Chapter 24: A Deviant Strategy

Inside the office, Vivian Hale maintained a humble and polite attitude. "Mr. Vance, I will have to trouble you from now on."

Garrett Vance smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, don't mention trouble. It is a stroke of absolute luck for our company to recruit a talent like you."

Vivian froze for a second, not expecting him to have such an easygoing attitude.

Weren't general managers of large corporations usually haughty and arrogant?

As expected of someone working under Lucas, he was remarkably well-mannered.

First, there was Ethan, rigorous and polite. Then, there was Garrett Vance, entirely down-to-earth and easy to get along with.

It seemed she had made the right choice.

Garrett smiled and spoke again, "I had someone place the files for the recent projects on your newly assigned desk. Take your time looking through them; I'm going to walk Assistant Ethan to his car first."

Vivian nodded, then headed to her newly assigned office space.

On the desk sat a metallic nameplate engraved with her name.

【W.E. Vivian Hale . Molly】

It was a small, heavy piece of metal, yet holding it in her hand gave her a strange sense of security.

When she followed Adrian Cross in the past, she had never received this kind of treatment.

In fact, Adrian had never even arranged a single workstation for her at the company; later, he had confined her within the endless cycle of domestic chores for three full years.

Using love as a cage, he had clipped all her wings.

But today, she had finally broken free.

This was not merely a job.

It was a form of recognition, and the beginning of a brand-new life.

Vivian tightened her grip on the nameplate, the edges digging slightly into her palm.

From this day forward, she would live only for herself.

By the time she finished reading through the branch office's recent project documents and looked up again, it was precisely six o'clock in the evening.

Having grasped most of the information, she decided to wrap up her workday and head back to the villa first.

She didn't know whether Adrian would return to the villa tonight; it wouldn't be good if he suddenly grew suspicious.

Since it was the peak of the evening rush hour, Vivian turned directly toward the executive elevator.

Just as she pressed the down button, she caught the sound of a familiar, resentful voice drifting over from the nearby stairwell.

"I really don't know what that new arrival, Vivian Hale, has to be so arrogant about. She's just a tramp who sold her body to climb the ranks and steal someone else's position. Sooner or later, her sugar daddy will grow sick of playing with her!"

Vivian’s footsteps paused. Was that Chloe Jenkins?

It seemed her deduction in salary had left her in a foul mood, leading her to hide in this corner to badmouth her superior.

She truly was someone who never learned a lesson.

Vivian narrowed her soft, fox-like eyes slightly.

After pondering for a moment, she pulled out her phone and activated the recording software.

In the stairwell, another voice cautiously offered a reminder: "Yeah, if it weren't for her, that director position would definitely have belonged to you, Chloe."

Chloe Jenkins's tone grew even more bitter. "Heh, it's not even entirely about that. But she clearly used her body to seduce the executives and entered through irregular channels—I just can't stand looking at her."

"And don't look so skeptical. I thought she looked familiar today, and I just remembered that a few days ago, I ran into Mr. Vance at a hotel right outside the company. He was stumbling inside completely drunk, clutching a woman in his arms—and that woman was Vivian Hale!"

The person beside her spoke in utter disbelief.

"No way... doesn't Mr. Vance already have a wife?"

Chloe Jenkins let out a cold sneer, sounding entirely dismissive.

"For money, what won't a person do? That kind of woman knows exactly how to bewitch men. I advise you all to talk to her as little as possible, lest you catch some disease!"

Hearing this, Vivian finally understood why Chloe Jenkins couldn't stand her; it turned out she had blocked her path.

However, in the workplace, capability had always been the only thing that spoke.

There was a perfectly valid reason why Chloe hadn't been appointed director.

Vivian had suffered more than enough from forbearance in the past; from this moment on, she would no longer endure.

Nor would she enable such malicious behavior.

With a cold smile, she saved the audio recording on her phone, started a brand-new track, and then turned around to kick the stairwell door wide open.

"What did you just say?"

Upon seeing Vivian, the faces of the group altered instantly, and they froze on the spot.

However, after recognizing the newcomer, Chloe Jenkins—though internally lacking confidence—still tilted her chin up and spoke with an incredibly arrogant air.

"What? Does Director Hale dare to do it but not dare to admit it? That day, I saw you and Garrett Vance stumbling into that hotel with my own eyes, and he didn't come down until an hour later."

