Rita’s line brought the bustling office into dead silence.
Everyone looked over to Jason in unison.
Jason lifted his gaze to meet Rita, fingers tapping the tabletop, as if considering something-
Tap.
Tap.
Everyone remained quiet, and the tapping against the table was especially crisp.
Rita and Jason stayed there, testing each other to see who would be the first to crumble and speak.
The room seemed quiet, but undercurrents roiled.
Especially those who’d had their eyes on the assistant general manager’s position for a long time – they really had it in for Rita now.
“The responsibility of the assistant general manager’s position is too great, Mr. Snow. I feel like it should be left to someone more capable.” Matthew spoke first, prodding Charlie with a nondescript gesture. “What do you think, Mr. Powers?”
“That’s right. Assistant general manager is an important spot. You can’t hand it over to someone with an unknown background just because they resolved one crisis for the company!”
Charlie shot a glance at Rita, then muttered to himself, “Much less a young girl like this.”
Jason ignored the two, turning to Connor Trent, who’d maintained silent throughout. “What do you think, Mr. Trent?”
“I’ll leave the decision up to you, Mr. Snow. I have no opinion on the matter.” Connor gave up his say.
Charlie glared at him. “Brownnose!”
Connor smiled, as if he hadn’t heard that.
The position had been one that Charlie and Connor were competing over. Now that Connor had given up, Charlie was obviously slated to be the one to get said position.
As his personality went, of course Charlie was feeling resentful as all heck.
He looked coldly towards Rita, leering, “Listen, girlie…”
“Rita Brown.”
Halfway into his sentence, Rita interrupted him with two words.
“W…what?” Charlie jolted.
Seriously, Rita replied, “My name, gentlemen, is Rita Brown.”
Hearing that, everyone paused for a second.
Other than a bit of disquiet flashing across Jason’s eyes, the rest of them didn’t seem to register anything. At least, they didn’t connect that name to the Brown family.
Rita didn’t have Amelia’s favor, so she’d never been let into the company.
Furthermore, none of the Brown family had ever been allowed to mention Rita’s existence in the bloodline.
So it wasn’t strange that people here didn’t know her.
“You say you solved this issue for us, but where’s the proof?” Charlie cocked an eyebrow, putting the ball in Rita’s court again.
“Yeah, this was all Mutt’s exposure piece at work, what’s it got to do with you?” Hearing that, Matthew chimed in. “Show us proof that you were responsible, and we’ll hand you that position.”
Matthew’s doubts resonated with the other managers of the company, who started talking amongst themselves.
“Mr. Powers and Mr. Gray are right, Mr. Snow. We have to have Ms. Brown prove that she did resolve this issue and it wasn’t a coincidence.” Connor spoke as well.
Seeing everyone place pressure on her, Nathan’s face swelled.
He’d known that they weren’t good people, but he’d never thought they could stoop so low.
They’d promised Rita that she’d have the assistant general manager’s position, but now they were trying to squirrel out of it.
What a band of cutthroats!
Nathan had had enough. He stood up for Rita. “What do you mean proof; you’re just going back on your word and don’t want to let her have the spot.”
Facing Nathan’s accusation, Charlie’s expression turned fiery. “Quit speculating wildly. I feel like my suggestion was fair and reasonable!”
“You…”
“Nathan.” He’d wanted to say something else, but Rita stopped him with a hand. “They’re right, their request was reasonable.”
Nathan jolted, looking at her, confused.
Had she lost her wits?
Couldn’t she see? Charlie and gang didn’t want her to have the position.
As for what Charlie and the rest of them thought, of course Rita knew.
She knew they wouldn’t budge so easily.
She’d also expected everything to play out this way.
Without panicking or losing her nerve, her eyes scanned across Charlie, Matthew and Connor as she said mildly, “Since I was the one who’d sold the video to Mutt, I’m not bothered by their doubts.”
Hearing that, Connor laughed out loud. “You sold the video to Mutt? But Mutt is saying on social media that it was the Starpath reporter Isabelle Anderson who’d sold him the info.”
At Connor’s words, everyone else checked Mutt’s social media.
Of course, Mutt had admitted outright that he’d bought the information from Starpath Workshop.
Seeing that, everyone looked contemptuously at Rita.
Charlie scoffed. “Can’t round out the lie now, can you?”
Matthew sneered. “Probably didn’t expect Mutt to give up his source like that, did you, girl?”
Jason didn’t speak, only looked mildly at Rita.
Faced with their doubts, Rita still didn’t panic. “Then why don’t have ask Isabelle over, and we can talk? See what the truth is?”
“Sticking with the lie,” Charlie jeered.
Connor tucked his glasses and chuckled. “What a coincidence. After I saw Mutt’s post, I had someone get in contact with Isabelle the reporter. She’s on her way to the office.”
“Damn, as efficient as always, Mr. Trent.”
“Yeah, if anything, he’s the best bet for assistant general manager.”
The other staff in the office lauded praise on Connor, who simply remained as outwardly humble as before.
His action and bearing were all mild-mannered, but to Rita, he hid daggers behind that smile of his.
Even though he’d said that he was leaving it up to Jason, he was probably the one who least wanted her to have the position.
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