For a split second, you could have heard a pin drop in the vast conference room.

Sylvie’s usually gentle face registered a flash of shock before she met Elodie’s gaze-calm, cold, and unyielding. There was no room left for negotiation.

It was a long, heavy silence.

At last, Sylvie’s expression softened.

She had been right about Elodie’s character, after all.

Even at a critical project meeting, Elodie couldn’t resist dragging in personal grievances, resorting to these pitiful little tricks to defend her so-called dignity. Sylvie leaned back in her chair, deciding she wouldn’t dignify it with a response.

Suddenly, the whole scene struck her as faintly tragic: Elodie, so starved for affection, lashing out in all the wrong places. What was the point in arguing further, really?

Just then, Elodie’s icy gaze locked with the man standing in the doorway, his dark eyes steady and inscrutable. He was watching her, thoughts impossible to read.

Jarrod stood there, Alexander just behind him.

Of all times, Elodie hadn’t expected Jarrod to walk in and witness this moment- nothing hidden, nothing spared.

Her expression stayed cool as frost as she met his eyes, refusing to look away. Whatever he thought of her, she didn’t care.

Unless Jarrod was about to leap to Sylvie’s defense and confront her right here and now, tearing away the last pretense between them, there was really nothing he could do even if he disapproved, it made no difference.

Alexander’s face was hard to read, but there was a glint of amusement; clearly, he’d caught every word of Elodie’s bold pronouncement.

His little firebrand had grown some thorns. Anyone who crossed her these days could expect to get pricked-badly.

If it weren’t so inappropriate, he’d have applauded her right then and there.

“So, what’s going on in here?” Alexander breezed in, feigning ignorance as he pushed open the door and gestured for Jarrod to follow. “Mr. Silverstein, why don’t you come join us?”

Jarrod’s expression was inscrutable as his gaze finally slid away from Elodie. Sylvie turned to look at him, a complicated mix of resignation and composure on her face, but in the end, she said nothing about what had just happened.

Instead, she simply asked, “Jarrod, would you sit with me?”

Jarrod didn’t reply, but took the seat beside her.

“We’ll finish the meeting, and Maurice has booked lunch for us. We can head over together once we’re done,” he said quietly, not even acknowledging Elodie’s pointed remarks from earlier.

In an instant, the tension in the room melted away for Sylvie.

She hadn’t taken Elodie’s words to heart-if Elodie had any real sway over Jarrod, would they even be here today?

“Sounds good. I’ll be done soon-thanks for coming all this way for me.” She smiled, her voice tinged with a warmth meant for Jarrod alone, shutting out the rest of the room.

Jarrod simply nodded.

Elodie didn’t spare them another glance.

It was almost laughable, really. A man as busy as Jarrod, taking time out of his schedule to personally escort Sylvie-just to make sure she wasn’t put at a disadvantage at VistaLink Technologies.

He was here to protect her, no question. She was his priority, his concern.

As for what Jarrod might have overheard, Elodie couldn’t care less.

She wasn’t worried he’d accuse her of overstepping now that they were divorced. Her goal to put Sylvie on notice, remind her to stay in her lane, and warn her that her position was hardly secure—had already been achieved.

At one point, Elodie leaned over to Alexander and murmured, “Is it alright for Jarrod to sit in?”

Alexander replied in a low voice, “Most of Neural Intelligence’s core management team are here on Jarrod’s recommendation. He’s practically half-owner of the company. He’s entitled to be here.”

Elodie frowned, but let it go.

She didn’t look at the other side of the table for the rest of the meeting.

This was just a preliminary strategy session, a box to check on the long list of formalities; nothing involving proprietary technology was on the agenda.

After about an hour, the meeting wrapped up.

Sylvie had no objections to any of it.

Once it was over, she rose gracefully to chat with a few of VistaLink Technologies’ lead engineers, discussing some technical questions with admirable professionalism.