The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella) novel Chapter 10

“Yeah, please do tell us,” the man sitting next to her encouraged.

Ann crossed her arms across her chest and pursed her lips before saying, “I just don’t have a good feeling about her, that’s all.”

“That cannot be a good reason to not hire her,” someone pointed out. “It sounds as if you have a personal grudge against her. You need to give a good reason ‌why you don’t recommend her for the position.”

“I do not have a personal grudge against her,” Ann claimed firmly. “But yes, I know her from school. We were classmates. That’s why I know she might not be the kind of person we want in this company.”

“What kind of student was she?”

“The kind that cheats on exams,” Ann said. “Look, I didn’t want to bring this up because I’m not sure it’s relevant now, but who knows? Maybe she hasn’t changed at all. Back then, she copied a classmate’s design and won an award with it. The other student was disqualified. I have no idea how she managed to convince the professor that she was the original designer, but…” she trailed off, observing her nails.

“But what?” the other woman panellist asked.

“I think she slept with him. I mean, she had a reputation for stealing other girls’ boyfriends.” Ann shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it past her to have seduced the professor to have him accept the design as originally hers.”

“Oh my God,” the other panellist said, covering her mouth in shock. “That’s horrible.”

“You mean she is a cheat?” the man asked. “That’s very disappointing. I had high hopes for her.”

Ann rolled her eyes. “She probably wouldn’t have graduated with a certificate if she wasn’t cheating and sleeping her way through college. Imagine working with someone like that.”

“Oh no. I’m getting shivers just from the thought.”

“You should have told us all this from the beginning. Do you think she somehow knew what would be on the exam today? I thought she was just impressive but knowing this now…who knows, maybe she has a connection with someone who leaked the paper to her.”

“Yeah, we cannot trust someone with such questionable morals. I feel bad for the other designers who competed against her at the design competition. Whoever placed second was probably better than her.”

“If we allow her into the company, her incompetence will affect us. Or worse, she’ll steal designs here too and cause conflicts among co-workers.”

As her colleagues butchered Isabelle’s personality, Ann could barely keep her smile to herself. Well, that was easy. She had known her accusations would work. Nobody wanted to work with someone who stole others’ ideas or slept around with bosses to curry favour.

“So, do we all agree to reject her?” she asked, just to make everything official.

“Definitely.”

“Of course.”

“Yes.”

It looked like her job here was done…