Chapter 9

Sage had finished inspecting every department of the Norah Group before lunch. The Group had initially started as jewelers and had featured only the most luxurious, high-end brands. Later, Sawyer Norah, Sage's father and founder of the group, had started venturing into other industries such as hospitality, racing, antiquary, film production, and housing estates. The Norah Group had once monopolized the businesses in Salem City with Norah Jewel being the world's largest diamond trading business, and their mines supplied many international industries. At that time, Norah Group was at its peak. While Salem City had the Norah Group, Nadeem City had the Yuriel Group. Both companies had only focused on expanding their business in their own city and had never interfered with each other. The employees were all pretending to work as they stole glances at their new CEO. "Damn, Director Sage is so gorgeous!" Sage's outfit today was rather different compared with the one she wore yesterday. Today, she wore a navy blue suit that brought out her fine figure. She looked elegant yet charismatic. One of the employees could not help herself; she secretly took a picture of Sage and posted it online with the comment: [Look at the back view of our new CEO! Isn't she gorgeous and charismatic?] The employee was an influencer with almost two hundred thousand followers across her social media platforms. Her post about Sage had gained hundreds and thousands of likes, comments, and shares. The comment section was flooded with praises. [Wow, I can't believe this! Her figure and charisma are totally comparable to those of female celebrities!] [I'm so jealous that you get to work with such a gorgeous female CEO!] [I think I have a girl crush on her.] [I have made up my mind to apply for a job at the Norah Group tomorrow!] Sage took off her high heels the moment she entered her office and changed into a pair of sandals. Finn, the vice CEO, followed her into the room and closed the door behind him. He chuckled when he saw Sage changing into the sandals and said, "Your feet must be killing you after all the walking, huh?" "It's been a long time since I wore heels." Sage sighed softly and added, "I was only gone for three years, and the company is already in such a big mess. The departments are a mess, and the employees have been slacking off. Tell me, is there anyone who actually works hard?" Finn fished out a bottle of ointment from the first-aid kit. He crouched in front of Sage and began applying the ointment to the blisters on her feet. His touch was especially gentle and soft. "It's all because of Braxton. He came up with a system that pitted the departments against one another. He does not care about the employees' KPI, and of course, no one is willing to put in hard work as there is nothing in it for them." A chuckle slipped out of Sage as she said, "Uncle Braxton only has experience working in state-run companies. I'm guessing that he applied that experience to this company. This was the exact reason why my dad did not include him in the expansion of this company." Her dad had not wanted to exclude his brother; however, he had no choice as his brother was a stubborn and difficult man to deal with. Finn tried to dry the ointment by blowing on her toes. His breath made her curl them. Sage furrowed her brows as she retracted her legs and said, "It's ticklish, leave it. It'll dry later." She had slender and delicate feet, but her toes were plump. For some reason, Finn found them cute. With a warm smile, Finn looked at her and said, "I'm glad that you're back." Sitting on the sofa with her legs crossed, Sage complained, "I've returned only to clean up their mess. It's not a good thing for me." "I'm sure you'll be able to manage this." Finn's eyes were filled with determination. He was like a soldier on a battlefield who had found his commander. Now that he had his commander next to him, Finn was ready to get back into the fray. Sage collected herself and put on a serious expression as she said, "There are two things that I need you to do. Take note." "I'm listening." "First, the piece of land owned by Braxton and Zane. They will not be using that to build their gold course, instead, I'll be using it for other things." "Noted." "Second, launch the new jewelry series with roses as its theme. Have the marketing team put this online to garner attention. Get people to submit their love stories. The top ten contestants to receive the highest number of votes will receive a free diamond ring from the Norah Group. All employees are allowed to participate in, too. Then, have the design team come up with a product concept based on the netizens' stories. The concept designs should be posted online so that the netizens might vote on them. Those in the top ten will have their monthly bonus doubled." "Noted," responded Finn before adding, "You're gonna burn a hole in your wallet." Sage smiled faintly and answered, "Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? How do we expect to catch a big fish if we aren't willing to spend on bait? Go get it done. Braxton's time has officially come to an end." Just when Finn left her office, her phone rang. It was a call from her butler, Zamora. She had called because Yeva was throwing a tantrum at Rosa Garden. "Lock her in her room and leave her be. Feel free to stuff her mouth if she's too noisy… Do you think she might jump out of the window? If she really has the guts to jump, so be it. Saves me a lot of trouble too." Zamora was her mother's favorite helper. As soon as Sage "passed away", Braxton and Yeva had come up with an excuse to kick her out of the house, and Luther had taken her in. Now that Sage had returned, Zamora had naturally been asked to return to the Nora residence. Sage was relieved to have Zamora overseeing the house, as Yeva would not be able to cause a scene. After ending the call with Zamora, Sage's phone rang again, and it was Luther who called. Sage was somewhat reluctant to answer the call as she knew that with Luther, something bad would happen "What do you want?" asked Sage. "I can hear the annoyance in your tone. It's nothing big, but it might infuriate you. Have you checked the internet today? Your ex-husband must have been brainwashed by that seductress. He's blabbering about how you're the mistress, the homewrecker!" Furrowing her brows, Sage checked her phone and saw the article about Jace and Sienna's wedding. She hesitated before continuing to read the article. The article had been released on the official website of the Yuriel Group. It started by announcing the marriage between the couple and was followed by an account of their romance. The article seemed to imply that Sienna had always been the one for Jace Yuriel and that it was Sage who had been the interloper. In addition to that, the article had described her as a plain, young girl who had come from a farming village and had accidentally come in between Jace and Sienna. It also stated that Sage was too young to know anything. The article promulgated the fact that Sienna was able to forgive Jace, and she wished all the best to Sage Luz and hoped that Sage will be able to find her true love, who would be a good match for her, soon. "Heh," scoffed Sage, who was rendered speechless by what she had just read. "So? Aren't you boiling with rage?" Luther, who was on the other end of the phone, sounded even more infuriated than Sage as he fumed. "Jace, that pr*ck! How dare he paint you as the mistress?! How shameless can he be? Just you wait, Sage. I'll go curse the hell out of him right now!" "It's fine, leave it," Sage replied softly and added, "Jace isn't the type of person who would do such a thing. It's obvious that it was Sienna who wrote this brainless and childish article." "How are you still taking that pr*ck's side?!" "I'm not. I'm just stating a fact." Sage glanced at the article's time of release and smirked. "You don't have to take the article down. She needs to pay for what she did today. I bet that someone must be having a terrible time now." After hanging up the phone, Sage took another look at the article. It was as if she had just read a funny story. Right from the start, Sage had only married Jace sheerly because of her love for him. Why would she care about her status as Mrs. Yuriel? In any case, Sage Luz had died the day she had signed the divorce papers. She had decided that she did not want Jace anymore, let alone the status of being his wife. Sage could not care less who Jace loved.