Chapter 9 Stealing Her Achievements

Since she'd decided to take the job at Blackstone Law Group, resigning from the Stewart Group became urgent.

On Monday, Elodie showed up at the Stewart Group wearing light, elegant makeup, ready to start the resignation process. Adrian hated her so much—he'd probably be thrilled to see her go.

But as soon as she walked into the legal department, Elodie spotted an extremely irritating figure—Chloe.

"Ms. Turner, you have to finish all these documents before you can leave today." Chloe was brazenly sitting in the director's chair, provocatively patting a stack of files nearly 2 feet high on the desk.

The assistant beside her added forcefully, "Mr. Stewart personally arranged this. If you don't finish, we'll dock your bonus and salary!"

Her husband and his homewrecker teaming up to target her at work? Elodie was so angry she almost laughed.

No wonder HR and the secretary's office kept passing the buck about her resignation, insisting she go to Adrian directly.

"Did you hear me?" Seeing Elodie's lack of response, Chloe became even more smug. "I'm in charge of the entire legal department now. Adrian was worried I'd be too tired, so he specially assigned me two senior assistants."

Even though she was mentally prepared, Elodie's heart still couldn't help but ache.

Back when she first joined the Stewart Group, she started from the bottom as a legal assistant, pulled countless all-nighters to become legal director, and she didn't even have her own office. Looking at the arrogant Chloe in front of her now, the comparison felt increasingly ironic.

Elodie suppressed the turmoil in her heart and raised an eyebrow coldly. "Fine, then manage away."

Just then the elevator doors opened. Without hesitation, Elodie turned and stepped into the elevator, directly pressing the down button.

Skip work all she wanted, dock her pay all they wanted—she was resigning anyway. What little time she had left in her life was too precious to waste on such shameless people.

Outside the elevator doors, Chloe, completely ignored, angrily knocked over the coffee on the desk and shrieked, "Dock her pay! Fire her immediately!"

In the first-floor lobby, Elodie had just stepped out of the elevator when she ran right into Adrian, surrounded by senior executives.

The people around looked at Elodie with various expressions. After all, in their eyes, Elodie had used every trick in the book to become part of the Stewart family back then, and her current act was surely just another game of "playing hard to get."

Ignoring the mocking looks around her, Elodie walked straight up to Adrian and pulled out a business card Lucas had helped her print from her bag, handing it over.

"This is my new identity, Mr. Stewart. I look forward to working with you in business in the future."

Adrian didn't even glance at the card. His gaze suddenly darkened as he looked at her, a mocking sneer curling at his lips. "You're really resigning?"

His tone was casual, but the low pressure radiating from him clearly showed his anger.

In the past, Elodie would have softened her attitude and tried to placate him. But now?

She lifted her head, revealing a flawless smile. "Of course I'm serious. And I'm serious about the divorce too. When you have time, Mr. Stewart, go get the paperwork done. Or with your status, you just need to sign something and everything can be arranged."

Adrian laughed in anger, his eyes cold as ice. "Fine. I'll grant your wish."

Half an hour later, Elodie and Lucas's team took their seats at the promotional event for the industry debate competition.

The host was on stage introducing the upcoming competition rules when he suddenly changed topics. "Everyone, today we've added a special segment. Please welcome the legal representative from the Stewart Group to give a pre-competition speech!"

Applause thundered through the venue. Elodie looked toward the sound and saw Chloe wearing a custom lake-blue dress, walking onto the stage with poise and grace, basking in the spotlight.

Elodie instinctively looked toward the VIP section.

Workaholic Adrian had actually taken time out of his busy schedule to sit there. His eyes were fixed intently on Chloe on stage, with a tenderness and devotion in his gaze that Elodie had never seen before.

Elodie bitterly withdrew her gaze and was about to look down at her materials when Chloe's clear voice came through the microphone, filling the entire venue:

"Today, I'm very pleased to share with you all a legal research paper I recently published in an international core journal..."

As the PowerPoint unfolded on the big screen, Elodie's face turned deathly pale!

How dare she?!

That was her paper!

When they'd first gotten married, Elodie had held infinite hope for their marriage. This paper, "Marriage Management and Women's Legal Rights Framework," was the result of her staying up all night writing back then. The theme encouraged women to be sincere in marriage while not giving up themselves.

After she finished writing it, the manuscript disappeared. She never imagined that today, Chloe would brazenly present it as her own achievement on stage!

When the speech ended, the venue erupted in thunderous applause.

Elodie was trembling with rage and was about to rush onto the stage to confront her without thinking. But just as she stood up, someone grabbed her wrist tightly!

She turned around to meet Adrian's cold, warning eyes.

"That paper is mine! You stole my work!" Elodie's rationality was on the verge of collapse as she hissed through gritted teeth.

"Elodie, if you have any issues with Chloe, you can discuss them privately, instead of losing it regardless of the occasion and making people laugh at the Turner family and the Stewart family." Adrian's large hand applied slight pressure, the force almost crushing her wrist bones. His eyes were full of mockery, as if looking at a clown.

Elodie laughed in anger. "Adrian, are you an idiot? The core of this paper is real marital difficulties and legal struggles! Has Chloe ever been married? What does she know about marriage management?!"

"Shut up." Adrian's eyes grew even more sinister, gripping Elodie's hand even harder.

The pain in her wrist was nothing compared to the tearing sensation in her heart. Elodie's features scrunched up in pain. "Of course I have evidence! I have the original file with timestamps in my email—"

"Mrs. Stewart, how can you accuse me like this?"

Chloe had somehow come down from the stage and appeared beside them, her eyes red-rimmed. Tears slid down her cheeks as she looked utterly wronged. "I was the one who came up with this topic first. You only saw my initial draft. How can you slander me now..."

Adrian roughly shoved Elodie away and protectively pulled the swaying Chloe into his arms.

His cold, sharp gaze pierced Elodie. "I believe Chloe. If anyone dares to falsely accuse her in the workplace, I won't let them get away with it!"