The reporters, holding the plaque in Alice’s hands, immediately began snapping photos and exclaiming about how great she looked. On the other hand, the farmers were unused to such a scene. After a brief moment of confusion, a short, young man pushed forward and snatched the plaque back.

“Who the hell are you? Why are you holding our plaque? This is for Grace!”

“Are you serious? How low can you get, trying to take credit for Diane’s work?”

People in Northbrook were straight shooters—they couldn’t stand anyone trying to take credit for someone else’s work. The government officials stood there, momentarily stunned. They then turned to Alice.

“Aren’t you Ms. Grace Lambert?” one of them asked.

Alice’s smile faltered. Beside her, Quentin quickly interjected, “Grace? She’s nothing but trouble. Alice is the one who helped with the Farm Support Project. You must have written the wrong name.”

The farmers were furious. “That’s a load of crap! We saw Ms. Grace busting her ass for this with our own eyes. Wrong name? You’re just trying to steal what’s hers!” They shoved the plaque firmly back into Grace’s hands, a group of them immediately forming a protective circle around her, their expressions hard as they glared at Quentin and Ace with open suspicion. One of the officials who knew Quentin leaned in and quietly asked, “Quentin, do you have two daughters working on the Farm Support Project?”

Quentin was taken aback, but he was certain they had gotten the names wrong. Instead of answering, however, he protested, “But the person we invited is Grace. The plaque is for her,” the guy said. “As for Alice… well, I hear she caused a huge mess in Southbrook. Word is, that whole fiasco was all her.”

Quentin had shown up with Alice in a hurry, expecting interviews and praise, only to find their recognition was for the daughter he looked down on most—Grace. He stared at Grace, who was standing in the middle of the crowd. She didn’t even acknowledge him, acting like he was a stranger. Realizing their mistake, the reporters quickly rushed over to Grace for interviews. She answered a few questions calmly before being whisked away by the government officials for photographs.

Just then, the sound of a wheelchair rolling through the crowd announced Ethan’s arrival, flanked by another group. The reporters, mindful of protocol, immediately put their cameras away. People from both sides shook hands and began discussing plans to develop Northbrook, along with a classified government project that had just been handed to the Henderson Group. Someone couldn’t help but praise Grace aloud, “Ms. Grace has done an incredible job! Plenty of people have come through Northbrook over the years, but no one has ever gained this kind of support from everyone here. Mr. Henderson, you’ve got a top-notch employee.”

Originally, this classified project was supposed to be split between several companies, but Grace had made such real progress in a short time that the higher-ups were so impressed they handed the entire project to the Henderson Group.

A crowd gathered around Grace to celebrate, careful not to disturb Ethan. As the farmers stepped back to snap photos of Grace, one of them accidentally stepped on Alice’s designer shoe. Heat rushed to her face. She had never been so humiliated. And to make things worse, the farmers didn’t hold back. “Hey, could you move?” one of them said impatiently. “You’re in the way. We’re trying to take photos of Grace.”