Chapter 802

Evelyn finished speaking.

Natalie Castillo and Joanna Sterling exchanged a look.

They both shook their heads.

Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Natalie spread her hands. "We haven't seen each other since leaving the Sterling Family. We've only chatted in the group all these years. How could we have met?"

She looked at Joanna. "What about you? Didn't see anyone either?"

Joanna nodded.

Natalie scoffed. "So you didn't even meet anyone in person? You got scared off by just a phone call?"

Joanna looked at her steadily. "What would you have done?"

Natalie paused.

She was silent for a moment.

She didn't answer.

Her expression said it all.

Joanna explained. "The empire I built in Aldoria kept growing. The scale got bigger and bigger. It's long since not been something one person can decide alone."

Evelyn understood this deeply.

She had also started from nothing.

Her first job was as a waitress in a restaurant.

She was just starting middle school then.

When she left the Sterling Family, Mrs. Ashcroft had given her some money.

Linda Lowell snatched it away immediately.

Linda said she had no right to spend the Sterling Family's money.

She could only live in the dorm.

She slowly worked to earn money.

Her first job paid daily.

First, she was underage.

Second, she truly had no money for food.

She worked odd jobs in the kitchen while attending school.

She had almost no free time.

But she was smart.

She learned everything quickly.

Watching the chefs cook, she could do it after seeing it once.

The restaurant chefs were also willing to teach her.

Once, the head chef fell ill.

The owner was frantic.

She stepped up to take over.

The food she made was delicious.

The taste was also consistent.

Because she was meticulous.

For how much seasoning to add to a dish, she chose the optimal ratio.

She could tell how much salt just by reaching for it.

Later, she moved out of the school dorm.

With no more dorm checks, she had more time.

She started working several jobs at once.

Her thinking was simple back then.

High school wasn't compulsory education.

She had to pay tuition.

University would also cost money.

Plus living expenses.

She worked odd jobs for a year.

Saved up a hundred thousand.

She originally planned to use it for high school studies.

She felt she should still focus on her studies.

When poor, education was the only way out.

But she didn't expect.

The textbook knowledge was too simple.

She understood it at a glance.

This left her with a lot of free time.

So she continued working to earn money.

Saving more money meant more security.

Later, the restaurant owner wanted to leave San Francisco.

He was in a hurry to sell the shop.

The employees who worked with Evelyn would be out of a job.

Looking at those people who had taken care of her when she first started.

Evelyn spent all her savings.

She bought the shop.

Then the business did better and better.

Later.

For the same reason.

She started a courier company.

She started a property management company.

These were all places she had worked.

They provided the most basic livelihood security for people at the bottom.

Later.

She became Dr. Sterling.

She had more and more companies under her.

The N Group was established.

The conglomerate's annual profits were counted in the hundreds of millions.

But that small restaurant with monthly revenue of just a few hundred thousand.

Could never be closed.

Because too many people in the restaurant needed that job.

So it kept running.

It must have been the same for Joanna in Aldoria.

Once a company grows big, it's no longer under one person's control.

So the Clownfish threatened her.

Leave, or they'd blow up her company.

Joanna had no choice.

She could risk her own life.

But she couldn't make that choice for her employees.

Their safety was paramount.

It was precisely because Evelyn heard about this.

That she believed in Joanna's character.

If Joanna hadn't left Aldoria.

The Clownfish might not have actually bombed the company.

But she still left.

Evelyn looked at Joanna. "Is the Clownfish managing your company now?"

"Not exactly."

Joanna spoke. "My sudden departure alerted the board. My trusted aides will protect the company. But by leaving, I lost my economic shelter. I came to find the Valentine family, hoping they could help me drive the Clownfish away."

Evelyn was taken aback. "The Valentine family has that capability?"

Joanna glanced at her. "Do you have no idea about your father's abilities? Do you think Mr. Valentine is just an ordinary businessman? After he took over, the Valentine Group leapt to the top of the five major families! Anyone coming to find an ally would seek him out!"

Evelyn's eyes darkened.

"So, the Clownfish will also target the Valentine family?"