Chapter 210: Newly Promoted CEO!
After receiving her instructions, the manager quietly excused himself, leaving Sienna alone in the room.
Only then did she finally relax. She settled comfortably into her chair, placed her handbag beside her, and took out her phone to check the messages she had missed on the way there.
A new message from Zachary immediately caught her attention.
The corners of her lips lifted into a warm smile as soon as she read it. In an instant, she understood exactly why the manager had looked so tense from the moment she walked through the entrance.
"Did the Virelle manager welcome you? If not, he will submit his resignation letter to me immediately, clean up his office, and go home with all his stuff so as not to come back ever, today!"
Sienna couldn’t help laughing softly to herself.
Now everything made perfect sense. The poor manager hadn’t been nervous because of her. He had been nervous because her husband had probably warned everyone in advance that his wife was coming.
Judging from Zachary’s message, he hadn’t been exaggerating, either. If the manager had failed to greet her, Zachary might really have questioned him about it later.
Shaking her head with an amused smile, Sienna could already imagine Zachary saying those words with a completely serious expression, convinced that he was simply taking good care of his wife. It was an overprotective side of him that she was still getting used to, but she had to admit that it made her feel unexpectedly cherished.
It took Sienna another minute to think of the right reply. A playful smile curved her lips as she typed her response.
"Yes, he even seemed very welcoming. But I feel sorry for him. I could sense beneath his warm welcome, he nearly had a heart attack."
She smiled to herself before pressing send.
Almost immediately, there was a knock on the door.
Looking up from her phone, she called out, "Yes? Come in."
The door opened, and to her surprise, Ava and Mia walked in, both with bright smiles and beaming eyes fixed on her.
"You two are early." Sienna stood up with a smile to greet them. "I thought you’d need another ten minutes since you were coming straight from work."
"We dropped everything without anyone realizing and left before anyone could ask about our assignment or give another one," Mia replied dramatically as she walked inside.
Ava laughed. "Tsk! Tsk, Mia! Speak for yourself. I actually managed to finish all my work much earlier today."
"That’s because you’re a responsible manager," Mia said without missing a beat. "I’m just talented at escape and escapism."
Sienna couldn’t help laughing as Mia hurried over and dropped into the chair beside her.
"Sienna!" Mia immediately reached for her arm, then carefully looked her over from head to toe. "You don’t look sick, and I don’t see any serious injuries. Then why were you at the hospital?"
"Just a routine medical checkup so I’d know my fitness level. Nothing that warrants anyone’s concern," Sienna replied with a reassuring smile, hoping to ease her friend’s worries.
Mia studied her for another moment before finally letting out a relieved breath. "Thank goodness," she muttered. "You scared me."
Although Mia seemed calmer now, Ava still looked concerned. She took the seat across from them and rested her hands on the table.
"Sienna," she said gently, "Mia told me you took another week off from work. Are you really alright?"
Sienna knew there was no point trying to hide everything from them. She reached for the glass pitcher, poured herself some water, and took a slow sip before setting the glass back down.
"Hm, that’s right..." She began calmly, "I’m on leave for another week. But I’m alright... I just injured my arm when I was jogging and need some healing time."
She lowered the sleeve of her coat just enough to reveal the bandage wrapped around her hand.
The injury wasn’t clearly visible because it had already been cleaned and neatly bandaged, but seeing it was enough to make both Ava and Mia frown with concern.
"Oh, Sienna," Mia said quietly. "You really need to be more careful."
"I’m so sorry that happened to you," Ava added, her expression full of sympathy.
Sienna smiled reassuringly at both of them.
"Thank you, Mia. Thank you, Ava. I’m much better now, and it’s healing little by little."
She deliberately left out everything about the gangster. She simply repeated the explanation she had prepared earlier—that she had injured herself on an iron fence when she jumped over it in her jog.
Fortunately, neither of them questioned it.
The conversation gradually shifted to work, office gossip, and the projects they had all been handling before Sienna’s leave. It felt comforting to chat about ordinary things again, almost as though nothing unusual had happened over the past few days.
A few minutes later, another knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," Sienna answered.
She assumed Riley had finally arrived, but the restaurant manager entered instead, followed by several servers carrying trays of food.
One by one, they carefully arranged the dishes across the table until it was nearly full.
The manager then smiled politely.
"Please enjoy your dinner, Ma’am."
"Thank you."
After he and the servers quietly left, Sienna turned toward Ava.
"Is Riley still coming? What’s taking him so long?"
"Of course he is," Ava answered. "He called me earlier and said he’d be here."
Mia leaned back in her chair, a knowing smile on her face.
"Sienna... don’t tell me you haven’t heard."
"Heard what?"
"Our dear Riley has officially stopped hiding his identity."
Sienna looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Mia grinned before continuing. "He’s fully embracing the Sterling name now. Our Mr. Secretive is officially the CEO of Sterling Technology."
Sienna blinked several times. "Seriously?"
Both Ava and Mia nodded.
"You really didn’t see the news?" Mia asked.
Sienna shook her head. "No. I’ve barely been checking anything lately."
"Well, it’s been everywhere for the last two days," Ava explained. "Business news, social media... people have been talking about it nonstop."
"Wow..." Sienna admitted honestly. "I had no idea." She admitted. In the last few days, she’s simply been distracted by the news about the Blackscorpion Gangster and Jessica Simmons.
Mia smiled. "So, it’s better if he is the one who paid..."
"As I promised," Sienna interrupted with a smile. "Dinner is on me."
"Oh, absolutely not," Ava said with a playful grin.
Sienna looked at her curiously. "Why not?"
Ava exchanged a glance with Mia before they both smiled.
"Because tonight," Ava declared, "the newly promoted CEO is joining us... So, he is responsible for the bill."
Mia immediately nodded in agreement. "So naturally, Boss Riley should be the one paying."