Chapter 3

Thinking of that night, William felt a bit more patient toward the unfamiliar woman before him and said coolly, "Fine, we'll keep it private for now."

Shirley smiled sweetly, looking somewhat shy and nervous, her eyes bright as she gazed at William, as if curiously sizing up her first boyfriend.

William met Shirley's gaze. Logically, he should have felt something.

After all, the girl before him made William feel very calm.

How strange.

That night, he had completely lost control, but now he was so composed.

Seeing William not taking the initiative to speak, Shirley felt disappointed.

She had thought he would quickly become fascinated with her like ordinary men.

But this man was William—it was normal that ordinary tactics couldn't seduce him.

Shirley put on her sweet smile again, asked William for his contact information, and said obediently, "You must be very busy, right? I'll reach out to you when I need to. Of course, if you miss me, you can also come to the Moore Group."

William wasn't good at interacting and communicating with women. Hearing this, he felt nothing inside. He just nodded calmly.

"Mr. Ford, your appointment time is coming up..." came a reminder from the front seat.

William took one last look at Shirley, and the car window slowly closed.

That evening, at the Moore Manor.

The family was having dinner. Shirley would occasionally say something amusing, making Lisa and John laugh heartily.

In contrast, Wendy seemed too quiet and silent.

Before Shirley's return, she was the life of the party in that household.

But after Shirley came back, she naturally had no right to continue in that role.

She only needed to act as a supporting audience member, applauding Shirley's performance—that was enough.

She used to not read the room at all—when she was happy, she laughed; when she was angry, she showed it, never thinking twice about it.

Back then, she was the Moore family's heiress, with the resources, the confidence, and her parents' love behind her.

Now she had nothing.

"Wendy, didn't you say Mr. Ford invited you to collaborate? How are you thinking about it? You've been hesitating all this time without making a decision—do you not want to go?"

Shirley was eating when she suddenly looked at Wendy.

Wendy felt that when Shirley said this, her eyes held something complicated.

Wendy kept her head down, pretending to be casual: "I'm not capable enough, I won't go to the Ford Group... Dad, Mark, and Aiden from the project team are both reliable and steady. Having them go negotiate with the Ford Group would be enough... "

Wendy didn't want to go to the Ford Group. One reason was to avoid too much contact with William and risk being exposed.

The other reason was...

She still wanted to stay at the Moore Group, to stay by John's side.

But before she could finish, John interrupted her, his gaze serious and earnest: "Wendy, you're the one in charge of this project. Everyone has praised you to me. No one is more suitable to go to the Ford Group than you. And you should understand what it means for a company like ours to connect with the Ford Group."

Hearing this, Shirley gripped her utensils a bit harder, her smile somewhat forced.

To outsiders, she was a graduate of a prestigious university with excellent work abilities.

But Wendy had also been carefully cultivated by the Moore family for eighteen years, enjoying the best educational resources in Starlight City since childhood.

Comparing the two sisters, it was hard to say who was better.

John's slightly firm voice continued in her ears: "Wendy, you're becoming less confident, and for a young person, that's not good. This time you must go to the Ford Group. Your stage should be in a broader place. The Moore Group is just your stepping stone. Go, I believe in you!"

Lisa didn't expect John to value Wendy so much and immediately looked at Shirley nervously.

She felt very uncomfortable and, for the first time, had the urge to contradict John.

Lisa could only pretend to have a headache and quickly said, "Go, go, that's settled then. Don't talk about work stuff during dinner!"

Wendy could hear the displeasure in Lisa's tone. She bit her lower lip and responded softly to John: "Okay, I'll go to the Ford Group soon."

That night, Wendy gathered her courage and added the contact information from the business card.

William quickly accepted, saying matter-of-factly: "Made up your mind?"

"Yes, I have."

Through the screen, not having to face William directly, Wendy wasn't as nervous.

William didn't seem unusual. He probably hadn't noticed anything, right?

"Then you can bring the project team to the Ford Group's R&D center tomorrow. Someone will then explain the details of the collaboration to you. If there are no problems, just sign the contract."

After a moment, William added, "I can let you join the company under Wendy's identity."

Wendy's breath caught, and she smiled bitterly.

Fake heiress...

Wendy didn't reply.

The other side said nothing more.

She had planned to put down her phone and sleep, but uncontrollably clicked on William's Feed.

Although she didn't dare look directly at this man, peeking at his Feed was still possible.

But Wendy was a bit disappointed—William's Feed was completely empty, with nothing there.

The next day, Wendy and the core members of the project team packed up their things, ready to take a company car to the Ford Group.

Before leaving, other project team members joked: "Wow, you guys following Wendy are about to hit the big time! You won't go to the Ford Group and never come back, will you?"

People in the car laughed: "Wherever Wendy goes, we go. If Wendy quits, we quit too!"

Hearing her subordinates' jokes, Wendy couldn't quite laugh.

Many people in the project team had followed her for a long time. She didn't just see them as employees and colleagues—they had deep bonds.

But as a fake heiress, she had a hard time developing at the Moore Group and didn't dare be too showy or high-profile.

Following her, they took on a lot of work, but in the end, few got promotions or raises.

She had always felt guilty about it.

Going to the Ford Group this time, she didn't care much about what benefits she could get.

If her people were valued by the Ford Group and afforded better development opportunities, she would be happier.

The car door closed, and amid the group's chatter, they headed toward the Ford Group.

As Wendy's project team arrived at the Ford Group headquarters, people from the research center came out to greet them.

A Ford Group employee wearing glasses said, "Ms. Moore, I'll take them to the research center to get familiar with things. You can go to the 43rd floor to complete the onboarding procedures."

Wendy nodded, took her own and others' onboarding documents, walked through the lobby, and reached the elevator.

This was her first time at the Ford Group, such a globally renowned company, and it was William's company too. She felt a bit nervous, so she picked up the documents in her hand and started checking them, forcibly diverting her attention.

The elevator door opened, and she immediately stepped in.

As she pressed the floor button, an arm reached over from beside her, right above her arm.

At the same time, she caught a whiff of a familiar cool woody scent.

Wendy turned her head and saw William's handsome, artwork-like profile.

William had long noticed Wendy.