Sweet Divorce
Chapter 160 Mom Wants Me Home for Dinner

Rita's line brought the bustling office into dead silence.

Everyone looked over to Jason in unison.

Jason lifted his gaze to meet Rita, fingers tapping the tabletop, as if considering something-

Тар.

Тар.

Everyone remained quiet, and the tapping against the table was especially crisp.

Rita and Jason stayed there, testing each other to see who would be the first to crumble and speak.

The room seemed quiet, but undercurrents roiled.

Especially those who'd had their eyes on the assistant general manager's position for a long time - they really had it in for Rita now.

"The responsibility of the assistant general manager's position is too great, Mr. Snow. I feel like it should be left to someone more capable." Matthew spoke first, prodding Charlie with a nondescript gesture. "What do you think, Mr. Powers?"

"That's right. Assistant general manager is an important spot. You can't hand it over to someone with an unknown background just because they resolved one crisis for the company!"

Charlie shot a glance at Rita, then muttered to himself, "Much less a young girl like this."

Jason ignored the two, turning to Connor Trent, who'd maintained silent throughout. "What do you think, Mr. Trent?"

"I'll leave the decision up to you, Mr. Snow. I have no opinion on the matter." Connor gave up his say.

Charlie glared at him. "Brownnose!"

Connor smiled, as if he hadn't heard that.

The position had been one that Charlie and Connor were competing over. Now that Connor had given up, Charlie was obviously slated to be the one to get said position. As his personality went, of course Charlie was feeling resentful as all heck.

He looked coldly towards Rita, leering, "Listen, girlie..."

"Rita Brown."

Halfway into his sentence, Rita interrupted him with two words.

"W...what?" Charlie jolted.

Seriously, Rita replied, "My name, gentlemen, is Rita Brown."

Hearing that, everyone paused for a second.

Other than a bit of disquiet flashing across Jason's eyes, the rest of them didn't seem to register anything. At least, they didn't connect that name to the Brown family.

Rita didn't have Amelia's favor, so she'd never been let into the company.

Furthermore, none of the Brown family had ever been allowed to mention Rita's existence in the bloodline.

So it wasn't strange that people here didn't know her.

"You say you solved this issue for us, but where's the proof?" Charlie cocked an eyebrow, putting the ball in Rita's court again.

"Yeah, this was all Mutt's exposure piece at work, what's it got to do with you?" Hearing that, Matthew chimed in. "Show us proof that you were responsible, and we'll hand you that position." Matthew's doubts resonated with the other managers of the company, who started talking amongst themselves.

"Mr. Powers and Mr. Gray are right, Mr. Snow. We have to have Ms. Brown prove that she did resolve this issue and it wasn't a coincidence." Connor spoke as well.

Seeing everyone place pressure on her, Nathan's face swelled.

He'd known that they weren't good people, but he'd never thought they could stoop so low.

They'd promised Rita that she'd have the assistant general manager's position, but now they were trying to squirrel out of it.

What a band of cutthroats!

Nathan had had enough. He stood up for Rita. "What do you mean proof; you're just going back on your word and don't want to let her have the spot."

Facing Nathan's accusation, Charlie's expression turned fiery. "Quit speculating wildly. I feel like my suggestion was fair and reasonable!"

"You..."

"Nathan." He'd wanted to say something else, but Rita stopped him with a hand. "They're right, their request was reasonable."

Nathan jolted, looking at her, confused.

Had she lost her wits?

Couldn't she see? Charlie and gang didn't want her to have the position.

As for what Charlie and the rest of them thought, of course Rita knew.

She knew they wouldn't budge so easily.

She'd also expected everything to play out this way.

Without panicking or losing her nerve, her eyes scanned across Charlie, Matthew and Connor as she said mildly, "Since I was the one who'd sold the video to Mutt, I'm not bothered by their doubts." Hearing that, Connor laughed out loud. "You sold the video to Mutt? But Mutt is saying on social media that it was the Starpath reporter Isabelle Anderson who'd sold him the info."

At Connor's words, everyone else checked Mutt's social media.

Of course, Mutt had admitted outright that he'd bought the information from Starpath Workshop.

Seeing that, everyone looked contemptuously at Rita.

Charlie scoffed. "Can't round out the lie now, can you?"

Matthew sneered. "Probably didn't expect Mutt to give up his source like that, did you, girl?"

Jason didn't speak, only looked mildly at Rita.

Faced with their doubts, Rita still didn't panic. "Then why don't have ask Isabelle over, and we can talk? See what the truth is?"

"Sticking with the lie," Charlie jeered.

Connor tucked his glasses and chuckled. "What a coincidence. After I saw Mutt's post, I had someone get in contact with Isabelle the reporter. She's on her way to the office." "Damn, as efficient as always, Mr. Trent."

"Yeah, if anything, he's the best bet for assistant general manager."

The other staff in the office lauded praise on Connor, who simply remained as outwardly humble as before.

