Chapter 101: Chapter 101: If You Can’t Avoid It, Then Take It On

###Chapter 101: If You Can’t Dodge It, Face It!

Maxine Rhodes picked up the invitation, her expression calm.

How could she not know what this meant? This wasn’t just a dinner. It was a stress test, a trial to see if a young woman who had suddenly barged into a male-dominated field knew the ropes. They wanted to test her limits, to see if she had real substance or was just an empty-headed pretty face.

"I know." She put the invitation down, her voice clear. "Coco was right. It’s a lion’s den. Bubbles’ analysis was also correct—the risks are high."

She stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the endless stream of traffic below and the dense forest of skyscrapers in the distance.

"But have you considered why they sent this invitation? It’s because they can no longer ignore Stellar Tech. We’ve taken a piece of their pie, or we’ve shown them possibilities they can’t achieve on their own."

"If I dodge this today, tomorrow there will be another ’tasting event’ or a golf outing."

Maxine Rhodes’s tone was calm, laced with a clear-sighted perspective. "As long as I want to keep climbing in this circle, as long as I want to secure resources and major projects, I’ll have to face these people sooner or later."

"If I go, I might not win. But if I don’t go, it’s the same as admitting defeat. It tells them that Maxine Rhodes is scared, that Stellar Tech is a pushover. In the future, they’ll only make things harder for me."

Coco grew anxious. "But sis, what if they..."

"There is no ’what if’."

Maxine Rhodes cut her off, her gaze firm. "I’m not going there to drink and network. I’m going to war."

She looked at Coco. "I want you to find out everything you can about everyone who might be there tonight. I want to know their backgrounds, and more importantly, the pain points from their companies’ financial reports in the last year, the bottlenecks in their strategic transitions. I need to know where it hurts them the most."

Finally, she took a deep breath, as if donning a suit of armor. "This is a battle I can’t avoid. And since I can’t avoid it, I might as well win it beautifully."

"Let them see," Maxine Rhodes’s voice was not loud, but it carried the weight of someone burning their bridges, "just what kind of storm a woman can be."

Coco and Bubbles exchanged a look. They saw worry in each other’s eyes, but more than that, they saw a spark of fighting spirit and trust.

Their Ms. Rhodes had never been a pushover.

"Understood, Ms. Rhodes!" the two said in unison, immediately turning to get to work.

Maxine Rhodes remained alone in her office, the fading light of the sunset stretching her shadow long across the floor.

She picked up her phone, hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided not to call Ethan Hawthorne.

This was her battlefield. She needed to win this first skirmish on her own.

What she didn’t know, however, was that on Ethan Hawthorne’s end, Erza Sinclair had already reported the matter to him in meticulous detail.

After listening, Ethan Hawthorne simply said, "Noted."

Elsewhere, Benjamin Sterling was waiting for a message from Blackie.

BING—

The phone’s notification sound rang out, and he hastily grabbed it.

The message was a voice note, its tone eager to please. "Boss, we’ve got a major breakthrough! The target received an invitation to a top-tier private dinner at the Orchid Pavilion, Friday night. The hosts are all a bunch of rich old men, and Maxine Rhodes is going. This is the perfect opportunity!"

Benjamin Sterling stared at the message, the blood rushing to his head one moment and freezing in his veins the next.

Orchid Pavilion!

Old men!

He could already picture the scene: decadent lights and fine wine, fragrant perfumes and fleeting shadows. A pack of pot-bellied old men with murky, lecherous eyes sitting around a table.

And his Maxine—the pure, innocent Maxine of his imagination—would be there in an exquisite dress, forcing a smile, navigating the crowd, being forced to drink, being teased, and even...

BAM!

He slammed his fist into a nearby cabinet, a sharp pain shooting through his knuckles.

They were all wolves in human skin, the kind that devoured people whole, leaving not even the bones!

This had to be one of those hostile banquets that Maxine Rhodes was forced to attend, either to keep her company afloat or at the behest of her sugar daddy. It was proof of her sacrifice and her fall from grace!

Benjamin Sterling quickly replied to Blackie: "Keep a close watch! Keep your eyes glued to the Orchid Pavilion!"

「Friday Night.」

Orchid Pavilion, Private Room 888.

A massive, round mahogany table, large enough to seat twenty people.

Overhead hung an ornate crystal chandelier, and the air was thick with a complex mixture of high-grade sandalwood, cigars, and Maotai liquor.

Seated around the table were mostly middle-aged men, forty and older. Their clothes were understated but couldn’t hide their expense, and their casual conversation carried the arrogance that came with power and wealth.

Maxine Rhodes was the last to arrive.

A waiter pushed open the heavy, carved wooden doors, and she walked in alone. She wore a perfectly tailored, dusty-blue pantsuit, her long hair tied back in a sleek, low bun, her only jewelry a pair of small pearl earrings.

Her makeup was subtle, her eyes clear and bright. In her hands, she carried a slim portfolio and a business-style tablet.

The moment she appeared, the boisterous chatter in the room came to a subtle, momentary halt.

Nearly every eye in the room turned to her.

There were curious gazes, appraising ones, and playful ones. And then there were the gazes that were completely undisguised, greasy and inspecting, like a viscous fluid attempting to peel away her proper attire.

Outside the Orchid Pavilion, inside a black sedan.

Blackie adjusted the receiver screen, which was fed by a micro-camera pinned to the collar of a waiter he had bribed. He spoke in a low voice, "Boss, she’s in. The picture is a little shaky, but I’ve got a clear view."

Benjamin Sterling stared intently at the shaking figures on the screen. The image finally settled on the slender, dusty-blue silhouette seated just below the host’s seat. Maxine Rhodes was sitting alone, a full glass of white liquor before her, surrounded by a ring of men with mocking smiles.

Maxine Rhodes had just taken her seat, before any pleasantries could be exchanged, when President Wyatt pushed a freshly opened bottle of Maotai in front of her.

"Ms. Rhodes, you’re late! The rule here is that latecomers have to get things started with a bang! This glass is just the beginning. Come on, down it. Consider it your apology to us seniors!"

The malicious gazes of the other presidents at the table were all fixed on Maxine Rhodes.

They began to jeer. "If you don’t drink, you’re looking down on us rough-and-tumble folk, and you’re disrespecting the gathering Mr. Langdon put together!"

Maxine Rhodes’s gaze fell on the glass of liquor, but she didn’t move. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

She looked up, met President Wyatt’s eyes, and suddenly smiled.

"President Wyatt, your words remind me of a funny story."

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was clear enough for the whole table to hear. "A few years ago, when I was just a junior project manager, I went to the southwest to discuss a system upgrade with a mining company. Their boss brought out a whole jar of homemade corn liquor and said the contract was mine if I drank the jar dry."

’I was young and reckless back then, and I thought to myself, ’It’s just drinking, right?’’

She raised her head, her eyes shining brightly, and swept her gaze over President Wyatt and then the others. "As it turned out, the three of us—myself and two female employees I brought with me—drank their entire table of seven or eight men under the table. We signed the contract, and we got the project done."

The table fell silent.

President Shaw’s eyes lit up with interest. "Well, now! Ms. Rhodes, you have quite the glorious history! What happened then? Did that mining boss finally admit defeat?"

*****