Walton even turned around and started yelling at me, "Riley! How many times have I told you to act professionally in front of clients and never dress in such a shameless manner just to reach your performance targets?

"Are you so desperate for money that you'd toss your self-respect away for a single partnership? This is pathetic!"

It was ironic. He was the one who'd dropped hints that I should use my looks, and now, he was painting me as the shameless one.

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Mr. Frazier, you're the one who told me to leave a few buttons undone and even implied that Ms. Cobb—"

"Shut up!"

Walton didn't give me the chance to finish. According to his plan, his next step was to escalate this impropriety between Mable and me, then use that to bargain the price down, while playing the righteous hero in front of our boss, Lynette Nash.

Too bad for him, he'd picked the wrong audience.

"Enough."

Mable let out a cold laugh as she abruptly stood up. "So, Mr. Frazier, do you think that covering someone up is considered inappropriate and harassment, or do you think I'm an idiot?

"If we're here to talk business, let's talk business. What's with the sleazy pimp act?"

"I'm here to vet a project, not to pick out eye candy at a nightclub. You're the one forcing your male employee to dress like this and toast, then you have the nerve to blame them for not having any self-respect."

She let out a cold, sharp laugh. "It looks like your company has serious management issues. I have no interest in partnering with a company that has such questionable standards.

"The partnership for next year is canceled."

I could tell that she was livid. She was pissed that they were treating me, her little brother, with such disrespect and even more furious at the fact that I was putting up with the toxic cesspool of the company.

…Well, I hadn't finished paying my rent, and I was in my twenties, so I didn't want to go running back to my family and ask for rent money.

"Ms. Cobb! T-This is all a misunderstanding!"

Lynette panicked and jumped to her feet. After all, losing a top-tier client like Mable would be a massive blow to the company.

The plan was supposed to be a power move to gain leverage over Mable, but this was a total backfire.

So, Lynette immediately turned on Walton and roared, "Walton! Ms. Cobb is known for her professionalism and gave Riley a jacket so he'd look presentable. Yet you pointed in her face and accused her of trying nasty stuff!

"Apologize to her right now!"

Walton froze, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He bowed his head with exaggerated humility and acted like he was being mistreated and forced to sacrifice.

"My apologies, Ms. Nash and Ms. Cobb. I'll admit that I let my temper get the better of me just now, but I did it all out of concern for Riley!

"He's always had questionable intentions, looking for shortcuts and trying to use his looks to charm female clients. I was just afraid that he might hurt Ms. Cobb…

"Earlier today, I reminded him to dress up appropriately, but he insisted this was fashion and said it'd make you notice him more. I just didn't want things to get out of hand…"

As I listened to him twist the truth, I nearly laughed.

"Ms. Frazier, let's be honest for once. You shoved the shirt into my hands, told me to toast, and threatened me with my attendance bonus if I didn't comply. Now, how is it suddenly my choice?"

"Riley, be a man and take responsibility!"

Walton glared at me and feigned an utterly heartbroken look. "Everyone in the team knows you like flirting with wealthy women, but now, you're trying to dodge responsibility and shift the blame."

"We owe Ms. Cobb an explanation for what happened today, Ms. Nash. We can't have one bad apple ruin our reputation with Cobb Group!" Walton said, neatly tossing the problem back to Lynette.

With people whispering all around us, and for fear of upsetting Mable and costing the company a major client, Lynette just wanted to cut the damage short.

She rubbed her temples and said, "Enough. Riley, regardless of whether this was a misunderstanding, you're the reason Ms. Nash is upset is an undeniable fact.

"You'll hand over your work on Scennia Group today and report to HR tomorrow. You're being demoted to entry level with a pay cut and starting over from the bottom."

Now that Walton was completely cleared of responsibility, he let out a long, silent breath of relief before leaning into my ear and whispering, "See that? I'm a veteran of the company, and if I say you take the fall, you'll do it. Don't even think about anyone backing you up.

"You're just unlucky today, kid. You had to run into someone like Ms. Cobb."

In the face of his provocation, I didn't panic and instead let out a short laugh.

I'd been working on Scennia Group for half a year and hustled the partnership out of my childhood friend, Eason Fletcher. I'd spent weeks complaining to him about my shitty commissions and begging him until he finally signed the deal just to shut me up.

If they wanted to swap me out, they'd better hope the company was ready to lose more than one partnership.

"Ms. Cobb… Does this work for you?" Lynette asked, nervously clasping her hands as she looked at Mable.

Walton scrambled to pick up his wine glass with a fawning, flattering smile plastered across his face. "Ms. Cobb, I apologize for my earlier overreaction. I'm just too blunt and overprotective of my team, so let me take a few shots as a peace offering."

He downed the wine with a performative flourish while Lynette chimed in, "Exactly, Ms. Cobb. Please don't let one immature employee ruin the relationship between our two companies."

My ears were starting to itch from all the garbage they were spewing. Since they were intent on dragging my name through the mud, I simply took my seat, picked up my cutlery, and popped a piece of fruit into my mouth.

"Riley!" Walton snapped when he saw me eat and gave me a rough shove on the shoulder.

"Where are your manners? Get up and apologize to Ms. Cobb right now!"

He turned back to Mable with a forced grin. "Please don't mind him, Ms. Cobb. Riley's from a small town and doesn't know how things work in the city.

"He's probably just desperate for money, which is why he wanted to try these underhanded shortcuts. After all, a man who has nothing is more likely to take the wrong path and live off some rich woman."

Sitting at the head of the table, Mable listened to Walton's repeated jabs of "desperate for money" and "live off some rich woman". Her fingers, which had been idly tracing the rim of her teacup, suddenly stilled.

"Mr. Frazier, you seem to know quite a lot about your employee's family history," she slowly said in a calm, unreadable voice.

Assuming there could be a turn of events, Waltom eagerly nodded, "Of course, I do! When he joined, he mentioned he was from the mountains.

"Kids who come from nothing usually struggle in the big city. They see the glitz and glamor of life here and think they can cut corners to climb to the top.

"I mean… Why else is he the one female clients always ask for during drinks? Where there's smoke, there's fire, so if he really was as professional as he claims, he wouldn't be attracting all this unwanted attention, would he?

"Ms. Cobb, as his direct supervisor, I'll take my share of the blame for his poor conduct and opportunistic behavior. But I can assure you that all the projects we work on together will be clean and professional, free of all this nonsense."

"Poor conduct and opportunistic behavior? Mr. Frazier, are you talking about Riley?" Mable repeated the words, the smile on her lips turning colder by the second.

"Exactly," Riley said with a sigh and feigned a regretful look. "It's embarrassing to air this dirty laundry, but I wouldn't dare hide it from you, Ms. Cobb."

There was a deafening slam as Mable set her wine glass down with a heavy, jarring crack. She leaned back in her seat and stared at Walton as if she were looking at a dead man.

"You're spreading rumors about my brother selling himself to get ahead, Mr. Frazier. Is this the kind of culture your company prides itself on?"