Chapter 180 Kick Sophie Winslow Out

Chapter 180: Chapter 180: Kick Sophie Winslow Out

After ending the call, Sophie Winslow clenched her fingers, watching the blood gradually seep back into her pale palms and fingertips, restoring their color.

Her icy body temperature began to warm. It felt as if she no longer needed to worry about the future. Right before leaving the country, Adrian Hawthorne had given her a shot of confidence.

She was deeply grateful to Adrian. His help at this moment was essentially him going against Julian Sterling. Sophie would not take this favor lightly.

She made a trip back to Helios.

Bringing the contract and transfer documents with her, Sophie found Peter Preston already waiting with lawyers. They took turns going through the paperwork, word by word. They were extremely cautious.

"Sterling Corp’s legal team is a bunch of ruthless devils," Peter said. "We have to be on our guard with any documents that have passed through their hands."

He was worried Julian might be setting a trap for Sophie. In this industry, textual pitfalls were everywhere. A single word or even a punctuation mark could be a massive pitfall. Given how callous Julian had been to Sophie, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be utterly ruthless to the end. Longview’s value was bound to double under Sophie’s management in the future, so he had to make sure the Sterling Family wouldn’t have any opportunity to intervene.

Sophie chuckled. "All right, you’re even shrewder than I am."

Peter shrugged. "I have no choice. Snatching such a fat piece of meat from the jaws of the Sterling Family is as rare as seeing a ghost in broad daylight. Naturally, we can’t afford a single mistake. We have to keep it firmly in our grasp."

The Sterling Family was a clan of ruthless predators that would eat a person alive and not even leave the bones. For Sophie, this was no different from walking away unscathed with a mountain of gold. If word got out, people would probably assume she had some incredible background or possessed terrifying cunning and calculation to achieve such an outcome.

Sophie agreed with his sentiment. However, she had thought one lawyer would suffice, yet Peter had insisted on calling three. The three of them were now sitting around the table, discussing every clause one by one.

Finally, after repeatedly verifying the details, they announced, "There are no issues at all. It even explicitly states the company’s independence. Eighty percent of all shares and equity under Mr. Sterling’s name are transferred to Miss Winslow, and the remainder is stipulated to automatically revert to Miss Winslow in a year without the need for additional procedures."

Peter was astonished. "He’s actually giving it to you in good faith?"

"How long does it take to prepare these contracts and documents and go through the procedures?" Sophie asked.

One of the lawyers replied, "It definitely takes some time. With Sterling Corp’s legal team, it might be faster, but at the very least, it would take two or three days."

Sophie fell silent.

What did this mean? The incident only happened today, yet Julian had produced the transfer documents on the very same day?

"He planned to give it to you all along?" Peter caught on as well. "Why didn’t he give it to you earlier?"

Sophie stared at Julian’s signature, remaining silent. The reason didn’t really matter to her anymore. Once she confirmed there were no issues, Sophie signed her name.

The revelation of their marriage ultimately caused ripples within a small circle. People who had been lying dormant on Sophie’s WhatsApp suddenly sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

Among the multitude of messages, Sophie spotted one from Lucas Langley.

Mr. Langley: ?

Just a single question mark. Sophie could almost see the man’s shattered dignity. There was also a missed call from Lucas.

Sophie simply ignored them all. Since he was the one who insisted on acting like a clown back then, why should she give him an out?

During this time, there were also several calls from unknown numbers. She didn’t answer them. Then, text messages started flooding in.

"Sophie, she is your sister. Don’t make things difficult for your own family. Go and smooth things over. When your sister is covered in glory, won’t you benefit from it too? Stop throwing a tantrum."

"Look what you’ve done! Do you know how much contempt and grievance your sister has suffered these past two days? People are misunderstanding and thinking she’s a mistress! Hurry up and clarify things!"

"How did I end up with such an ungrateful, cold-blooded daughter like you who disregards family ties?"

Sophie knew this was Isaiah Sutton. She used to wonder why Isaiah could be so heartless toward her. He doted on a stepdaughter a thousand times more than he did on her. Now she knew it was because she wasn’t his biological daughter.

But following that logic, since neither of them was his biological child, he still wanted to exploit her to pave the way for his stepdaughter.

Sophie replied directly: "Then tell her to come and kowtow to me."

After sending the message, she blocked the number.

Sophie didn’t return to the marital home; instead, she spent the whole time immersed in the company’s drug ingredient extraction lab.

As for the incident regarding Stella Sutton’s malicious trademark registration—and even the rumors of her being a mistress—they had clearly been suppressed and didn’t spread widely. She didn’t even need to think to know whose doing it was.

Monday.

Sophie set off for Longview.

The fact that Longview had changed hands was still a secret within the industry. At present, the only ones in the know were probably Longview’s top executives who were supposed to coordinate with her.

When Sophie arrived downstairs, Mr. Thorne, an executive at Longview, called her. "Miss W-... Mrs. Sterling. Oh, no, Ms. Winslow, I was just in a general meeting. I’ll come down to receive you right away."

A major internal restructuring was an earth-shattering event in the industry. Mr. Thorne was breaking out in a cold sweat over this bombshell situation. He had also been at the Sterling Family’s venue a couple of days ago and witnessed Mr. Sterling publicly declaring their relationship with his arm around Sophie. As a result, he stumbled over his words while trying to correct how he addressed her.

However, he was a shrewd man. Since Mr. Sterling had gifted her a whole company, she surely wouldn’t want to be seen externally as a mere appendage to him. Calling her "Ms. Winslow" was much more respectful.

Hearing his cautious tone, Sophie chuckled softly. "It’s fine. I can head up by myself. There’s no need to be so nervous; we’ll just handle the handover as normal."

Mr. Thorne instantly breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t expected the official Mrs. Sterling to be so modest and amiable. She was certainly easier to get along with than... that woman in the R&D department.

The front desk had likely received instructions from Mr. Thorne or the higher-ups. The receptionist escorted Sophie all the way to the elevator.

Sophie couldn’t help but sigh at the contrast. The last time she came here, she was humiliated; now, it was a completely different story.

She needed to understand Longview’s specific situation and gain a basic understanding of the various departments.

The top floor was the general manager’s office area for top executives. The floor alone covered an area of about twelve hundred square meters. It was divided into different zones. Sophie remembered that Longview didn’t previously have any departments stationed on this floor; they were all downstairs.

But after coming up, she discovered that an area on the left had been designated for the R&D department.

They moved it directly upstairs? Sophie couldn’t help but wonder why it was arranged this way; it was indeed somewhat unconventional.

She walked in that direction. After all, this would be her company starting today, so there was no harm in looking around.

As soon as Sophie approached, a large group of people happened to walk out. And the person leading them was none other than Stella.

Seeing Sophie appear in an area that ordinary people could never set foot in, Stella’s expression changed.

The incident from a few days ago had taken a massive toll on her. So far, Faye hadn’t pursued the matter further, nor had Julian told her exactly how he planned to settle it.

With Julian and Sophie’s relationship exposed, the few Longview executives who had been present completely changed their attitudes toward her over the past few days. They were no longer as deferential as before. Even though they maintained surface-level harmony, she could feel that they were no longer flattering her like she was the boss’s wife!

Although the other employees in the company didn’t know what had happened, she still felt miserable.

The instigator of all this was Sophie!

Because of this, upon seeing Sophie in her territory, Stella’s face turned icy. "Are they just letting anyone up here now? This is a confidential area. Have security come up and kick unauthorized personnel out."