Chapter 220: Chapter 220: A Psychological Kill: I Never Made My Mom Take the Fall

Leah Evans listened, thoroughly annoyed. "You should take a good look at yourself before calling other people despicable."

"If I’m despicable, you’re worse than an animal." Sophia Shaw chimed in, pointing her chin in the direction Yvonne Sherman had disappeared. "Every single day she spends in prison is on your behalf! I never asked my mom to take the fall for me!"

The words hit Joanna Sherman so hard she couldn’t breathe. The feeling of suffocation was so intense her eyes started to roll back in her head.

Leah Evans clapped her hands. "Well said!"

June Evans also felt a surge of vindication. "The rot starts at the top, but I’ve never seen it get this bad!"

"She was only supposed to serve three years for you, but you just had to go and add another five. A ’buy three, get five free’ deal. What a model daughter!" Sophia Shaw said with a light laugh.

"Buy three, get five free," "what a model daughter"... The heavily sarcastic words were sharper than knives, cutting Joanna Sherman to ribbons.

Yancy Shaw hadn’t intended to chime in, but hearing Sophia speak, he couldn’t help but remark, "When my Faye was in that car accident years ago, she was in the same car as her mother. When the crash happened, she had the sense to throw herself over her mom to shield her."

"And she was only fifteen at the time."

Yancy Shaw’s words bluntly turned Sophia into a foil for Joanna Sherman, another harsh slap to her face. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

It was a clear message to Joanna Sherman: she had lived all these years for nothing, unable to even measure up to a fifteen-year-old.

Only after the verbal lashing was complete did the group walk out.

Yancy Shaw had to go back to the office, June Evans had to go home to take care of her child and grandmother, and Leah Evans had her own things to do.

The group dispersed.

Sophia Shaw also hurried to her company to handle some matters.

Ever since the successful five-rocket launch, domestic and international orders had been pouring in.

If she hadn’t insisted on giving everyone a vacation, they’d probably be working themselves into a frenzy again.

The employees weren’t driven mad with work, but Sophia Shaw herself was far from relaxed.

Sophia Shaw stood by her car, returning several important calls before finally pulling the door open to get in.

"Faye!"

Esther Sullivan came running over from behind, grabbing her arm.

She had also heard about the compensation payment. "You can’t do this. You can’t do this to your grandma."

Esther Sullivan started crying the moment she opened her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

"Your father has already sold all the properties. The only thing left is the house I live in. If you make us pay another ten million, that house will have to be sold too. Where will we live?"

Sophia Shaw watched Esther Sullivan quietly.

Back then, Esther Sullivan had sworn up and down that she would never acknowledge Yvonne Sherman, that she would teach Chad Jennings a lesson, and that she would give Sophia and her mother the justice they deserved.

But the moment Yvonne Sherman got pregnant, Esther forgot everything. She started worshiping Yvonne like an ancestor. To make it easier for Yvonne Sherman and Joanna Sherman to bully her, she even tied Sophia up herself!

Yet, she told everyone else that Sophia had gone mad.

If it weren’t for Esther Sullivan, she wouldn’t have fallen ill from extreme despair and rage, developing depression and nearly dying.

And now, Esther Sullivan had the gall to come and ask her what to do. It was laughable.

"Yvonne Sherman and Joanna Sherman are the ones who committed the crime. You should be asking them, not me," she said coldly.

Esther Sullivan stomped her foot in anxiety. "They can’t even fend for themselves! What’s the use in asking them?"

"Faye, I’m your grandmother! You can’t let me end up on the streets!"

Sophia Shaw shook her hand off. "If you know you’re my grandmother, then why did you team up with Yvonne Sherman and her daughter to bully me back then?"

"I... I was... I..."

Esther Sullivan stammered for a long time but couldn’t find a reasonable excuse. In the end, she resorted to shameless tactics.

"If you dare force your father to sell the house, I’ll kneel at your doorstep and refuse to get up! I’ll let everyone know you’ve abandoned your elderly grandmother!"

"Suit yourself!"

Sophia Shaw got into the car.

