Chapter 2 The Project Presentation

My father slammed his palm down on the desk.

"You ungrateful brat! Your mother has been dead for years! I've been the one working myself to the bone to run this company all these years! It's my company now. I'll let whoever I want in! And the money is mine. I can give it to whoever I want."

I met his gaze without backing down. "Then go ahead. See what happens."

Hazel's eyes immediately reddened. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Stella, please don't be mad at Dad." She stepped forward, reaching for the hem of my shirt.

I stepped away in disgust.

Her hand fell awkwardly back to her side. She looked wounded. "I never meant to take anything from you. I'm just grateful for everything Dad has done for me all these years.

"I only want to join the company because I want to help take some of the pressure off Dad. I really don't have any other intentions."

She cried so pitifully, her voice choked with emotion.

I watched her coldly. I had seen this act of playing the victim far too many times to be affected by it anymore.

Julian, however, was heartbroken at the sight. He immediately stepped in front of Hazel protectively and pointed at me angrily.

"Stella, you're being completely unreasonable! You spend every day living however you please and never care how hard Mr. Cross works to run the company.

"Hazel is only trying to help him share some of the burden. Who are you to stop her? How can you be so selfish and heartless?"

I let out a cold laugh and looked at him as though he were an idiot. "Is she really trying to ease his burden, or does she just want my family's fortune? She knows the answer better than anyone."

Then I turned toward the door and threw out my final warning. "Either way, she's never setting foot in that company."

…

After that argument, our two families quickly announced that the engagement was off.

Julian and Hazel finally dropped their act and started openly dating.

Hazel became even more brazen. She often deliberately brought Julian home and flaunted their relationship shamelessly right in front of me.

I pretended not to see them, treating them as though they were invisible.

But my father still ignored my warning. He forced Hazel into the company.

When I asked to join the company, however, he flatly refused, citing my "unrelated degree."

I refused to sit around and do nothing. I went straight to my mother's best friend, Lydia Frost, who was also the company's second-largest shareholder.

Under Lydia's strong pressure, my father was forced to compromise.

I successfully joined the company, but my days there were far from peaceful.

Relying on my father's favoritism, Hazel constantly made things difficult for me.

The people at the company were just as opportunistic. They mocked me to my face, calling me a useless idiot. They even deliberately compared me to the gentle and capable Hazel.

I said nothing and quietly focused on the projects I was working on.

Until one afternoon, when the company held a crucial presentation for an important partnership.

As the project lead, Hazel stood confidently onstage in a designer business suit. "To our esteemed partners, please direct your attention to the screen."

She smiled and pressed the clicker.

The screen lit up instantly. But instead of the carefully prepared charts and data, a series of humiliating edited images appeared.

Every image was filled with vicious insults aimed at Hazel. The words were written in red letters.

"The shameless woman who stole someone else's place."

"The bloodsucking parasite living off the Cross family."