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Chapter 98

Author: Dream Fish
Using her position, Talia had entered the room once occupied by the late Natalie, stolen valuables, and taken a few small antique vases from storage, hiding them beneath the floorboards in her room. The stolen items were discovered during the search, leaving no room for denial.

"She's the one, Dad," Fiona said coldly, her tone laced with anger.

The servant, Talia, immediately showed fear, casting a quick, terrified glance at Fiona before lowering her head and trembling.

Angela observed the scene, an uneasy feeling settling in her chest.

"Talia, you've worked here for over eight years. You're practically a veteran in this household. What made you do something so reckless?" Joseph asked with a heavy sigh.

Talia, in her early 30s, had been working for the Bamford family alongside her husband, drawn by the generous benefits.

"Sir, I had no choice," Talia began, her voice breaking. "My son was diagnosed with acute leukemia. He needs money for treatment. I tried asking Madam Fiona for
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    Angela instinctively glanced at Fiona."Wrongdoings deserve punishment," Fiona said with a faintly grim expression, casting a cold look at the flustered Talia. "You have three days to recover all the stolen items. If not, don't expect me to show any leniency."Talia's tears flowed like a river. The stolen items had already been sold; how could she possibly get them back?"Fiona, isn't this too harsh? If her family had the money, would she have resorted to this? It's clear you have no intention of letting them off." Ursula's voice carried a cold edge, her growing frustration with Fiona evident."And if you were handling this, what would you do?" Fiona replied, her tone sharp yet faintly amused. She fixed her gaze on Ursula, her eyes unyielding. "Since you're so kind-hearted, why not pay for their medical expenses and redeem Natalie's valuables yourself?"Ursula's expression darkened, and she retorted coolly, "What does this have to do with me?"She had only come to watch the drama

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    "You've all seen the rules," Angela began, her sharp, unwavering gaze sweeping across the room. "Mr. Snowden has only given us two days. This time, we must shine for ourselves! Are you confident you can do that?"The 20 people in the room exchanged hesitant glances, but none dared to voice absolute confidence.They were still haunted by the oppression they had endured under Nora's leadership.Seeing the bowed heads of her team, Angela felt a wave of frustration but tempered it with an understanding of their struggles."Angela, we do want to win for Division One, but Division Two has more than 80 people, and we're only a quarter of their size. Plus…""Plus what?" Angela interrupted before Clara could finish. "Numbers don't matter if you've got the right people. So what if they have more people? Only one in eight of their members might make it. For us, it's one in every two. What's there to fear?"Her fierce gaze swept across the room, and after a brief pause, she declared boldly,

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    "How do you know that?" Angela was so stunned that she forgot to speak politely.Fiona's face fell even further, and her breathing became unsteady. "You... you really got divorced and didn't tell me!"Angela wished she could slap herself a few times.She was done for. She had slipped up without thinking, and now she wasn't sure if it counted as leaking the terms of the agreement.It probably didn't. After all, Fiona could be considered one of their own."Well... Madam Fiona, please calm down. There's still a chance we can smooth things over. If you keep quiet, it won't affect Dexter in any way," Angela said cautiously, worried Fiona would explode on the spot."Give me your agreement right now!" Fiona's voice was cold and sharp, each word striking like thunder.Angela felt helpless. "I can't. It's with Dexter.""Fine, fine. No wonder you've been acting so boldly lately. Without that marriage certificate holding you back, you've really set yourself free. Both of you are way out o

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    Those who didn't make it were also occupied. Some were researching about the trip to Bellador, while others quietly watched videos or took classes. None of them paid any attention to Division Two."They're really treating this matter too lightly. They're not taking us seriously at all!""Exactly. They act like they've already won. They must think they're so amazing.""They are amazing. They went to that Bamford Co. training. We can't compare to that."...Their chatter grew louder as if they were trying to provoke Division One.Angela could hear them through her headphones, but she just ignored them.Soon, Callum arrived with his assistant, holding a stack of design submissions.Everyone's hopes rose at once."Please put aside what you're doing. We have the voting results," Callum said with a warm smile and a gentle demeanor.Angela lifted her head, feeling a little nervous."First place has 65 votes," Callum announced with a note of approval in his voice.That entry appear

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    If it had been someone from Division Two, they would have leapt up in excitement by now."These three look great too. Whose are they?" Callum asked.Alan, Allison, and Mark stood up.They sat in a row. Alan and Mark were tall, making Allison look especially petite between them.Division Two was dumbfounded.How could this be possible?Out of ten winning designs, Division One had eight. It was a total shutdown.That made no sense."Didn't Ms. Graham also compete? Why haven't we seen her work? Don't tell me it didn't make the list," someone in Division Two piped up.It was a young woman in the back row, one of Nora's old followers.Others joined in."Right. Ms. Graham has trained such an impressive team, so she must be pretty great herself. Why didn't her design make the list?""You people have no right to badmouth Ms. Graham," Alan growled, suddenly standing up and glaring at the Division Two crowd.Clara said coldly, "All of us were trained by Ms. Graham. Our victory is he

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    Meanwhile, Division One was in an unusually good mood. Everyone let out their excitement the moment the door closed. They hugged one another and celebrated in all sorts of ways.Before they had gone into the conference room, Angela had reminded them to stay calm no matter the result. She had told them not to reveal their emotions and risk looking foolish.In the past, they had always been laughed at, but today they had finally turned the tables and were able to hold their heads high.They were making a ruckus in the large office outside, but Angela didn't bother to stop them.She felt great all day. After finishing her work and clocking out, she planned to head out for a stroll. She would be leaving for Bellador the day after tomorrow and wouldn't be back for at least a week.Right after she carried a bunch of things home, Angela received a call from an unknown number.It was Nick Campbell, one of Dexter's childhood friends."Angela, Dexter's had too much to drink. Can you come

