“Vincent, you’re the one who wanted Narissa gone. Don’t try to pin this on me now. I’m just a weak little woman who can’t handle this kind of blame,” Anastasia said.
Vincent snorted. “Weak? You had enough strength to help a pregnant woman.”
Anastasia’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Vincent was truly heartless. His wife had struggled so hard to get pregnant for him, and he was talking like he wished she’d lose the baby.
Anastasia didn’t want to deal with this piece of trash anymore. “Vincent, the company pays us to work and make money, not to get tangled up in your personal drama. If there’s nothing else, I’m going back to work.”
“Hold on.”
Vincent was pissed about Anastasia’s attitude, but he couldn’t find a good reason to fire her. Today’s whole charade wasn’t just about getting rid of Narissa—he’d also wanted to eliminate Anastasia. His master plan had been that Narissa, who was all body and no brains, would blame Anastasia for the leaked story and start a fight in the office. Then he could use that as an excuse to fire both of them.
Unfortunately, Anastasia hadn’t taken the bait and avoided the confrontation. But that was fine—he had another trick up his sleeve.
“There was a project I was going to assign to Narissa, but since she’s gone, you’ll take it over,” Vincent told Anastasia.
If it was just a work assignment, Anastasia had no objections. “Sure,” she said.
Seeing how readily Anastasia agreed, Vincent couldn’t help but smirk internally. Let’s see if you’re still so confident later.
Anastasia took the file and left. Sharlene immediately asked with concern, “Ana, did he give you a hard time?”
“He’d need a legitimate reason to mess with me,” Anastasia replied.
That put Sharlene at ease. “So what did he want?” she asked.
Anastasia explained Vincent’s supposed reasoning. Sharlene found it suspicious. Usually, Vincent gave Narissa all the easy, high-paying gigs. Now that Anastasia had crossed him, would he really hand over a good project to her? Seemed unlikely.
“It’s fine. Work always has its challenges and easy parts. It can’t all be smooth sailing,” Anastasia said. In her view, whether something was difficult or easy often depended on individual ability. What others found impossible might be manageable for her.
“Which client?” Sharlene asked.
“Someone called Miss Brooks. She wants a complete jewelry set designed. The requirements look pretty extensive,” Anastasia said.
Hearing the name Brooks, Sharlene got a headache.
“I knew Vincent was up to no good!”
“This project was never Narissa’s to begin with! Narissa did work on it initially but gave up fast. Miss Brooks has impossibly high standards—no matter what you design, she’ll find something wrong with it.”
“She went out of town for a while and we all thought she’d found another company. But apparently…”
Sharlene said, “You should refuse this one.” She was genuinely angry. “Vincent definitely knows you’re new and don’t know about Miss Brooks, so he deliberately dumped this nightmare on you. What a dick move.”
“No need. I already agreed. Plus, I just texted Miss Brooks to set up a meeting where we can discuss her jewelry design requirements in detail,” Anastasia said.
“I wish I could come with you, but Vincent assigned me to assist Peter,” Sharlene said.
Vincent knew Anastasia and Sharlene were close, so he’d deliberately separated them.
“It’s okay, I can handle the initial meeting alone. Once you finish your current project, I’ll probably be ready for your help,” Anastasia said.
“Sounds good.”
Sharlene was currently just an assistant, doing grunt work for designers and not yet able to create independent pieces. Her dream was to become an independent designer someday. Sharlene was actually a top graduate from a prestigious American university. She’d expected to make her mark here, but with people like Vincent around, she felt like she’d never get her shot. Thank God Anastasia had arrived—she felt like Ana was a ray of light sent from heaven, and she needed to treasure that.