"Daphne, you’d better listen to Samantha’s advice. Stop spending all your time trying to please those old me! If you have time to waste, it’s better for you to try to please Samantha instead!"

When I looked at everyone who flattered Samantha and then focused my eyes on seeing her proud and arrogant face, I couldn’t help but feel speechless. Was there something wrong with Nathan’s taste in women? How could he fall in love with someone so fake and shallow?

As his aunt, I could not accept if Nathan would marry Samantha at all. Besides, I didn't believe Nathan would dare to marry Samantha if I disagreed. Although I was only two years older than Nathan, my generation in the family was still higher than his.

It was because of how our family tree was arranged. When I was three years old, I had been born with a very weak body. Hence, my parents sent me to live in a Catholic church to be raised and taken care of in Italy.

Last year, there was a terrible accident that took the lives of my parents and my older brother and sister-in-law. Eventually, I returned to the Browne Family’s old mansion. For many years, I had been living a very quiet and secluded life with my adoptive father in the church.

After returning to society, it was very reasonable that I felt a little bit out of touch from the modern world. In order to adapt quickly to everything around me, I decided to hide my true identity and entered the Browne Corporation, starting from the very bottom as a regular saleswoman.

However, I was not like the other salespeople. Most of them relied on their smooth talking to sign deals. Sometimes, they would even use their own bodies to get what they wanted.

Meanwhile, I had a different method. I helped customers by giving them advice and showing them perspectives that they had never thought of before. Everything I pointed out could either help the customers earn more money or help them avoid what seemed to be scam in their businesses.

Over time, many customers became loyal to me and trusted me deeply.

Of course, not many people knew the real reason for my success. Most people, led by Samantha, thought that I got customers’ favor by using shameless tactics. Samantha especially loved to spread these kinds of rumors about me, showing strong hostility.

Before I joined the company, Samantha was already the most outstanding salesperson who had won lots of major deals. However, the main reason for her success was because her relationship with Nathan was widely known.

Thus, many of the company’s partners gave her special treatment out of respect for Nathan.

Thanks to this, Samantha had been able to keep her position as a top salesperson for several years and had earned many big bonuses.

She often spoke proudly in public by saying, "My success didn’t depend on anyone! Everything I have achieved is because of my own hard work!"

Samantha really liked to show off her strong and independent image.

In fact, she even said things like, "Even though Nathan is my boyfriend, I never let him help me with my career. I want to prove my abilities on my own. Even after I marry Nathan in the future, I will never give up my career."

Samantha worked hard to build her image as a strong and independent woman. It would explain why she could never accep the fact that I, a newcomer, became a top salesperson and managed to reach her level in just one year.

Yet, the real reason why Samantha hated me so much and why she spread so many lies about me, was not just because I threatened her position.

Half a year ago, Nathan ordered a very expensive cake to celebrate my birthday. When Samantha found out about it, she was furious. However, she didn’t dare to cause trouble for Nathan directly, so she decided to take her anger out on me instead.

I did not bother to argue with Samantha. After all, if I didn’t give my approval, Nathan would never be able to marry Samantha into the Browne Family. After I returned to the Browne Family’s old mansion that evening, Nathan came over respectfully and personally served me my chamomile tea.

Nathan spoke carefully, trying to please me and said, "Aunt Daphne, after the company's annual meeting, I plan to get engaged to Samantha. I hope you can help us witness the engagement ceremony."

He then continued, "Besides, I think it will be a good chance to finally announce who you really are to everyone, so that people will know you are the real matriarch of the Browne Family-"

Before he could say more, I interrupted him calmly as I asked him, "Have you really thought about it? Are you sure you still want to marry Samantha?"

I looked at him seriously and added, "That woman, Samantha, is not suitable for you at all."

"With the Browne Family’s wealth and position, there are so many well-raised, rich young ladies who would love to marry you. Why did you have to set your eyes on someone like Samantha?"

"Choose someone else!"

"As long as you don't marry Samantha into our Browne Family, the Browne Family will be yours to lead. All the shares of the Browne Corporation under my name will be transferred to you and you will officially become the patriatch of the Browne Family!"

Nathan looked very embarrassed at what he just heard.

In the end, he knelt down in front of me and begged sadly, "Aunt Daphne, please help me. Both Samantha and I truly love each other. I just can't live without her."

When I saw Nathan kneeling and begging so pitifully, I let out a helpless sigh and said, "You really love her, but can you be sure that she also truly loves you?"

"Does she love you as a person or does she love the wealth and status of our Browne Family?"

I shook my head and said, "Forget it. If you are so determined to marry her, then I won't stop you."

"But don't expect me to agree to bless your marriage."

I felt truly disappointed with Nathan at that moment. After all, I had planned to transfer all my shares of the Browne Corporation to him after he married a good and well-matched woman from a respectable family. Then, I would quietly return to the Catholic church where I had grown up.

But now, it seemed like I would have to stay in the Browne Family for a longer time than I expected.

A few days quickly passed by. Soon enough, the company's annual meeting was held with a huge success. This year's annual meeting was much grander than in previous years. Besides the company's senior executives, many of our business partners also attended the event.

When both Samantha and I entered the venue at the same time, many people gave us strange looks and I could hear them whispering among themselves

"The most important thing in today's annual meeting is about who will get the position of sales manager. I wonder if it will be Daphne or Samantha!"

