Overbearing CEO's Contract Love
Chapter 222: Company Perks

Chapter 222: Company Perks

"Emma, even showing affection shouldn’t hurt others," a colleague remarked, clearly frustrated by the sudden change of plans.

"How am I supposed to manage? I have a date tonight!" a woman complained, stamping her foot in exasperation.

Nearby, a man texted his wife an apology while muttering, "It’s my wife’s birthday tonight."

Complaints filled the air, illustrating a common workplace irony: no issues when overtime isn’t required, but a plethora of problems when it is. Emma Hart understood too well that the cause of their grievances was likely the bouquet of roses on her desk.

Emma stared at the roses—beautiful, yet thorny. Shaking her head and sighing, she found herself the target of everyone’s irritation once again.

No one suspected Sofia Greenwood of stirring trouble; they all blamed Emma Hart for their woes. With her head bowed in apology, Emma couldn’t bear to meet the eyes of her colleagues, feeling as if her presence at work was a mistake, almost as if she brought disaster wherever she went.

Her colleagues, listless and unenthusiastic about the overtime, certainly weren’t up for an energetic late shift. Emma wished she could convince the management never to impose overtime, as it only led to more errors, with everyone’s minds elsewhere.

"Let’s go! Time for the meeting," her colleagues said, heading to the conference room, leaving Emma alone at her desk, sighing helplessly. With Sofia Greenwood around, peace was elusive.

Outside the company building, Damien Sterling looked tiredly up at the floor housing the design department. "Why are there still people in the design department?" he wondered aloud. The woman’s presence there was ironic; everyone knew how demanding the design department could be.

"Oh, Ms. Greenwood has the design team working overtime, sir. There seems to be an important project," his assistant carefully explained.

"Overtime?" Damien frowned, concerned. No project was as important as her well-being. She had already had a long day at the office, and now overtime?

As the driver was about to start the car, Damien’s voice halted him, "Back to the office."

"Mr. Sterling, are you planning to..." his assistant began, waiting for instructions.

"Arrange for dinner."

The assistant looked up at the towering Sterling Group building and nodded, "Yes, CEO."

"A meal for a pregnant woman," Damien emphasized, stopping the assistant as he was about to get out of the car, "Wait a moment."

The assistant, puzzled by Damien’s intentions, waited and watched as Damien tapped his phone against the window.

Moments later, Damien Sterling instructed, "Check how many people are in the design department and order a meal for each. I wouldn’t want Emma to think I have ulterior motives by giving her special treatment. Better to extend it as a company benefit, so she doesn’t become the target of everyone’s frustrations."

It was already dinner time. Seeing the urgency, the assistant hurriedly got out of the car and assured Mr. Sterling, "I’ll handle it right away, sir." He knew well that delaying anyone’s dinner in the design department could be a significant issue.

Inside the meeting room, Sofia Greenwood tossed a file on the table and fired up the PowerPoint. The annoyance from earlier, triggered by the sight of the bouquet of flowers in front of Emma Hart, lingered in her mind. She hadn’t intended to work late, but the sight of those flowers made her think of Damien Sterling, inadvertently making Emma the scapegoat.

Sofia’s gaze fell on Emma, who seemed to be sitting quietly in the corner as if bearing a great injustice, though Sofia’s perception might have been more a product of her imagination than reality. Emma was just sitting there as she did every day, unaffected.

It appeared that the previous criticism hadn’t satisfied Sofia, who glared at Emma again before turning away, unable to confront her directly. Instead, she addressed the entire design department, "If you’re part of the Sterling Group, you should know you’re here to contribute. Don’t bring irrelevant matters into work. And some of you should focus on your assigned tasks rather than venturing beyond your capabilities. We seem to have some misfits in this department. Do you really want to associate with these misfits every day? What good does that do you?"

Emma sat uncomfortably below, feeling every word was directed at her. This room could have been empty, save for her; it was clear Sofia was targeting her. Was she referring to that particular misfit, perhaps Amelia Davidson? Emma didn’t understand why others were dragged into accusations meant for her.

Amelia Davidson—no matter what others said about her, Emma could sense a person’s character and the way they treated her, things no one else needed to articulate.

Sofia Greenwood looked at Emma Hart with a defiant air, but Emma did not appear crushed or cowed by Sofia’s remarks. "Meeting dismissed!" Sofia said angrily, casting a disdainful glance at Emma.

Emma took note of that look. "What kind of look was that?" she thought, her temper flaring. The saying ’the meek shall inherit the earth’ seemed lost on Sofia, who apparently hadn’t slapped her hard enough before! Now, Sofia seemed intent on finding fault with her at every turn, and the misunderstandings with her colleagues had already made Emma’s evening frustrating enough.

Without hesitation, Emma decided to confront Sofia. As Sofia packed up to leave—after all, just because she had ordered overtime didn’t mean she had to stay—Emma blocked her path. "Miss Greenwood, may I ask who you were referring to when you mentioned ’misfits’ in the design department?"

Sofia was taken aback, not expecting Emma to challenge her, especially without Damien Sterling backing her up. Emma’s gaze even seemed to scare her a bit. But Sofia was not one to back down easily. She flipped her hair with a flick of her hand and stood toe to toe with Emma, her high heels giving her a slight height advantage, adding to her imposing demeanor. "What do you want?"

"Nothing, if Ms. Greenwood was referring to someone else, then never mind. But if you were talking about my friend, I’d appreciate it if you’d clean your mouth before you speak next time!" Emma spoke boldly, the thrill of standing up for her friend coursing through her.

"I don’t need to report to you who I was talking about!" Sofia retorted, looking down on Emma.

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