Wife 19
Peter Lennon squinted, picking up on the nervous tone in Ronald’s voice, and asked, “What’s up?
Did Charles throw another curveball your way?”
Ronald let out a forced chuckle. “Isn’t your assistant some kind ofputer whiz?”
“Just call him yourself.” Peter’s voice was curt, and the line went dead. Ronald stewed in silence,
thinking about how Mr. Hoffman and Mr. Lennon must be cut from the same cloth. Both of them
were cold businessmen with no patience or sympathy. Shaking it off, Ronald dialed up Lareal,
Peter’s assistant. “You’ve got thirty minutes to dig up info on ady. someone Mr. Hoffman’s looking
for.”
Exactly thirty minutester, Ronald had the scoop on Winter. He was practically gushing with
gratitude. “Man, you’re a lifesaver!”
On the other end, Lareal gave a cool snort. “Does Mr. Hoffman have his eye on this chick?” Winter
did not seem like much, but she yed a tough game. Lareal could not see how she would be
Charles‘ type, so he pried a little.
“No way! I’ve gotta go. We’ll catch upter. Time to brief Mr. Hoffman.”
After a year away. Noelle could tell that Frotconn had changed a lot. They had made her job.
obsolete. Sinceing back, she noticed that many of her old colleagues had bailed. Now it was
just fresh faces, and someone else was keeping her old seat warm.
Noelle massaged her temples. She was not naive. Frotconn did not do things by ident. They had
been nning this long before she had returned.
“Ms. Shaw, here’s the lowdown on the projects from thest six months. You’ve been out of the loop
for a while, so you might need a refresher on how things run around here,” said Larisse Yorell, the
woman who had been warming Noelle’s seat as the new department head. Her tone was too sharp,
almost as if she wasying all her cards out on the table. Was she trying to be this upfront?
Noelle’s eyebrow quirked up a notch. She could practically feel the chill in Larisse’s voice. Larisse
probably thought she would always be the one calling the shots as director, but Noelle’s return had
clearly thrown her for a loop.
Larisse had been the queen bee of the department for the past half–year. Now, with Noelle
swooping in to reim her throne, it was no wonder she was steamed. To top it off, Larisse was
probably all caught up on the office rumors about Noelle being the infamous
homewrecker who only got her foot in the door and her cushy director gig at Frotconn thanks to her
sister Winter.
What really seemed to grind Larisse’s gears was the idea that Noelle had betrayed her own
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sister. With that thought her tone took a nosedive. “If there is anything you don’t understand, Ms.
Shaw, just ask. After all, I’ve been the one running the show here for the past year.”
Noelle’s eyebrows knitted together in frustration, Larisse was acting so high and mighty, like Noelle
did not even matter. Noelle was not a fan of her tone. Despite being on the same team now, she
could not get too close to this woman. “Thanks for that, Larisse. But you know, this is all part of your
job. Since I’ve been out of the loop for a while, I’ll take all the help I can get without making a fuss.”
N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.
She grabbed the hefty pile of project lists from Larisse and eyed her. “Anything else?”
Larisse was taken aback by Noelle’s tough approach. She thought she had been crystal clear about
her annoyance, yet Noelle was cool as a cucumber. “Uh, no, that’s it. Ms. Shaw, since you’ve been
away for a bit, you might not know the new faces around here. How about I treat us to dinner
tonight? It’ll be a good chance for everyone to mingle, yeah?”
Noelle’s grip on the papers tightened, and she shot Larisse an icy nce. Larisse squirmed under
that stare and touched her face, asking. “Something on your mind, Ms. Shaw?”
“Nope, nothing!” Noelle shook her head. “I should be the one hosting, really, but I’m swamped these
days. I would hate to rain on everyone’s parade.”
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