expression.

"My apologies, but Mr. Stone has something important to tend to right now."

Through the partially open door came Myra's clear, bright voice, occasionally interspersed with Robert's gentle replies.

They were talking about Katie. That was the important matter he was tending to right now.

Julia clenched her fists before shoving the door open even wider. The conversation inside came to an abrupt halt.

Robert's fingers tightened around his phone. Katie's face was on the screen. The instant he lifted his gaze from the screen to Julia, the tenderness in his eyes vanished completely. It was swiftly replaced by anger.

His voice was cold and harsh as he snapped, "Didn't you memorize the employee handbook? Don't you know you're supposed to knock before entering your superior's office?"

Before Julia could say a word, he ordered, "Get out!"

Across from him, Myra covered her mouth. A soft, derisive chuckle escaped her lips.

Julia gripped the doorknob so tightly that her knuckles ached. Alas, she still couldn't stop the blood rushing to her head.

Myra could show up to discuss personal matters without an appointment and walk straight into his office whenever she pleased. She, on the other hand, had to navigate one layer of red tape after another, even when she came on business.

Since when had Robert become so incapable of separating business from personal affairs?

Just then, a voice rang out.

"My apologies, Mr. Stone. A technical issue has just come up, and we need you to make an executive decision."

A senior executive from the technical department came hurrying into the office. In his haste, he squeezed past Julia in the doorway and strode straight up to Robert.

Standing right at the door, Julia watched in silence as Robert casually handed his phone to Myra, then took the documents from the executive and began discussing the issue with him.

It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head, leaving her numb all over.

As it turned out, Robert was capable of separating business from personal affairs after all. He simply refused to do so when it came to her.

Julia felt both fired up and chilled to the core. She wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

At that very moment, Lacey came running up to her, her face pale. "We've got trouble, Julia. Ruby and that new hire just got into a fight!"

Julia forced herself to suppress the bitterness welling up inside and hurried downstairs with Lacey. By the time they reached the office, Ruby and Whitney had already been pulled apart.

Whitney's hair was only slightly disheveled, but Ruby was sporting a bright red slap mark on her face.

"What happened?" Julia asked.

Whitney broke free of the people holding her back and crossed her arms, lifting her chin haughtily.

Ruby's eyes were red as she reported, "I don't mind that she insulted me, but she never should've insulted you, Julia!"

"What? Did I say anything wrong?" Whitney lifted her chin even higher, showing no respect for Julia at all. "She did sleep her way into the manager position! After all, she only managed to bring in all those sales by sleeping around with a certain man!"

Whitney didn't dare spell it out too explicitly, but she was clearly referring to Robert. She was mocking Julia for shamelessly clinging to Robert and refusing to let him go.

"That's nonsense!"

Furious, Ruby tried to lunge at her again, but Julia grabbed her firmly and pulled her back.

Turning to Whitney, she asked, "Why do you say that? Is it because that's what you've been doing? Or is it because both your mother and your precious cousin, Myra, slept their way to the top, so you think it's the only way for a person to be successful?"

"Why, you!"

Enraged, Whitney lunged at Julia, but just as she raised her hand, she suddenly pulled back.

Julia had already braced herself for a fight. Thus, when Whitney withdrew her hand, she froze in surprise before feeling a chill down her spine.

"Mr. Stone," Lacey greeted nervously.

Julia turned around to see Robert and Myra standing just outside the circle of onlookers.