Finishing, she added, "Don't worry. We won't push it to a breaking point unless we absolutely have to." Zane looked at Zora, his eyes full of affection. "Zora, you're truly the kindest person I've ever met." Zora smiled, a blush touching her cheeks. ... On Monday, Darcy sat in her office all morning without a visit from Jax. During a progress meeting with several colleagues in the afternoon, Jax showed no sign of wanting to speak with her privately either. With less than an hour until quitting time, Cade knocked on her door. "Ms. Gale, the Easemark Ventures contract is in the final review stage. Barring surprises, it'll be signed next week. But we're still short of more than half the project team members."Do you want to proceed with the plan we discussed? Should I stir the pot some more, make things sound even more critical?" Darcy shook her head. "Not necessary. You did great last week. I'll take it from here." After Cade left, Darcy drafted an email. Ten minutes later, every employee at Stratagem Tech received a recruitment notice. Any employee willing to volunteer for the Easemark project would get a 20% performance pay bump and a year-end bonus that was doubled. With the Christmas holiday just around the corner and bonuses due soon, the office erupted. The Delivery team members were a given—most had already volunteered earlier after Wade's persuasion. Those who'd been hesitant now swarmed Cade's desk, clamoring to sign up. Cade grinned, taking down their names. In contrast, the R&D group remained quiet.But the calm didn't last. Finally, someone couldn't resist and asked in their small group chat, "I want to sign up. Mr. Steel, is that okay?" Jax shot him a glare and angrily typed back, "Whatever! Whoever wants to go can go. Don't report to me!" Traitors like that? He didn't care. With the green light, that guy happily ran off to register. Jax took a deep breath and glanced around. Everyone else seemed buried in their work. His brow smoothed. Good. My efforts in nurturing this team weren't wasted. He'd seen right through Darcy's little schemes. Only the short-sighted, money-grubbing folks in Delivery would fall for such measly bait.His R&D team? They were people with ambition. They wouldn't be bought by such trivial perks. Just as Jax was about to dive back into his code, the two engineers sitting opposite him stood up. They scratched their heads awkwardly at him, then scurried over to Cade's workstation. "Gah! Jax felt like he was choking on blood. His face turned pale with anger. It wasn't over. Within minutes, four or five more people had gone. He was about to explode. Still, it was some comfort that those signing up were just junior staff. His core members, his right-hand men, were all still diligently coding. Hah! What can those juniors even do? If Darcy wants them, she can have them! Ten minutes later, the R&D area was completely silent. Jax adjusted his mindset and reopened his code editor. He'd just typed two strings when the man sitting next to him suddenly stood up. It was... Leo! His team lead! His right-hand man! He was someone Jax had personally brought over from his last company. Fire leaped in Jax's eyes. He gritted his teeth. "You—" "I'm sorry, Mr. Steel. I... I have no choice. You know I just bought a house and a car." Leo couldn't meet Jax's gaze, hanging his head as he shuffled over to Cade and mumbled, "I'd like to sign up too." Cade was stunned internally but kept a straight face. "Alright. Registered." From her office, Darcy watched it all unfold, a slight smile on her lips. She messaged Cade, "Mission accomplished for today. Your year-end bonus is doubled too." Cade replied instantly, "Oh yeah!" After giving Cade instructions for the next steps, Darcy headed upstairs for a meeting with Jethro. She first updated him on the Easemark project staffing, then outlined this year's targets. "Overall, we've done pretty well in hitting our goals for the year. If we can land just one more contract before the holiday, we'll have successfully completed our annual mission." Jethro nodded appreciatively. "I trust you to handle it." "But—" he continued, causing Darcy to sit up a bit straighter. Jethro smiled, "No need to push yourself so hard. It makes me look like an unreasonable boss." Darcy was taken aback. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Fortunately, Jethro quickly moved on. "By the way, are you free tomorrow evening? There's a business dinner. We can attend together."Darcy nodded. "Sure, no problem." Heading back downstairs, she ran into Cindy. They got to talking about the dinner. Cindy looked Darcy up and down, her expression one of disbelief. "You're not planning to wear that, are you?" Darcy looked down at herself. "What's wrong with this? Doesn't it look good?" She was used to wearing suits to work. They weren't designer labels, but they were from well-known brands. They looked just fine.