Unwilling Trophy Wife (Serena and Victor) novel Chapter 226

Chapter 226

“Alright then.” Since she insisted, and Graham honestly didn’t feel confident about facing this alone, he brought Serena along.

Serena and Graham pushed open the conference room door together, immediately sensing the tense atmosphere inside.

Keith sat with his back to them in the head chair. When he heard them enter, he turned around. He saw Graham and Serena standing side by side, a flash of irritation crossing his eyes.

He thought, ‘Graham is always hanging around Serena.’

Keith said coldly, “Let’s get started with your presentation.”

Graham nodded and walked through his proposal from beginning to end.

Even though much of it came from Serena’s ideas, he had invested considerable effort into the project. Hence, his delivery was smooth and confident.

The presentation included many innovative elements that were genuinely impressive. Serena felt confident they’d nailed it–given Keith’s professional standards, even if he didn’t praise them, he surely wouldn’t tear them apart.

But Keith’s brow furrowed. “This is what you’ve accomplished after all this time? Don’t think I can’t tell–this isn’t your style. You had help, didn’t you?”

He added, “You got help, and after all this time, you’re still presenting me with a rough draft? Is this your idea of professional work?”

Keith’s words carried a sharp edge. The moment Serena heard his tone, she knew something was seriously wrong.

Graham’s head dropped. Keith’s words stung, but Graham had to admit there was truth in them–without Serena’s guidance, his project would have been an even bigger mèss.

“Mr. Brannon, I think you’re being unfair.” Serena’s voice cut through the tension from across the table, her usually gentle expression flickering with disapproval.

She said, “Graham’s progress might be slow, but this is completely new territory for our company. What he’s accomplished so far is actually pretty impressive. And we’re nowhere near the deadline–we have plenty of time to polish this draft. Don’t you think you’re being a bit harsh?”

The entire conference room fell silent.

Graham couldn’t believe Serena had actually stood up to Keith like that.

Keith said nothing, his jaw tight.

Serena pressed on. “I think this project is moving along just fine. Mr. Brannon, if you have constructive feedback, we’re all ears. But if you’re just here to tear us down-”

She paused, meeting his gaze steadily. “Graham and I won’t stand for that.”

Business was business. Serena could see Keith was in a foul mood, and as a friend, she was genuinely worried about what might be bothering him.

But work couldn’t be driven by emotions like this.

“Sorry,” Keith took a deep breath, then turned to James beside him. “Let’s pause the rest of the work reports for now. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

James couldn’t help but feel relieved at those words. “Sure, I’ll arrange that right now.”

Keith was clearly off his game today, and if this continued, he may end up chewing out half the company. James hadn’t expected Serena to be so formidable–she’d shut Keith down with just a few words.

At the same time, Serena thought she might have come on too strong.

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