Saturday, February 25, eleven in the morning. The chief's office, Westbridge Real Asset Partners.

"Charlotte!"

The moment the door opened, Chief Edward Lancaster rose from his seat and spread his arms wide.

He hardly ever came into the office on weekends.

Today, though, he'd been in a fine mood since morning.

"You pulled it off beautifully yesterday."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. There's a reason I think so highly of you."

Edward beamed and gestured toward the sofa.

"Sit. Have a coffee, at least."

Charlotte sat down without a word.

Outside the window, Manhattan on a Saturday morning looked unhurried.

The streets were quieter than on a weekday, but Edward's voice was as lively as a Monday morning.

"I didn't even see it myself, but I hear it was really something!"

He grinned and gave her a thumbs-up. He'd evidently fielded a lot of calls since last night.

They'd have told him which big names had come and who had spent the night talking with which guests.

His face said he'd already heard in detail what kind of people had gathered at the H.R TOWER party.

"I hear Lorenz, Whitman, even Jensen Wang came?"

"Yes."

"Hahahaha! Excellent!"

Edward let out a whoop of laughter.

"To be honest, Charlotte, I didn't know you had it in you."

Charlotte quietly studied his face. He was the textbook greedy Wall Street man in his fifties.

Shff.

Edward opened his desk drawer.

"This time the company should reward you. Not the building-deal bonus, something separate~"

He slid a sheet of paper across the table in front of Charlotte.

"It's a check for a hundred thousand dollars."

Charlotte's gaze fell on the check.

A bonus. A hundred thousand dollars. Edward wore the look of a man who'd made a very generous decision.

"Well?"

"……." "That ought to keep you from feeling shortchanged, hm?"

Charlotte didn't answer right away.

A hundred thousand dollars. Not long ago, she'd have been beside herself.

It wasn't a bonus a Director of Real Estate Investment could get from just any deal.

And yet, strangely, she felt nothing at all.

A…