Chapter 8 Job Search Failure
Although there were no improper actions, the ambiguous atmosphere practically spilled out of the screen.
"He wants to keep me as his 'shield' to maintain the Howard family's reputation, while also being unwilling to let his precious sister suffer any grievance." Sienna pushed the photos in front of Violet. "Grandma, you wouldn't want to see the Howard family involved in this kind of scandal, would you?"
Violet's face instantly turned extremely ugly.
"What do you want?"
"Two more commercial properties in the city center, plus management rights to that film company under Howard Group." Sienna spoke rapidly, her eyes showing a ruthless determination to win. "Once I get these, I have plenty of ways to make Ethan obediently go with me to register our marriage. Otherwise, these photos will appear on the front page of every major media outlet tomorrow."
Violet stared hard at Sienna. After a long moment, she squeezed out through gritted teeth, "You really are a wolf that can never be fed enough."
"In these three years with the Howard family, the most important thing I've learned is not to talk about feelings, only money." Sienna stood up, looking down at this nominal elder. "Grandma, have you made up your mind? My patience is limited."
Violet's hands trembled as she opened the drawer again.
After getting what she wanted, Sienna walked out of the main building and ran right into Ethan, who had just returned from the garden.
He looked at the thick envelope in Sienna's hands, his expression dark. "What did you ask Grandma for this time?"
Sienna stopped, and in the glow of the setting sun, smiled brilliantly but without a trace of affection.
"Something that will make the rest of my life more comfortable." She walked past him, and as they brushed shoulders, lowered her voice. "Ethan, tomorrow morning at nine, courthouse entrance. If you don't show up, I'll send Queenie to the guillotine."
"Sienna!"
Ethan spun around sharply, but only caught sight of her resolute departing figure.
In that moment, he suddenly realized that the Sienna who used to leave a light on for him late at night and make him soup had truly disappeared completely.
After the rain in Riverton City, neon lights began to glow.
Sienna sat in the back of a taxi, watching the scenery fly backward outside the window, slowly exhaling a breath of stale air.
She took out her phone, dragged that ambiguous voice message from her favorites, and with a light tap, sent it to an account labeled "Tipster."
If they were going to make a scene, might as well make it bigger.
Ethan, this is just the beginning.
On the day of their appointment, Ethan didn't show up.
At the courthouse entrance, Sienna waited from nine to ten in the morning. She didn't see a single soul, only received a text from him full of arrogance and contempt.
[Want a divorce? Bring something to trade.]
Looking at the text, Sienna didn't get angry—she laughed instead.
He meant the company and properties she'd gotten from Violet.
Sure enough, in his mind, everything she did was for money.
She didn't wait any longer and turned to leave.
However, over the next week, Sienna discovered things were far more difficult than she'd imagined.
She started submitting resumes. With the experience and excellent business skills she'd accumulated over three years at Howard Group, she quickly received interview invitations from several top companies.
The first and second rounds went exceptionally smoothly. The HR people praised her highly and seemed ready to hire her on the spot.
But every time, after the final interview, there was radio silence.
At first Sienna thought it was coincidence, but when the HR from the fifth company stammered on the phone and finally only left her with "Sienna, we really appreciate your abilities, but... there are some things we can't help. Take care," she finally confirmed that someone was sabotaging her behind the scenes.
Who it was went without saying.
On the night of yet another rejected interview, an unknown number sent her a message with just one sentence.
[It's Queenie Howard's doing. She doesn't want to see you at any company in Riverton City.]
The sender must have been some interviewer who felt bad for her.
Sienna gripped her phone, her knuckles white from the pressure.
She'd thought Queenie's tactics would just be petty romantic rivalry, never expecting her to dare cut off her livelihood directly.
How wonderful.
She'd like to see if she'd really starve to death without the Howard family.
Without a moment's hesitation, Sienna took a taxi straight to Howard Group.
It was lunch break, and there weren't many people coming and going from Howard Tower.
Sienna no longer had an access card, but she knew every security loophole in the place.
She expertly went up to the second floor via the fire escape, then switched to the freight elevator, easily bypassing the front desk and going straight to the top floor executive office.
Sam wasn't there, and the entire floor was quiet.
The CEO's office door was slightly ajar, and from inside came the faint sounds of a woman's coquettish voice and a man's suppressed laughter.
"Ethan, you're so bad, I already said don't..."
Sienna expressionlessly pushed open that heavy door.
The office heating was turned up high, and the inner lounge was wide open.
Ethan was leaning against the bed in the lounge, legs covered with a thin blanket, looking lazy.
Queenie wore an inappropriately thin silk slip dress and held a bowl of soup, bending over to feed him.
Perhaps she didn't stand steady—her body swayed, she let out a cry, and her whole person fell toward Ethan's embrace, while the soup bowl in her hand "just happened" to spill to the side, soup splashing all over the floor.
The scene was sensual and suggestive, as if the next second would bring some R-rated action.
Sienna's appearance instantly froze this romantic atmosphere.
Queenie's cry caught in her throat, panic flashing across her face.
Ethan frowned in displeasure.
But Sienna smiled.
Unhurriedly, she pulled out her phone, focused on the couple on the bed, and then the crisp "click" of the camera echoed through the quiet office.
One shot, two shots, three shots.
She changed angles, capturing Ethan's cold face, Queenie's panic, that revealing nightgown, and the messy bed—all crystal clear.
"Sienna!" Ethan's voice was ice-cold.
"Sienna, what are you doing!" Queenie finally reacted, screaming, her face drained of color.
Desperate, she scrambled off the bed and lunged at Sienna like a madwoman, reaching for the phone. "Delete the photos! Delete them now!"
She thought Sienna was still the pushover she could manipulate at will.
Sienna simply stepped calmly aside, easily dodging her.
Queenie missed completely, and with too much momentum, stepped on the spilled soup. Her whole body fell heavily to the floor, her forehead hitting squarely on the hard metal edge of the bed frame.
A line of blood immediately seeped from her smooth forehead.
Queenie let out a terrible scream, tears and blood mixing together, making her look pathetic and pitiful.
"Sienna, what are you going crazy about now!" Ethan roared, struggling to get off the bed but pulling his leg injury, his face going white with pain.
