The room fell into a tense silence.

All eyes darted back and forth between Wilbur and me.

I had once been a forsaken woman, and now I returned triumphantly with the backing of a top conglomerate.

It was like something out of a soap opera.

Nora was the first to react.

She forced a smile and stepped forward, attempting to take my hand. "Alina, is it really you? Where have you been these past three years? We've both been so worried about you. Wilbur often talks about you."

I sidestepped her hand and brushed my sleeve disdainfully as if it had been sullied.

"Miss Clarke, please behave yourself. I am not so close to you, and I felt disgusted when you touched me."

Nora's hand froze in mid-air, and her face turned pale with embarrassment.

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Alina, how can you say that... I know you're still upset with Wilbur and me. But love cannot be forced. You signed the divorce papers yourself back then, and you left by yourself..."

Her pitiful appearance used to stir Wilbur's protective instincts.

As expected, Wilbur frowned and instinctively shielded Nora. "Alina, if you have grievances, direct them at me. Don't make things difficult for Nora. We were in the wrong about what happened back then. But you don't need to be so aggressive now, do you?"

I looked at his protective stance and found it ridiculous.

Three years had passed, and Wilbur hadn't changed at all.

He was still blind as ever.

"Am I aggressive?" I sneered. "Mr. Chapman, I think you've misunderstood. I didn't come here today to reminisce or to engage in petty jealousy."

I snapped my fingers, and my assistant promptly handed over a document.

I continued, "This is the Norris Group's acquisition proposal for the Chapman Group. Given the Chapman Group's recent financial troubles and the enormous risk associated with the land project in the southern part of the city, I have the right to request an emergency board meeting as a major shareholder to dismiss the current CEO, Wilbur Chapman."

My words exploded like a bomb among the crowd.

Wilbur's pupils contracted sharply. "What did you say? Did you dismiss me? Alina, have you lost your mind? I built the Chapman Group from the ground up."

"You know clearly whether you built it or not," I said, my gaze as sharp as a knife. "The land in the southern part of the city is a failed project, with severe underground cavity risks. You misappropriated thirty billion dollars of the company's working funds to acquire it. If this news gets out, you know better than I do what will happen to the stock price of the Chapman Group."

Wilbur's face turned deathly pale at that moment, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

That was the Chapman Group's highest secret.

Only he and a few core executives knew it.

"How did Alina know it?" Wilbur wondered.

"You... you're lying," he shouted, and his voice was unsteady. "Security, remove this madwoman."

"Let me see who dares," Theo said flatly.

His sentence was short, but it carried an unquestionable weight of authority.

The surrounding security guards exchanged looks, and no one dared step forward.

Theo looked around the hall, and those under his gaze lowered their heads. "The Norris Group has acquired 40% of the Chapman Group's circulating shares. Combined with Alina's holdings, we have absolute control of the Chapman Group. From now on, Alina calls the shots here."

Wilbur staggered and nearly collapsed to the floor.

He looked at me, and his eyes finally showed fear. "Alina, what exactly do you want?"

I walked up to him and leaned slightly to whisper in his ear, "What do I want? Wilbur, this is just the beginning. I want you to experience the feeling of losing everything."

The celebration dinner ended on a sour note.

The next morning, the stock price of the Chapman Group plummeted as soon as the market opened.

Negative news about the land in the southern part of the city flooded the media.

Wilbur was overwhelmed with stress.

Meanwhile, I sat in the spacious and bright office of the Norris Group and leisurely sipped coffee while watching the red numbers flicker on the screen.

I felt exceptionally happy.

"Ms. Hayes, Wilbur is downstairs. He wants to see you." My secretary called me through the intercom.

"Bring him up," I replied, setting down my coffee cup.

He had fallen into my trap.

Ten minutes later, Wilbur walked into my office.

He looked haggard, with bloodshot eyes and rumpled clothes. He was a far cry from his usual confident demeanor.

"Alina," he said, approaching my desk and placing both hands on it. "We need to talk."

