The Years Between Signing and Seeing novel Chapter 498

Seeing the distress on Mia's face, Suzie immediately understood her hesitation. She reached out and warmly squeezed Mia's hand.

"Mia, we don't need to second-guess each other. I know your heart. I actually wanted to give this to you earlier, but I figured I'd wait until Mr. Wycliffe settled the final payout for the project he handed off to us. I only got this card myself a couple of days before the accident. I just called it a severance package so you wouldn't feel weird about accepting it."

Mia looked down, still refusing to take it. "I just... I didn't want you to misunderstand my intentions..."

Suzie's smile was gentle. "Silly girl. Don't overthink it. Once we get to the office, there's a document I want to show you."

When Mia still wouldn't take the card, Suzie reached over, unzipped Mia's bag, and slipped it inside. "This isn't a handout from me. You earned every penny of it. Yes, you left Timefly Studio, but you spent all those weekends wrangling the kids on set. You were managing a massive part of the project, weren't you? This covers that work too. Now, buckle up. I'm driving."

Mia fell silent, though her eyes were shining with overwhelming gratitude.

When they arrived at the Bureau of Commerce, Suzie picked up a stack of registration documents and handed them to Mia to review.

As Mia scanned the pages, her eyes locked onto her own name printed on the corporate structure form. She stared at Suzie in absolute shock, her lips trembling slightly. "Suzie... I didn't put a single dime into this studio. Why am I listed as the General Manager?!"

Suzie guided her over to a quiet bench and sat her down. "This isn't about doing you a favor, Mia. This is about your competence."

Mia shrank back, completely overwhelmed. "Suzie, the paperwork isn't finalized yet. You should really change it. Let me just be your assistant, or a secondary photographer. That's what I'm good at. I don't have the experience to shoulder a title like General Manager."

As she looked closer, she instantly recognized the woman. It was Crystal Solomon, the famous photographer Chester had pointed out at the charity gala.

Crystal didn't answer immediately. Her eyes swept over Suzie, a flash of genuine envy crossing her features before she spoke. "I'm fine. You're the one... the woman from the trending news. That plastic surgery girl clearly used your face as a template. You're undeniably gorgeous."

Suzie frowned slightly. The scandal was practically national news by now; everyone with a smartphone had seen it. But what surprised her was that Crystal could tell instantly she was the real deal, not Suzanne Baird, even though she was completely bare-faced today and looking far less glamorous than she had at the gala.

Then again, Crystal was a top-tier photographer. Her eye for facial structure was naturally sharper than the average person's.

Suzie chose not to engage. She simply offered a polite, distant smile, grabbed Mia's arm, and continued walking toward the parking lot.