The Ble shoved that Anastasia was just your average working woman—middle-class background, solid work skills, but nothing that really stood out. Something dark flickered across Sonia’s face.

“Anastasia…” she said the name with obvious contempt and confusion. So she was working as a designer at Rhodes Ceph. Probably slept her way in. What other explanation could there be for such a convenient coincidence? This bitch was apparently pretty slick to get her claws into Cassian. And what really pissed her off—it looked like they were shacked up together.

See, she thought she had to be misreading this. She double-checked. Nope, that’s exactly what it said. Sonia’s jaw clenched as she unconsciously crumpled the papers in her fists. Raw jealousy and rage were eating her alive.

“Anastasia… who the fuck do you think you are?” Sonia hissed.

Jenny, watching nervously from the sidelines, quickly jumped in, “Sonia, honey, don’t let this stress you out. We need to play this smart.”

“Jenny, I’ve got that awards show coming up next month, right?” Sonia asked, suddenly casual.

“Yeah, why?” Jenny looked puzzled. Where was this going?

“I still need jewelry for the red carpet. Let’s get Anastasia to design something,” Sonia said with fake sweetness. Anastasia was supposedly this hotshot jewelry designer, right? Perfect opportunity to see if she was actually any good.

“But for an event that high-profile, you usually go with established names. She’s a complete nobody—might not be the smartest move,” Jenny said, frowning.

Sonia laughed coldly, her eyes calculating. “Jenny, trust me on this. I’ve got my reasons. If she fucks up the design, even better—she’ll be the one who looks like an idiot. Everyone will see exactly how she got her job at Rhodes Corp. She’ll be completely humiliated.”

Jenny paused, then got it. Her face lit up with approval. “Sonia, that’s fucking genius. This way you can figure out what Anastasia’s really working with.”

Sonia’s mouth curled into a satisfied smirk. “Exactly, I want to see what this basic bitch has that’s got Cassian so wrapped around her finger.”

Jenny grabbed her phone and speed-dialed Rhodes Corp. “Hi, is this the design department? We’d like to commission a custom jewelry piece from Anastasia Kingsley. Can you set that up?”

The voice on the other end was professional and polite. “Absolutely, I’ll get that message to Ms. Kingsley right away and have her reach out to you.”

After hanging up, Jenny looked at Sonia expectantly. “Done deal. Now we see how Little Miss Perfect handles this.”

Sonia nodded, her eyes ice cold. Anastasia, you better bring your A-game.

Anastasia was buried under deadlines. A little while later, Barbara stopped by her desk.

“Anastasia, we’ve got a client who specifically requested you for a custom jewelry design.”

Anastasia blinked in surprise. She’d barely been here a few weeks and someone was already asking for her by name? Must be a client from her previous work.

Narissa, eavesdropping from nearby, looked skeptical. “Barbara, you sure you got that right? They actually asked for Anastasia specifically?”

“Yep, no mistake,” Barbara said with a smile. “I’ll have Sharlene send you all the details, Anastasia.”

“Awesome, thanks,” Anastasia nodded. Within minutes, Sharlene had forwarded the client info and scheduled a meeting. Everything was moving like clockwork.

Anastasia sat down at her computer, ready to dive into the client file, when she got pulled into an emergency meeting. She had to rush off without even opening the documents. She never got a chance to review the materials. By the time the meeting wrapped and she’d grabbed a quick lunch, it was already mid-afternoon.

Just as Anastasia was finally about to check out the client file, Sharlene appeared at her desk.