Winning Her Heart Back

 Should I Keep Her

Emelie stood defensively in front of Cindy.

"Don't you know it's illegal to assault someone, Mr. Ramsey? You should be lucky she chose to side with us. Otherwise, you'd be convicted for setting up spies in someone else's company. It wouldn't matter how rich you are then. You wouldn't be able to spend a single cent once you're behind bars!"

Jeremy was left at a loss for words.

In the end, he angrily signed the contract. He even threatened Cindy before he left, clearly going to get his revenge against her someday.

Cindy sobbed as she went over to William. "Mr. Middleton..."

The credit for winning this negotiation went to Cindy, not to mention the slap she'd suffered. On some level, Cindy had taken that slap in William's stead.

Emelie figured William would want to "console" Cindy now. As such, she gestured for the other staff to leave the private room, giving the two privacy.

As they waited outside the restaurant, Emelie's colleagues shot her a look as if asking her whether William was sleeping with Cindy.

Emelie merely made a shushing gesture.

Her colleagues shook their heads, not understanding how William could have liked Cindy.

"So, are you not quitting anymore, Emelie?"

"Of course I am. If I were to linger around after submitting my resignation, I would become a target for my boss. It's office rules, after all," Emelie said half-jokingly. "I'll be leaving for good next week after passing on the torch."

The expected 30 to 40-minute wait turned out to be a mere five minutes. Cindy and William came out of the room together.

They didn't appear to have done anything. Emelie didn't pry and opened the car door instead.

William's expression was cold. When he walked past Emelie, he shot her a look. "Not bad."

He was likely praising her for turning the tables on Cindy.

Emelie remained silent.

William got into the backseat, and Cindy quickly followed, calling out sweetly, "Mr. Middleton!"

Emelie shut the car door and got into another car.

Cindy was far more skilled than Daphne was. Daphne was modest. Cindy, on the contrary, appeared innocent but was secretly quite wild.

William summoned Emelie to his office once they were back at the building.

"What would you like me to do, Mr. Middleton?"Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

William's gaze was flat. "What do you think of Cindy?"

Emelie wasn't sure what it was that he wanted to hear, so she said vaguely, "Apologies, Mr. Middleton, but I've just returned to work after my leave, so I'm not too familiar with the new secretary's work performance."

Emelie's emphasis was on work performance. William ought to know just how well Cindy could "perform" in other ways.

William scoffed and leaned back in his chair. "Do you think I should keep her around then?"

"I think you can make the decision yourself, Mr. Middleton..."

"Answer the question," William snapped.

Emelie paused briefly before saying, "I don't think doing so would be a good idea."

William looked curious. His smile didn't reach his eyes. "Oh?"

Emelie explained, "Cindy isn't as simple as she seems. Though she hasn't worked for Mr. Ramsey long, she was still able to learn so many of his secrets. Mr. Ramsey may have been careless in keeping them secret, but Cindy's ability to learn so much about him still says something about her capabilities. She may very well do the same to you if you keep her around.

"Frankly, the price I offered to Cindy for her to switch sides wasn't that high. Anyone who wants to glean information about you in order to target you or Cloudex would be able to offer her a much better price. If she could betray Mr. Ramsey today because of better benefits, she can easily do the same to you if the opportunity surfaces.

"Sellswords are the most unreliable, after all."

After hearing Emelie's reasoning, William responded slowly, "I didn't know you were someone to burn bridges so quickly, Ms. Hoven."

Emelie could tell he was mocking her, so she flatly retorted, "You taught me well, Mr. Middleton."

William's gaze grew cold in an instant, something which Emelie ignored.

One of the duties of a secretary was to watch out for their employer's loose ends. Since William wanted to hear Emelie's opinion on the matter, she'd give him a professional and objective analysis.

What did he have to be displeased about?

After some thought, Emelie added, "If you only want to keep Cindy around because she's similar to Daphne Bowen, Mr. Middleton, then why don't you hire someone else with such a similar air? Someone with a clean slate who can give you an ease of mind."

William stared at Emelie for several seconds before he replied, "You make a good point, Ms. Hoven. Since you know me so well, I'll leave the secretary recruitment matter to you."

Emelie looked surprised.