Chapter 12

Suddenly, the door flew open with a bang. Everyone turned at the noise, thinking it was a server bringing their dishes. To their surprise, they saw Lisa standing there. They didn’t understand what was happening. Eleanor was the only one who cocked an eyebrow; it seemed like her theory had proven right.

Brenda stood up, her smile still in place. “What are you doing here, Ms. Granger? Since you came all this way, join us for lunch. I’ll have a server bring an extra set of cutlery.” Lisa ignored her, glancing only at Eleanor after entering the room. Then, she hurried to David, leaning down and asking in a low voice, “Mr. Jones, did you give the contract to Brenda Sandberg?”

He didn’t think much of a mere subsidiary’s person in charge. “Yes, I did. Can’t I?”

Lisa said, “The contract is meant for Eleanor Sandberg. It’s what Mr. W wants…”

Eleanor was too far away to hear their conversation. All she knew was that David’s expression abruptly shifted. “What?”

Lisa said icily, “Deal with this as you see fit!”

David’s expression turned fearful. Brenda and Maurice exchanged a confused look. Neither of them knew what was happening, but Brenda had a bad feeling about this.

She suppressed it and pushed the contract toward David. He had to sign it, no matter what! She asked, “What’s wrong, Mr. Jones? Is there a problem with your pen? I have an extra here, so—”

David shot to his feet and grabbed the contract, hurrying to Eleanor. Everyone watched him, baffled.

He said politely, “I made a mistake. I should be signing this contract with you, Ms. Eleanor.”

Brenda’s eyes widened in shock. “Are you drunk, Mr. Jones? I’m the one who negotiated the deal with you!”

His attitude toward her was no longer as warm as before. “You might’ve negotiated with me, but I wasn’t actually too interested in what you had to offer. Ms. Eleanor spoke to Ms. Granger yesterday, and what she proposed was what truly caught Ransom Finance’s attention. That’s why this contract has to be signed with Ms. Eleanor. I made a mistake, and I’m correcting it now. Do you have a problem with that, Ms. Brenda?”

Brenda wouldn’t dare. “O—Of course not…”

Still, she couldn’t let the deal she’d secured slip away just like that. She couldn’t accept that! Her eyes reddened, and she looked at Maurice. “Mo…”

He stood up. “Mr. Jones—”

David cut him off. “We can talk about this later, Mr. Porter.”

She asked, “You’re sure you have the right person this time, right, Mr. Jones?”

Maurice couldn’t say anything else. This was ultimately a collaboration between Sandberg Group and Victory Tech. He was an outsider in this. Eleanor had only been suspicious of how Brenda had gotten the contract. That was why she’d texted Lisa—a fool would refuse an opportunity that had landed in their lap. She hadn’t expected things to take such a turn. Still, only to ask what had happened.

“Yes, yes, of course. There’s nothing else, is there, Ms. Granger?” David was afraid Eleanor would hold a grudge against him.

Lisa nodded. “I sent your proposal to headquarters after you presented it to me yesterday, Ms. Eleanor. They were very satisfied with it, and I wanted to contact you this morning to sign the contract. However, I was delayed by an urgent meeting. I didn’t expect such a mix-up to happen.”

David said, “Yes, that’s exactly what happened. Please don’t take this to heart, Ms. Eleanor.”

Eleanor smiled. “It’s a small matter. I’m just glad we’ve unraveled the misunderstanding.”

She accepted the contract and flipped to the last page as Brenda watched with gnashing teeth. Then, she uncapped her pen and imitated Brenda’s lofty tone from earlier. “Sorry to make you celebrate for nothing, Brenda. If you’re really so desperate to be the deputy CEO…”

She grinned. “I can’t give it to you anyway. Uncle Philip said we have to adhere to the company’s rules, remember? Don’t you agree, Uncle Philip?”

The looks on Philip’s, Brenda’s, and Maurice’s faces made for an interesting sight. Eleanor signed the contract with a flourish, and David followed suit without hesitation. With that, the contract was officially in effect.

David didn’t dare linger and left after a hurried goodbye.

Meanwhile, Lisa said to Eleanor, “We can discuss the details tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

Now that the outsiders were gone, the directors whom Brenda had invited to witness the highlight of her career admired the contract with Victory Tech, with Eleanor’s signature on it. One of them said, “As expected of the late Mr. Sandberg’s daughter. Like father, like daughter!”

Philip hated when people praised Francis to his face. He snarled, “You’re such a disappointment, Bren!”

Then, he stormed off.

“Dad! Dad!” Erenda had no idea how things had ended up like this. Why had everything taken such a bad turn so abruptly?

The directors gave her meaningful looks before leaving. Brenda asked Maurice in grievance, “What happened, Mo? Didn’t you get Mr. Jones to help me?”

Maurice felt humiliated, too. He’d pulled strings to get David involved, yet the latter had ended up siding with Eleanor and turning him into a joke. None of the directors had bothered sparing him a glance before leaving!

He mulled over the matter and concluded that the problem had to lie with Eleanor. He told Brenda to wait for him outside so he could speak to Eleanor privately.

Brenda looked wary. What could they possibly have to talk about? Still, she agreed and left.

“Get over here, Eleanor!” Maurice ordered.

Eleanor crossed her arms and sat down. “You’re my younger cousin’s husband, so you should be coming to me if you have anything to say. How can you order me to go to you? You’re so rude.”

He stormed over to her and glared. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you? You already negotiated the deal with Ransom Finance, yet you kept that a secret just so you could make a fool out of me and Brenda. Are you that happy to see us humiliated? You’re pathetic, Eleanor!”

Eleanor was amused. “Could you keep your dramatics as minimal as your bank balance?”

She paused, then continued, “Oh, wait. I forgot that you can’t even use your bank cards now. Your balance is at zero. Today’s meal hasn’t been settled, right? How are you guys going to foot the bill? Are you going to buy now and pay later?”

He looked like the realization had just dawned on him. “I knew you were behind that. You couldn’t accept me choosing Bren over you, forcing you to marry a bastard. That’s why you persuaded Grandma to freeze my cards!”

“You’re trying to force Bren and me apart so that I can marry you! You’re crazy! I would never get together with someone’s used goods!”

Eleanor’s expression turned severe. “If you think I’m used goods for sleeping with my husband, what would you call yourself after all the women you’ve fucked? A gigolo?”

Maurice roared, “I’m still better than you! At least I didn’t get knocked up after sleeping with someone at 18!”

That pissed Eleanor off. She snarled, “Stop this fucking nonsense, Maurice!”

Maurice thought she was angry because he’d hit a nerve. “You know very well that I’m not spouting nonsense!”

She looked at him. In her past life, she’d had a huge fight with him after learning about his and Brenda’s affair. At the time, he’d also falsely accused her of getting knocked up after sleeping with someone at 18. How ridiculous!

She grabbed him by the collar. “Make yourself clear, Maurice. Who the fuck did I sleep with? Where’s my child? Answer me!”