Never Mistake a Queen for a Lapdog novel Chapter 304

She hesitated for a few seconds before finally opening the door.

On the welcome mat sat a paper bag filled with the herbal medicine Evelyn had brewed for her.

Seth was already gone.

…

On Wednesday, Noreen had arranged to meet Scott at Winrich to discuss a potential project. She told him she’d reviewed his proposal and was genuinely interested.

Scott arrived at Winrich brimming with confidence. As he waited for the elevator, he ran into Ethan, who was coming downstairs to pick up Bianca.

“Well, if it isn’t Mr. Quigley,” Ethan called out, his tone oozing smugness. Lately, everything seemed to be going his way; even his cheeks had a healthy flush.

Put side by side, Scott and Ethan might as well have come from different worlds.

One radiated wealth and success; the other looked worn down, barely scraping by.

Ethan’s sense of superiority only grew as he took in Scott’s disheveled appearance. “Having trouble out in the real world, huh? I told you before—business is business, dreams are dreams. You can’t eat ideals for breakfast.”

“You’re way too stubborn, you know that? You never understood I was looking out for you, and you still turned on me.”

Before Scott left the company, he and Ethan had a shouting match in the office that everyone heard. It had been a humiliating scene for Ethan.

He’d always believed that since he invested the most money, he deserved the final say. Scott, in his mind, was just an employee—someone who had no right to challenge him.

Ethan straightened his designer jacket, making a show of it. “Just so you know, Aurelion Group has invested in my company again—more than last time, actually. If things aren’t working out for you out there, I could take you back. Let’s call it a favor for old college buddies.”

“But…” Ethan lifted his chin, “there’s a condition. You’ll have to apologize to me in front of the whole company. Admit you were wrong. Only then will I take you back. Of course, you’d just be an employee this time—not a partner.”

The elevator chimed.

Scott kept his expression blank. “Could you move? You’re blocking my way.”

Scott paused to collect his thoughts. “Ethan only wanted to make pay-to-win mobile games because the money was fast. I was more interested in building big-budget, story-driven games, so we clashed. Eventually, I compromised and agreed to work on mobile games, but then Ethan insisted they had to be edgy—provocative characters, borderline storylines, just to reel in players. I refused, and we had a huge fight. That was the end of our partnership.”

Noreen nodded, not surprised at all.

When she’d done her due diligence, Ethan had pitched the same idea to her, and she’d shut it down immediately. It was only after several rounds of changes—once Scott took charge—that the project finally met her standards.

She hadn’t expected things to unravel so dramatically afterward.

“Well, good things are worth fighting for. From now on, just focus on making what you truly believe in.”

As Noreen went to settle the bill, she ran into Henry at the front desk, who was just finishing up his own payment.

He was about to leave but paused when he spotted her.

“Miss Gilmore,” Henry said, his tone cool but pointed, “in life and business, it pays to be aboveboard.”