Free Web NovelChapter 430: I Hope You Will Reconsider
Wendy was sure that if she had explained her reasons to Jake, he would understand.
But no matter how smart he was, he was still just a child.
Wendy did not want Jake to know too much and bear the burden of adults’ problems.
Because these were problems that adults should resolve among themselves.
Jake looked into Wendy’s eyes and nodded.
Of course, Jake trusted his mother.
"Since you trust me, then could you pretend you don’t know anything and go to school, as usual, tomorrow, ok?" Wendy said. "You must not tell anyone about Daddy and me."
"I got it," Jake nodded his head and answered.
But Jake was very curious as to why his parents wanted to gang up against his grandfather.
However, since his mother did not want to tell him, he did not press further.
He also knew that he was still too young. Even if he knew what was going on, he would not be able to help at all.
There was one thing he was very clear of, no matter who decided to become his mother’s enemy, Jake would always be on his mother’s side.
Even if that person were his father or grandfather. Jake would definitely take his mother’s side.
"Then you should sleep. You have school tomorrow," said Wendy.
"Mummy, may I sleep with you tonight?" asked Jake. He remained on his bed while he waited for her answer.
Jake’s question took Wendy by surprise.
Whenever she had wanted to sleep with him, he had always said no.
He would say that he was grown up and wanted to be independent.
"Of course, you may!" Wendy was pleased.
Jake shifted a little to the side to make space on his bed for Wendy to lie down.
"Mummy, let’s sleep together tonight."
Looking at the space Jake had made for her, Wendy laid down next to him.
Jake proceeded to pull up his blanket and covered himself and Wendy.
"Jake, why do you want to sleep with me all of a sudden?" Wendy asked as she was still puzzled.
"I just felt like it since I haven’t slept with you in a while," said Jake in a chirpy voice.
Wendy’s heart felt warm and fuzzy at Jake’s answer.
"Good night."
"Good night, Mummy."
Wendy was feeling really sleepy.
She yawned and closed her eyes.
"Mummy... " Jake called out to her softly.
"Hmm?" Wendy answered groggily as she was feeling sleepy.
"Nothing... just, have sweet dreams," Jake said with a smile.
What he had wanted to say was that even so, he still did not want Mummy to be with Daddy again.
He was afraid that Mummy would get hurt again.
He had once seen how Mummy had been so devastated by Michael, and he did not want to see it ever again.
But he was afraid that if he said that again, Mummy would be even sadder.
...
In Michael’s office:
Michael sat on his sofa, staring at the phone in his hand, scrolling through the business news.
He had always been following Christian’s news closely.
He knew that Christian had to make the first payment for the project he had bid for, and that payment was a huge sum of money.
Looking at the financial status of HG now, it would be difficult for Christian to fork out such a large sum of money.
Just then, there was a knock on his office door, and Mr. York walked in.
"Mr. Lucas," he said politely. "I have just received reliable news that Christian Lucas must make his first payment for the project by tomorrow. Or else he would not be able to continue with the project. The exact figure is 2.3 billion dollars. The second payment is due in three months, and it is also another 2.3 billion dollars. As for the timing and amount for future payments, that is not clear yet."
...
Michael nodded his head in satisfaction at the report.
After giving his report, Mr. York left the office.
Michael tapped his fingers lightly on his desk.
Based on Christian’s character, he would definitely make those payments even if it were at the expense of HG.
It had not been easy for Christian to get this project.
How could Michael not congratulate him at this perfect moment?
Hence, Michael gave Christian a call.
Surprisingly, Christian answered the call quite quickly.
"Michael, what’s up?" Christian tried to keep his voice even and calm, though he was feeling frustrated.
He did not want Michael to suspect any problem.
"Nothing much. I just wanted to congratulate you for successfully snatching the project out of my hands and progressing pretty well," Michael said. He purposely let out a sigh. "But I know that your DR doesn’t have much money, so I thought of asking if you needed money? If you don’t have enough funds for the first phase, don’t be stubborn to save your pride. MC has quite a lot of liquid assets. If you’re in need, feel free to ask."
