The next day.
"Morning, Brother!" Riley Palmer had already changed into her work clothes and picked up the bread on the table to eat.
Yudy Palmer looked at Riley calmly and asked, "What time did you come back last night?"
Riley froze slightly as she held her coffee. "Eleven…"
"Where did you go?"
"Um… Adrian Carter's place."
Yudy paused for a moment, and concern filled his gaze as he looked at Riley.
"Brother, I'm planning to marry Adrian."
"Riley! That's way too fast! You don't even know what kind of person Adrian is yet."
"Brother, I don't want Chris to have it easy."
Riley looked at Yudy, her tone overly calm. "Brother, Adrian is Chris's uncle."
The bread hanging from Yudy's mouth fell onto the plate.
Clatter—
The porcelain plate rang sharply.
Riley ignored it and continued, "Remember what Chris said?"
"The chairman had a child late in life, a son who was spoiled endlessly."
"For the past few years, the chairman has been preparing to hand over the company's management rights."
"Chris and his father both want it, and I refuse to let them feel at ease."
Yudy stared blankly at his sister. For the first time, he understood what the face of "the fierce woman known by everyone" truly looked like.
"Riley, is it worth it?"
"Using yourself like this…"
He felt a wave of frustration, frustration that he hadn't been capable enough back then, that he had forced his little sister into society far too early.
Forced her to stand alone and support herself.
While he himself was still just a third-tier celebrity.
Yudy sighed, "If Adrian ever hurts you, come to me. Don't force yourself to bear it alone."
He knew Riley probably wouldn't change her mind, so he thought he might as well let her do as she wished. After all, he could cover for her if anything happened.
Riley looked at Yudy, smiled gently, and nodded.
Ding-dong—
Yudy glanced at Riley, who was still busy gathering her things, and went to open the door.
"Who is it?"
Adrian Carter stood outside the door with a smile on his face.
"Good morning, Brother."
Yudy's expression stiffened slightly as he looked the man up and down from head to toe.
So this is the man my sister likes. The one she wants to marry in a flash.
His looks were indeed acceptable, and his family background matched Riley's. But who knew if he had inherited Chris's personality?
"Brother, who is it?" Riley asked from inside, puzzled.
With clear dislike, Yudy glanced at Adrian, turned around, and walked back inside."Your… boyfriend."
Behind him, Adrian chuckled softly as he watched Yudy leave.
"Brother, a friend of mine is looking for someone to play the male lead. I'm also an investor in that project. I think you fit the role quite well. Do you want to go for an audition?"
Yudy scoffed. "Sorry, I don't take backdoors."
"No backdoors," Adrian explained patiently. "Just follow the normal procedure and audition."
Seeing that Yudy still didn't want to talk to him, Adrian continued slowly,"It's a project by Director Leo. But if you don't want to go, that's fine…"
"Who did you say?"
Yudy suddenly turned around and grabbed Adrian's shoulders.
"Director Leo," Adrian replied with a small smile.
"I'll go! I'll go!" Yudy's hands flailed excitedly.
Adrian took out his phone with a smile. "Let me add you. I'll send you his contact later."
"Okay, okay!" Yudy rushed off to get his phone.
Adrian glanced at the account on his screen and smiled faintly.
[Leonard, help me make an introduction.]
Leonard Sterling looked at the message and replied flatly: [?]
[Help me get on my brother-in-law's good side.]
Leonard shut off his phone, speechless.
He brought a bowl of freshly cooked noodles to the table.
"What are you looking at?" Caleb Montgomery came running over.
"Adrian. Asking for my help."
"Oh."
Caleb leaned over the bowl of mushroom noodles and sniffed.
"Mmm, smells great! As expected, your cooking is the best."
He happily devoured the food.
Leonard ate slowly, not responding.
There were only the two of them in the villa.
Leonard had made sure of that he disliked others wandering around his territory.
He was used to solitude, and only Caleb could freely enter and leave his place.
"Where are we going later?"
Caleb drank the last sip of soup and rubbed his stomach.
"To see someone."
"Who?"
"Director Leo."
"Director Leo!" Caleb instantly perked up.
"You're going to see Director Leo?"
"Mm." Leonard scooped up the rest of the broth calmly. "Helping Adrian."
Caleb propped his chin up, his eyes shining brightly at Leonard.
Leonard stood to clean up the dishes and said slowly, "Get changed."
"Knew you were the best!" Caleb bounced away to dress up.
"Leonard! Let's go!" Caleb skipped out of the room.
Leonard sat on the sofa, looked up at him, then picked up his coat."Let's go."