"Talk about what?" I didn't even lift my head as I continued to read the documents in my hands. About how you can give the Chapman Group to me?"

"Alina, I know you hate me." Wilbur took a deep breath, trying to suppress his anger. "But the Chapman Group is also your hard work. Do you really want to watch it fall apart?"

"My hard work?" I finally looked up and was amused by his words. "Wilbur, have you forgotten? You said that I was a useless spender three years ago and that the Chapman family didn't need me. And now you are saying it's my hard work. Don't you find that ironic?"

Wilbur was rendered speechless.

He bit his lip before softening his tone suddenly. "I was wrong about what happened back then. I was fooled by someone. Honestly, I haven't forgotten you these past three years. I was just to spite you when I was with Nora..."

I nearly spat out the coffee I had just sipped.

Could he be any more shameless?

To spite me?

So he forced me to leave with nothing and watched me struggle on the streets?

"Mr. Chapman, cut the drama." I interrupted his performance. "Just say what you want."

Seeing that I wasn't buying his act, Wilbur dropped his affectionate facade. "If you're willing to invest in my company and help it go through this crisis, I can offer you the position of Vice President of my company. Even... we could remarry," he added, and he looked confident that he would get what he wanted.

To him, all my efforts and scheming to return must mean I still had feelings for him.

He believed that I'd obediently return to him like before with just his beckon.

"Remarry?" I seemed to have heard the biggest joke and laughed so hard that tears fell down. "Wilbur, how are you so arrogant? Do you really think you're worthy of me now?"

Wilbur's face turned livid instantly.

"Alina, don't think highly of yourself. Do you really think Theo genuinely cares for you? He's just using you to take over the Chapman Group. Once I'm down, do you think you'll have a good ending?"

I stopped smiling, and my gaze turned icy. "I don't need your concern, Mr. Chapman. Goodbye."

Wilbur was escorted out by security.

As he left, he shot me a venomous glare. "Alina, you just wait. I won't accept defeat like this."

Watching him leave in disgrace, I picked up my phone and dialed Theo's number. "He's panicking. Proceed with the plan. Throw the bait of the Nirvana Project to him."

Wilbur was desperate for a turnaround opportunity, and the Nirvana Project I meticulously crafted was the grave prepared just for him.

Over the next two weeks, I intentionally slowed down the acquisition of the Chapman Group.

Meanwhile, through several intermediaries, I gradually leaked the core information of the Nirvana Project to Wilbur.

It appeared to be a promising project with astonishing profits, but it was actually a financial quagmire.

As long as Wilbur took the bait and invested everything he had, he would meet his ruin.

And Wilbur fell into the trap as I had expected.

He thought it was a secret from the Norris Group and his only chance to turn things around.

He recklessly mortgaged all remaining assets of the Chapman Group and even took out high-interest loans.

He was eager to start the project before the Norris Group did.

Nora wasn't idle either.

She was busy trying to pull strings, hoping to meet me.

After I rejected her, she commissioned defamatory online content to smear my reputation.

She spread the rumors that I had climbed the ladder by selling my charms and that I had an affair while I was married to Wilbur and was pregnant with an illegitimate baby before being expelled by the Chapman family.

She even fabricated scandalous images of me.

Online public opinion was highly unfavorable towards me for a while.

"Miss Hayes, do you need the PR department to handle this?" my assistant asked worriedly.

"Not necessary." I calmly closed the webpage filled with vicious comments. "Let them continue. The harsher the criticism, the more dramatic the reversal will be when the time comes. Nora's little tricks can only fool someone as foolish as Wilbur."

The real culminating strike was yet to come.

I had evidence from years ago when Nora conspired with the Hayes family's competitors to frame Jeremy.

I also had the proof of her laundering money through the Chapman Group over the past few years.

In these three years, the most important lesson I'd learned was patience under Theo's guidance.

I would wait until the enemy let their guard down, and then I would deliver a fatal blow.