"His clothes were practically torn to shreds..."

Chloe Jenkins swept her gaze up and down Vivian’s figure, letting out an ambiguous, mocking laugh.

"Director Hale truly is a capable person. It's one thing to become a senior executive at such a young age, but your endurance in bed must be an absolute masterpiece if you can even handle Mr. Vance. Director Hale, you talked so grandly about fair competition today, so how come when it's your turn, you resort to using your body to climb the ranks?"

Vivian pressed her lips into a tight line.

Chloe Jenkins’s face flashed with triumph, waiting for Vivian to fly into a rage and tear into her...

Once that happened, it would solidify the rumor that she had used her body to achieve her position.

But she never could have anticipated that in the very next second, Vivian’s expression suddenly transformed.

Vivian stepped forward, completely disregarding any decorum as she grabbed Chloe Jenkins's hand in a tight grip, her face dead serious. "Is that true? Was it at the express hotel right by the company entrance? Did you follow us upstairs? Did you see anything?!"

Chloe Jenkins hadn't expected Vivian to react this way. Before she could think it through, the words slipped out of her mouth.

"The hotel has strict regulations, how could I go upstairs? Besides, do you two need an audience for your affair? That's disgusting..."

To her shock, the moment those words left her mouth, Vivian broke down and cried out.

"But I don't know anything about this! For such a thing to have happened without my knowledge, there is only one possibility—I... I might have been drugged and raped by Garrett Vance! Since you saw it, you are officially a witness. I'm calling the police right now, you come and testify for me."

As Vivian spoke, a fleeting, cold smile flashed across her lips, and she actually began to dial the emergency number.

The situation had taken an abrupt, drastic turn.

Chloe Jenkins was dumbfounded on the spot.

She tried to wrench her hand free to stop Vivian from calling the police, but Vivian only gripped her tighter.

"What are you talking about? I-I'm not going... let go of me..."

It was precisely closing time, and the commotion was growing larger by the second.

Hearing the noise, people in the corridor began crowding around the stairwell to see what was happening.

Garrett Vance happened to be returning from outside at that moment. Seeing the situation, he immediately stepped forward to investigate.

"What's going on here? You all..."

The moment the main target appeared, Chloe Jenkins panicked completely.

She desperately wanted to claim everything was fine and dismiss the crowd, but Vivian beat her to it, raising her voice sharply.

"Mr. Vance, Chloe Jenkins claims she saw you drag me into a hotel with her own eyes and drug-rape me! I am currently preparing to call the police and have her act as a witness. Do you have anything to say in your defense?!"

Garrett Vance’s face underwent a violent transformation in an instant.

He had been wondering earlier what kind of employee deserved the boss’s personal instructions to handle her onboarding with such meticulous care. It wasn't until he saw Vivian Hale that he realized she and the boss were a perfect match in both talent and appearance—how could he ever dare to lay a finger on her!

"Chloe Jenkins, what absolute nonsense are you spouting?! When have I ever had an inappropriate relationship with Director Hale?!"

This was the woman the big boss had his eyes on; even if he were borrowed ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare touch her.

With the matter suddenly blowing out of proportion, Chloe Jenkins was finally thrown into a complete panic.

In the past when she used this tactic, others would find it too embarrassing and hide away as fast as they could; only Vivian had used such a deviant strategy, insisting on making a massive scene.

She gritted her teeth and slammed her hand away from Vivian’s grip, her face flushing with extreme humiliation. "I never said any such thing, don't make things up... Could it be that Director Hale misheard, or perhaps you're feeling guilty, which is why you're rushing to claim the title yourself?"

To her horror, before she could even finish her sentence, Vivian held up her phone with a deeply aggrieved expression.

"But, I recorded everything."

Following that, she pressed the play button directly, and Chloe Jenkins's exact words from moments ago instantly echoed through the corridor.

For a moment, the entire hallway fell into a bizarre, stifling silence.

Garrett Vance was the first to react, speaking up with a heavily darkened expression.

"Then let's call the police. Since things are this way, Chloe Jenkins, you'll be making a trip with us. We will go to the police station together and see exactly what this is about!"

Standing frozen in place, Chloe Jenkins’s face had turned completely, deathly pale.