Chapter 75 Catching Her Husband in a Steamy Affair?

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Catching Her Husband in a Steamy Affair?

Sophie Winslow never expected to encounter such a situation.

It was so absurd that a short, disbelieving laugh escaped her throat. "You mean to tell me they likely couldn’t control themselves while working overtime and did *that* right here in the office?"

Her words were a little too blunt. So blunt, in fact, that the man rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, they are young and in the honeymoon phase. Besides, Miss Sutton will be the boss’s wife in the future, so the company is basically her own home. I’ll go knock on the door now. You won’t have to wait long, Miss Winslow."

Sophie’s lips twitched into a faint smile. "Sorry to trouble you."

How novel. Did this mean she might actually stumble upon the steamy affair of her husband, whom she hadn’t even finalized the divorce with yet? She even wondered if recording a video would give her the leverage needed to secure her divorce without being hindered by the Sterling family.

"Miss Winslow, please come in."

However, just as Sophie’s mind was racing with possibilities, the door opened, instantly killing any chance she had of acting like a crazed, vindictive wife. Shaking her head in mock pity, she stared at the door and hesitated for a few seconds before slowly walking in.

Whether they had already cleaned up or nothing had happened at all, the spacious office revealed no scandalous clues. At a glance, she spotted Julian Sterling sitting behind his desk, with Stella Sutton standing by his arm, leaning down to whisper in his ear. There was an undeniably indescribable intimacy between the two of them.

They both looked up in unison.

Julian’s gaze was calm, completely unperturbed by her arrival. "Are you here for the project?"

"Didn’t I already reply to Helios?" Stella sounded rather impatient. "Do you think pharmaceutical research can be rushed?"

Sophie clearly understood her attitude. Sitting down on the guest sofa with perfect composure, she said evenly, "So, you’re admitting that you lack the skill, made a complete mess out of a project that was on a normal schedule, and now expect the partnered company to foot the bill?"

Those words were harsh—no different from a public slap to the face.

Stella’s expression immediately darkened. After a moment, she let out a subtle sneer. "Did your Mr. Preston send you? Or do you just have a personal problem with me and volunteered for this so you could come here and throw your weight around?"

Sophie was just an ordinary junior researcher. In Stella’s eyes, she was a woman who only managed to sneak into such a high-level cardiovascular drug research and development team to pad her resume because of her good relationship with Peter Preston. And now she was putting on the airs of an executive with actual authority?

With this in mind, Stella curled her lips. "Sophie, I hope you don’t bring your personal emotions into your work. That’s my advice to you."

Sophie was quite surprised. Now it was suddenly her being overly emotional and targeting Stella? She sure was good at twisting the narrative.

But wasn’t it all because...

Out of the corner of her eye, Sophie cast a mockingly sarcastic glance at the man who had been leaning against the back of his chair the whole time—looking incredibly aloof and refusing to state his stance. It was nothing more than Julian backing Stella up.

Sophie had seen right through Stella’s attitude. Her eyes cooled completely. "Since you think so highly of me, it would be a shame not to live up to the persona you’ve given me. You either give me the test data today, or Helios will formally request a change in the team leader from Kingsford University."

This time, Julian narrowed his eyes slightly and looked over.

Stella’s face turned even uglier. "Who do you think you’re making decisions for?"

Sophie replied lazily, "Mr. Sterling might love doing charity work to support you, but Helios isn’t going to throw away real money, manpower, and resources just to play games with you."

Stella understood the implication. Peter Preston must have had some complaints, which was why Sophie was sent to negotiate. However, Peter definitely wouldn’t have told Sophie to speak to her like this. Sophie, a mere nobody at Helios, was just using this opportunity to make things difficult for her!

In response to the phrase about him doing charity work, Julian spun his pen, swept his gaze over her, and spoke in a drawl. "Jennings, prepare some tea for Miss Winslow so she can cool off."

Those words definitely carried a teasing undertone. He was saying she had a bad temper.

Sophie frowned. Was Julian shielding Stella because he thought she had been too ruthless with her words?

Stella, of course, knew that Julian was standing on her side. She immediately raised her chin. "It’s fine, Julian. I won’t go catch up on my sleep. I’ll go follow up with the team right now so certain people with ulterior motives don’t exaggerate things and accuse me of doing nothing."

Grabbing her coat, she strutted out in her high heels. As she passed Sophie, her eyes flashed with mockery, and she left with a cold sneer.

Sophie didn’t care in the slightest. When Jennings—the assistant who had led her here—actually brought her a cup of green tea, she figured her objective was met, and that was all that mattered.

Julian could let his lust cloud his judgment and indulge Stella all he wanted, but Helios was under no such obligation. Besides, if Julian cherished Stella so much that he was willing to stay up all night working overtime on research with her, then he could spend a few more nights with her if he wasn’t tired.

Sophie prepared to leave. After all, everything that needed to be said had been said.

However, before she could even stand up, Julian walked over and sat down in the armchair to her left. He stared at her unhurriedly. "Aren’t you tired after talking so much? It’s not too late to leave after finishing your tea."

His face gave nothing away. Sophie even suspected that he was holding back some trick to get back at her on Stella’s behalf.

She cast a suspicious glance at the cup of tea on the table. She certainly didn’t think they had the kind of relationship where they could sit alone together in peace.

Just as she was about to bid him farewell, Jennings pushed the door open and wiped his forehead. "Mr. Sterling, something’s wrong! Miss Sutton collapsed from exhaustion!"

BAM!

The man who had been sitting to her left stood up abruptly. Perhaps acting out of panic, he accidentally knocked over the cup of tea on the table, splashing the liquid all over Sophie’s chest.

Before she could even react, Julian strode away quickly, his back radiating a sense of urgency. He completely failed to notice that his frantic concern for another woman had resulted in her being drenched.

The tea was only lukewarm, so it hadn’t caused any real harm. But as Sophie sat there in silence for a few seconds, she felt as if a freezing wind had seeped into her very bones right there in the office.

Looking like a mess, she went to the restroom to deal with the water stains on her clothes. If she didn’t clean it up, going outside in this weather would undoubtedly lead to her catching a cold.

It was all thanks to Stella that she finally learned her husband—who for the past seven years had been steady, deep, unromantic, and utterly lacking in tenderness or attentiveness—actually had a completely different side to him. Anyone who saw this would surely praise him as a good man.

Sophie returned to Helios.

Seeing her wet clothes, Peter Preston frowned. "Which river did you get fished out of?"

Sophie went to find a hair dryer, answering off the top of her head, "The river of love."

Peter was speechless. What on earth was she talking about?

Sophie didn’t want to bring up Julian and the others, only mentioning that they should be getting the test data soon.

At dusk.

Ivy Hawthorne suddenly called. She sounded irritated. "Is he sick in the head? Julian still arranged for that chubby little Seth Sutton to go to the same kindergarten as Lydia! He didn’t switch Seth to a different school!"