Chapter 187

Liliana put her phone down and met Nina's angry gaze.

"I spoke to Miss Woods on the phone."

This only intensified Nina's disapproval. "We're all adults here. If you don't want to do the project, you can say so directly. But to make up lies is just unacceptable!" "Designer Shepherd, we discussed this, and you refused," Liliana felt compelled to remind her, finding Nina's sudden willingness to talk completely disingenuous. Wasn't Nina the one who had flatly rejected the idea when she'd made it clear she wouldn't take Sylvia's project?

"So just because I disagreed, that gives you the right to lie? Do you take me and Miss Woods for fools?" Nina grew even angrier.

Liliana realized her last comment had been a mistake.

She stood up, her voice calm but firm. "I'm not lying. I spoke with Miss Woods on the phone the day it snowed, and she tacitly agreed that I would no longer be handling the Expo Manor design."

Nina didn't believe a word of it. "Whether you want to take Miss Woods's project or not, lying is wrong. You need to go apologize to her. If this gets out, your reputation in this industry will be ruined, and you'll drag me down with you!"

Having vented her frustration, Nina walked away.

The problem was now Liliana's to solve.

During that phone call, Sylvia hadn't explicitly said anything, and even if she had, Liliana had no proof. By that logic, she was in the wrong.

Liliana took her phone and went to the break room to call Sylvia.

She wasn't calling to apologize; she wanted to know what Sylvia was playing at.

Privately, Cedric wanted her to apologize to Sylvia.

Professionally, Nina was demanding the same.

How long was Sylvia going to drag this out? Was she truly not worried that Liliana would show the photos to Cedric, or was she just confident that she wouldn't dare?

She tried calling again and again. At first, no one answered. Then, the calls were immediately rejected.

When she tried one more time, the call wouldn't go through.

Sylvia had blocked her.

Liliana sank into a chair, running her fingers through her hair and rubbing her temples.

She truly didn't understand what Sylvia's end game was.

But she knew Sylvia wouldn't cut off this one connection between them for good.

After calming down in the break room, she went to find Nina, hoping she would help her schedule a meeting with Sylvia.

"You made this mess. You fix it."

Nina had no intention of getting involved.

Liliana had no choice but to say, "She's blocked me. It wouldn't be right for me to show up at Zephyr Group unannounced. After all, I don't always have the best judgment if I were to cause a scene and damage Miss Woods's reputation, that wouldn't be good."

Nina was genuinely afraid she would go to Zephyr Group. If she got into a fight with Sylvia there and upset Cedric the entre Cyan company would suffer.

"This is the last time I'm helping you!"

"Thank you. Please send me the time and place once you've arranged it."

While Liliana couldn't figure out the source of Nina's dislike for her, Nina's temperament was easy enough to predict.

She returned to her desk and finally remembered to reply to Leroy.

[Dr. Sterling, if you have time this weekend, I'd like to come to the hospital to discuss my brother's condition with you.]

Leroy responded with an 'OK' emoji.

She figured that besides continuing to harass and obstruct her, there was little Sylvia could do to cause her any real harm.

So, she focused all her thoughts on Hale.

She couldn't wait for the weekend to meet Dr. Sterling and hear just how confident he was about Hale's case, when he said, 'You came to the right person.'

But she never could have imagined that an extreme act would force her to see Hale before the weekend arrived.

On Thursday evening, Nina informed her that the meeting with Sylvia was set.

Nina had an appointment to measure a client's space that afternoon and wasn't in the office.

So, she and Nina took separate routes to meet Sylvia.