The meeting time was set.

It wasn’t until Tuesday that Elodie managed to carve out a window in her schedule

to head over to The Silverstein Group.

That afternoon.

Maurice Nilsson happened to be free, so he came along with Sylvie to The Silverstein Group’s office.

The past few days had left Sylvie completely frazzled. She was up until the early hours, still negotiating contract terminations with partners.

When Neural Intelligence first launched their new system, VistaLink Technologies was mired in a plagiarism scandal. That bit of luck had sent a string of business opportunities straight to Neural Intelligence’s door.

But now, with Terrence’s team’s latest system accused of infringing on VistaLink’s patents, the tables had turned. Neural Intelligence had been ordered to cease and desist, and naturally, those promising partnerships were falling apart. Not only did contracts need to be dissolved, but Neural Intelligence was also expected to shoulder their partners’ losses.

All Sylvie could do was try to keep the remaining partners calm. If another crisis erupted, the company’s finances could freeze up overnight.

“I called Jarrod earlier-he’s tied up this afternoon. Mind waiting a bit?” Maurice, well aware of the mountain Sylvie was facing, glanced over with concern.

“It’s fine, I actually wanted to ask him about some contract issues anyway.” Sylvie rubbed her forehead, exhaustion etched deeply into her features.

Maurice considered this. “Why not just let Jarrod handle the whole mess for you? It’d save you a lot of trouble.”

Sylvie, brilliant though she was in technology, was still finding her feet in corporate management-especially now, with the company in such turmoil. It was a lot for anyone to handle.

She shook her head, frowning. “This happened on my watch. I should be the one to fix it. Live and learn, right? Besides, I don’t want to rely on him for everything.”

Most of Neural Intelligence’s funds had already been funneled out over the past few days. If things got worse, she’d have to ask her mother to help cover the gaps.

“What’s Elodie saying about all this?” Maurice still couldn’t get over the scale of the fallout.

Who could have predicted such a dramatic reversal? In hindsight, it was obvious: when Alexander put Elodie on the front lines, she was both a scapegoat and a decoy-meant to draw fire while others hunted for evidence. It was… cold- blooded.

“She doesn’t want to talk to me,” Sylvie replied, lips pressed into a thin line, a trace of amusement in her eyes.

A few days ago, Jarrod had asked her to issue a public apology. He’d promised to handle some of the aftermath, though he hadn’t given her any specifics. She hadn’t wanted to do it, but there was no choice-refusing to admit fault now would only backfire, making her and the company pariahs in the industry.

This lesson, she had learned the hard way.

As for Elodie-she was only making things difficult in places like this because she knew she couldn’t compete with Sylvie on a technical playing field. It was weakness, plain and simple.

“Don’t worry, Jarrod will figure something out,” Maurice offered, trying to reassure her.

Just then, the secretariat bustled past in a hurry.

Maurice stopped one of them to ask about Jarrod he wasn’t in his office.

The whole administrative department seemed to be converging on the main conference room, everyone moving with purpose.

“Ms. Fielding, Mr. Nilsson, Mr. Silverstein has a meeting scheduled now. You’re welcome to wait in the lounge,” Keith said as he passed, not forgetting to have Sylvie’s favorite coffee brought over for both of

them. t

The moment Sylvie caught the aroma of her favorite blend, some of the tension in

her chest finally eased. Jarrod always remembered the little things, even when everything else was falling apart.

“This isn’t just an ordinary meeting,

is it?” Sylvie noticed a group of familiar faces-some shareholders from The Silverstein Group and even a few from Nexus

Analytics-emerging from the

elevators.

५

Keith’s expression remained neutral, but the disbelief was clear in his eyes. “No,

this is a shareholder resolution.”

“A board meeting?” Sylvie echoed, her confusion evident.

Just as she spoke, she caught a glimpse of Elodie out of the corner of her eye. Her face tensed instantly.

Even Maurice couldn’t hide his surprise. “Elodie? How are you even allowed in The Silverstein Group right now?”

Sylvie glared at Elodie, but Elodie acted as if she hadn’t heard, eyes fixed straight ahead as she strode into the boardroom without so much as a backward glance.

Sylvie’s mind raced. How did Elodie have any right to be in The Silverstein Group’s boardroom?

Inside, Elodie immediately spotted Jarrod already seated at the table.

He looked up, their eyes meeting for a single second before he looked away, his expression unreadable.

Elodie wasn’t familiar with every

clause in The Silverstein Group and

Nexus Analytics’ charters, but Jarrod had promised that Nexus Analytics would be transferred to her; he wouldn’t have made that offer if there were procedural obstacles. Cóntent

And her guess was right.

Jarrod, holding a controlling interest in Nexus Analytics, directly transferred eighty percent of his shares to Elodie.

Just like that, Elodie became the absolute majority shareholder of Nexus

Analytics.