Outside the Zenith Group building, Annelise Valentine's eyes blazed with fury. That phone call from Jett Westgate had clearly pushed her over the edge.
"Annelise! Annelise Valentine! Calm down!" Chloe Fairchild had to jog just to keep up. "Trashing a bar or causing a scene at a club is one thing, but this is Zenith Group! This is the Westgate Family's corporate headquarters! Making a scene here is a completely different story."
Sean Conrad trailed behind them, pacing anxiously. He wanted to stop her but didn't dare. "Annelise, think twice! Everything we've done before was just minor trouble, easy to smooth over. But if you storm Zenith Group, you'll be taking things way too far!"
Annelise Valentine wasn't listening. "Get out of my way! If I don't replace the potted plants in Jett Westgate's office with apple trees today, then my name isn't Annelise Valentine! He dared to trash my cars, so I'll tear down his building!"
"Don't!" Chloe Fairchild wailed. "How about I buy you new cars, Annelise? This isn't worth it over a few vehicles."
Sean Conrad added, "Annelise! Think about it! Barging in isn't worth it! Why don't we try a more civilized approach? We could hire people to flood his company's online pages with bad reviews. The one-star kind, with pictures and videos! What… what do you think?"
Annelise Valentine, still fuming from her confrontation with Jett Westgate, was so incensed by this suggestion that she almost laughed. She couldn't believe his terrible idea.
"Bad reviews my ass! Sean Conrad, when you're not using that brain of yours, do you just toss it in a hot pot?"
Seeing that she was unstoppable, Sean Conrad shot a desperate look at Zane Patterson. "Zane, she listens to you! You have to talk some sense into her! If we actually storm the building, we'll be tomorrow's top headline! 'Feud Between Billionaire Fiancés Escalates as Bride-to-Be Leads Mob to Storm Corporate Headquarters'… Does that sound even remotely okay to you?!"
Zane Patterson simply shrugged under Sean Conrad's expectant gaze.
"If Annelise wants to storm it, then we storm it. If anything happens, I'll take care of it."
Sean Conrad couldn't stop himself from giving a massive eye-roll. "Seriously? Why are you encouraging her?! This isn't about who takes the blame! This is just spoiling her—spoiling her rotten with no principles, no limits, no sense of decency! Don't you get it?!"
"Apologies. I don't seem to understand human speech at the moment," Zane Patterson said, moving a little closer to Annelise Valentine.
Sean Conrad: …!!!
「In the top-floor conference room of Zenith Group」
The room was packed to capacity.
Mid-level and senior executives, along with the key technical staff from every core department—nearly everyone who was anyone—was present.
No one dared to whisper. The only sounds were the hum of the central air conditioning and the soft rustle of paper.
They had been summoned on short, urgent notice.
The contents of the notice had been brief and explosive: Miss Annelise Valentine would be presiding over an emergency meeting. All mid-level and senior management, along with key personnel from all technical departments, were to assemble in the top-floor conference room immediately.
The name "Annelise Valentine" was legendary within Zenith Group. Heiress of the Valentine Family of Veridia, fiancée of Jett Westgate—any one of her titles was explosive in its own right.
But what made them even more nervous was that Jett Westgate himself was nowhere to be seen.
'Where was the CEO? What was this all about? Was his fiancée taking the reins? Or…was a power struggle about to begin?'
All sorts of theories swirled in their minds, but no one dared to speak a word. All eyes turned to Annelise Valentine, who sat in the chair reserved exclusively for Jett Westgate.
Annelise Valentine's gaze swept across the room. "Everyone, I've gathered you here today to announce a decision."
The moment she spoke, Chloe Fairchild, sitting beside her, went ramrod straight.
'Knowing Annelise,' she thought, 'that look, that opening line, that tone… The madwoman is going to recklessly fire Zenith Group's entire key technical staff!'
She inwardly cursed Jett Westgate a thousand times over, while also blaming her impulsive best friend a hundred more. The technical staff was the heart of Zenith Group; how could they be fired on a whim?
But to her dismay, Annelise Valentine had already gotten their contracts from the HR department and was merely waiting to make the announcement.
"Regarding the future of Zenith Group's technical architecture and certain personnel changes…"
RR-RING! Suddenly, a phone rang, cutting her off.
Annelise Valentine frowned at her phone. When the caller ID "Grandpa" lit up the screen, her heart gave an involuntary lurch.
She hesitated for two seconds before swiping to answer the video call just as it was about to disconnect.
"Grandpa."
"Annelise, dear, where are you?" On the other end of the call, Mr. Valentine was dressed in a casual, dark silk shirt. He sat behind a huanghuali wood desk, holding the phone so the camera was pointed at his face.
Annelise Valentine instinctively glanced up at the employees below. They were all holding their breath, yet their ears were clearly perked. She answered vaguely, "In… a meeting. Is something wrong, Grandpa? Why the sudden video call? Is everything okay at home?"
"Oh, nothing's wrong," her grandfather replied, his tone calm and unhurried. "Jett stopped by. He said he wanted to see you."
As he spoke, he smoothly panned the camera.
The view slid away from her grandfather, panning past an antique inkstone on the desk before finally settling on another huanghuali wood armchair across from it.
Jett Westgate sat there in a suit, his tie absent and the top button of his shirt undone. His long legs were crossed, and his fingertips tapped idly on the armrest.
As if he had timed it perfectly, he lifted his gaze just as the camera found him, a subtle yet deeply meaningful smile gracing his lips.
Annelise Valentine gripped her phone, and all the fire she'd had to burn down Zenith Group just moments before instantly fizzled out.
'Jett Westgate had gone straight to her grandfather!'
In the entire Valentine Family—no, in all of Veridia—the only person who could make Annelise Valentine willingly back down was her grandfather.
It wasn't that her grandfather was particularly formidable; it was simply that he was getting on in years. He was living out his retirement at the Valentine Ancestral Home, and his health was more fragile with each passing day. He couldn't handle any major stress or shocks.
Annelise Valentine feared neither heaven nor hell, but she was terrified of accidentally upsetting her grandfather and causing his health to take a turn for the worse.
So, the moment Jett Westgate's calm, composed face appeared in her grandfather's study, Annelise Valentine knew she had already lost this battle.
Jett Westgate gave a deliberate, mocking raise of his eyebrow at the camera. "Miss Valentine. It's been a while."
She stared at the infuriatingly handsome face on the screen, a face that made her want to grind her teeth. A fresh wave of fury surged through her, but the thought that her grandfather was right beside him forced her to swallow it back down.
'So infuriating! And there was absolutely no way to vent it!'
Seeing her frustration, the amusement in Jett Westgate's eyes deepened.
Mr. Valentine took over the conversation again. "Annelise, dear, your engagement party is the day after tomorrow. Since Jett is here today, don't cause any more trouble out there tonight. Come home, and we'll all have a family dinner together. I'll have Butler Ward text you the location in a bit."
As he spoke, he turned to give Jett Westgate a kindly smile.
"Grandpa, tonight I…" Annelise began to refuse, but her grandfather cut her off. "Annelise, be a good girl and come home early. Don't keep Jett waiting."
Hearing her grandfather's words, Annelise felt her refusal catch in her throat. All she could manage was a defeated, "Okay…"