Chapter 449

Valerian watched as Zelda was about to storm out of the house, clearly heading to the company. He grabbed her arm, trying to stop her.

“Mom, Callie is your daughter, after all. If we think about it, we haven’t always been fair to her. Now that Lisette’s not around, maybe we should try being a bit nicer to her. Maybe we need to change a little.”

“Change?” Zelda cried, furrowing her brow. “What change? She’s been nothing but bad luck for us. The company’s in trouble, Lisette’s in jail, and Horatio’s legs… it’s all because of her! If she wasn’t around, things wouldn’t have gone downhill like this! She’s a jinx, bringing disaster to the entire family.”

Valerian sighed, realizing this was going to be an uphill battle.

“Mom, please, let’s just talk about this,” he pleaded.

But Zelda was resolute. “I have to go to the office. If we hand the company over to her, it’ll be a disaster. You think she’ll give back what she’s taken? She’s always been holding grudges against us all these years!”

She pushed past Valerian, determined to leave. He wanted to run after her, but a servant stopped him.

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Valerian quickly dialed Monty, hoping he could intercept Zelda. But Monty’s phone went straight to voicemail, no matter how many times he tried. In the end, Valerian called Horatio.

“Can you stop Mom from going to the office?” he asked desperately.

“What happened?” Horatio’s voice crackled through the line, laced with surprise. “Why did you let her head to the company? If she clashes with Callie there, it’ll be a spectacle for everyone! Valerian, why didn’t you stop her? And Callie actually showed some management skills this morning. She analyzed a lot of things that could really benefit the company. We need her!”

“It’s not that I didn’t try,” Valerian said with exasperation. “Mom just won’t listen to me. I got held up by a servant and couldn’t catch up to her in time.”

“We have a board meeting soon, and I can’t stop her now,” Horatio said, a hint of urgency in his voice. “I’ll find some staff to help hold her off. You keep trying to reach her by phone!”

With that, Horatio hung up, his face clouded with worry. He knew his mother well enough to realize she’d stir up trouble at the company. And today, of all days, the board members and top executives were scheduled to be there. If Zelda decided to create a scene, it wouldn’t look good at all.

Horatio quickly instructed his staff to intercept Zelda while he made his way to the conference hall.

By afternoon, the board members had all arrived, along with the company’s top brass. The conference room was buzzing with people, all speculating about the meeting’s purpose before Calliope and Monty showed up.

“Why did the president call us all here?”

“I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Is he planning something drastic? Are we going bankrupt?”

Worry was etched on their faces. Under Monty’s leadership, the company had been in decline.

“He claimed he’s got some big announcement. As I arrived, I heard Calliope showed up at the company today.”

“Yeah, and Franco from Pearl Tiger Club was seen here too. What’s he doing at our company?”

“I came because of the rumors about Franco being here.”

As Horatio wheeled into the room, heads turned.

“Hey, Mr. Horatio’s here.”

“Mr. Horatio, you should know why your father gathered us all here, right?”

“Yeah, and what’s this about Franco from Pearl Tiger Club? Are we getting bought out by them?"

Chapter 450