Chapter 181 See If I Dare

Chapter 181: Chapter 181: See If I Dare

Sophie Winslow hadn’t expected that before she even had a chance to confront Stella Sutton, Stella would be the one aggressively throwing her weight around. That arrogant attitude of hers made it seem as if the previous incident had never happened.

She knew exactly what Stella was thinking. She was simply banking on the fact that ordinary employees wouldn’t know about what happened at the Sterling Family’s anniversary gala. Since only the executives present knew that Stella was the other woman, she was exploiting this information gap to put on airs.

"Just call downstairs," Stella said, looking somewhat impatient. She glanced at her watch, clearly displeased by Sophie’s presence here.

After that day, Faye hadn’t come forward to pursue the matter, nor had Philip Preston continued to hold her accountable. There had been no particularly severe fallout. This made her realize that after Finn Lockwood had taken her home that day, Julian Sterling had stepped in to clean up the mess. Even if Sophie refused to give up and tried to drag her off her pedestal, it would be completely useless.

Although the Patent Office had notified her that the matter was still under investigation—and if it was confirmed that she had maliciously squatted on and plagiarized someone else’s work, all her patent rights would be revoked—she wasn’t worried. She had looked into it. Faye hadn’t registered it yet. Without evidence of prior registration, the patent rights would ultimately remain hers. When the time came, she could just publicly explain it away as a misunderstanding, sprinkle in a few conspiracy theories, and the public would believe her.

"But..." someone beside Stella reminded her, speaking with a hint of suspicion. "Don’t you need to swipe a card to get to our floor? Could she be a guest of Mr. Thorne and the others?"

Ever since their R&D team moved up here, they were indeed handling a lot of highly confidential materials. External personnel were strictly prohibited from roaming around. Not just anyone could come up here.

Sophie crossed her arms and watched, the corners of her lips pulling into a faint smirk. She was quite curious to see just how far Stella would go.

Stella frowned. She naturally knew this. Mr. Thorne had been present that day and had seen Julian Sterling acknowledge Sophie as Mrs. Sterling. The reason she wanted to drive Sophie away was precisely because she didn’t want Mr. Thorne to know Sophie was here. If Mr. Thorne treated Sophie with deference, it would make people suspicious of Sophie’s identity. Wouldn’t Sophie then use the opportunity to flaunt and broadcast her status to everyone else in the company? How would she carry herself in the company after that? She would not allow Sophie to play mind games and outshine her.

"Mr. Thorne is in a meeting. Besides, Julian told me I can make decisions on certain matters myself," Stella said, bringing up Julian’s name with unconcealed sweetness in her eyes. She looked at Sophie, her tone dripping with feigned nonchalance. "Sorry, but my R&D team is based here. This area is full of core commercial secrets, and outsiders are strictly forbidden from trespassing. Are you going to leave on your own, or should I have the security guards throw you out?"

Stella graciously gave Sophie a choice.

Sophie’s expression remained perfectly calm. She asked in return, "Do I need your permission to be here?"

Stella frowned. Her intuition told her that Sophie was trying to start trouble. Adopting a strictly business attitude, she said, "Sophie, do you understand human speech? This is a highly confidential commercial area. Stop trying to twist my words."

"Someone so incompetent that they have to steal other people’s data couldn’t possibly have any ’secrets’ worth being proud of here." Sophie had always been sharp-tongued, her words going straight for the jugular.

Stella’s face changed colors.

Ignoring Stella’s expression, Sophie turned to look at the general manager’s secretary who had followed her over. "Why is their R&D team on this floor?"

Knowing that Sophie had been invited up by Mr. Thorne, the secretary didn’t dare slight her. "It’s because... Mr. Sterling used to come by occasionally, and his office is on this floor. Miss Sutton and Mr. Sterling are inseparable, and since she wanted to spend more time with him, Mr. Sterling made a special exception for them to move up here..."

