The attendees immediately straightened their postures and paid attention to Asher, who started to share stories from his business trips abroad.
When he was done speaking, he instantly shifted the topic to Sonia. “I heard about the problems that surfaced during my absence in the company. Sonia has managed everything well on my behalf. Good job!”
On his behalf? She winced at his description but soon broke into a smile. “President Dafoe, please drop the formalities. After all, I am the largest shareholder in this company and as the vice president, I have the responsibility to manage the company. All the blood, sweat and tears are part and parcel of the job.”
Upon hearing that, Asher’s lips twitched as he simmered in anger. This young lady is a tough nut to crack indeed.
He refused to believe that she was oblivious to the subtext of his words—that he was back to reclaim his power to manage the company.
“Oh, is that so? Sonia, you are quite the sensible and mature young lady! Anyway, now that I’m back, you can take a back seat and relax.” Asher stared at Sonia with a fake smile.
A smiling Sonia looked straight into his eyes. “That’s fine! I am still young and I have no problem taking on some challenges. President Dafoe, you have nothing to worry about.”
Asher’s expression immediately fell after he heard her courageous reply.
At the same time, members of the senior management and other shareholders lowered their heads and held their tongues, for they were surprised at Sonia’s guts to publicly wrestle with Asher Dafoe for power. Should we describe her as courageous or hopelessly naive?
Even Charles was stunned by her bold move.
Although he personally thought that she had recklessly started a power struggle at the wrong time, he chose to stand by her side regardless of whether she made the right decision out of his love for her.
“Baby, all the best!” He punched the air with his two fists to cheer her on. After being stupefied by his actions, Sonia fired back at him, “Oh, shut up.”
Charles giggled and promptly fell silent.
When Asher saw Sonia flirting in the middle of the tense situation, his eyes widened in anger at her insolence. “Young lady, are you being serious right now?”
She smiled. “Of course I am! As the largest shareholder and the vice president of the company, it would be bad not to have any decision-making powers. That is why I request to share the leadership with you!”
Deep down in her heart, she knew very well that she could not win against Asher. After all, he had been managing the company for years and the majority of the senior management as well as the shareholders were on his side.
Still, Sonia could not bring herself to surrender her power to Asher. Therefore, she came to the secret decision that even if she could not safeguard all her power, she had to at least keep half of it.
The intensity of Asher’s anger gradually transformed into hilarity and bewilderment as he cackled, “Wow, the younger generation nowadays is truly ambitious. Why have I not seen that side of you before?”
Sonia flicked her hair before she answered calmly, “That’s because I was living under my dad’s protection. Now that he’s no longer around, I have to stand up and carry the weight on my own. If he were alive, he would have been elated for me. Don’t you think so?”
He tightened his fists and hid the malice in his eyes as he replied through gritted teeth, “You are right.” This young lady is really something! She brings up Henry to attack me and remind me that I was one of Henry’s mentees, which means I would be an ingrate to mistreat his daughter!
Too bad Henry was unable to retort, for if he did, Asher would be seen as an ingrate and public opinion would swiftly turn against him.
Plus, it was the cold, hard truth that Asher did not hold as many shares as Sonia. If the share prices were affected by public opinion, the shareholders would definitely pin the blame on him. He could almost foresee the domino effect—the bunch of them would call for a shareholders’ meeting to reelect the company’s president, which would send his years of management down the drain.
At the thought of it, his chest rose violently, but he restrained his explosive rage and stared at her. “Sonia, you are indeed Henry’s daughter! Sure, I can share the leadership with you, but…”
Sonia’s gaze wavered at the abrupt turn in his sentence. “Please continue, President Dafoe.”
She knew it. He would not share the power without putting up a fight. Of course he would set a trap for her to fall into.
Asher picked up a document beside him. “This is a proposal for a partnership on an alternative energy technology. It took me a lot of effort to gain a seat at the meeting for this proposal. The partner who conceived the idea plans to have five partners onboard. As long as you can secure a seat in this partnership for Paradigm Co., I will share the leadership with you.”
