Chapter <b>318 </b>


    Nancy might think Faye Technologies had made some questionable hiring choices–one in particr—but she wasn’t blind to the overall talent pool.


    Any random engineer here could probably outshine the average.


    Ariel finished organizing her notes. Without sparing Nancy another nce, she stood up to leave.


    When she walked past Jayson’s seat, he turned toward her. Are you feeling better now?”


    The first thing out of his mouth was concern, but his tone carried zero warmth.


    Ariel stopped, her expression icy and distant. “You want to talk about what I said to threaten Nancy, don’t you? Why beat around the bush?”


    Jayson tapped a finger against the table, not denying it. He just stared at her.


    Ariel hated situations like this, especially Jayson’s stance<b>, </b>which clearly showed that he was siding with Nancy<b>. </b><b>It </b>disrupted her peace.


    “Rx,” she said coldly. “I don’t have the time to deal with her now. But that could change.”


    As long as Nancy didn’t cross her, she had no interest in stirring things up. She believed Jayson would get the


    message.


    Only then did Jayson stand up. He was tall enough that his lowered eyes seemed to scan every flicker of expression on her face.


    The corner of his thin lips twitched slightly. It might have been a smile. “You’re getting bolder.”


    Then, after a pause, he added, “Do what you want.”


    That smile was neither warm nor cold. It waspletely unreadable.


    But to Ariel, it felt like a silent dare to go ahead and try.


    It was already close to noon, and she and Chad had been nning to go out for lunch anyway. So they headed downstairs along with Jayson and Nancy.


    Outside the building, Matt was already waiting by the car.


    He spotted Ariel and grinned brightly. “Mr. Hockney, Ms. Walker, do you want toe join us for lunch? We’ve got a few friends tagging along today too.”


    Ariel gave him a t look. “Sure. Where to?”


    Matt’s expression froze. The smile on his face faltered. He was caught off guard.


    Ariel used to respond gently with “It’s okay. You guys have fun.”


    Now she was snapping back at him?


    Ariel ignored Matt’s frozen expression and turned to head toward the car.


    Chad kept up appearances, shing a smile as he added, “We’ll leave you to it. Wouldn’t want to make Ms. Stanton ufortable. She almost cost her thepany.‘


    With that, he turned and walked off.


    Nancy frowned ever so slightly.


    She could tell Chad was referring to Ariel’s remark about suing to take thepany back. Since when did even Chad start making jokes with that kind of edge?


    Matt, on the other hand, didn’t get it.


    Jayson said nothing and simply got in the car.


    Once they were on the road, Nancy turned to Matt and asked, “Are you free this Friday? Come to my mom’s art exhibition.”


    Matt blinked in surprise. “Already? That was fast.”


    Nancy smiled, then nced at Jayson with a touch of softness before replying, “Jayson helped a lot. It’s my mom’s first exhibit since returning to the country. It’s a huge milestone for her. She’s feeling much better, and her spirits are up. You have toe support her.”


    After some thought, Matt said, “In that case, shouldn’t we invite more social elites to help boost her publicity?”


    Nancy nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. I know a few of them. I’ll start reaching out.”


    She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contact list.


    Thanks to Jayson, she had met quite a few people in the local scene since returning. She began sending out invitations.


    Then she scrolled through her contacts for others she had in mind–Zach, Frederick, Perry, and Samson, who had just recently exchanged numbers with her.


    After a brief moment of thought, she selected them all, drafted a polished invitation, and hit send.