Christian frowned at Michael’s offer.
Michael must have something up his sleeves to have said that.
"I know it’s not much, but as long as you ask, I can still fund you around a few million dollars," continued Michael, as Christian had expected.
"A few million dollars?" Christian could not help snorting.
He knew that his brother would not be so nice as to help him without strings attached.
They were destined to be mortal enemies from the day they were born.
A few million dollars was not a small sum of money to an average person.
But for a project that was worth tens of billions, that was an insult.
Of course, Michael had intended to humiliate Christian and to provoke him.
"You should save that million dollars for a nice bag for your future wife," said Christian.
"You find that too little?" Michael asked deliberately.
"No, I don’t need any more money. Sorry to disappoint you. If you don’t have any other business, I’m hanging up." Christian did not wait for a response and quickly ended the call.
Hearing how flustered and desperate Christian sounded helped Michael feel a lot better.
He put his phone aside and took out a bag of snacks from his drawer.
He never used to eat snacks.
After two mouthsful, Michael smiled and said, "These taste not bad."
Christian gripped his phone so hard in anger that the veins on his forehead had bulged.
He raised his hand and almost smashed his phone.
But he managed to resist the urge and stopped himself in time.
He closed his eyes to calm down.
After that, he called Timothy.
Timothy had a headache, and Rosa was massaging his temples.
Just then, his phone rang. He saw the call was from Christian, and he was a little afraid to answer.
But he still answered it.
From the other end, he heard Christian’s voice, "Have you settled yesterday’s matter?"
"Not yet. I haven’t been able to track down Winston Dell and the quality inspector.
But I also do not have the time and energy to continue looking for them," said Timothy.
"My dear Mr. Woods, what should I say to you?" Christian had balled his hand into a fist and continued through clenched teeth, "Why can’t you settle something so simple?"
"I’m sorry," Timothy apologized. He had indeed not handled the matter properly.
There was nothing more he could do.
"Forget it," said Christian. "There’s no point in finger-pointing." He had called today because he had other things to talk to Timothy about.
"What is the financial status of HG now?" Christian went straight to the point.
...
"Our finances are in a mess. We have been paying out damages for breach of contracts to various parties. Though we managed to retain some clients, there are still some who want to end their contracts."
Timothy also said truthfully, "According to the contracts we had, damages are supposed to be all paid out within a week.
"I have been able to delay paying out to some clients by telling them that we had missed the deadline for closing accounts.
"Besides paying out damages for breach of contracts, we still have to pay some compensation to those clients we managed to retain.
"The payout is not a small sum."
Though Christian had already known that HG’s financial situation was not good, Christian’s headache became worse after listening to Timothy’s report.
"Did you set aside the two billion dollars that I told you to?" Christian asked. His heart had always been focused on the project that he had been bidding for.
He had given Timothy an order to set aside two billion dollars as liquid assets.
"Yes, I did, but... " "No buts." Christian cut Timothy off before continuing, "I want you to transfer that money to DR now."
"Christian!" Timothy half-shouted as his anxiety rose. "I know that you need to make the first payment for the project you had bid for, but you can’t take away HG’s life money. I need this money to pay our clients’ compensation. If we keep delaying paying the compensation, HG will lose all our clients’ confidence and trust!"
"When I signed the contract with the person in charge of the project, he said that if this project did not proceed smoothly, all the money we had invested in the first phase would be all for nothing," said Christian as calmly as he could. He continued, "And if we haven’t paid anything, we will need to compensate them a billion dollars in damages."
"Christian, I really hope you will give this problem more thought," pleaded Timothy.
His mind was still on HG.
Because he had given his blood, sweat, and tears to building HG, he could not bear to watch it collapse without doing anything.
So, he continued to plead with Christian. "Since we haven’t invested any money on the project yet, paying them a billion dollars in damages is better than sinking in two billion dollars.
"Besides, we cannot only be thinking of the money needed in the first phase.
"This two billion dollars is only the start of the investment.
