Chapter 2
The next day, I went back to the office like nothing had happened. When I saw Charlotte, I even smiled at her.
She looked a little awkward as she came over with my proposal.
"Sophie, I'm a bit confused about this part," she said.
I leaned in to take a look, thinking to myself, of course, you don't get it.
That was a technical barrier I had built on purpose. Each step depended on the next one, and if one missed a single part, the whole thing would fall apart. But I still kept smiling on my face.
"Oh, this part? Yeah, it's a bit tricky. How about this? I know the client pretty well. I'll take you with me this afternoon, and you'll get it once we talk to them," I replied.
She lit up instantly and said, "Really? Thank you so much, Sophie. You're so sweet."
William happened to come out of his office and saw us. He shot me an approving look.
But I felt nothing.
I took Charlotte to the client's office.
In the meeting room, I presented the entire proposal to the client, making it sound solid and flawless.
Charlotte sat beside me like a decoration. She only smiled and nodded the whole time, not able to say a word.
The client's boss, Kellan Clark, was a shrewd guy. After the meeting, he used the excuse of needing a smoke to pull me aside.
"Sophie, what's Mr. Sutton thinking? Why put a rookie in n such an important project?" he asked.
I smiled and handed him a cigarette.
"Mr. Clark, please be patient with her. She's Mr. Sutton's childhood friend, back to build up her resume. You know how it goes," I said.
Kellan nodded like he understood and patted my shoulder.
"Got it. But Sophie, when it comes to execution, I only trust you. If anything goes wrong, I'm coming to you."
"Don't worry, Mr. Clark."
That was exactly what I wanted.
On the way back, Charlotte was still full of excitement.
"Sophie, you're amazing. Mr. Clark really trusts you," she said.
"It's nothing. We've just worked together for a long time," I replied casually.
Meanwhile, Jason was having a rough time.
Alex had parachuted in as the new project director. His first move was to completely redo the project plan.
The framework Jason had worked so hard to build was now a total mess.
The guys in the tech department freaked out. Several of them went straight to Jason to complain, saying the project was basically doomed.
But Jason didn't say a word.
Whatever Alex asked, he just did it.
If Alex wanted documents sorted, he sorted them.
If Alex wanted coffee, he went and got it.
Bianca called him in and told him he'd been doing well lately, that he had real leadership potential. She even said that once Alex was settled, a promotion would be waiting for him.
Jason just smiled and said, "That's how it should be."
The moment he turned away, he started saving everything: Alex's misguided instructions, the messy code he had changed, all neatly tucked into an encrypted drive.
After work, he gathered the core tech department and kept the project going somewhere else, sticking to the original framework.
He told them, "Don't worry about the company's rules. We'll do it our way. Think of it as practice. If anything goes wrong, I'll take the blame."
The tech guys were simple and loyal. They trusted Jason's skills, and they couldn't stand how clueless Alex was.
Before long, the core team was still officially working under Alex, but in reality, they had become Jason's secret team.
Jason and I were like two worker ants, hustling all day right under their noses, acting like the loyal employees and considerate partners, always easygoing and focused on the bigger picture.
At night, we met at the bar.
Not for drinking, but to exchange information.
I had quietly won over a few key clients, while Jason had brought some top tech talent to our side.
It felt like we were playing a huge game of chess.
On the board, William, Bianca, Charlotte, and Alex were just pieces in our game.
And we were slowly taking control, one move at a time.