Joanna Sherman had originally just been driving past Sophia’s neighborhood, planning only a brief stop.
But now, a crazed thought screamed in her mind: ’Slam the gas pedal and crash right into her! Smash that smiling face to a pulp!’
It took all her strength to suppress the impulse. In the end, she stomped on the gas and followed.
Sophia Shaw quickly noticed she was being tailed and recognized the familiar car in her rearview mirror.
Her gaze turned cold. With a sharp turn of the wheel, her car slipped into a narrow side road and quickly vanished around the corner.
Joanna Sherman floored the gas and pursued.
As soon as she reached the alley entrance, she saw Sophia standing outside her car, watching her coldly.
Joanna finally realized she had lost her mind. Recalling Joel Hale’s warning, she instinctively started to reverse and leave.
But Sophia’s gaze was like a thorn in her side, making every retreat feel like a flight, like she was bowing her head to Sophia!
’I can’t do it!’
Clenching her fists, she shoved her car door open and jumped out, glaring viciously at Sophia.
Sophia merely shifted her stance, saying nothing.
This calmness only twisted the knife in Joanna’s heart. She gritted her teeth and spat, "You must be so proud of yourself now, huh?"
"Sophia Shaw, do you really think you’re so great? You’re just a despicable wretch, exploiting the Grants’ guilt to trample all over their lives!"
Sophia finally spoke. "Joanna Sherman, you certainly seem to know my every move! If I’m not mistaken, you were the one who arranged for that mother and son to nearly stop me from going to Mador, weren’t you?"
Joanna’s expression changed instantly. She flatly denied it, "I don’t know what you’re talking about!"
But she immediately followed with a cold sneer. "Sophia Shaw, you’re pathetic. Someone plays you for a fool and you can’t even figure out who did it!"
"You say I arranged it? Do you have any proof?"
She lifted her chin, her expression clearly conveying the challenge: ’I did it. What are you going to do about it?’
Sophia had only been guessing before, but Joanna’s reaction had just given her the answer.
She didn’t get angry, only nodding slightly. "Joanna Sherman, finding proof is just a matter of time. But this ’if you can’t win, then destroy’ approach is truly low-class. Perhaps that’s the real reason you’re such a loser."
"Who’s a loser! You’re the loser!" Joanna hated being called a "loser" more than anything.
Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, she completely lost control, her voice rising to a shriek.
"Who the hell do you think you are!"
"Without me, do you really think Vincent Grant could have come up with such a perfect proposal to support your damn charity?"
"And all those times Vincent tried to win you over? That was all me, working behind the scenes!"
"Is that so?" Sophia inclined her head slightly, a trace of pity in her voice. "Then that only proves you’ve gone from the one in Vincent’s heart to his lapdog. That’s all."
"You...!"
Joanna couldn’t catch her breath. The air was stuck in her chest, causing an agonizing pain.
’So... I’m a lapdog!’
In that moment, her pride was dragged through the mud!
Sophia watched her pathetic state with cold eyes, feeling not a shred of sympathy.
Joanna had crushed her far more cruelly in the past.
During the days when Esther Sullivan had kept her tied up at home like a dog, Joanna Sherman had done all sorts of wicked things to her on more than one occasion.
Knowing how much Sophia cared about her mother, Joanna had shredded her only treasured photograph of her right in front of her.
She had ripped the pearls off the necklace her mother left her, one by one, and flushed them down the toilet.
She had instigated a group of women to humiliate Sophia’s mother in front of her...
There were too many similar incidents to count.
Joanna Sherman always knew how to twist the knife and cause her the most pain.
’So what if I jab her a little now?’
Sophia waved the phone she had been holding in her hand at her.
Joanna didn’t understand.
Sophia was already getting into her car, which sped away quickly.
Frustrated and furious, Joanna Sherman returned to her office at Zenith.
The moment she pushed the door open, she was met with the sight of Joel Hale standing there, his face livid.
SLAP!
He raised his hand and struck her across the face.
Joanna clutched her face, looking at Joel Hale in disbelief. "How dare you..."
"You useless, bungling idiot!" Joel Hale snarled, shoving his phone forcefully against her. "Listen for yourself!"
Joanna suppressed her rage and picked up the phone, only to see several audio recordings on the screen.
She pressed play, and her own hysterical voice from moments ago immediately filled the air.
Her face went white!
’Sophia... recorded me!’
"Do you have any idea how close you came to ruining the entire plan?" Joel Hale’s finger was practically poking her in the nose, showing her no respect whatsoever. "Joanna Sherman, how could you be so stupid!"
"Luckily, Sophia sent the message to President Grant’s work phone, and I was the only one who saw it. Have you ever considered that if President Grant had heard those crazy things you said, you’d be out of the picture by now!"
Cold sweat instantly drenched Joanna’s back!
’So, that whole confrontation was a setup by Sophia!’
’She deliberately provoked me, made me lose my composure, just so Joel Hale would find out what I’d done!’
Joel Hale paced back and forth in front of Joanna with his hands behind his back, unable to quell his anger.
"Joanna Sherman, you listen to me! I chose to work with you because you still had some value to me! If you keep being this stupid and impulsive, you can get the hell out!"
After speaking, Joel Hale shot her a vicious glare and stormed out, slamming the door behind him.
"AHHH—"
Joanna broke down screaming, violently swiping everything off her desk!
She was just slapped by a mere assistant.
By an assistant...
Joanna’s pride was utterly shattered by this humiliation, leaving not even a shred behind!
A double humiliation. ’Sophia Shaw, you’re truly ruthless!’
What Joanna didn’t know was that this was also Sophia’s final warning to her.
If she dared to pull any more of her supposedly clever stunts, an even crueler retaliation using the same methods awaited her.
Just because Sophia was busy didn’t mean she couldn’t make time to deal with her!
Upon arriving at Yancy Shaw’s house, the first thing Sophia did was find him.
"Uncle, let’s... put the collaboration proposal with the Grant Group on hold for now."
"What’s wrong?" Yancy Shaw was quite surprised.
Sophia relayed what Joanna Sherman had said.
"Joanna wants to use me to get a chance to make a comeback with Vincent Grant. I don’t want to be the one to enable her."
Joanna Sherman has no bottom line.
Even if she didn’t like Vincent Grant, she didn’t want to see him be emotionally blackmailed by Joanna again.
"Alright."
In these matters, Yancy Shaw fully respected her decisions.
"The contract hasn’t gone through all the procedures yet. I’ll have the lawyers halt it immediately!"
"I’m sorry, Uncle." Sophia knew that halting the contract now would put Yancy Shaw in a difficult position.
Yancy Shaw shook his head. "You did nothing wrong."
"We can hate Vincent Grant all we want, but we can’t dig a pit for him after he’s helped us."
"But, are you really not going to tell Vincent Grant about these little schemes of Joanna’s?"
Yancy Shaw was referring to Joanna’s attempts to win Vincent Grant’s favor and get back together with him.
Sophia smiled faintly.
"There’s nothing to say."
Everyone has their own fate. She wouldn’t interfere in the destinies of others.