Launch Enterprise.
"Mr. Carter." Jason Reed stood outside the door, watching Chris Carter with his legs propped up, playing on his phone.
He frowned.
"Oh, Jason's here? What's up?"Chris put his leg down slowly, still staring at his game.
Jason's voice was cold, clearly displeased by Chris's careless attitude.
"The Liharbor project has just been terminated."
"Oh. Okay."
"What did you say?" Chris finally reacted, jumping to his feet and dropping his phone.
Jason sighed and repeated,
"The Liharbor project is gone."
Chris swept everything off his desk in rage.
"Jason! What were you even doing? The Liharbor project was going great in the start, how did it suddenly fall apart?"
Jason remained calm."From the beginning, that project was handled by Riley alone."
"When she left, she had already organized all documents and materials and handed them to Secretary Rite. But Rite said Riley's documents were terrible and tore them up."
"The project was unilaterally terminated by the Aurelius Group yesterday."
Chris grabbed his head in frustration."Riley, Riley again! Always Riley!"
"Can this company not survive without Riley?!"
Bang bang bang—
Chris slammed the desk repeatedly and roared.
Jason took a few steps back, watching him quietly.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."
"Leaving? Where are you going?" Chris looked up at him.
"I resigned." Jason looked back calmly.
Ignoring Chris's bewildered stare, he continued,
"Chris, I'm already twenty-eight. My family is urging me to settle down."
"I plan to go back home and see what opportunities I can find."
He gave a relieved smile and walked out of the office.
Leaving Chris standing there, stunned.
Launch Enterprise originally had three founders: Riley Palmer, Chris Carter, and Jason Reed.
The one who worked the hardest had undoubtedly been Riley.
She traveled everywhere for Launch Enterprise, only to be betrayed by Chris.
Jason already knew the company wouldn't last long after she left, but he didn't expect himself to leave this soon.
Chris was obsessed with games and ignored all company affairs.
When Riley left, Jason knew there was no need to hold on either.
Outside the building, he looked at the company he had helped build from scratch.
There was reluctance, but he still turned away decisively.
Launch Enterprise no longer fit him. A company without united hearts could never rise.
Aurelius Group.
"That's my proposal."
Riley bowed respectfully as applause filled the meeting room.
She glanced at Adrian across the table; he was looking at her as well.She smiled and raised a brow.
"Does anyone have any objections?" Adrian clasped his hands and looked at the executives.
"Good. Since there are none, I'll trouble Secretary Riley to go to the site and brief the team about the issues in this project."
"No problem." Riley hugged her laptop tightly.
Standing outside the Aurelius Group building, she checked her phone.
"Secretary Riley, need a ride?"
Adrian's car window rolled down slowly as he looked at her standing alone.
Riley didn't bother being polite and smiled, "Alright. Thank you, Mr. Carter."
Construction Site.
Riley walked skillfully toward a man.
"Mr. Lie, you're here."
She chatted casually with him.
"Secretary Riley, this is…?"
Adrian caught up beside her and politely cut in.
"Mr. Carter, this is Susanto Lie, the person in charge of the site and the workers."
Adrian smiled and extended his hand."Nice to meet you, Mr. Lie. I'm Adrian."
"I didn't expect you to be so young and already in this position."
Susanto Lie rubbed his head shyly."No, no, Mr. Carter, you flatter me. I'm not that capable."
Adrian kept smiling at Susanto for a long moment before letting go of his hand.
Susanto's hand was slightly red, and his expression stiffened.
"I'm heading inside first," Riley said softly to Adrian.
"I'll go too." Adrian accepted the safety helmet Susanto handed over.
"It's dangerous inside," Riley said worriedly.
Adrian gently adjusted the strap of Riley's helmet.
"That's exactly why I'm going in with you. Because I'm worried."
"I won't disturb your work. I'll just stay by your side."
Riley finally relented.
Adrian watched the girl working seriously and took out his phone to snap pictures of her again and again.
When he was done, he carefully sorted them into folders.
He looked at the number below the photo: [1314]
He murmured quietly, "Forever…"
"Mr. Carter, I'm done here. Anything else you want to ask?" Riley called from afar.
Adrian shook his head lightly.
He followed her out.
"I'll stop here. Secretary Riley, Mr. Carter. Wish you both well."
Susanto looked around at his colleagues, then bent slightly toward them.
"May you guy with have a longer relationship."
Then he waved and went back inside.
Riley's cheeks turned pink as she glanced at Adrian.
Adrian, calm as ever, caught her sneaking a look, and smiled.