My father took the proposal, reading it with care.
"Not bad," he said at last, "very thorough. If the Haines project is carried out according to this plan, the profits could be maximized. I'll take this home and review it in detail."
Adrian smiled. "Dad, you can't just look it over. This project won't run smoothly without your support."
I understood instantly. My family still held some value, value Adrian needed for the Haines project. That was why he hadn't dared burn every bridge with me.
I stayed quiet through the meal, offering no hint of the tension between us.
The dinner was lively, the laughter warm, but beneath it all, only he and I knew how hollow it truly was.
I had a little too much to drink, so he took the wheel and drove us home.
"That proposal was Nadia's work. Even your father acknowledged it. Her ability is remarkable; she's a true talent. I only took her to dinner to keep her in the company. Nothing more."
"I thought tonight's dinner was meant to ease things between us. Clearly, I was mistaken. You simply refuse to let her go, don't you?"
"Bianca, you're being unreasonable. I'm only trying to retain real talent for the company. Don't be deceived by her age; many firms are eager to hire her. Talents like hers require special treatment to keep."
"If she said she'd only stay if I handed you over to her, should I step aside as well?"
"You're being absurd." Adrian's expression chilled. "If she's dismissed, then this proposal is useless. I can't explain that to your father; you can tell him yourself."
I laughed bitterly inside. So this was his plan.
Talent?
What a joke. Every year, top graduates flood the market. Talent has never been scarce.
What was scarce was the platform.
Since Adrian wanted to play games with me, it was time he saw exactly what kind of person Bianca truly was. Let's see if my authority still stood now that the Hayes family had risen in power.
The next morning, I walked into the office with a clear plan. He couldn't bring himself to fire Nadia? Then I would.
By 9:30, I was in my office, sipping tea and admiring the river view, when the door was shoved open without so much as a knock.
Adrian strode in, his expression dark, and slammed a contract down on my desk. "Bianca, what is the meaning of this? I told you Nadia is a talent. I even had your father review her proposal. Why did you still fire her?"
I met his glare, my voice cold. "Adrian, do you really think I don't see through your little schemes? Why didn't you tell my father yesterday that the proposal came from Nadia? Even if it had been filled with scribbles, as his son-in-law, you'd still earn a few polite words of praise. Do you honestly believe her proposal was that good?"
I tossed a document across the desk. "Take a good look at this."
Adrian picked it up; it was the same proposal he had proudly handed to my father yesterday, only now it was almost drowning in red ink.
"The red lines," I said coolly, "are the revisions it needs. The circled parts? Complete nonsense, running entirely against the goals of the Haines project. And you had the nerve to present this to my father?"
"Tell me, those proposals you've given my father in the past, by the time you got them back, they'd all been edited, hadn't they? I was the one who fixed them. This time, he asked me to revise it again."
I let the words sink in before delivering the cut. "Whether Nadia is talented or not is debatable. But whether you, the chairman, are competent? That's the real question."
Adrian's jaw tightened. "Even if Nadia's proposal isn't perfect, it still has merit. She has fresh ideas. The company needs people like her."
