Sophia stood frozen, her gaze locked on Elise.

She couldn't decipher what Elise was thinking.

Sophia had been certain Elise wanted to discuss her visit to William's hospital room. She doubted Elise was unaware of her intentions, especially since she hadn't even tried to conceal them.

Of course, Sophia would never admit to anything... but the problem was, Elise hadn't brought it up at all! And Elise definitely took offense!

Elise, of all people, knew men had always flocked around Sophia since they were children. Yet now, all Elise talked about was work.

Most importantly, Elise had gone to great lengths to remove both Jonathan and Patrick. Wasn't that just to ensure she could take control of production herself? Elise obviously knew those men were loyal to Benjamin and would never truly work for her.

And yet, Elise was delegating all production authority to Sophia, who would unquestionably side with Benjamin.

That meant all of Elise's efforts were wasted, didn't it?

Had her brain short-circuited or something?

While Sophia remained silent, worried this might be one of Elise's traps, she still couldn't comprehend this move—would it harm her in any way?

Or perhaps Elise was simply too busy to handle it herself?

After all, Elise must be devoting all her attention to William, having stayed by his side the entire day yesterday at the hospital. If Sophia's intuition was correct, Elise would be right back at his side after the upcoming meeting.

With that thought, Sophia said, "No problem, sis. We're family, and I've always worked here anyway. I certainly can't refuse to share your workload and contribute to Stellar Group."

Elise smiled, but otherwise remained expressionless. "I'm counting on you."

"It's fine, sis."

"Don't forget the meeting later. You may go now."

"Okay."

Sophia began to leave, deliberately pausing for a moment.

But Elise made no mention of yesterday at all.

Did Elise truly not mind, or was she perhaps concerned about upsetting Sophia, since Sophia could stop assisting her in retaliation?

Sophia believed it was the latter.

The conference room at Stellar Group was always noisy before meetings, a deliberate show of disrespect toward Elise.

Even so, Elise never wasted time restoring order—they would quiet down once they heard something that interested them.

"I've just accepted the resignations of Jonathan Locke and Patrick Longman," she announced, getting straight to business. "I'm sure everyone is aware by now."

As expected, everyone fell silent immediately—most of them had indeed noticed the resignations.

"I accepted them because I respect every employee's decision," Elise continued. "However, their departure was sudden, and there are no suitable replacements. Therefore, Sophia will temporarily take charge of next season's production."

Everyone was visibly stunned by this news.

They all knew that removing Jonathan and Patrick would streamline production, since the delays were Benjamin's arrangement.

Elise had to be intelligent enough to recognize that, and yet, she was now appointing Benjamin's most trusted daughter to oversee production.

What was that, if not shooting herself in the foot? She had gone through all that trouble for absolutely nothing!