My Amnesic Ex Married My Sister, So I Married His Uncle-Chapter 111: A Masterful Performance of the Villain Suing First
Jean Yates crossed her arms, a provocative smile tugging at her lips as she watched Faye Rhodes from a short distance, looking for all the world like a victor.
Her gaze shifted, and she lifted her chin to say to Henry Wright, "Henry, everyone’s opinion is quite clear. We don’t agree to such a rash collaboration with an unknown painter. What do you think?"
Henry Wright broke out in a cold sweat.
’When titans clash, it’s the mortals who suffer.’
In truth, the collaboration with Umi was more or less finalized. All that remained were a few last-minute details, like the written contract.
But Jean Yates had to stir up trouble, creating complications out of nowhere.
With a pained expression, Henry Wright shot a desperate, pleading look at Faye Rhodes.
’He couldn’t afford to offend the Yates Family, but someone with Faye Rhodes’s background had nothing to fear.’
’Besides, she had developed this entire proposal herself. They were on the verge of signing the contract. How could he just stand by at this critical moment and watch them trample all over her hard work?’
When Jean Yates saw Henry Wright signaling Faye Rhodes with his eyes, her tone immediately turned snide and passive-aggressive. "Henry, we’re all waiting for your opinion. Why are you looking at Faye Rhodes? Or are you saying that you feel pressured by the Rhodes Family’s power and intend to push Faye’s proposal through, regardless of everyone’s objections? If that’s the case, I won’t stand for it. I’ll just have to go ask upper management exactly how you’re handling your duties as a manager."
Hearing this, Henry Wright felt his temples begin to throb.
’Jean Yates had some serious nerve!’
’And who was the one whose power had him too scared to even breathe?!’
’Besides, she could question his professional competence, but not his integrity. And she certainly couldn’t dismiss someone else’s hard work with just a few words.’
Though Henry Wright feared retaliation from Jean Yates, he was still a company veteran. He had personally managed a top-tier star like Zion Shawcross from the ground up. It wasn’t as if he had no backbone at all!
He took a deep breath and looked at Jean Yates. "Assistant Yates, you’ve only been with the studio for a month, so perhaps you’re not fully aware. Faye spent a great deal of time developing this proposal. The decision to move forward with it was made after several rounds of company-wide discussions. The project has been progressing steadily. Given the initial investment and our current position, we can’t afford to make last-minute changes.
"As for your claims of being pressured by the powerful..." Henry Wright shot her a meaningful glance, then looked at the employees who had been forced to object earlier and were now staring at the floor, "I can assure you that before you joined, no one in the studio even knew Faye was part of the Rhodes Family."
The implication was clear: it was *she* who, ever since joining the studio, had been constantly reminding everyone that she was the young lady of the Yates Family and warning them not to cross her.
Unlike Faye Rhodes, who had been selected through a formal process—submitting a resume and undergoing three rounds of interviews—and earned her place in Zion Shawcross’s studio through her own merits, Jean Yates had been shoehorned in halfway through, purely because of her connections.
She was a fan of Zion Shawcross, so a little over a month ago, the Yates Family had wedged her into the team as his assistant.
But as Zion Shawcross’s other assistants all knew, they hadn’t gotten a new assistant. They’d gotten a new empress dowager.
Even Zion Shawcross wasn’t as high-maintenance as she was!
While Faye Rhodes was making valuable contributions to the team, an idle Jean Yates was busy doing everything she could to pick fights with her.
If she hadn’t constantly been making snide, backhanded remarks to Faye Rhodes and shouting about her being the "Young Miss of the Rhodes Family," no one in the studio would have even known about Faye’s background.
Of course, Henry Wright knew.
She was a Rhodes, after all. He had to keep an eye on things, discreetly.
That way, if any problems arose, he wouldn’t be caught completely off guard and find his career dead in the water.
In the time since Jean Yates had joined, he’d heard plenty about her spoiled, princess-like attitude.
Before, it had just been petty squabbles that didn’t amount to much, and since Faye Rhodes herself said it didn’t bother her, he hadn’t interfered.
But now she was trying to meddle in official company decisions. That was an entirely different matter.
Hearing Henry Wright oppose her so seriously for the first time—and in front of Faye Rhodes, no less—Jean Yates finally lost control of her spoiled temper.
’On second thought,’ she reasoned, ’Henry never dared to cross me before. For him to suddenly grow a spine like this, Faye Rhodes must have promised him something.’
"Henry, what did Faye Rhodes promise you to make you defend her like this? You’re protecting her so fiercely. What’s the matter, planning on becoming the Rhodes Family’s lapdog?"
Henry Wright’s expression froze.
In the eyes of a truly powerful family, a mere manager like him might be insignificant. But he was still Vantage Entertainment’s top agent. He was used to being flattered and respected wherever he went. When had he ever been humiliated like this?
Rage instantly flared, and Henry Wright’s face turned beet red. Just then—
"Who’s going to be a lapdog?"
As the automatic doors slid open, a deep, magnetic voice drawled from the entrance.
All heads turned toward the sound. A man in a black baseball cap and a matching black mask strolled in, his hands stuffed in his pockets.
Strands of his recently dyed pink hair poked out from under the cap. Three studs ran down the cartilage of his right ear, with a small cross dangling from the lobe. His T-shirt and pants were both black, and a decorative chain hanging from his waist jingled softly with his movements.
The newcomer was Zion Shawcross.
He pulled down his mask, revealing a handsome face tinged with a world-weary apathy.
It was hard to imagine that this person, who looked perpetually half-asleep, could possess such explosive energy when he played rock music.
He casually pulled over the nearest swivel chair and sat down. "I guess I’ve been offline for too long. When did the world develop the technology to change a person’s species?"
Everyone: "..."
’How were they supposed to explain this to him?’
Jean Yates, who had been so aggressive and imperious just moments before, had her eyes light up the moment Zion Shawcross walked in.
Once he took off his mask, she dropped all pretense, her face blooming into a brilliant smile as she scurried over to him.
"Zion, what are you doing here today? Do you have something scheduled? How come I didn’t know?"
As she spoke, she turned and shot a glare at another one of Zion Shawcross’s assistants.
Her eyes clearly blamed the junior assistant for not informing her of his schedule.
The junior assistant who received Jean Yates’s glare immediately lowered her head.
How could she dare admit that she had no idea Zion Shawcross was coming today either?
When Jean Yates turned back to face Zion Shawcross, her expression had switched back to a sweet, innocent smile.
If you didn’t know her true nature, you’d have to admit that Jean Yates was actually quite beautiful.
Faye Rhodes, who had been silent for a long time, let out a soft sneer.
"Phony."
"What did you say?!" Jean Yates snapped her head up to glare at Faye Rhodes, but two seconds later, her expression crumpled into a pitiful look as she turned to Zion Shawcross. "Zion, she’s so mean. For the whole month I’ve been here, she’s been targeting me, always using that passive-aggressive tone with me. She completely ignores her colleagues’ opinions, and she uses her status as the Young Miss of the Rhodes Family to pressure Henry! Zion, if this continues, she’s definitely going to hurt your career!"
A classic case of the villain playing the victim.
Zion Shawcross had just arrived and didn’t know what had happened earlier.
Henry Wright was just about to pull him aside to secretly fill him in on what had happened, when everyone heard Zion let out a soft, inscrutable chuckle.
And then—
"Phony."
