บททั้งหมดของ The Wife They Rejected Was a Billionaire Heiress: บทที่ 121 - บทที่ 130

Derek jumped in immediately, backing up the old man. "Exactly right. Once Naomi's officially back with the family, I'd like to see who has the nerve to try anything with her!"Nathan peeled a shrimp for Lily, murmuring his agreement.Naomi opened her mouth to respond when an ill-timed voice cut in. "Grandpa, I'm not feeling well. I'm heading up to my room."Vivian stood, expression sour, and walked off without another word.She'd been off all evening, and the moment she heard the family was planning a formal recognition banquet for Naomi, whatever composure she had left cracked completely.Nobody paid her exit any real attention."I'm fine with whatever you all decide. I'll follow Grandpa's and my brothers' lead." Naomi's voice stayed soft, gracious.The family settled on a date.After dinner, the old man tried to convince Naomi and Lily to stay the night.The others chimed in, encouraging the same."Thank you, Grandpa, everyone really. Lily gets to pick her own room eventually, but l

At that, the rest of the professional judges set down their own reviews and crowded in for a look.To keep the competition fair, every submission came in anonymized nothing but a barcode in the corner, tying each entry back to an identity nobody could see until the results were finalized.Since the codes couldn't be scanned until judging wrapped, the panel had no choice but to work through the actual content by hand.Every set of eyes landed on the two sketches, nearly indistinguishable in both concept and linework."This is..." One judge frowned, leaning closer.The two designs shared an unmistakable resemblance though the level of finish told a slightly different story, suggesting they hadn't come from the same hand."Compositions line up almost exactly, but the tool marks are different," one judge offered, rubbing his jaw.Every designer carried their own quirks in pen pressure and stroke habit which was exactly why the organizers had disguised every pen type and scrambled submissi

"I've got this." Sebastian's tone stayed even.The second he said it, Marcus jumped in smoothly. "Since Mr. Cole's offering, I suppose we'll accept the gesture."Just dinner, after all, barely a rounding error against Sebastian's actual finances.Naomi caught something faintly hostile flickering behind Marcus's tone toward Sebastian and frowned slightly.Is there history between these two I don't know about?She'd never once seen Marcus carry himself with this much quiet edge before.Meanwhile, at the Sinclair estate.Vivian was telling Paige about the upcoming family recognition banquet.Once she finished, she bit down on her lip, fighting back tears. "Paige, what do I do? If Naomi actually moves back in for good, am I just going to get pushed out?""That's not happening." Paige squeezed her hand, sympathetic. "If anyone even suggested sending you away, Derek would be the first one to shut it down. He clearly adores you."Hearing Derek's name, something in Vivian's expression eased s

The visitor's smile didn't reach her eyes, and something about it made the whole floor go quiet.Naomi worked in design. Rank meant everything in a building like this, and rank could crush a person clean through and the woman standing in front of her desk outranked her by a wide margin. Naomi was an ordinary designer. The woman in front of her ran the entire sales division."Ms. Dawson, I'm a designer. This isn't really within my job scope, is it?" Naomi kept her voice even.The manager's eyebrows arched. "Why? Something this small, and you can't manage it?""Sales has priority on how this company allocates its people. Surely you already know that."She pressed the point deliberately, giving Naomi no room to wriggle out of it.Her sharp eyes swept over Naomi's face, contempt and something uglier tangled just beneath the surface.Why does someone like her get to have dinner with Mr. Cole?The hostility radiating off her was thick enough that Naomi felt it pressing against her chest.Sh

Naomi gave a brief rundown of the project."What do you think, Mr. Voss?" she asked.Mr. Voss swirled his wine glass, in no hurry to answer, and turned to Ms. Dawson instead. "What's your take?"Caught off guard, Ms. Dawson hesitated there wasn't much room to poke holes in a company-backed pitch, even if she'd wanted to."I think Ms. Hart's presentation was excellent," she managed. "Worth real consideration, Mr. Voss."Naomi opened the folder again and tapped a finger against the key points. "This project targets an underserved segment of the current market. Our research identified substantial unmet demand."She held his gaze as she spoke, and something about his attention felt off it wasn't landing on the documents at all. It was landing on her.The feeling was uncomfortably familiar, echoing back to the last project she'd wrapped up at Blackwood Enterprises. The memory dimmed something behind her eyes.Mr. Voss caught that her focus stayed entirely on the pitch and eased off, decidi