His action and bearing were all mild-mannered, but to Rita, he hid daggers behind that smile of his.

Even though he'd said that he was leaving it up to Jason, he was probably the one who least wanted her to have the position.

But if they wanted to play it like that, she wasn't going to stop them.

"What's with the silent treatment? Afraid?" Matthew glanced at her and mocked. "You can still back out if you are."

"Yeah, kid, if you leave now, you can still salvage your reputation." Charlie looked at Rita, his tone softening.

Rita chuckled. "I have nothing to hide."

At that moment, the door opened.

Isabelle walked in from outside.

Seeing the new arrival, Connor walked up to greet her, all smiles. "Hello, Ms. Anderson. I'm Connor Trent. I asked you to come to the office."

"Hello, Mr. Trent," Isabelle nodded.

Connor exchanged some pleasantries and returned to the subject at hand. "So as far as my knowledge goes, you sold the information to Mutt, which is why we have the tabloid headlines for today, and why Nathan's name is clear, right?"

"That's how it went," Isabelle nodded again.

Hearing that, Connor's confidence grew massively.

He made a noncommittal noise in his throat and placed the focus straight on Rita. "But this person says she was the one who dug up the info."

"That can't be, I dug up the info myself!" Hearing that, Isabelle grew enraged.

Seeing her lose her temper, some of the people there grew even more pleased.

Connor walked up to Rita, who'd had her back to Isabelle all the time, and turned her forcefully over to face Isabelle. "How would you explain it away this time, Ms. Brown?"

Rita turned, facing Isabelle with her back straight. "What... do you have something to say?"

Their eyes met, and Isabelle feigned surprise.

She swallowed the "no" she'd been in the middle of saying and added respectfully, "Boss."

Boss?!

Connor froze. "!!!"

It wasn't just him was froze to the spot, but everyone else there.

Everyone looked at Isabelle, then at Rita, still not registering the situation.

That was some twist...

"Ms. Anderson, you, you just called her...?" Unwilling to accept it, Connor confirmed it once more.

As she spoke, Isabelle took out a Starpath investor's sheet from her pocket and handed it to Connor. "Rita Brown, investor in Starpath Workshop, is my boss."

After a brief second's pause, Isabelle looked at everyone there. "My boss had me dig up this information through the channels she gave me."

With that, Isabelle handed copies of Starpath's deal with Mutt and additional information on the company to everyone present.

Hand copies, at that.

Seeing the ironclad evidence before them, everyone gaped.

Connor couldn't even have dreamed that the person he'd asked here to prove Rita was a grifter had turned around and bit him.

Right in the ass!

"Do you believe me now, Mr. Trent?" Rita beamed at Connor, who was still rooted to the spot.

The girl was laughing, but Connor felt like he was getting beaten down.

He'd lost thoroughly this time.

And gotten called out in public by a twenty-year-old little girl, how infuriating was that?

And how embarrassing.

"So the position of assistant general manager...?" Seeing Connor remain silent, Rita didn't let him off and kept pushing the question.

He didn't want to admit defeat, but all Connor could do was smile, face pale. "It's... it's yours."

"Does anyone else have any other opinions?" Rita said, authoritative gaze sweeping over Matthew and Charlie, the two greatest dissenters.

The two lowered their heads and didn't dare make a peep.

What else was there to say?

They were afraid that if they added anything, they'd be made a fool of like Connor.

Jason cocked an eyebrow. "Seeing as there are no disagreements, starting from today, Rita Brown is the assistant general manager of this subsidiary."

"Dismissed." Jason chuckled, getting up and leaving.

Everyone backed out of the office. Rita exchanged a look with Isabelle and smiled.

But seeing as they were on someone else's territory, they didn't slack up. Nathan, though, put a hand on Rita's neck happily.

"That was beautifully done, Rita!"

Rita coughed, forced to lean on Nathan, her throat starting to hurt.

"Let's go, drinks are on me." Maybe because he was overjoyed, but Nathan dragged Rita along with him like she was one of his bros.

Rita tried to make some distance between them but didn't have a chance. She was dragged all the way out of the office.

"What do you want to eat? It's on me, so don't hold back!" Nathan laughed, then lifted his head to come face to face with a set of coldly gleaming black eyes.

Liam, who'd somehow shown up opposite them, was right there. Nathan's smile went stiff on his face.

Especially seeing the man look at the arm he'd placed on Rita's shoulder, cold sweat broke out across his back.

Well, shit...

Of all the places to come across each other again.

Nathan swallowed and retracted his hand.

"Oh, uh, I've got a phone call..."

"???" Seeing Nathan take up his phone - which still had a black screen - Rita frowned.

"You... that's..." What a flimsy excuse.

"I'll treat you to drinks some other day, I need to go." Nathan chuckled, pulling Isabelle with him as he left. "My mother wants me home for dinner."

The corner of Rita's mouth twitched.

Liam's tightly wound face loosened. Good eye man.☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