Never Mistake a Queen for a Lapdog novel Chapter 1079

Noreen didn't answer him directly.

Instead, she reached for a file at the corner of her desk and slid it smoothly toward him.

"Open it," she said.

Frowning suspiciously, Director Yates flipped the folder open.

His face drained of color the second he read the first page.

It was a copy of their non-compete agreements. The documents clearly displayed the names of the two defecting managers, alongside the penalty clauses they had signed upon hiring.

Triple their annual salaries.

Plus restitution for all training costs incurred by the company, calculated down to the exact cent.

"This is extortion!" Director Yates jerked his head up, his voice pitching high in panic.

Noreen leaned back in her chair, casually tapping her manicured fingers on her desk. "It's standard industry protocol. Compared to the capital the company has already sunk into their projects, this penalty is completely justified."

"Director Yates." Her voice remained flat, but every word sliced like a blade.

"I trained those men myself. I spent three years molding them from fresh graduates into capable investment managers. Did you really think I'd hand over three years of my hard work just because you mentioned their 'careers'?"

She paused, her eyes locking onto his face, a faint, chilling smile touching her lips.

"And by the way, before you decided to poach them, did you bother asking your legal team if their non-competes were still active?"

Director Yates's face cycled rapidly between red and white.

Of course he knew about the non-competes, but he had gambled that Noreen wouldn't enforce them.

Since Winrich was busy fighting for its life, he assumed she'd be too overwhelmed to notice.

But he desperately wanted those two projects, so he swallowed his pride and asked, "What's it going to take for you to release them?"

"Pay the penalties in full,"

Noreen stated simply.

It was an astronomical sum.

Director Yates furiously ran the numbers in his head.

But if he secured those two projects, the penalty fee would be a drop in the bucket.

Noreen was surprised.

She hadn't seen Mrs. Naylor in a long time and couldn't guess why she was here.

Sophia grumbled, "Don't tell me Naylor Automotive Group is here to cancel their contracts too."

Noreen tensed slightly.

If that were true, she couldn't blame them.

That was just how the corporate world worked. People were eager to kick you when you were down, but rarely offered a hand to pull you up.

Mrs. Naylor hadn't come alone. She brought Healy Naylor's fiancée, Gia Vance, with her.

It was Noreen and Gia's first time meeting.

Mrs. Naylor made the introductions.

It turned out that Gia's father controlled the largest new and clean energy empire on the West Coast.

The company he founded, Solara Energy, was currently the biggest energy corporation in the country.