"If you take all of HG’s emergency funds to invest in the project, then that means HG will collapse very soon and there will be no more HG to pump funds into the project in the future.
"We both know DR’s situation very well.
"DR is not able to fund such a huge project. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"So, when the time comes, you won’t be able to carry on with the project.
"At that time, our losses would not only be one billion dollars in compensation."
Christian knew very well everything Timothy had just said.
Christian knew better than anyone else.
But...
Christian clenched his fists. He did not want to give up just like that.
"We’ll get the project going first and think of a way later," said Christian. "You have gone through the ups and downs in business. While we may lose money quickly, we can also earn it quickly."
"Christian, I still hope you would think about this some more," Timothy repeated with a sigh.
"HG cannot stand up to any audit. If we don’t make use of this chance to get cleaned up, do you think we would still have another chance in the future?"
Christian continued, "Even if there was, Michael would never let me get it. Or do you still want to live on the edge worrying every day like this?
"Till today, you’re still afraid to let Rosa know what sort of person you are. Isn’t it because you fear she won’t accept you when she finds out?
"We just need to use this chance to clean up completely, and then nobody will know what happened in the past." freёwebnoѵel.com
...
Christian’s words had also echoed Timothy’s thoughts.
Timothy had had no choice but to work with Christian.
If he had the chance to get cleaned, he was more than willing to do so.
"But Christian," said Timothy. "This is not a small sum of money. You are gambling with the entire HG. And the chances of winning are slim."
"Didn’t we get to where we are today by gambling? And staking our lives in it too?"
Christian had made up his mind and refused to listen to anything Timothy said.
"Besides, HG has a solid base. Didn’t we retain some clients? So, HG still stands a chance at making a comeback.
"You should go and convince Wendy to design a few more clothes that will sell.
Wendy’s designs are well known worldwide.
"This is just one hiccup. As long as HG puts out a good product again, I’m sure many people will want to buy them."
"Christian... " Timothy had wanted to say more but had another incoming call.
He knew that he would not be able to persuade Christian to reconsider, so he took the chance and said, "I have an important call coming in. I’ll call you back later."
With that, Timothy immediately ended the call.
He looked at his screen, and the call was from one of the important clients he had managed to retain.
Now, all these clients were so precious to Timothy that he could not afford to offend any of them.
He took a deep breath to calm himself down before answering, "Hello, Mr. Knox."
"Hello, I know that you are very busy, so I shall get straight to the point," Carl Knox said. "I would like to know when I will get the compensation that we had agreed on?
The contract stated I would get it within a week. Tomorrow is the deadline. The compensation isn’t that much; it’s only three hundred million dollars. I hope you will pay us the money as soon as possible, ok?"
"A week? Who told you a week?" Timothy frowned when he heard that.
HG had not even finished paying out all the damages for breaching the contracts.
If they had to pay out the compensation at the same time, HG would still not have enough funds, even without giving Christian the two billion dollars.
"Corrine had personally negotiated with me for a week, and it is written on the contract," said Knox. "That’s right, your company’s head secretary was present too.
If you have any questions about the contract, you can ask them or check the terms on the contract."
"I will have that checked out and then get back to you. Is that ok?" Timothy said.
"Mr. Woods, are you making a fool out of me?" Knox was not pleased. "Your people were the ones who came to me and offered those terms. Now you’re telling me you’re not sure about it? How is that possible? Corrine and the head secretary are both real, and we also signed the contract. I think you’re trying to buy time."
"I am very sorry, Mr. Knox. That was not what I meant. But I am not very clear about this, and the finance department also needs time to process all of this. But don’t worry, we will compensate you according to the contract. But please give me a little more time to understand what is exactly going on."
Timothy was so angry that he could hardly remain standing on his feet.
But he had to be nice to his clients and swallowed his anger.
"I don’t care whether you’re telling the truth or simply buying time. We have been doing business for so long, and that is why I agreed to not end our contract. I hope that you will not blow this matter up and make it any uglier than it already is," said Knox. "I want the money by today. Or else, don’t blame me for not being nice."
