Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 1 - Chapitre 9

The next morning, there was a sheet of paper taped to my office door.It read, "Some people should have a little self-respect and stop dragging the Moretti Group's name through the mud with their disgusting tricks."I tore it down. It would make good scratch paper for the afternoon meeting.At the morning department meeting, the moment I sat down, the coworkers next to me grabbed their laptops and moved, as if I might be contagious.Victoria's assistant, Amy Carter, came around to my desk and set down a cup of coffee."Ms. Sloane asked me to bring you this."She also asked me to pass something on to you."Amy leaned in and lowered her voice. "If you apologize in public today, she can make this go away."I looked up at her."Apologize? For what?""Isabella, those transfers and the footage of you coming and going are already all over the company."I pushed the coffee back toward her and smiled."Sure, I'll apologize. First, give me back my place in the running."Amy didn't say anything m

At noon on Sunday, several black sedans pulled up at the Moretti Group headquarters.Vito was finally back from the family council meeting.Within half an hour, someone posted on the internal forum that Victoria planned to report the findings of her investigation to the chairman in person.I got a notice too. I was to come to the first-floor lobby at two that afternoon to help resolve the dispute.When I went downstairs, the lobby was already packed.Apparently, everyone wanted to see what would happen to the woman they thought had seduced the chairman.Victoria stood in the middle of the crowd.She held a document, and behind her was an announcement board the PR department had hastily put together.It read, "Statement on the Investigation into Isabella Hart's Alleged Professional Misconduct."When the elevator doors opened, the crowd suddenly went quiet.Vito stepped out in a black suit and a dark tie, followed by two family security men.He looked tired after days of closed-door meet

Half an hour later, we were escorted to a conference room in the company's administration building.Vito was there, along with Martin, Victoria, and Ethan, the head of compliance.Victoria's eyes were red. Her usual poise was gone.Ethan spoke first. "Donna, regarding your marriage to Don Moretti, we need to verify some information."Vito didn't wait for me to answer. He took a document straight out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket.It was an official marriage certificate.Our names were side by side, with the registration date plain to see.Ethan checked it carefully, then had the legal department confirm it was genuine.A few minutes later, he shut the folder."The certificate checks out."Sweat had already beaded on Martin's forehead.Only a few days earlier, he'd told me with a straight face that the company had to address the ethics dispute first.And now it turned out the so-called ethics issue was nothing more than private dealings between the chairman and his wife.Vito

Victoria was suspended as chief secretary. Investigators were looking into the leak of the private messages and the frozen card.At three that afternoon, the company's internal system posted an official notice.The title was "Progress Report on the Investigation into Alleged Professional Misconduct and Internal Management Procedures."First, the company withdrew the temporary suspension of my Employee of the Year eligibility, restored me as a candidate, and corrected the internal records.Second, Victoria would remain suspended as chief secretary and could not access the chairman's private devices or related financial records while the investigation continued.Third, the company would continue investigating the leak, the card freeze, and the violations of the selection process. It would decide what action to take under company policy once it had the facts.New discussions soon popped up on the internal forum.[Her eligibility's restored? Guess they really did handle it wrong.][Isn't t