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    Feeling completely baffled, everyone watched Angela leave decisively.What was going on? Did they see it wrong? Was this really Angela? She seemed like a completely different person now."Dexter, don't be mad. Angela might really have something to take care of. It's fine. I'll take you home later. I know where you live," Elena said softly.The others exchanged glances, each understanding the unspoken meaning.Suddenly, Dexter stood up like he had sobered up. He ignored everyone who tried to stop him and walked out."I just parked for a moment. I came in to pick someone up. Can't you make an exception, officer?"Angela was at the entrance, pleading with a traffic police officer. But she still got a hundred-dollar fine.She felt resentful. It was all Dexter's fault!She opened the car door and climbed in, ready to start the engine.Just then, someone banged on her window.Angela turned and saw Dexter's brooding face, his eyes fixed on her intently.Hadn't he refused to leave?

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    Angela turned around, dropping the scarf and gloves in her hands."Hey, don't you accuse me of that! It slipped out by accident. Your mom was already suspicious and tricked me into confirming it. I didn't do it on purpose."She's your mom. She wouldn't spread it around and damage your reputation. You lost nothing, so don't try to pin any blame on me. I won't let you use this as a reason to make our agreement void!"Her expression changed noticeably. She stared straight at him, eyes blazing with both fury and fear. Yet she refused to back down.Dexter watched her in silence. The light in his eyes dimmed little by little.Was she really that anxious? Was she afraid he wouldn't let her go?"Then why did you tell my mom to set me up with someone?" he asked through gritted teeth, his voice forced out from deep in his chest, each word dripping with anger.Before Angela could reply, there was a sudden noise from the guest room.Angela forgot all about explaining and hurried over. She

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    How horrifying!"Sorry, please wait a moment." Angela forced herself to stay calm, got up, and walked out of the conference hall.Clara followed her out, concern written all over her face. "Ms. Graham, are you feeling unwell? Do you need to see a doctor?"Angela avoided looking at Clara's face as she whispered angrily, "That's enough, Dexter!" Clara looked surprised, confused even. "What's wrong, Ms. Graham?"This meeting couldn't go on, and work was unbearable. It was unacceptable.Angela took a deep breath, returned to the conference hall, and stuck to her prepared proposal to finish hosting the meeting. Then, she rushed back to her office.However, the moment she opened the door, Dexter turned around from where he'd been sitting at her desk. With a warm smile, he said, "You're finally done. Time for lunch."Angela suddenly felt like she was living in some surreal fantasy world. Hadn't she just left Clara behind? How was she suddenly…No, wait. This was the real Dexter with

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    Mia, who was next to Angela, replied, "You've got it all wrong. All of this was made by Mr. Bamford. Try some. It's really good."Dexter flashed Mia a friendly smile. She found it so odd that she froze for a moment.After all, she'd always thought that this cold-faced CEO didn't even have a "friendly smile" in his facial expression system.Mia keenly sensed that something was up between Angela and Dexter, both of whom seemed awkward."Really?" Angela was slightly taken aback. She glanced at Dexter, who was sitting at the dining table, waiting for them to dig in."Try some. I learned how to make these from Darlene," he said casually. "It was a piece of cake."Outside the kitchen, the plump and kind-hearted maid, Darlene Hines, wiped away a tear of exhaustion.She'd been woken up by Dexter before four or five in the morning, forced to give him an emergency cooking lesson while yawning the whole time.For several hours, she couldn't rest at all. She was so tired she almost passed

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    Dexter was so excited he couldn't sleep all night. He finally gave up trying and decided to wake Fiona up just so he could share his earth-shattering news.Fiona had barely slept for an hour after burning the midnight oil for work.When the knock on her door jolted her awake, her first instinct was to hurl a pillow at the culprit, but then she thought that maybe Angela needed help with something.She quickly got up and opened the door, only to find Dexter standing there with an oddly excited expression as if he wanted to say something but was holding back."What?" Fiona's voice came out hoarse. She'd pushed her voice too hard after days of lectures. Angela had even given her some medicine for it, but she hadn't gotten around to taking it.Dexter walked in without hesitation and announced, "I have a girlfriend now."Clearing his throat, he put on a composed front, concealing his excitement behind an air of nonchalance. He barely pulled it off.Fiona frowned in surprise. Girlfrien

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    Zayn chuckled. "You might as well try. Desperate times call for desperate measures. No matter how formidable Angela is, she's still a woman. Wasn't she once head over heels for you? It's just that afterward…"…That night, the grand villa was eerily quiet.Dexter paced back and forth outside Angela's room for a long time. He wanted to knock, or maybe just push the door open and go in, but he hesitated every time.With a crack, the door suddenly swung open from the inside.Angela, drowsy with sleep, covered her mouth as she yawned, holding an empty glass in her other hand. She looked like she was heading out to get some water.Their eyes met, and she jolted in surprise. The glass slipped from her hand, about to hit theground, when Dexter swiftly reached out and caught it smoothly."What the heck are you doing here?" In a flash, Angela was wide awake, her expression a blend of wariness and bewilderment.Dexter instinctively avoided her gaze. Without another word, he turned and wa

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