Chapter 2

The people present had never witnessed such a scene, and were too frightened to utter a sound.

Fighting through the pain, I composed myself and said to him:

"I apologize, Mr. Prescott. If you're not satisfied with the artwork, please let me know and I can revise it."

"That's right, we can adjust anything you're not happy with," the manager chimed in from the side.

"I'm not satisfied with her," Pierce forcefully pointed at me. "Fire her and bring in someone with experience."

The manager nervously explained, "Although Archer is young, her artistic foundation and design skills are top-notch..."

"I said fire her and bring in someone else. Do you understand me?"

I had initially thought Pierce was just acting on a whim, but I never imagined he would actually force the company to fire me.

Not even leaving me with a backup plan.

I clutched a stack of belongings and looked back at the office building, feeling as if everything was surreal.

When I reluctantly and absentmindedly returned to my apartment complex, someone had thrown out a small cat from their home.

It was a mix of yellow and white, looking disheveled and dirty.

It let out a pitiful "meow" as it hit the ground, crouching there and timidly looking up at me.

"Were you kicked out too?"

Its legs seemed unable to move."Really, if you don't like it, don't keep it as a pet. Why hurt it?"

After saying this, I realized that in the Prescott family, I was also such a cat.

"You're just like me, living under someone else's roof, at their mercy."

The car behind honked its horn. Afraid the kitten might get startled, I immediately picked it up and cradled it in my arms to comfort it.

Pierce got out of the car and looked at me impatiently:

"What on earth are you doing squatting in the middle of the road?"

I muttered, "Honking is prohibited in the neighborhood."

"Meow." The kitten in my arms let out a weak cry.

Only then did Pierce notice the kitten I was holding and asked where it came from.

Still angry at him for forcing me to quit my job, I put the kitten down by the grass to comfort it, deliberately ignoring him.

"It's filthy. Disinfect yourself before coming inside." With that, he closed the car door and left.

I didn't listen to him at all, secretly putting the cat in a cardboard box and bringing it back to the mansion.

"You better not make a sound. That Pierce is really mean. If he finds out, we'll both be in trouble."

Just then, the wind blew the door open, and Pierce, who was passing by, locked eyes with me.He raised an eyebrow the moment he saw the cat, his questioning tone laced with a hint of delight:

"Who allowed you to let it in?"

"It's injured. I thought I'd keep it in the room to care for it for a while, then find someone to adopt it once it's healed."

Who would have thought Pierce's first time in my room would be because of a cat?

Watching him groom the kitten, I felt transported back to childhood.

But his words instantly snapped me back to reality:

"Someone like you can't cover up your inherent wickedness by saving a few cats."

My hand, which was petting the kitten, paused mid-air as I asked him, "What do you mean?"

"Aren't you just trying to imitate Cadence because you saw how her kindness led her to rescue many stray cats and dogs before?

Let me tell you, whether in the past or now, you'll never measure up to Seraphina!"

Since Seraphina was found by her adoptive parents, she took my place to study design abroad.

But I didn't put down my paintbrush. Instead, I gained recognition in the industry with my superior artistic skills, making a splash.

Considering other companies would surely reject my job applications under pressure from Pierce,

I decided to find a platform online to accept commissions.Sure enough, the example images I provided were well-received by everyone, and after taking on a few orders, my reputation began to grow.

Not long after, I received an invitation from the platform to participate in a competition.

I was about to swipe past it, but then I saw that the first prize was a personal art exhibition sponsored by the organizers.

Right after graduating from high school, I was invited to participate in a state-level exhibition.

For my tiny booth, I spent three days and nights setting it up.

But when the exhibition actually opened, all the names had been changed to Seraphina.

At that moment, I thought to myself, someday I'll definitely hold an art exhibition where my name alone is on every piece from start to finish.

Now the opportunity was right in front of me, and in a moment of impulse, I immediately clicked to confirm my participation.

Only afterward did I realize that the organizer was the Family of Prescott Group.

After passing the initial screening, I smoothly entered the semi-finals.

The semi-finals were in a livestream format, where we could hide our faces, with a time limit of eight hours.

The theme for the first round of drawing was "first love".

I immediately started sketching the outline, my brush flowing freely, and before long, two lifelike characters appeared on the paper.