No longer a pushover (Noelle and Cedric)

Laura finally spoke up, her voice soft but pointed. "Ced, you're being reckless. I

know you care about Ms. Liddell, but there should be limits.

"With so much competition in the industry, what if she accidentally leaks

confidential info? That could be a disaster."

Tommy quickly chimed in, backing her up. "Exactly. You shouldn't let a woman get

in the way of work. That's not like you, Mr. Greene."

Cedric gave everyone in the room a glance. "Didn't you all want to meet the lead

engineer on the Al project? Well, I brought her with me tonight."

The room fell into complete silence. Laura gripped her glass so tightly that her

knuckles turned white. She looked at Noelle, unable to believe what she had just

heard.

Tommy stared in disbelief and mumbled, "Mr. Greene... you're saying the lead

engineer is SweetNelly, the gaming streamer?"

Cedric nodded once. "That's right. It's her."

"You've gotta be kidding. Are you seriously telling us a live-streamer is heading

your entire engineering division? She might be good at video games, but that's a

whole different world from engineering."

Cedric tapped his long fingers on the table, his sharp gaze sweeping across the

room. The energy shifted immediately, and no one dared say another word.

Then, he spoke. "Do you really think I'd joke about something like this?"

Faces changed instantly. Everyone knew Cedric was not the type to mess around.

Still, it was wild to think the legendary engineer everyone had heard about was

not only so young but also a woman.

Tommy could not hold it in. "Mr. Greene, I'm sorry, but none of this adds up. She

doesn't look anything like the person we've all heard about."

No one could wrap their head around it. The only explanation that made sense

was that Cedric had elevated Noelle just to impress her, maybe even date her.

Cedric turned his eyes on Tommy. "You judge too much by appearances. That's

exactly how you got scammed out of your money by a woman last time."

Everyone around them burst into laughter.

Tommy's face turned red, but he refused to back down. "That's a low blow. I fell

for a classic honey trap. And Mr. Greene, I gotta say, this looks kind of similar.

"We've all invested money in this project. What if you got scammed, too? Our

investments would be toast."

Noelle heard all of it. She turned slightly and glanced at Cedric, noticing his cold

expression. Clearly, he was pissed.

She completely understood where

the crowd was coming from. After

all, she was young, and other than

the colleagues who had worked with

her at Maple Enterprise, no one

really believed she could hold that

title.

Cedric's face was blank, his dark eyes unreadable. His fingers tapped the table

again, this time louder, sharper.

Then, he said flatly, "In that case, we'll terminate the partnership."

Laura jumped in quickly. "Ced, don't

be mad. What you said was really

hard to believe. We've all known

each other for years. There's no

need to ruin the business just

because of this."

Cedric turned to her. "I don't think you were invited to tonight's meeting, were

you?"

Laura's expression froze, and her face turned visibly pale. "We're all friends.

What's wrong with stopping by to say hi?"

Noelle was a little surprised-was Cedric actually standing up for her?

The once-loud Tommy walked over,

wine glass in hand. "Ms. SweetNelly,

don't take what I said too personally.

I had no idea you were so talented.

You've clearly mastered both men

and machines-I'm honestly

impressed." noveldrama

Noelle glanced down at the glass in his hand. "At least I don't fake knowledge or

make up numbers just to sound smart."

Laura came over, trying to smooth things over. "Ms. Liddell, it was just a small

misunderstanding. Let's not make a big deal-give us some grace, will you?"

Noelle's tone turned icy. "Why should I? Are we even that close?"