Marissa stormed back into her office, pulled out her chair, and sat down hard. She slammed the flash drive onto the desk and glared across the room.
"What kind of garbage did you people put together? If you can't do your jobs properly, then pack up your things and get out."
The deputy manager of the project team stood at her desk with his head lowered, stammering, "Ms. Scott, please calm down."
"You're the new deputy project manager?" Marissa leaned back in her chair and narrowed her eyes at the man standing in front of her.
"Yes…" The deputy project manager, Simon Shaw, was drenched in sweat, his voice shaking with fear.
As the CEO, Marissa normally didn't review project proposals herself. That was something delegated to department managers.
The project manager, Paul Yarrow, lowered his head and tried to step in.
"Ms. Scott, Simon just joined the company. He might not be familiar with your standards yet, so—"
Before he could finish, Marissa snapped, her tone sharp.
"Is it that he doesn't understand my standards, or was he just never qualified in the first place—only getting in through connections? You both know the answer to that."
Both men stiffened at her words.
She pointed directly at Simon. "You're fired. Get out. I don't want to see your face again."
"Ms. Scott, please give me another chance!" Simon dropped to his knees.
"Get out!" Marissa barked.
Tears streamed down Simon's face as he begged, "Ms. Scott, I have a family to feed. Please, I need this job. Just give me one more chance. I'll do better. I'll revise the proposal. Please don't fire me…"
Marissa's gaze was cold. She didn't waste another word. She picked up the landline phone on her desk and made a call.
"Send a few security guards to my office. Have Simon removed."
"Yes, Ms. Scott," her assistant responded.
Such a minor position hadn't even been on her radar. But that one minor figure had just cost her a valuable collaboration with Stephen. She was boiling in fury.
Paul remained silent as the documents Marissa had thrown slid from his shoulder onto the floor.
He finally said, "Ms. Scott, this was my mistake. I was too focused on the Cloudrise project that week and didn't put enough time into this one. I didn't know you intended to use this proposal for a deal with Jacobson Corporation."
"And that makes it okay to lower the standards? To be careless? Not only did you fail in your responsibilities, but you also abused your position to promote someone. You have no defense. You're done here." Marissa was unmoved by the excuse.
Paul said nothing more. His fists clenched tightly at his sides. Behind the lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses, a flicker of cold anger flashed in his eyes.
A knock sounded at the door at this moment.
"Come in," Marissa called.
Her assistant, Zeke Jackman, entered with two security guards in tow. They stepped toward Simon and hauled him to his feet.
Zeke glanced at Paul, who kept his gaze straight ahead as he said calmly, "I will walk out on my own."
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: His Unveiled Passion
I know this isn’t Stephen’s fault but I still hated how he was so careless around this bitch even after Tessa already told him it’s obvious that this bitch likes him and she looked at Tessa with hostility. If Tessa breaks up with him again, I’ll even support her. Ugh. Good luck on winning Tessa back again, Stephen. Tss. I so hate these updates....
Nooooo! Not again! We don't need a twist like this. Is it too hard for the writer to conclude with..."and they live happily ever after"?...
Finally getting Stephen and Tess back together then to tear them apart with foolishness. This is craziness...
Yuhohoooo!!! Finally!!!...
Aaand~ Tessa and Stephen are finally back together! Yaaaaay!...
Why make an uninteresting, irrelevant twist when readers are waiting for Tess and Stephen to be together?...
Gosh just let Tessa and Stephen get back together already! Ugh...
Oh my god, when is this book finishing... they're not even back together yet and more nonsense side plots.....
Whoa! Hahahahahaha! Go, Sophia! Burn, stupid Rowena! Lol...
Sooo~ Chapters 310-318 were just a repeat of Jacqueline’s punishment, official expulsion from the Jacobson family, and arrest. With few changes since Tessa and Stephen are not together this time. So Tessa didn’t witness how Jacqueline was tortured at Stephen’s base, though at least Tessa was still called over and witnessed how Stephen officially expelled Jacqueline from the Jacobson family and how Stephen’s subordinate made Jacqueline grovel in front of Tessa. Lol. I hope Jacqueline’s really out of the story now....