CHAPTER 306
“You’re trying hard, aren’t you, Harmony? You must be terrified of me.”
Harmony was taken aback by Arianna’s calm response and biting words.
"What’s that supposed to mean?" she snapped, clearly thrown off balance.
Arianna met her gaze with quiet confidence.
"You can't stand to compete on equal footing, so you resort to undermining me or trying to steal my spotlight. That’s how you think you’ll have any chance of winning the assignment. But deep down, you know I’m not someone you can outdo. You can’t match me in a fair fight, and that scares you."
Her words were soft, but her confidence radiated like a quiet force, leaving no room for doubt.
Harmony’s pride stung, and her face darkened with a mix of bitterness and resentment. She clenched her jaw, forcing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
“You can say what you want, Arianna. If it makes you feel better, go ahead.”
She straightened, the venom in her voice creeping back as she added,
“You go write your self-review. When you're done, I’ll be well on my way to finishing the investigation and I’ll be the one with the scoop.”
Arianna’s eyes held steady as Harmony threw her last barb.
"Don’t worry," she said, her tone almost sweet, "I’ll make sure to give it my all. You’d better watch the news when the time comes. I’ll be the one on television, and I’ll be Ms. Goldman’s new protégé.”
With a final, smug grin, Harmony tossed out her last jab, dripping with insinuation.
“Everything that’s meant to be mine will be mine, Arianna. One way or another, I’ll get it all back. Whether it’s this assignment or something else.”
Harmony's mention of "something else" was a reference to Xander.
It was almost laughable how deluded she was.
A cold, dangerous glint flickered in Arianna’s eyes as she stared at Harmony.
Without warning, she took a step toward her.
The shift in Arianna’s presence was immediate, and the intensity of her gaze made Harmony instinctively step back.
The sudden movement rattled her, but she quickly regained her composure, lifting her chin defiantly to meet Arianna’s unwavering stare.
Arianna smirked, closing the gap between them. Her voice was calm but deadly serious as she spoke,
“You can keep dreaming, Harmony. But that’s the only place where you get everything you want.”
With that, Arianna turned and walked out of the pantry, leaving Harmony standing amid her frustration.
Harmony’s hands balled into fists, her nails digging into her palms. She pressed her lips together to hold back the fury welling up inside her.
The sight of Arianna’s confidence—so unshakable and determined—was more than she could bear.
She silently swore to herself, *I’ll make sure you regret this, Arianna.*
…
Later that night, in the study of her villa, Arianna sat at her desk, her attention focused on the computer screen in front of her. Her fingers moved swiftly over the keyboard as she typed up a report.
Her phone, resting beside her, buzzed with a new message.
Arianna glanced briefly at the screen to see that it was a message from Rochelle on WeTalk.
She paused, set her fingers back on the keyboard for a moment, then reached over and unlocked her phone to read his message.
\\\[The weekend's here! You don’t have work tomorrow, right babe? How about we go shopping? Some new bag designs have just dropped.\\\]
Arianna quickly typed back. \\\[Sorry, babe. I have a busy weekend ahead. Can’t make it.\\\]
Within seconds, Rochelle called her through a video chat.
Arianna answered, and Rochelle’s glamorous face appeared on the screen.
Her hair was wrapped in a towel, and she was applying skincare, looking relaxed as she lazily asked,
“It’s the weekend! What could you possibly be so busy with?”
Arianna set the phone down on the desk and kept typing as she responded, “I’m writing a self-review.”
“A self-review?” Rochelle raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. “Why would someone as talented as you have to write a self-review?”
Arianna quickly explained the situation.
As expected, Rochelle was fuming when she heard the details and almost crushed the cap of her skincare bottle.
“Unbelievable! The things that women will do to get ahead. She’s so shameless.”
Rochelle’s previous leniency towards Harmony was misplaced.
A woman like Harmony, with her blatant, manipulative tactics, had never learned a real lesson.
“But seriously, you’re going to sit there and play the good girl for this self-review?” Rochelle’s frown deepened.
“And you turned down my invitation for this?”
Arianna shrugged with a small, helpless smile. “What can I do? Sometimes you have to bite your tongue when you're under someone else’s roof.”
Rochelle gave her a long, evaluating look before snorting. “Still cracking jokes, huh? I’m guessing you’ve got a plan?”
Arianna smiled back without answering.
Rochelle’s concerns immediately eased.
After all, Arianna wasn’t the naive, sheltered girl she once was. She had grown sharper, more resourceful, and more than capable of handling her challenges and standing up for herself.
If things took a turn for the worse, Arianna knew she could always count on Xander.
Rochelle ripped open a facial mask and tilted her head back, smoothing it across her face. As she gently pressed it into place, she looked up at Arianna with a serious expression.
“If you need my help, don’t hesitate to—”
Arianna didn’t wait for her to finish. “Rochelle, I do need your help this time.”
Rochelle immediately locked eyes with her, her tone unwavering.
“Just tell me what to do.”
\\---
The weekly meeting at Starlight TV was set to start promptly at nine in the morning. Everyone above the supervisor level needs to attend.
Arianna followed Clark into the large conference room on the top floor. The space was filled with department heads and high-ranking staff, and she noticed that Elizabeth was also present.
Arianna was one of the last to arrive, with the general manager being the final person to walk in.
As soon as the general manager took his seat, the meeting officially commenced.
The first half of the meeting was dedicated to routine reports from various departments.
When it came time for the anchor department, which was sixth on the list, Clark turned around and leaned in close to Arianna. His voice dropped to a low whisper as he warned her,
“Once I finish my report, you’ll present your self-review. Get your act together. Don’t cause any problems. If you do, there will be consequences…”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence. The weight of his unspoken threat hung in the air, and Arianna knew exactly what he meant.
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