Chapter 135


    Chapter 135


    Anastasia was in high spirits as she sent her son off to school. After giving Jared a flying kiss, she hailed


    a cab to head to work. Once she arrived at the office, she put all of her focus into her work. She


    managed to reply to a few emails before going off for their morning meeting. Felicia had been rather


    pushy aboutunching new products for thepany, and the design department had to produce the


    latest designs that would help with their sales.


    During the meeting, Felicia praised Anastasia for her work as Anastasia’s designs had received great


    feedback from the general public. Her designs were a good match for the market, and it was already the


    hit product in many stores. Even so, she took herpliments without being too arrogant about it.


    After that, Felicia made another announcement. “The finance department just gave us a call. They told


    us that they will release the prize money a little earlier this time, so it’ll probably be out by this afternoon.


    You guys should check your bank ount in a bit, Anastasia and Alice.”


    Alice turned her gaze toward Anastasia all of a sudden. There was an unfriendly look in her eyes.


    Anastasia noticed it, but she just ignored it as she didn’t know what Alice was trying to do. After the


    meeting, Anastasia returned to the office. Soon enough, she heard the notification of her bank ount.


    She opened it to see seven zero’s. Oh my god. I didn’t expect the finance department to be so


    enthusiastic about handing out money. They deserve a huge thumbs up.


    Anastasia felt much more motivated to work after receiving the cash prize, and she finished three drafts


    all at once. She was even satisfied with all three of them. Right then, herndline began to ring. “Hello?”


    She picked the call up.


    “Hello? Is this Anastasia? I’d like to tell you some inside news. Elliot was the one who arranged for you to


    win the prize. If you were relying on your own skills, you would’ve gotten third ce at most. You’d never


    get first ce with your standard.” Anastasia’s expression changed immediately. “Who are you? How do


    you know about this?”


    “It doesn’t matter who I am. What I’m telling you is the truth. You only got this prize because of Elliot. He


    was the one who called the chairman of mypany. You can ask him if you don’t believe what I’m


    saying. Most of thepetition’s judges as well as the organizingmittee know about this.” The man


    ended the call after that.


    Anastasia was still in a daze, but she could feel her face turning hot. She could hear her ears ringing as if


    someone had given her an invisible p. It’s true. Elliot was the one who gave me this prize. I didn’t truly


    deserve all of this cash. Her entire body felt like it was boiling, and she could feel her heart pounding


    harder than usual. She grabbed her phone and walked out of the office without any hesitation.


    Alice had been sitting by the window, and she spread her lips into a cold smirk when she saw Anastasia


    storming out of the office. Will she still im the cash prize for herself now? Alice thought. After what


    happened with Ben previously, Alice managed to contact him to ask for some inside news regarding the


    prize. Then, she contacted another one of the internal managers to help her make that call. Alice


    wouldn’t allow Anastasia to be more recognized than she was-ideally, Alice wanted this whole


    incident to go viral so that Anastasia’s name would be ruined.


    Anastasia took a deep breath after arriving at the elevator. She decided that she wouldn’t take the money


    anymore. Even the trophy felt like a form of embarrassment to her. If Elliot’s going to use


    such manners to thank me, I’m not going to ept his good intentions at all.


    Once Anastasia got to the president’s office, she knocked on the door. “Come in,” said a man’s deep


    voice. She pushed the door open to find Elliot sitting in the office. It seemed like he was extremely busy


    because there were piles of documents covering his table.


    “Were you the one who pulled strings for me to get the prize that I received? Tell me the truth.” Anastasia


    smacked both her hands on his desk as she tried her best to remain calm and rational about the


    situation.


    He took a long gaze at her, and he realized that he didn’t have the ability to lie to her at that moment. So,


    he gave her a soft nod. “Why did you do that? Were you trying to thank me? I don’t need you to do that,


    Elliot. From now on, I don’t need you to give me any special benefits in thepany. I don’t need you to


    get involved with anything that I do at all, okay?” She sounded like she was begging him by the end of


    her sentence. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    A rather stunned look surfaced on Elliot’s face as he stared at her. All he had intended to do was to help


    her-he had never wanted to hurt her.