And then-there wasn, seated at the head of the table.


    His long, slender fingers tapped rhythmically against the polished wood, and the ck shirt he wore today made him look even more distant and unapproachable, exuding a cold, regal aura.


    Eleanor was dressed head-to-toe in ck as well, and together, the pair''s matching attire drew more than a few surprised nces around the room.


    As the door opened,n lifted his gaze, his eyes lingering on Eleanor for a brief moment.


    Only then did Eleanor realize everyone seemed to be waiting for her.


    "Sorry I''mte," she said quietly, hurrying to the empty seat.


    A sh of annoyance crossed Faye''s eyes. Who does Eleanor think she is, making everyone wait for her?


    Byron cleared his throat. "Let''s get started, shall we?"


    Decker, the lead engineer, began the progress report. Halfway through,n interrupted, his voice calm and unyielding. "The military wants testingpleted in two months. Your progress is too slow. This isn''t the result I expect."


    Everyone stiffened. They still hadn''t met Mr. Goodwin''s standards?


    Decker, already prone to stammering, went pale undern''s scrutiny. "Mr. Goodwin, we''ve already elerated the schedule—”


    "Mr. Goodwin, all our research is strictly following the project n," another engineer chimed in hastily.


    "Mr. Goodwin, the main problem is-the, uh, the stability testing still-" Decker faltered, butn cut him off with a raised hand. "I''m not interested in excuses."


    The room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.


    Eleanor nced at Decker''s reddening face and quietly set her pen down.


    "I''ll exin," she said, her voice clear and steady. "The stability test for the Al cell entanglement simtion takes time. If we force the pace, the data won''t be urate."


    "Do you have a better idea, Miss Sutton?"n''s tone carried a hint of challenge.


    Everyone seemed to hold their breath, nerves stretched taut. Only Faye looked entertained, clearly enjoying Eleanor''s audacity in challengingn at work. It was almost impressive how fearless-or reckless-she was.


    But honestly, Faye didn''t mind watching Eleanor dig her own grave.


    Eleanor stood,posed and unflinching, and strode to the projector to pull up a set of data. "Based onst week''s experiments, if we use this new cooling system, we can shorten the testing cycle. But the cost will go up."


    Her slender finger traced across the screen, exining the technical details with practiced ease.


    "This solution..." He paused thoughtfully. "How much additional funding would it require?"


    "Fifteen percent more than the original budget," Eleanor answered, meeting his eyes.


    Faye couldn''t hide her smirk. The new proposal exceeded the approved budget by a mile—so much so that Byron had been too nervous to even bring it up. But Eleanor justid it out there.


    Joel jumped in at the right moment. "Eleanor''s n is viable. We''ve already run some small-scale tests."


    Faye''s smirk froze. Was he serious?


    How couldn just approve such a huge budget increase without a second thought? Yet he''d agreed-just like that.