Anastasia watched Valeria warily, but she definitely wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Valeria suddenly dropped to her knees in front of her, crying dramatically. “Please, sister, can’t you just let go of Jasper and be happy with Mr. Rhodes? He loves you so much–he’d treasure you forever! Please stop ruining what Jasper and I have together!”
Anastasia’s eyes narrowed as she stared down at Valeria. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Valeria’s performance was absolutely Oscar worthy–tears streaming down her face, the whole nine yards.
If Anastasia didn’t know exactly what kind of person Valeria was, she might have actually fallen for this act.
Then suddenly, Valeria stood up. Though her eyes were still wet with tears, she’d completely transformed–gone was the pathetic. pleading woman from seconds ago.
“Anastasia, I know you’re not easily intimidated. But I’m warning you anyway–I recorded that whole scene and it’s already backed up to my cloud storage. If you keep messing around with Jasper, or if he comes looking for you again, I’m sending that video straight to Cassian.”
Valeria looked absolutely smug as she continued, “You and Cassian barely know each other. Your relationship isn’t exactly rock–solid yet. You wouldn’t want something this stupid to mess things up between you two, would you?”
Anastasia let out a frustrated breath. She’d seen shameless people before, but this was next–level.
“Keep your damn dog on a leash!” Anastasia said through gritted teeth, each word dripping with fury. “If he shows up here barking at me again, I’ll put him down myself.”
Valeria had expected Anastasia to get angry, but not quite this angry.
She couldn’t actually do anything to Anastasia–today was just about sending a warning. She forced herself to stay defiant. “Just worry about yourself.”
Valeria smugly opened the conference room door.
The moment she stepped out, she found half the office staring at her with obvious curiosity written all over their faces.
Valeria snorted dismissively and lifted her chin proudly. “I thought working at a big company would be impressive. Turns out it’s not even as good as my company.”
The audacity of this woman, comparing Rhodes Global to J&A.
But what really got to Anastasia was Valeria calling it “my company.”
Since when was J&A Valeria’s company? Anastasia had built that business from the ground up, only to have someone else steal the fruits of her labor. Even though she’d cut her losses early, the whole thing still made her furious.
After Valeria strutted out, Vincent couldn’t resist coming over to stir the pot. “So Anastasia, how’d that business meeting go? I heard that woman is engaged to the CEO of J&A. She’s got her own jewelry design company–why do you think she’d come to you for designs?”
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Dumped Today, Married Tomorrow: My Overnight Wedding to a Tycoon
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It didn’t work out Anastacia said Simply.
“on, so she wasn’t impressed with your work. Well, that’s pretty normal…
*
Vincent was clearly just here to humiliate her, so his tone was predictably nasty.
Anastasia shot him a cold look. “Are you done? Can I get back to work now?”
Vincent could tell Anastasia was pissed, which only made him more satisfied. “Better get back to it then. Try to create something decent next time so you don’t get rejected again. Don’t you think?”
Anastasia took a deep breath. “Got it.”
Vincent watched her carefully, muttering to himself, “Weird. Did Anastasia have a personality transplant? She’s not even fighting back.”
“Mr. Rhodes, should I put this book away for you?” Miss Brooks asked, pointing to the book Anastasia had finished reading yesterday and left on the coffee table.
“Leave it there,” Cassian said.
It was rare for Anastasia to spend time in his office, and he didn’t want to erase all traces of her presence so quickly.
Miss Brooks looked at the casually placed book, thinking about how Anastasia really had Cassian wrapped around her finger. This was a man who usually couldn’t stand the slightest bit of disorder, yet here he was letting a book stay on his coffee table!
Just then, Yinsen and Griffin burst through the door.
“Cassian, what are you up to? I’m bored out of my mind. Want to hit the slopes in Switzerland with us?” Yinsen said, his face lighting up with excitement.
“The ski resorts here are all crowded public mountains with basic equipment and tiny runs. It’s packed with people–totally ruins the experience.”
Cassian looked up and gave Yinsen a flat stare. “If you want to go, go. Don’t drag me into it.”
Griffin picked up the book from the coffee table and started flipping through it casually. “Cassian, why are you re–reading these books? Didn’t you finish all of these already?”
Not just these books–he’d read every single book on that entire wall of shelves.
The guy had this terrifying habit of remembering everything he read, and he could speed–read like nobody’s business–scanning entire pages at once.
Once he’d finished a book, you could quiz him on any part of it and he’d remember perfectly.
Absolutely terrifying. No wonder he was a child prodigy while the rest of them spent their whole lives trying to catch up.
Griffin figured Cassian just liked showing off–why else would he install an entire wall of bookshelves in his office? Basically screaming “Look how well–read I am!” to anyone who walked in.
Suddenly, as Griffin was randomly flipping through the book, he spotted something that made his eyes go wide. “No way!
Chapter 293
Cassian, I never knew you were this narcissistier”
Cassian’s sharp gaze snapped to Griffin. “What are you talking about?”
“Dude, reading is one thing, but why are you drawing self portraits in your books? Who’s going to want to read this when there are pictures of your face all over it?” Griffin said.
They’d just be staring at the pretty boy the whole time!
“Self portraits? Let me see!” Yinsen said, moving closer with obvious curiosity.
“Whoa, Cassian, not to call you out, but you’re being a little…” weird.
Yinsen caught Cassian’s unfriendly stare before he could finish the word.
He quickly backtracked. “I mean, when did you get so good at drawing? You could have mentioned it.”
Cassian walked over and snatched the book out of Griffin’s hands.
When he saw the drawings, he froze completely.
These weren’t his drawings, but he knew exactly who had made them.
Besides him, only Anastasia had touched this book. He was certain these sketches were hers!
Cassian headed toward the door with the book in hand.
Yinsen called after him, “Where are you going? I mean, we’ve seen the self–portraits now, but it’s not like we’re going to tell anyone. You don’t need to go destroy the evidence!”
Griffin nudged Yinsen and whispered, “Do you actually think Cassian drew those?”
“How should I know? Anything’s possible. Maybe Cassian’s way more vain than we thought.”
Griffin looked at him like he was an idiot, completely speechless.
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