?Chapter 320:


    Aron shook his head. “They really think a stunt like this is their ticket to the top. These trends have a way of backfiring in the worst ways.”


    While the two shared their skepticism, Helga Garza, the imposing head of the secretarial department, marched into view. Shock shed across the men’s faces as she approached.


    Around the office, Helga’s reputation as a stunner was practically legendary—her runway-ready figure, striking features, and glossy hair never failed to turn heads. Impable suits and heels made her the center of attention wherever she walked. Even Aron and Hugh, who imed they were immune to workce crushes, often found their eyes following her.


    No one was prepared for Helga’s transformation this morning. Wild, untamed hair framed her face, which was smeared with streaks of dirt, and her outfit looked as if she’d pulled it from aundry basket. She looked more like someone who’d survived a tornado than the department’s fashion icon.


    Myles and the others exchanged bewildered nces, struggling to keep straight faces. Never in a million years would they have pegged Helga as someone who’d jump on this ridiculous trend.


    A file clutched in her hands, Helga breezed past the trio toward the CEO’s office. She greeted them with a beaming wave and an even wider grin.


    That smile almost made Myles, Aron, and Hugh lose theirposure all over again. Helga took the ugly trend to heart, shing a set of oversized, clunky braces that made her grin look straight out of a Halloween special.


    Adjusting his sses, Myles couldn’t help but call out, “Ms. Garza, you really nning to walk into Mr. Evans’s office looking like that?”


    “What’s the issue?” Helga shot back, all confidence. She fluffed her tangled hair, convinced her new “Elliana 100k” was a stroke of genius. She was certain Cole would be charmed.


    Augh escaped Myles. “You’re in charge of the secretarial pool, and this is your big style statement?”


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    Helga gave him a look full of mischief. “Worried I’ll catch Mr. Evans’s eye and leapfrog you in thepany ranks, Mr. Fletcher? Don’t be so nervous.”


    Silence seemed the safest option, so Myles wisely zipped his lips. Some folks were set on their own disasters, and no warning could talk them out of it.


    Lifting her chin, Helga strutted confidently to the CEO’s office door, knocked, and, after a nod of permission, swept inside.


    All three men watched her go, quietly counting down the seconds to the inevitable fallout.


    After days holed up in Regal Grove nursing an injury, Cole finally returned and was swallowed whole by the mountain of work waiting on his desk.


    Without saying a word, Elliana imed a spot on the sofa, thumbing through her phone. She stayed quiet, not wanting to pull him away from the mountain of paperwork he’d already begun tearing into.


    It was Helga’s entrance that pulled Elliana’s eyes up, confusion flickering across her face like a warning light. She couldn’t make sense of what she was seeing. In a ce as polished as the Evans Group, Helga’s unkempt appearance felt like a glitch in the system.


    In Elliana’s mind, a top-tierpany should have no tolerance for employees who didn’t match the brand’s polished image. Sloppy didn’t make the cut. Was the Evans Group’s culture just weirdly chill, or what?


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