Esther Sullivan was dumbstruck.

"Boss!"

When Sophia Shaw arrived at the company, she found that Samuel Goldman, Zachary Hale, Zeke Hughes, and the others were all back.

"Didn’t I tell you all to go on vacation?" Sophia asked.

"What’s so fun about vacation? It’s not as good as launching a few more rockets with the Boss."

The tech-nerd mindset was straightforward to the extreme; they just wanted to follow Sophia Shaw and work on big projects every day.

Sophia Shaw was speechless for a moment.

"Honestly, these past few months with the Boss have been the happiest time of my life!" Zachary Hale said, his face blushing.

The tech nerd was just as direct when he spoke, completely unaware of the ambiguity in his words.

Zeke Hughes and the others nodded in agreement. "Boss, we like you."

"Like, schmike! Who are you to like the Boss?" Samuel Goldman kicked each of them in the butt.

’Can’t you see President Sawyer over there is about to explode with jealousy?’

’What a clueless bunch of morons!’

"Get out! Get back to work!"

"Alrighty!"

The group responded cheerfully but didn’t rush to leave.

Zachary Hale shoved a pigeon’s egg-sized diamond into Sophia Shaw’s hand. "Boss, this is for you!"

Samuel Goldman nearly fainted at the sight. "Zachary Hale, you punk, what are you playing at? You think you can just give her a pigeon’s egg diamond?"

Zachary Hale scratched his head, looking completely bewildered.

"I just thought this pigeon’s egg diamond looked nice and was pretty expensive, so I wanted to buy it for the Boss to thank her."

"She told us to buy Lead Aerospace stock last time, and I made tens of millions."

Zachary Hale was a total tech fanatic with little concern for money. He figured since he’d earned it so easily, he would just pick the most expensive thing in the jewelry store as a gift for Sophia Shaw.

Sophia Shaw looked at the massive, extravagant pigeon’s egg diamond in her hand, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Samuel Goldman wanted to smack Zachary Hale dead.

"You idiot! Pigeon’s egg diamonds are for couples! You’re trying to make a move on the Boss? Have the rest of us signed off on that? Has President Sawyer signed off on that?"

After speaking, he disgustedly grabbed Zachary Hale by the collar, tossed him aside, and took the diamond back on his behalf. "Boss, Zachary here is clueless about everything but technology. Please don’t take it to heart."

Sophia Shaw naturally knew these tech guys were highly skilled but socially awkward homebodies, their minds rigid and one-tracked in certain areas. She just smiled and didn’t hold it against them.

The others weren’t as clueless as Zachary Hale; their gifts were much more normal.

Most of them gave her cards.

In the blink of an eye, a stack of them had piled up in Sophia Shaw’s hands.

When Leah Evans saw this, she quickly took out her phone to record it. "Look, look! The Lead Aerospace guys listened to Chief Engineer Shaw, made a killing in the stock market, and now they’re here with thank-you gifts!"

The minimum on those cards was a million. The thin stack of cards in Sophia Shaw’s hands represented tens of millions.

She had only mentioned it casually and never expected anything in return, so of course, she refused to accept them.

Samuel Goldman took charge. "Boss, if you don’t accept these, they’ll be absolutely heartbroken. You don’t want this little thing to affect their work, do you?"

Sophia Shaw: "..."

Levin Sawyer, who had been standing on the periphery watching, walked over. "How about this?" he said. "Faye, you can hold onto it for them for now."

"We can establish a foundation and use this money to get it running. In the future, if any Lead Aerospace employees or their families need money, they can apply to the foundation."

It was a great idea, and no one objected.

Leah Evans happily uploaded the video to her social media feed.

Jacobs came downstairs and walked up to Sophia Shaw. "Chief Shaw, someone’s here to see you."

"Who?" Sophia Shaw asked casually.

Jacobs’s expression was extremely unpleasant, radiating disgust from the inside out, but he still answered, "President Grant from the Grant Group."

The news that Vincent Grant had come looking for her made Sophia Shaw feel as though she’d swallowed a fly.