The Real Heiress Is a Hidden Boss

Sophia's POV

As I walked out of the director's office carrying a cardboard box, employees in the hallway turned to stare.

The elevator doors opened, and my adoptive father Carl Smith, adoptive mother Gretl Smith, and their biological daughter Vivian Smith stepped out.

"Sophia." Carl stopped, his eyes falling on the box in my hands. "All done with the handover?"

I looked at him calmly, my face expressionless. "The design department's project timeline has been sent to your email, and the client files are all..."

"Sophia." Vivian gently interrupted me, walking over with a warm smile on her face. "I'll get familiar with all this gradually. Don't worry, I'll do my absolute best as design director and won't let Mom and Dad down."

I looked at her. Today she wore a Chanel suit, her long hair carefully styled, looking every bit the career professional.

But who would have thought that just a month ago, when she was found and brought back to the Smith family, she was an amateur who couldn't even operate CAD properly? Now she had not only taken my position but dared to claim she could handle being design director. Talk about thick-skinned.

"That's right, Vivian is very smart and learns everything quickly." Gretl chimed in, patting Vivian's hand, her eyes full of affection. But when she looked at me, it immediately turned to disgust. "Unlike you."

Her tone dripped with mockery. "I heard your biological father is disabled, your mother doesn't work, your three brothers are all unmarried, your younger brother has a congenital heart condition, and your family owes the hospital huge medical bills."

"Mom! Please don't!" Vivian looked distressed and stopped Gretl.

She turned to me, her eyes full of sympathy. "Sophia, I talked to Mom and Dad. Although company policy says departing employees only get their current month's salary, we want to give you three extra months' pay, as a..."

She paused, looking as if she had my best interests at heart. "A token of appreciation from me and Mom and Dad, and compensation for the engagement with Ryan Lopez. After all, Sophia, your family's situation is special and you need the money."

She deliberately mentioned Ryan. The Lopez family and the Smith family had a business marriage arrangement. Originally, Ryan and I were supposed to get married this year, but after Vivian was found, the engagement naturally went to her.

Their wedding invitations had been distributed throughout the company last week.

As soon as Vivian finished speaking, whispers erupted among the surrounding employees.

"Director Sophia's birth family is really that difficult? Life's going to be tough for her from now on."

"If it were me, I'd beg Mr. Smith. Maybe I could stay with the Smith family."

"Right, Vivian is so kind, she definitely wouldn't hold a grudge."

I acted as if I hadn't heard, my expression growing even colder. "Not necessary. Just settle according to the contract. What's mine, not a penny less. What's not mine, I won't take a penny more."

Gretl sneered at this. "Now you're acting all high and mighty? For the past twenty years you ate our food and wore our clothes at the Smith family. Why didn't you say you didn't want what wasn't yours then?"

"Mrs. Smith," I looked up at her, my tone full of sarcasm, "the value I've created for Smith Group over the years far exceeds what you spent on me. Need me to have the finance department calculate that account?"

Carl's face darkened as he scolded loudly, "Sophia, how dare you talk to your mother like that?"

Vivian quickly tried to smooth things over. "Mom, Dad, don't blame Sophia. She just can't accept it right now."

As she spoke, she pulled out an elegantly wrapped gift box from her bag. "Sophia, this is a farewell gift I prepared for you. It's not worth much, but it's a token of my feelings."

Then she reached out to grab the box from my hands. I tried to step aside, but it was too late.

The box fell to the ground, and several documents slid out, scattering across the polished marble floor.

"Those are the design drafts for the company's main products next quarter!" someone gasped in shock.

"That's Smith Group's core confidential information. It determines the year's revenue."

The hallway instantly fell silent.

Gretl was the first to react, her face turning livid. "Sophia Smith! How dare you steal the company's designs?!"

"Why would I steal that waste paper?" I laughed coldly.

I had drawn every single one of those designs myself. Since childhood, I'd had a photographic memory—the images in my head were far clearer than those few sheets of paper.

"Then how did they end up in your box?" Gretl's voice grew increasingly shrill. "You're caught red-handed and you still want to deny it! You were planning to sell these to competitors for money, weren't you?"

"Sophia, I really underestimated you! The Smith family raised you all these years, and this is the ungrateful wretch we got!"

Vivian also covered her mouth, her eyes reddening. "Sophia, if you needed money you could have told us. Why would you do something like this? You know perfectly well this is Father's and the entire company's hard work."

She turned to Carl, her voice choking. "Dad, please don't blame Sophia. She must have been desperate, she just made a mistake. Please don't call the police."

"Vivian! You're too kind! Since she dared to do this, she needs to face the consequences." Gretl glared at me hatefully, grinding her teeth.

A department head couldn't help but speak up. "Director Shen, this is really wrong of you! Director Vivian thinks of you at every turn, how could you do something like this!"

"Right, I never thought she was this kind of person. Always acting so high and mighty, but stealing company secrets!"

Voices of condemnation rose one after another, all directed at me.

But I said nothing, just bent down to pick up the papers one by one.

Rip.

The sound of tearing paper was especially clear in the quiet hallway.

Shredded paper floated down from my hands like snowflakes.

"Sophia, have you lost your mind?" Gretl shrieked. "Those are the company's main designs for next quarter!"

"Garbage designs." I sneered. "This level of work—I wouldn't want it even if you gave it to me for free. It's just taking up space."

Carl's face turned ashen as he suppressed his anger. "Do you know how much those designs are worth?"

I lifted my eyelids slightly. "Priceless to you, worthless to me."

I looked at Vivian. "By the way, just a reminder—all of Smith Group's award-winning designs from the past five years have my name listed as the patent owner. According to the contract, after leaving the company I have the right to revoke usage rights for these patents."

Vivian's face went pale.

I savored their increasingly ugly expressions and said word by word, "Starting tomorrow, if Smith Group continues to use these patents, my lawyer will send a letter."

Gretl trembled with rage. "How dare you! The Smith family cultivated you all these years—everything you have was given to you by the Smith family!"

She raised her hand high, about to slap my face.

My eyes turned cold. Just as I was about to dodge, a hand with distinct knuckles firmly gripped Gretl's wrist.

A cold, deep male voice slowly rang out behind them. "Is she your daughter? You curse at her without even considering whether you're worthy!"