She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 686

However... twenty minutes later.

"I'm really sorry, Manager Bennett..." the lead maintenance technician's voice filtered through the heavy door.

"The security grid for the R&D floor is a completely isolated system. If we want to reboot the power or initiate an override, it requires a dual-authorization unlock using both a retinal scan and a fingerprint from an R&D executive."

"From what I can tell on my end, the system isn't broken. It looks like an R&D executive intentionally triggered a total lockdown, maybe by accident, or maybe because they didn't know you were in there."

"Right now, the system is in total blackout mode. That means the doors lock from the outside, the internal panels shut down, and the climate control cuts off to isolate the room."

"It's an easy fix, though, Manager Bennett! Just call up R&D. Any of their team leaders can come up and unlock it in two seconds."

With that, the maintenance crew packed up their gear and left the twelfth floor.

Inside the meeting room, the administrative team plunged into despair. They weren't exactly afraid of dying in there, but...

It was incredibly hot.

It was already a sweltering day, and the meeting room faced directly south. The blazing sun was pouring through the floor-to-ceiling windows, turning the enclosed space into a literal greenhouse.

"Manager Bennett, please, call someone from R&D!"

"Please, Manager Bennett, hurry!"

"You're the only one who can fix this, Manager Bennett..."

The entire room was practically begging her. They were terrified she wouldn't swallow her pride to ask R&D for help. After all, she had made enemies of the entire R&D department the second she joined the company.

But right now, they were the only ones who could get them out.

Elara clenched her jaw so hard it ached. A bead of sweat dripped from her forehead straight into her eye, stinging sharply. She had never been so utterly humiliated in her entire life.

Just as Elara was about to completely lose it, one of her employees pointed a trembling finger at the massive glass window.

"R&D... the R&D team... they're right there..."

Following his finger, everyone in the meeting room turned their gaze out the window.

From their vantage point, they had a perfect, unobstructed view of the Garden Terrace, Building B across the courtyard. The terrace was huge, lined with large patio umbrellas that kept the area entirely shaded and breezy.

Sitting out on the terrace were Regina, the R&D executives, and Melanie Royce—the very people Elara had just evicted. They were lounging comfortably in the shade, sipping iced coffees and snacking on pastries. It didn't look like a corporate meeting at all; it looked like a luxury vacation.

Elara surged forward, pressing her hands against the baking hot glass.