As soon as Maria pushed open the door to James’s office, she froze.
Right in front of her, Amelia was clinging to his hand, way too close for comfort.
Her heart sank.
The finance director had sent her the latest financial report just last night, asking her to hand it to the CEO in person today.
She knew her secretarial role meant frequent face time with him, so she took a deep breath and pushed open the door, assuming he’d just forgotten to completely close it.
What she didn’t expect was walking in on that scene.
James, clearly caught off guard by her sudden appearance, froze for a beat before quickly pulling his hand away from Amelia’s.
He masked any emotion, trying to look unbothered, but the tension in the air was obvious.
Maria noticed the way he jerked his hand back and was momentarily thrown off.
Then she gave herself a cold little laugh.
Of course—he just didn’t want anyone seeing them like that.
“This is the financial report from the finance director,” she said, her tone casual but laced with a soft chill no one could miss.
James took it from her almost instinctively, momentarily thrown off by how detached she sounded.
“If that’s all, I’ll head out,” Maria added flatly, already turning without waiting for a reply.
“Maria,” James called after her a beat too late.
For some reason, watching her walk in on that scene stirred up a strange flicker of… guilt?
But come on, they were divorced.
And let’s not forget, she was the one who’d crossed the line back then.
He didn’t owe her anything.
Still, he blurted out without thinking, “Ms.
Lewis, I didn’t say you could go.”
Maria turned with a faint frown.
“Do you need something else, Mr.
Bennett?”
He tossed the report to his desk and walked toward her, eyes cool and unreadable.
“Nothing in particular.”
“But Maria, you’re my assistant,” he added, looking down at her with that commanding air of his.
“You need to be available whenever I need you.”
That was the last straw for Amelia.
She instantly wrapped herself around James’s arm, flashing a pitiful look at him.
“James, your mom wants us to go home and talk about our engagement.
Can we?
Just for my sake?”
Engagement?
So they were already talking marriage now.
Heh.
Maria scoffed internally, mocking him a thousand different ways in her head.
On the surface though, her expression didn’t change a bit.
James kept his eyes on her, searching for any kind of reaction—but there was nothing.
She didn’t even flinch.
He curled his lip, annoyed, and raised his voice.
“Of course I’ll go back with you.
Anything for you,” he said, with fake fondness, his eyes slyly watching her figure disappear.
He was sure she’d whip around and start something.
But no.
She just kept walking.
“Maria!” he snapped, a little panicked.
She finally turned, the look in her eyes clear: what now?
“I’m getting engaged to Amelia.
Don’t you have anything to say about that?” James narrowed his eyes, hoping to read something—anything—on her face.Maria clenched her jaw, suddenly very certain—James was doing this on purpose.
So what if the great Mr.
Bennett was getting engaged?
It had absolutely nothing to do with his ex-wife.
She made a fist, then let it go again, pulling a fake smile onto her face.
“Congrats to both of you.
Wishing you a long and happy life together and, uh, lots of kids.
That good enough?
If it’s not, I can Google more and read them out loud.”
Her tone was rushed and perfunctory—zero sincerity, pure sarcasm.
James’s eyes lit up for a second.
Her snarky tone?
Must be jealousy.
“No need to be this worked up.”
“Worked up?
Aren’t you the one who insisted I offer my best wishes?
I did.
Not my fault if it wasn’t warm enough,” Maria shot back, her movements a little choppy as she turned to leave.
Then suddenly stopped, looked over her shoulder and added, “Just a reminder—don’t let the whole engagement thing make you lose your head.
You’ve got corruption in your middle management.”
She’d only walked around the company a bit and already sensed something was off.
Sure, she’d been here less than half a day, but if James hadn’t picked up on that yet, then…
well, he really was slipping.
There were hundreds of employees at Bennett Corp.
Most had families to feed.
If managers were lining their own pockets, the ones suffering were the workers at the bottom.
If James just kept looking the other way, the whole company would eventually go up in flames.
James watched her retreating figure with a strange sense of satisfaction.
That unfiltered, hurried response from her—that was the real her.
But then the content of her words started sinking in, and his mood turned murky.
He leaned back on his desk, pressed his fingers into his temple, clearly annoyed.
“James…” Amelia started, quiet and wary.
“Shut up,” James snapped.
“Get out.”
No more patience, no more appearances.
He was done.
Fuming, Amelia stormed out.
When she passed by Maria’s office, she huffed—loud enough to be heard—and stomped down the hallway in heels so loud they echoed.
A couple of staff exchanged glances, confused.
Had she just had a fight with the boss?
Back in his office, James was calmer now.
He called his assistant in, his face dark.
“What’s going on with middle management?”
He was usually tied up with external partnerships and had left internal affairs to his assistant.
Maria’s comment had been a definite heads-up—something was wrong inside.
Jacob came in and quickly pulled up a file on his tablet.
“Take a look at this, sir.”
James scanned it.
It laid out exactly who had embezzled what, how much they’d taken in bribes, and how they were squeezing the employees.
He looked up, genuinely surprised.
“You’ve known about this?”
“Why didn’t you report it?” His brow furrowed, tone sharp with anger.
Jacob winced, clearly nervous.
“The evidence isn’t complete.
If we move too soon, they might run.
We need more.”
James knew he was right; rushing in without solid proof would only tip them off.
His eyes went cold.
“Get it done.
Fast.”
“Yes, sir.”
The investigation would be carried out discreetly, just Jacob working on it alone.
He and James went through the current materials and came to one conclusion: the company’s mid-level leadership was a dumpster fire.
Maria had actually put it too lightly—this wasn’t just corruption, it was full-scale rot.
They kept discussing things straight through to end of day.
Finally, James told Jacob to call it a night while he stayed behind, lost in thought, trying to figure out the next move.