Chapter 2

My expression darkened.

“I’ve secured all my projects through fair means. If you don’t believe me, feel free to look into it. But there’s no way I’m apologizing to Nora!”

After that, I turned to look at Nora as I seethed with anger.

She had always used her position as manager to lord it over everyone in the office.

I never expected her to set her sights on me this time.

“Nora, you’d better think this through. Based on what you just said, I could easily sue you for defamation!”

To my surprise, Nora looked incredibly aggrieved upon hearing this.

“Maya, I really didn’t mean it. I just spoke offhandedly. How could you accuse me of spreading rumors?

“I was just trying to help you avoid going down the wrong path. I didn’t expect you to get so upset.”

I could not hold back any longer.

“Nora, I’ve done nothing to you. What good does it do you to slander me?”

Nora stammered, and she was unable to speak. The next second, tears streamed down her face.

“I’m just straightforward. I just say what’s on my mind. I didn’t think you...”

Mr. Watson immediately pulled her into his arms to comfort her.

“Maya, will you ever stop? If you never did anything wrong, why would Nora slander you instead of someone else?”

Our colleagues chimed in one after another, “Exactly! If you don’t want people to know, don’t do it in the first place!”

“Right! If you really didn’t do it, why would Nora pick on you for no reason?”

“I bet Maya really is hooking up with some high-ranking executive over at Sanscape Group!”

I scanned the room, and my gaze finally settled on Nora.

“Nora, you can sleep around all you want, but you can’t make stuff up! You keep saying I climbed the corporate ladder through backdoor deals. Do you have any proof? If you can’t produce evidence, I’m suing you for defamation right now!”

A flicker of panic crossed Nora’s eyes, but in the next second, she seemed to remember something.

She pulled a photo out of her album and sighed. “I didn’t want to bring this up. But since you mentioned it… Look, a colleague from the marketing department sent this to me and told me not to share it with anyone else!”

It was just a screenshot of an ordinary chat log. It did not even show the avatars of the people involved.

So, I naturally asked, “What’s wrong with this screenshot?

“Besides, there isn’t even a profile picture in this screenshot. You claim it’s a chat log between me and the head of Sanscape Group, but I could just as easily say it’s a chat log between you and Mr. Watson!”

I stared at Nora, and sure enough, I saw a flicker of guilt in her eyes.

However, she stubbornly refused to admit it.

She put on that aggrieved expression again. Her voice choked with emotion as she spoke. “Maya, even if you don’t want to admit it, you can’t slander me! You’re my subordinate. Why would I go out of my way to spread rumors about you?

“If I’d known, I wouldn’t have said anything. I was worried you’d go down the wrong path and that it would damage the company’s reputation. I never expected it to upset you and ruin everyone’s mood for the dinner... It’s all my fault. I’m just too clumsy with words.”

Nora spoke with such sincerity, but her colleagues acted as if there was irrefutable evidence. They all joined in to accuse me, “We have proof now. How do you plan to wriggle out of this?”

“No wonder the previous managers couldn’t handle this. They had to go to such lengths. I’ve really learned something new...”

“Ms. Lewis meant well. How could you blame her?”

“Maya, since Ms. Lewis has spoken up, just apologize. Then, this will all be over.”

“Ms. Lewis was only looking out for the company, yet you’re accusing her like this. It’s really unfair to her!”

Hearing these words that did not distinguish right from wrong, I was so furious that I was trembling all over.

I glared intently at Nora’s hypocritical expression.

“Nora, you keep claiming this is an internal message sent by a colleague in the marketing department. Well, do you dare pull up the full chat log? Do you dare reveal which colleague sent you the message? This screenshot is blurry. What proof does it offer? You deliberately took a snippet to mislead everyone. Aren’t you just trying to ruin my reputation?!”