"I don't get it. It's just a sales manager position. It's not like it's a super high position in the company. Why is everyone treating it like such a big deal?"

"You don't understand. This sales manager position is very important. Samantha needs it to prove her ability to everyone and Daphne can use it as a stepping stone to enter the higher ranks of the company's leadership."

"I also heard from someone in upper management that whoever becomes the sales manager has a good chance of becoming the company's vice president in two years …

"Samantha should have a great chance. After all, she has been the sales champion of the company for five years in a row. It would seem unfair not to give her the promotion."

"But don't forget about Daphne. She has been a dark horse. Her performance this year alone almost matches all of Samantha’s results from the past few years combined."

"In the end, it all depends on who the company's senior executives like more!"

While everyone was talking, Samantha looked at me arrogantly, showing off a very confident look on her face. It was as if she had already won. Still, there was a deep jealousy and hatred beneath her eyes like she wanted to eat me alive at the same time.

As time passed, one of the company's vice presidents, who looked a little drunk and had a red face, finally went on stage. He then looked around the audience. And then, with a big smile on his face, announced that Samantha would become the new manager of the sales department.

The people in the crowd had mixed reactions.

Some people clapped politely, while the others whispered quietly to each other.

"Samantha really got the position!"

"She has enough qualifications. Most importantly, don't forget that she is Nathan's girlfriend. I heard they are getting engaged very soon. The company's senior executives probably didn't want to cause any trouble for her right now."

"It's such a shame for Daphne. Honestly, I think her ability is much stronger than Samantha's."

"Samantha has been the sales champion for a few years, but it's only because Nathan helped her behind the scenes. But Daphne is the one who truly used her own skills to bring in so many major partners to the company."

"Even if she's talented, it doesn't matter. Without a strong backer, she can't compete with someone like Samantha."

Samantha walked onto the stage like a proud woman.

Initially, she said a few polite words to thank everyone.

However, she suddenly turned to me.

With a fake smile on her face, she then said, "Daphne, I know you must feel very upset right now. But there is nothing you can do. Your ability is not as good as mine, your qualifications are not as good as mine and the position of sales manager was never going to be yours."

"Work harder and maybe I will give you more chances to prove yourself in the future."

Even though her words sounded like encouragement, I knew very well that she was actually mocking me and warning me. Now that she had become the sales manager, she would definitely find ways to make my life difficult. She surely had already been planning how to target me from now on.

However, what she did not know was that I had no plans to stay in the company any longer after today.

Since I was a small child, I had grown up with my adoptive father in the Catholic church in Tuscany.

If my parents, along with my eldest brother and sister-in-law, had not died, I would have never left the church and returned to the Browne Family. In the year I had worked at the company, I had already grown tired of all the fights and schemes.

After today, I planned to make sure the company wasn’t being unfair. I could see that Samantha was very ambitious. Not to mention, she always tried to build her own little group inside the company.

If she really married Nathan in the future, she wasn’t supposed to be allowed to continue working at the company.

I left the annual meeting early as i did not want to stay any longer. But just after I walked out, a van suddenly drove toward me at high speed and stopped not far from where I was standing. Before I could react, several strong men rushed out. towards me.

After that, those men shoved me roughly into a sack and threw me into the back of the van. I wanted to fight back, but I held myself back. I knew that if I really used my strength, I could easily break their bones and even kill them.

Ever since I was young, following my adoptive father, I had not only learned how to see through people’s intentions but also how to defend myself.

If I truly got angry, these men would not have been able to walk away unharmed. Eventually, I decided to endure it for now and see what they wanted to do. The moment I was kidnapped, I already had a guess about who was behind it. There was no one else it could be except Samantha.

What I could not understand was why she needed to kidnap me when she had just gotten promoted to sales manager today and had so much to celebrate. Why would she still be so anxious to deal with me?

The men locked me up in an old, dilapidated warehouse. They took off the sack from my head, but my hands and feet were tightly tied to a chair with ropes. I waited quietly as the sun went down and night came.

Finally, Samantha appeared, smelling of strong alcohol and staggering as she walked toward me.

Without saying a word, she slapped me hard across the face.

She let out a cruel and twisted smile as she said, "Daphne, I have hated you for a long time. I warned you many times, but you kept pretending not to understand."

"Did you really think I couldn’t do anything to you? I was planning to wait until after I married Nathan to deal with you, but I just couldn’t hold it in anymore."

She laughed coldly and continued, "I have to admit, you are good at business. If you stayed in the company, Nathan might not want to fire a golden goose like you. So I have no choice but to destroy you first!"

I looked at her without any fear.

My voice was calm and light when I said in response, "Just because I am better than you at work, you become this jealous and want to destroy me?"

Hearing my words, Samantha’s face twisted in anger. She grabbed a handful of my hair and slapped me again. This time, her slaps were even harder than her previous ones.

As she gritted her teeth, she screamed, "If you were only good at work and made more money for the company, I wouldn’t hate you so much! But you dared to seduce Nathan! That, I can never forgive!"

She stared at me with hatred and shouted, "Someone saw you going to the Browne Family’s old mansion yesterday. Was Nathan the one who took you there?"