After a pause, he introduced the grim consequences of failure, “If you can’t secure a place, you have to surrender your leadership and leave Paradigm Co. as just another shareholder. Of course, if you fail in your mission but insist on taking the leadership from me, please do not blame me for taking things to the extreme and ruining the company. Sonia, what do you think?”
“You’re threatening her!” Charles pointed an accusatory finger at Asher, but Sonia pressed Charles’ hand down and looked at the old fox. “Okay, I agree to the conditions.”
“Sonia—”
Sonia looked at Charles with a serious expression. “Charles, you should know what Paradigm Co. means to me. Even if this is a trap, I will have to jump into it. Do you understand?”
He opened his mouth but could not utter a word. She beamed in satisfaction and reached out to Asher. “Give me the document then.”
Asher obliged with a conniving smile. “Two in the afternoon—that’s the time of the meeting. Sonia, don’t run late like you did just now!”
He did not believe that she could successfully secure the partnership, for the leading partner had declared that they would only work with the most capable companies. He knew that Paradigm Co. was underqualified to be a business partner; therefore, he was coolly waiting for her defeat.
The meeting ended just like that. Charles answered a call and left the room while Sonia returned to her office with the proposal. She took a seat and immediately started to peruse the document.
Her work continued until 1:00PM, when she finally placed aside the proposal that she had reviewed countless times. Then, she drove to the venue of the meeting—Universal Hotel.
She arrived at the hotel at 1:50PM, which was ten minutes from the meeting time. She parked her car and rushed into the hotel in her high heels. The closing doors of an elevator caught her eyes and she hurriedly called out, “Wait for me! I need to enter too.”
That’s a familiar voice… Toby narrowed his eyes and placed a hand between the closing elevator doors.
When the elevator sensed the obstruction, it came to a quiet stop before it slid open again.
Upon seeing that, Sonia’s eyes sparkled with hope, for she knew that the person in the elevator was waiting for her. She quickened her steps.
Finally, she rushed into the elevator. While her hands were on her knees, she bent over and panted heavily, “Thank you.”
Toby lowered his eyes to look at her and his gaze accidentally fell on her slightly-opened collar.
He could clearly see Sonia’s pale skin that trembled from her huffing and puffing through the low-cut collar. It was a dangerously seductive sight to him.
His eyes darkened as he replied in a low voice, “Don’t mention it.”
Sonia was in the midst of wiping away her sweat when she came to a sudden halt. Since she thought that she must have misheard his words, she straightened her posture and looked up at the man.
When she realized that he was indeed Toby, she placed a hand over her eyes in defeat. God, are you messing with me? How could I run into him on a random elevator of all places?
She pursed her rosy lips and took two steps to the side with an icy expression to keep a distance between them.
He observed the huge space between them, which could accommodate another three more people, and his expression darkened. Am I the plague? Why is she avoiding me?
Toby looked at his feet, battling the frustrated feelings in his heart.
Soon, the elevator arrived on her floor. As she was eager to get out of the space she had awkwardly shared with him, she impatiently stepped out.
After taking a few steps out, she heard the sound of footsteps closely following behind her.
“Wait, that can’t be it.” Sonia’s lips twitched in surprise and she slightly turned her face sideways to steal a glance from the corner of her eyes. When she confirmed that Toby was indeed walking behind her, she could not help but come up with a bold guess. Could he be headed toward the same destination as me?
Her wild guess gradually turned into silent confirmation as they inched closer to the room.
When she finally stood outside the room and turned around to look at Toby, she could tell from the shock in his eyes as she confirmed that he was here for the same meeting as well.
With that being said, it did not come as a surprise for her because the Fuller Group was a heavyweight in Seafield. Since Toby was the head of the Fuller Group, it wouldn’t make sense for him to be absent from the discussion of a lucrative business proposal.
