It was already past three in the afternoon, and the meeting had been going on for nearly an hour. The two of them could only hope that the discussionb. /bthey were rushing to join still hadn’t reached a conclusion.

    The two arrived at the conference room door. Gloria, standing guard, paled at the sight of them. “You…” she gasped.

    With a frosty expression, Dawn strode up to her, fixed her with an icy stare, and said in a cutting tone, “I’ll settle scores with you after this is overb./bb” /b

    Gloria’s face paled, but she still weakly blocked their way. “You can’t go in,” she insisted.

    Dawn irritably reached out to shove Gloria aside, but couldn’t budge her, Gloria was far more solidly built. That exined how, when Dawn had let her guard down, Gloria had managed to push her into a bathroom stall so easily.

    Maxine watched the two women locked in a standoff, then abruptly cut in, “You do know Peak Technology is just a shellpany, right?”

    Gloria’s face drained of all color as she shot her a re. “What nonsense are you spouting? Do you have any idea what kind of consequences you’ll face for saying that?”

    Turning sharply to Dawn, she snapped, “Is this woman even one of us? You disclosed our deal with Peak Technology to an outsider? Do you realize bwhat /bkind of trouble this could cause?”

    Before Dawn could respond, Maxine cut in sharply. “Do you realize what consequences you’ll face if you help Bradley enter into a contract with a shellpany?”

    Gloria snapped through gritted teeth at Maxine, “None of your business! I haven’t done anything illegal.”

    Maxine continued expressionlessly, “Really? Do you realize this is called fraud? If this fails to take down Urban, do you have any idea what kind of retaliation you’ll face?”

    As she spoke, Maxine leaned in close to Gloria’s ear and whispered, “Bradley will be just fine, a fallen noble is still abovemoners. He can simply pack up and flee abroad with his wife and son. But you? Do you really think he’ll take you with him?“.

    Gloria’s hand dropped limply. A faint, knowing smile curled at Maxine’s lips. She thought, ‘Looks like my gamble paid off. In this day and age, who’s really that loyal? For Gloria to go this far, either Bradley once saved her whole family, or there’s an improper rtionship between them. It must be the second scenario.‘

    Gloria’s reaction wasn’t as intense as she’d expected. In fact, her resolve probably hadn’t been that strong from the very beginning.

    Maxine reached out and patted her on the shoulder. “Step aside.”

    Maxine deftly sidestepped Gloria and pushed open the conference room door. At the front stood a young man in a suit by the projection screen, engrossed in his animated presentation. No one in the room even noticed as the two women quietly slipped inside.

    Dawn tilted her chin toward the frontmost seat and whispered to Maxine, “That’s Mr. Soto’s seat.”

    Maxine responded with a curt nod, walked straight to the seat, and sat down without hesitation.

    All eyes turned to her at her bold move. Across the table, a portly man frowned and raised his handb, /bsignaling the presenter to stop.

    So the young man bat /bthe front nervously cut off his presentation and stood awkwardly to the side, waiting.

    “bWho /bbare /byou?” Bradley frowned, his voice edged with displeasure.

    Dawn leaned in and whispered in her ear, “The man talking bto /byou is Bradley. The bone /bbat /bbthe /bbfront /bbis /bthe head bof /bPeak bTechnology/bb.” /b

    Standing off to the sideb, /bbthe /bman bwas /bbvisibly /btenseb. /bHe refused bto /bbmeet /bbthe /bbeyes /bbof /bbthose /bseated bbelow/bb, /bbhis /bbgaze /bbfixed /bbon /bbthe /bbscreen /bbas /bbhe /bbclutched /bbthe /bbslide /bcontroller bin /bba /bbwhite/bb–/bknuckled grip!

    b1/1 /b