The secretary’s words made the corners of Stella’s lips curl up. She shot Sophie an amused look. "Julian does grant my every request. As an outsider, you have no business interfering with Longview’s decisions!"

She was delighted that Sophie had heard this fact. In the end, wouldn’t Sophie be completely helpless, forced to slink away in defeat and pretend none of this ever happened?

A short scoff escaped Sophie’s throat. She found it utterly ridiculous. To casually alter the company’s rules and regulations just to let Stella and her R&D team bypass protocol and move to this floor—no wonder Stella could throw her weight around and run rampant at Longview. With Julian doting on her to this extent, who at Longview would dare disrespect Stella?

Sophie ignored her. She turned and walked straight toward the office.

Seeing Sophie acting so casually, treating Longview as if it were her own company, Stella flared with anger. She stepped forward and grabbed Sophie by the wrist. "That is Julian’s office! Sophie, you don’t have permission, and you have no right to go in there."

A sharp pain pierced Sophie’s wrist. Stella’s manicured nails were digging into her skin. This made Sophie lose the last of her patience.

"It seems you still haven’t figured out your proper place. I don’t mind sobering you up. If I wanted to, I could have you kicked out of Longview right now," Sophie said, her eyes icy.

But Stella was right about one thing: in the past, she indeed hadn’t been allowed in. She didn’t need Stella to go out of her way to remind her of the gap between them.

Stella’s expression darkened. She curled her lips in a sneer. "Sophie, are you dreaming? This is Julian’s Longview!" Sophie was simply spouting shameless nonsense!

Mr. Thorne hurried over. Seeing the explosive tension between the two, a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. One was the legal wife, and the other was the beloved mistress. As a mere employee, he really didn’t want to deal with a situation like this. But Longview had just changed ownership, and he would be working for Sophie from now on. Mr. Thorne hurriedly said to Stella, "Miss Sutton, shall we talk inside?"

"There’s no need," Stella replied bluntly. "The R&D team is based here, and having outsiders around—especially people from other companies—is a security risk. Mr. Thorne, please see the guest out!"

She was confident that Mr. Thorne would do her this favor. Mr. Thorne couldn’t possibly be unaware that she was the one Julian truly cared about. On Julian’s turf and in his company, Mr. Thorne knew exactly who to side with.

Mr. Thorne furrowed his brow, shooting Stella a complicated look before speaking slowly. "Miss Sutton, this is Longview’s new boss, Ms. Winslow—your direct superior."

The moment Mr. Thorne spoke, the surrounding onlookers were instantly stunned.

Stella also thought she had misheard. She froze. "What?"

Mr. Thorne cleared his throat, turned to face the crowd, and formally introduced Sophie. "Everyone, the internal notice hasn’t been circulated yet, but starting today, Longview will be managed by Ms. Winslow. Mr. Sterling has handed full authority over to Ms. Winslow and will no longer intervene in Longview’s management."

This news was too sudden. After all, this wasn’t a simple personnel transfer. It was a complete change of ownership!

When the reality of the situation dawned on her, Stella’s face lost all its color. She stared in disbelief. "Her?"

Mr. Thorne looked at her apologetically. "Miss Sutton, you’ll need to address her as Ms. Winslow from now on."

This single sentence made Stella’s eyes waver, and her breathing seemed to hitch.

Taking in the shocked expressions around her, Sophie didn’t bother explaining the reasons. She cast a glance toward the R&D department. "The R&D team shouldn’t be on this floor. Mr. Thorne, please make the necessary arrangements according to the standard company regulations and have them moved back down within the next two days. Anyone who refuses will be given three months’ severance pay and can find employment elsewhere."

A company required strict adherence to its rules. She didn’t care what special privileges Julian had granted; under her watch, bypassing protocol was absolutely forbidden.

Stella finally snapped out of her daze and glared at Sophie in sheer astonishment. "You wouldn’t dare!"

Sophie was threatening to fire her!

Sophie turned slightly. "Do you want to bet on that? Let’s see if I dare."