Chapter 524:

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The smirk on Hoffman’s face widened into a sneer. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Chairman Montgomery has just issued a directive. Until you are ‘cleared’ of any involvement in recent events, all of your internal access privileges have been suspended.”

He gestured condescendingly toward the electronic lock on her office door. “Go ahead. Try your keycard. It won’t work.”

Allison didn’t glance at the keycard clipped to her blazer. To try it would be an admission of defeat, a pathetic appeal to a system already rigged against her, a spectacle of her own humiliation. She refused to give Hoffman the satisfaction.

She simply held his gaze, her expression unreadable.

“Director Hoffman,” she said, her voice dangerously calm, “according to Article Eleven, Section B of the Montgomery Group’s corporate bylaws, the appointment or dismissal of a Vice President requires the signed approval of no fewer than two independent directors. My appointment was sponsored and signed by Mr. Enrico Langley. Do you have a termination letter signed by Mr. Langley?”

Hoffman’s smug expression faltered. The smirk twitched. He had received a gloating phone call from Baker, not a formal, notarized document. In his haste to curry favor, he had overstepped.

Allison took a single step closer. Her perfume seemed to suck the air from his vicinity. “No letter? Then on what authority does a department head presume to suspend the access of a board-appointed officer? That’s a gross overreach, Director. Would you like me to call Mr. Langley on his private line right now and ask for his opinion on the matter?”

The name landed like a physical blow. A sheen of sweat broke out on Hoffman’s forehead. Langley was old guard, a kingmaker who despised Baker’s brand of brutish corporate politics.

“These are extraordinary circumstances!” Hoffman blustered. “The Chairman’s verbal directive is sufficient!”

T𝘳en𝗱i𝘯𝗴 𝗇𝗈𝗏еl𝘴 о𝘯 𝗴a𝗹𝗻𝘰𝗏𝖾l𝗌.𝘤𝗈𝗆

A humorless smile touched Allison’s lips. She didn’t deign to argue. She turned her back on him, a gesture of supreme dismissal, and walked to an empty cubicle in the open-plan office. She placed her handbag on the desk with a soft, definitive thud.

She sat down, opened her laptop, and connected to the public guest Wi-Fi.

“If I can’t use my office, I’ll work from here,” she announced, her voice carrying across the now-silent room. The other employees were frozen at their desks, pretending to work but listening with rapt attention. “It will give me an excellent opportunity to observe the department’s workflow firsthand.”

The move was a masterstroke of passive aggression. Hoffman was trapped. He couldn’t physically remove her without causing a bigger scene, but allowing her to sit there, a deposed queen holding court in the middle of his territory, made him look impotent.

Just then, her encrypted phone from Adam vibrated on the desk. A message from an unknown, secure number.

She opened it. An audio file.

She slipped in her AirPods and pressed play.

A voice filled her ear, distorted but unmistakably Cheyanne’s, dripping with venomous glee. “Yes, that’s the angle. Allison was jealous of my engagement to Finn, furious that Adam was spending time with me. She felt she was losing control, so she arranged the attack on Adam to frame his rivals and regain his sympathy.”

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