Top Notch War God

Chapter 55

Soon, Harley collapsed to the ground, motionless, as thick black smoke billowed from him, filling the air with a foul smell that resembled burnt meat.

His uncle stared at Harley's tragic state, saying nothing. He simply took out a contract, bowed tremblingly, and said, "Mr. Storm, Leo wants to hand over the group to Ariya. All the shareholders of Yuvi Group have signed this contract. Ms. Willis just needs to sign it, and Yuvi Group will belong to her. It's time for us to step back."

Talon took the contract, flipping through it. It was the share transfer agreement that Harley had signed earlier. However, the buyer section was blank, meaning Ariya could sign it at any moment.

"I'm accepting Yuvi Group. No one can speak of what happened today. Also, I will pay you the full amount for your shares stated in the contract. Additionally, every year, I will set aside a third of Yuvi Group's profits for Leo's descendants." With that, Talon returned home.

When Ariya saw Talon come back safely, she couldn't help but greet him cheerfully. "You're back?"

"Yeah," Talon smiled, casually tossing the contract on the table.

"What did you do to Harley?" Ariya bit her lip and asked softly.

"Nothing much. I just got him drunk," Talon chuckled.

Ariya looked at him with confusion. Harley had killed his father and betrayed the country, yet Talon let him off so easily?

Seeing Talon seeming a bit tipsy, she remembered how he drank that night and couldn't help but feel a chill. She advised him, "You really shouldn't drink like that anymore. It's bad for your health. You're the only man in our family. What would happen if you fell ill? Get some rest. We can talk about it tomorrow."

Ariya went to the room to make his bed, while Talon quietly watched her, a hint of tenderness in his eyes.

***

The next day, as Ariya entered Yuvi Group's gates, ready to start work, she overheard her colleagues whispering around her.

"Ms. Willis is here so early. Looks like Mr. Vance didn't take her out yesterday!"

"Nonsense! She went to Petal Hotel yesterday, and Mr. Vance booked a room there!"

"The reason she's here so early is to hide what happened yesterday. It's a classic case of 'grasping the flattery to throw the bait!'"

"Haha, what a sight! After spending time with her father, she's now with his son. Isn't that just like a prostitute?"

"So what if she's a prostitute? In this company shake-up, she's on the rise!"

"She's climbing the ranks by selling her body. People like her don't deserve to be a director!"

While Ariya was thinking about how to explain herself, she heard a sharp female voice.

"Ms. Willis, I'm here to collect last month's reports. Please hand them over." Noelle from HR approached Ariya's office, her expression unreadable.

Three years ago, she had a fling with Harley. Since her husband wasn't very capable, she often went out with Harley. Yesterday afternoon, Harley, who hadn't been seen for three years, suddenly returned and got handsy with her in the office.

At first, she instinctively refused, but in the end, she couldn't control herself and completely fell for him. She had planned to enjoy herself at a hotel that night, but Harley ended up going to Petal Hotel with the woman standing in front of her.

"The reports are with the director, locked in a cabinet. I'll get them to you when he comes back in a few days," Ariya replied. Although she was already the director, the previous director was ill, and the documents hadn't been handed over yet.

"No way! You must hand them in today; otherwise, I can't explain to Harley!" Noelle glared fiercely at Ariya.

Hearing Harley's name made Ariya realize what was going on.

"Your inability to explain is your problem. And just so you know, Mr. Vance won't be coming today!" Ariya meant that Talon had gotten him drunk, and whether he could wake up was uncertain, let alone come to work.

Noelle, however, misunderstood this as Harley being too tired. She sneered, "Oh, so you know Mr. Vance's whereabouts? Sounds like you had a busy night with him! I'm not judging you, but you are married with a daughter. What do you think your husband will think? How will your daughter face people in the future?"

Ariya realized what Noelle was implying, and in anger, she stood up, staring at Noelle. "Noelle, stop slandering me! I went to Petal Hotel yesterday, but I had no relations with Harley. If you spread more lies, I won't let you off!"

Noelle swayed her hips, pointing at Ariya's nose. "Oh, so you're angry, huh? If you didn't do anything, why are you worried about what we say? Let me tell you, if you don't submit last month's reports, you're disobeying the HR department's tasks, and I can totally fire you! You have until noon to get that report to me!"

Ariya was speechless, forced to mobilize all departments to redo the report.

In the HR office, when Noelle walked in, a few young women gathered around her, chattering.

"Noelle, I heard you really put that seductress in her place this morning?"

"Of course! Do you even know who Noelle is? I specialize in taking her down!"

"That woman? I think she's overdue for a lesson. She relies on her looks to charm Leo and has been driving us crazy for ages!"

"Why don't we get her fired and teach her a lesson?"

Noelle sat back in her chair, smirking. "Why would I fire her? I'm not done playing with her yet!"

Before noon, Ariya brought the report into the HR office and slammed it on Noelle's desk. "Ms. Bloom, here's last month's report."

Noelle sat on her chair, casually saying, "Oh, the report? It's actually worthless now."

"What did you say?" Ariya shouted. She had worked hard to gather information from all departments, spending the entire morning just to print this report, and now it was worthless?

"Did you not hear me? If your ears are that bad, maybe you should get a hearing aid. This report is useless. I just remembered that it was submitted yesterday directly to Mr. Vance. Didn't Mr. Vance tell you last night?" Noelle said provocatively, staring at her.

Ariya slammed the table, furious. "Noelle, do you know what you're doing? I ran around the company for this report, wasting my whole morning! Do you really think being HR director gives you the right to do whatever you want?"

Noelle shot back defiantly. "Yeah, I enjoy watching you run around. I love seeing you beg for help. Don't think being a director makes you important. I'm the HR supervisor; you have no authority over me. You think slamming the table will intimidate me? Listen, I'm ready to go toe-to-toe with you. What are you going to do about it?"