Chapter 230

Chapter 230 She Can Still Turn Back Influenced by the staff in the center court, the staff in the offices started applauding as well Maia boosted staff morale so early in the morning. Everyone was pumped after her speech.

Instead of taking her personal elevator, she got into the one that everyone used. She stepped out of the elevator when it stopped at her office floor. Buck, Paige, and the other administrative assistants applauded her.

“Welcome back, Ms. Maia.” Paige said.

Maia nodded and said, “Look at the smiles on your faces. It seems I’m not such a bad boss, after all.” Everyone laughed at that.

“No one would ever think of a pretty lady as a bad boss!” One of them said and made everyone laugh again. Paige nodded in approval, “That’s right. A pretty lady could never do anything wrong!”

All of them laughed and went back to work, Buck quickly handed Maia the documents he had prepared the night before. “This is the list of people Ms. Tess had promoted in your absence.”

She took the documents and scanned the list of names.

“Tess picked people who don’t question their superiors. They wouldn’t make a peep even if their superiors’ way of doing things is questionable.

“They'd follow orders to the letter. They stand on the fence, devoid of principles. They don’t take their jobs seriously.”

Buck had gone around and chatted with some friends in different departments when he was. compiling the list of names. He knew some of the people on that list were good at sucking up to their superiors.

“Jordan mentioned something about this lady in the finance department. She used her connections to the former finance manager to get into our company. We didn’t pay attention because she was insignificant and did minor work in the department.”

Starlight Entertainment was a big company. It was hard to completely filter out all the inefficient individuals.

her any “She threw her weight around as if she was the company director when | went looking for Jordan last time. We should sack anyone who got in because of the former finance manager just to be safe.”

Maia nodded and said decisively, “Fire her, then. Keep the rest of them on probation for a month.”

“Gotcha.” Buck nodded and was about to do her bidding when he thought of something. He +15 BONUS “I'm sorry about what happened with CelebClicks yesterday, Ms. Maia. From here on out, I'll be extra careful when | send Hope back to her place.”

“That won't be necessary anymore. Now that I’ve revealed to the public she’s my younger sister, there’s no need to be so careful about everything. I'll arrange a chauffeur and a car for her.”

Maia said this as she was going through the documents. She did not forget about the text she received from Hope in the morning.

The confession had been a failure. Buck did not love Hope. She was confused by it, but she decided not to press further.

It would be hard for Hope if she had to see Buck again, so Maia had no choice but to make that decision. Buck was rooted to the spot for a good ten seconds when he heard what she said.

“Are you saying that you no longer need me to be Hope's chauffeur?”

“Bingo. There’s more. You no longer have to contact her or cook for her. We've confirmed previously that Hope was going to be the female lead for '24 Hour Romance. I'll ask them to speed up the process and start the show as soon as possible so Hope can get started soon.”

Maia spoke so resolutely that it left no room for argument. She had suffered terribly in her love life. She was not going to let Hope make the same mistake and suffer the same fate. Buck was completely thrown. He lowered his head and whispered, “Can | ask why, Ms. Maia?” “Don’t you know the reason already? You're not dense, Buck. You made friends everywhere. You handled yourself really well in all departments. You could even mediate a dispute at times. “People with low emotional intelligence couldn’t have done that, and yet you handled it like it was nothing. Why are you such a buffoon when it comes to Hope?”

Maia was slightly confused. She even encouraged Buck to woo her younger sister. So, how was it that Hope said her confession failed? Could it be that he really was that dense?

Buck looked at Maia and said solemnly, “Are you referring to the fact that | rejected Hope before she could confess to me, Ms.

Maia?”

“| have no interest in asking what went down between the both of you, but Hope is my younger sister. | need to protect her and make sure you don’t see her again. It’s the only thing | can do for her.”

Maia closed the document folder and looked at him sternly. “Leave her alone if you don’t love her, Buck. Don’t make her wait for something that won’t happen. I'll talk to Hope too.

“Fortunately, nothing ever got off the ground between you two. It isn’t too late for her to turn. back.”

Maia had been too stubborn before. She knew Cedric did not love her and yet she threw herself at him without a care in the world.

She had ended up with nothing to show for it. She lost the love of her life and her sense of self. She also almost lost her life.

Mala could not help but to smile bitterly. She had done it all wrong. She could not let Hope make the same mistake. She knew Hope was headstrong too.

There was a lingering silence in the office. Buck stood where he was and said nothing. He merely lowered his head, looking all solemn.

He totally got why Maia did what she did. However, he did not turn Hope down because he did not love her. He did it because he could not.

“It’s not that | don’t love her, Ms. Maia. | had to do what | did because | love her too much.” Maia frowned. Then, it hit her. She understood why he did it.

“You turned her down for her own good.” Maia was sure of it.

Buck nodded, “That's right, Ms. Maia. Hope’s career is taking off. Out of the four popular actresses, she was the most famous.

With Starlight Entertainment at her side, Hope is getting better resources.

“The people in the marketing department said Hope has a lot of clout at the moment. She delivers impressive performances and won the Best Actress award when she was still so young.

“Now, they’re just waiting for her to nab the Best Actress title at The Horizon Awards. | can’t ruin the career she loves just because | want to be with her...”

Buck made a sound argument. Hope was indeed at the peak of her career right now. If Maia wanted to split hairs, then Hope was merely a step away from that. As her boss, she had thought about that angle as well.