Chapter 40
Stella rolled her eyes at him and tugged Jessica toward the door. “You must be tired, right? Go check your room and see if anything’s missing. I’ll have someone bring it over.”
Jessica couldn’t stop them since they were determined to back her no matter what. She let herself take every ounce of love they gave.
She thought if it made them happy, that was enough.
The next day, at Brian’s office, Jackson gave his report. “Mr. Atkinson, the SG Project was basically settled with Grant Group. But this morning, their project lead suddenly pulled the plug. They said they won’t work with us.”
SG Project was one of the Atkinson Group’s top priorities. After almost three months of negotiation, they were just about to sign the deal. Now, the other side suddenly flat–out rejected them.
Jackson paused and looked at Brian. Seeing Brian didn’t react, he added, “They said they will never work with Atkinson Group.”
That finally earned a twitch of Brian’s brows. He instructed, “Clear my schedule. I’ll talk to their CEO myself.”
Jackson replied, “Yes, sir.”
Brian showed up at Grant Group without an appointment and got stopped at the front desk.
Dereck had just wrapped up a meeting when the receptionist patched the call through. Hearing Brian was downstairs and wanted to see him, Dereck let out a cold laugh. “Tell him I’m in a meeting. Whether he wants to wait or leave, that’s his call.”
Then Dereck hung up while grumbling to himself, ‘You think I’ll let you off so easily after what you did to my daughter?‘
The receptionist set the phone down and said with a polite smile, “Mr. Atkinson, Mr. Grant is still in a meeting. If you’re not in a rush, you’re welcome to wait in our lounge.”
Brian checked his watch. As a CEO, his schedule was stacked. But this potential partnership with Grant Group mattered more than anything, so he replied, “Alright.”
The receptionist led them to the elevator and up to the lounge on the 25th floor. Then, the receptionist left.
Jackson trailed behind Brian and settled into the plush chairs.
Two minutes later, Jackson started sensing something was off. He thought, ‘Not even a cup of coffee is served? Grant Group’s staff aren’t usually this sloppy:
They waited for a while, and soon, 20 minutes passed.
Jackson glanced at Brian, who remained stone–faced, and hesitated. He wondered, ‘Did they seriously forget we’re still here?‘
“Mr. Atkinson, I’ll ask them again,” said Jackson.
Brian put on a long face but said nothing.
Jackson went out, hunted down an employee, but got shrugged off with “I don’t know“. He headed downstairs to ask the receptionist again.
The woman put on a show of making a call and replied, “Sorry, Mr. Grant’s still in a meeting. If you’re short on time, you’re free to leave.”
Jackson went back upstairs and repeated her words to Brian.
Brian kept his cool and waited another 30 minutes before finally standing up and walking out with Jackson.
He didn’t need to be told to know that this wasn’t about testing his sincerity. Grant Group had it out for him. He felt it was something personal, like someone there had a bone to pick.
After all, no way would a company like Grant Group just forget to serve their guests coffee.
Back at Atkinson Group, Jackson dug into things and found out Grant Group was throwing a party soon. It was said to be held for their heiress.
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Chapter 40
Every other big company had received an invitation, except Atkinson Group.
Brian was sure that Grant Group had some misunderstandings about him or his company.
Brian tapped his fingers on the desk and said, “Jackson, figure out why Grant Group is against us. And get two invitations to that party.
The whole mess with Dereck had already cost Brian over an hour. He’d barely gotten back to his desk when a call from Jacob’s school came through.
It was just 3 PM, long before the end of the school day, so Brian found it strange.
He also didn’t expect the school would call him, since Jessica usually handled school stuff before.
The voice on the line said, “Excuse me, is this Jacob’s father? Jacob’s been in a fight. Can you please come to school right away?”
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