Hiding Behind Her Superficiality

Chapter 151

Throughout the following days, tension brewed between Elspeth and Callum. Everyone could tell, but no one addressed it.

During a meeting, Emma suggested that the company should expand its offerings and branch out into making perfume. Her suggestion received unilateral support.

Elspeth was the only one who objected, but she received Callum’s criticisms and reprimands in return. The relationship between the two fell to an all-time low.

Callum gave Emma full control of the project, which inspired many thoughts and guesses from the others. Could Emma be the next Mrs. Winthrop? Copyright by Nôv/elDrama.Org.

However, Elspeth was still the vice president, so no one dared to voice their hypothesis.

That afternoon, the employees heard the news that she was leaving the company.

Emma’s desk was near Elspeth. When she walked over and saw Elspeth packing her things with a neutral expression, her heart sang with glee, but she pretended to be sad that Elspeth was leaving. “Mr. Winthrop would be so upset that you’re leaving, Elspeth.”

“What do his feelings have to do with me? We’ve broken up.”

They broke up? Emma’s heart was about to leap out of her chest as she probed, “Did you really break up with him? Why?”

Elspeth glanced at her coolly. “We broke up over texts just a moment ago. We’re not suitable for each other, and we’ll only keep fighting if we stay together, so it’s pointless to continue such a relationship.”

Although Emma was aware that Elspeth was a decisive person, she was still doubtful about seeing Elspeth leave without a moment of hesitation or a trace of reluctance.

“Do you not have any feelings for him?”

Elspeth paused as her eyes flickered with complicated emotions. “So what if I do? When there’s no longer any trust between two people, all that remains is suspicion and constant torment.”

This was exactly what Emma wanted to hear. Her worries melted away as she gave Elspeth a pained smile. “You shouldn’t be so rash, Elspeth. What if it’s just a misunderstanding?”

“Do a good job. You’ll be able to replace me someday. Well, that’s it. I’m leaving now.”

Elspeth didn’t say anything more. She gathered her things and dropped by the HR Department to get her final paycheck before leaving without looking back.

Now that Elspeth’s gone, I can get the ball rolling on the plan to ruin Winthrop Group. Emma smiled smugly.

A few days later, an issue cropped up over the perfume brand that Emma oversaw.

Although the design was chic and modern, something happened during the production process, and most of the final products failed to pass the quality inspection. The other company that collaborated with Winthrop Group on this project immediately asked to terminate the contract and demanded 150 million in compensation.

After looking into the situation, Callum realized that the factory producing the perfume was known to be a problematic one as it often produced poor-quality items. Many people had filed official complaints over this matter, but for some reason, the factory was still running.

An emergency meeting was called at Winthrop Group, and during the meeting, Emma looked aggrieved as she slowly explained all the ways she had been wronged.

“This factory… Elspeth’s the one who recommended this factory to me. Before she left, she told me to work with this factory. I don’t know why things would turn out this way.”

Elspeth wasn’t around, so no one was here to expose Emma’s lies.

Once the others heard what she said, they began to assume that Elspeth had an ulterior motive behind her departure.

“Oh, that’s right. Before Elspeth left, she told me there was no future in Winthrop Group. She asked me to consider Alphascape instead.”

Listeners could ascribe any meaning they want to a person’s words, and true enough, the moment Emma brought this up in her hesitant, careful way, everyone else exploded in fury.

“She must’ve been a mole from Alphascape! She must’ve gotten Emma to do those things to land the Winthrop Group in hot waters!”

It only took a moment for Elspeth to be labeled as a mole from Alphascape Group.

Callum cleared his throat, and the room fell silent.

“Whether or not Elspeth’s a mole isn’t the issue now. The priority is to salvage the situation and cover our losses.”

The other directors sneered in contempt. “It’s 150 million, not 15 thousand! How can we turn things around so easily? We should be focusing on finding Elspeth and making her pay!”

The others agreed with this. She was the one who caused the crisis, so she should bear the losses!

Callum’s eyes darkened as he saw the way everyone else was ganging up on Elspeth as if they couldn’t wait to sue her in court.

“Isn’t that a little too absurd? Elspeth has already resigned, so we can’t find her.”

A thought seemed to occur to Emma. “Before Elspeth left, she told me that Alphascape is a good company to work for. Could she… be at Alphascape now?”

“That’s impossible. She’s not that kind of person.”

Seeing the way Callum refuted without hesitation, Emma said, “But Elspeth said you two have broken up, and she said that you share different ideals in life. Maybe… she’s not the type of person you think she is.”

Since their best interests were on the line, the others weren’t about to let things slide so easily. One of them suggested, “Why don’t we head over to Alphascape and look for her? Make her explain herself!”

He stood up in a huff at once.

However, before he could leave the room, the door opened, and everyone was shocked to see who it was.

Elspeth?!

They were going to look for her, but here she was, delivering herself up.

“You came just in time, Elspeth. We’re just about to settle the score with you.”

“What a coincidence. I’m here to settle a score, too.”

Elspeth sat down calmly as if she belonged in the room with everyone else.

An uneasy feeling rose in Emma’s heart.

“What score do you have to settle, huh? Aren’t you the one who damaged the company and left to join Alphascape? Why are you pretending like you’re the victim now?”

These were such harsh accusations, but Elspeth wasn’t bothered by them.

“It’s only been a few days since I left. I didn’t expect to see that someone has shoved all the blame on me.”

Elspeth’s gaze fell upon Emma, who felt a chill run down her spine.

Why is she completely different from the way she was last time? She was still friendly and warm toward me just a few days ago, but now, she’s cold and distant, as if she’s worlds apart from me. Had it all been an act?

Emma was engrossed in her speculations while Elspeth leaned carelessly into her seat and addressed the angry crowd, “Tell me. How did I damage Winthrop Group?”

One of them immediately said, “You told Emma about that lousy factory, and that’s why the company has incurred 150 million in losses. We don’t have that kind of cash flow right now. So, don’t you think you should take responsibility for this?”

Elspeth smirked. “Was Emma the one who told you this?”

“That’s right. Stop changing the subject. Tell us how you’re going to resolve this.”

She was about to speak when someone knocked on the door before coming over and politely addressing her as the CEO, passing a stack of documents to her.

“CEO? What CEO?”

Everyone assumed that Elspeth had become a senior executive at Alphascape, so they froze in shock when they heard the word ‘CEO.’ Even Emma was startled as well.