I looked through the window of my taxi and felt my heart jump as I laid eyes on the Silk and Laces company logo on the side of a modest building.

This is it. I am finally here.

Just seeing the silhouette of the woman in the logo reminded me of my horrendous actions. Taking down this company had been child’s play.

This wasn’t just because of my schemes. This was because Evan had a lot of people inside this company. I would have to be careful.

Five minutes later I was in Cedric’s office and trying very hard to be serious while imagining exactly what was under his suit jacket. And I had to be serious because he was proposing something that would make all my thoughts of being careful go out the window.

“You used to work in the Lin Group. You qualify to be a Marketing Director.”

I did have the qualifications to be the Marketing Director, but my resume didn’t say that. Thanks to my previous life, my knowledge about this company was above average, but that wasn’t something that I could have included on my resume. “I thought you would hire me as your executive assistant.”

“No. I believe in your capabilities to lead the marketing team. Besides, you’re terrible at making coffee.”

“But…” He was shuffling papers around on his desk in a very “my decision is final” kind of way.

The thing is, Silk and Laces only has a Sales and Marketing Department. Making me the head of the Marketing Department would mean changing the structure of the company and would turn some heads.

Moreover, the fact that he was giving me such big responsibility and trust, made me wonder if that was all a test. He may have feelings for me, but he’s not stupid. Perhaps he wanted to see if I was Evan’s spy, out to sabotage the company? I mean, once upon a time, he wouldn’t have been wrong.

I wondered if my guilt is making me overthink things.

“I’ll introduce you to everyone later. For now… Mr. Peng will guide you to your office. And Bella?”

“Hm?” I raised my head and gave him a cordial smile. Across his desk the tension between us was strong.

“I believe in you,” he repeated.

Those words defeated all the thoughts inside my head. “Thank you.” If his feelings for me were as strong as they seemed, it was natural that he wouldn’t have trust in me so soon. What the hell was I expecting?

Not long after, I met with Mr. Peng who was already waiting for us with a warm black coffee for Cedric and me. The gesture made me smile, and it was true the coffee was much better than I could make.

Mr. Peng, in his late forties, was Cedric’s secretary. I had grown familiar with the man because of the detailed research that I had done to ruin Cedric’s company. I had needed to study the backgrounds of the people around him, and Mr. Peng was one of those important people that I needed to be familiar with.

I followed Mr. Peng to my office. It was located only a few doors away from Cedric’s.

“There will be a meeting at ten, Mr. Lin will introduce you as the new Marketing Director then.”

“Thank you.”

“This is Grace Hou, she will be your secretary.” He nodded at the woman with a short blond bob who was standing by the door. Secretary Peng must have noticed that I was looking at the door. “Ah, we believe in the Open-Door Policy. The company has been like this since Mr. Lin became the CEO. This makes the employees feel welcome, thus creating a friendly atmosphere.”

I nodded.

“Miss Grace will tour you to the pantry and the rest of the building. She already has your schedule for the day. Ah… also as for your team…” I could feel him hesitate before he added, “Since this is a new department, we don’t have many people we can assign to you yet. Just Miss Grace and three other people. But there’s no need to worry about this, Mr. Lin will make sure that you have the resources you need.”

I expected as much. After all, this decision was sudden.

Mr. Peng wished me well before bidding me goodbye, leaving Grace and me inside the office.

“Miss Chen?”

“Hm?”

“Miss Jiang from the Sales Department wants to see you.”

“Miss Jiang?”

“Yes, she used to be the head of the Marketing and Sales Department. Miss Rhea Jiang.”

I pursed my lips.

Rhea Jiang.

She was the heiress of the Jiang Family.

I knew who she was because the Jiang Family and the Lin Family were quite close. I once suspected that Evan’s father would want him to marry Rhea. My pathetic self immediately did everything I could to know more about my ‘rival.’

Now… Why would someone who is set to inherit a multi-million dollar company work under a company that was about to go bankrupt? Two things. It was either she was working for Evan and wanted this company to go down or… she wanted something else important. But what could it be?

Most importantly, Miss Jiang wasn’t working at this company by the time I ruined it. Did something happen?

“All right… please send her in.”

“Ah, Miss Chen, I'm sorry. It seems that you misheard me. I said she wanted to see you. She wants you to go to her office.”