Behind him, Daphne immediately replied, “There are two more—President Dafoe and Manager Watson.”
“Yeah.” Sonia nodded, indicating that she got it.
It didn’t take long before the door of the conference room opened and Asher brought Bennett in.
Sonia met Asher’s gaze. “President Dafoe, you’re late.”
Unconcerned, Asher pulled out a chair and sat down. “Something happened that caused a delay. You’re not bothered about it, right, Sonia?”
Sonia smiled. “Of course not.”
Undoubtedly, she knew that Asher was deliberately late because he wanted to show his authority during their first encounter. She decided to let him be complacent now, as he was going to be upset soon.
“All right. Now that everyone is here, today’s meeting will officially begin. Previously—”
Before Sonia was done speaking, Asher interrupted her, “Sonia, today is the release day of the results for the cooperation seating of the alternative energy technology. It’s time for you to announce the results, isn’t it?”
“That’s right, President Reed. Tell us—did you get a seat for the cooperation?” Asher’s followers chimed in.
Upon hearing that, Sonia frowned.
One of the high-level executives who supported her slapped the table. “That’s enough. The meeting has just begun. Can we talk about this later?”
“Why should we wait till later to talk about it? We’re concerned about the results right now,” Asher’s followers continued.
Asher shot Sonia an even more contemptuous look. “Sonia, since we’re all so curious, you should tell us first.”
“Yeah, quickly tell us.” His supporters followed suit.
The executive who supported Sonia flushed red. “All of you had better not go too far!”
“It’s fine, Manager Lynch. You can sit down first. Since they want to know, I’ll tell them. I was going to mention it during today’s meeting anyway.” Sonia stared coldly at Asher.
Since Asher was so eager to give her half of the management rights, why shouldn’t she help accomplish his aim? As Sonia pondered this, the corners of her lips curled up.
When Asher saw her smiling, his heart thumped, and he was far from reassured. He could no longer hide the contempt on his face. What does the expression on that b*tch’s face mean? She can’t have really gotten the cooperation seat, right? No. That’s impossible. She must be pretending to be calm. She must’ve started panicking long ago. Yes, that must be it!
Asher kept denying the fact, but his clenched fists revealed his current state of unrest. Sonia noticed this, and it made her sneer inwardly. Then, she slightly opened her red lips and slowly exclaimed, “I got the cooperation seat!”
As soon as she spoke, everyone was surprised. Regardless of whether they supported her or Asher, none of them could believe what they heard. She actually got the cooperation seat?
“President Reed, is that true?” Kayden was shaking with excitement.
Sonia nodded solemnly. “It’s true.”
“That’s great!” Kayden pumped his fists, joy written all over his face.
The rest of Sonia’s supporters were beyond excited as well. Everyone knew that alternative energy technology represented reformation. Once alternative energy technology was fully developed, the world’s power source would be replaced by alternative energy in the future. Since Paradigm Co. was able to enter the alternative energy industry so early on, its rise in the future was already foreseeable.
Compared with the excitement of Sonia’s supporters, the people on Asher’s side, especially Asher himself, had nasty looks on their faces. It was as if they had just eaten something vile. He slapped the table and stood up, his expression twisted. “That’s impossible! How could you have gotten the cooperation seat!”
In an instant, the conference room fell silent. Sonia threw him a blank look, not afraid of his questioning in the slightest. “Why is it impossible?”
“I still don’t know what you’re capable of, and I’m not even sure I can handle it, so do you think someone like you, who doesn’t understand alternative energy at all, can take the seat?” Asher sneered.
Sonia laughed in response. “But, I, a person who doesn’t understand anything, got the seat. What do you think about that, President Dafoe?”
“You…” Asher choked out furiously.
Then, having thought of something, he narrowed his eyes and fixed Sonia with an even more disdainful stare. “I see. You must’ve seduced President Fuller and asked him to open a back door for you, didn’t you?”
Sonia’s expression darkened as she stood up. “President Dafoe, I think you’d better watch what you say. I got this cooperation seat based on my ability. What does it have to do with Toby? Do you have any evidence of me seducing him? Besides, who doesn’t know that Toby loves the beloved daughter of the Gray Family? He even divorced me after six years of marriage for her. Do you think he can be seduced by me?”
“That’s right, President Dafoe. If you want to make claims, you have to have evidence. Not only is making such guesses without evidence beneath you, it also shows that you’re narrow-minded and refuse to admit that President Reed is excellent.” Kayden shot Asher a mocking glance.
Asher had long since rubbed him the wrong way, so now that he had the opportunity to trample on Asher, he would naturally not let it go.
“Sure. You win. I can’t outspeak all of you!” Asher sat down in a huff.
Sonia looked at him with indifference. “President Dafoe, it seems like you have nothing more to say. In that case, please fulfill your promise.”
“What promise?” Asher was dumbfounded.
Sonia stretched her hand toward the back. Daphne then handed her the document that was in the crook of her arm. After she took it, she pushed it toward Asher. “During our last meeting, President Dafoe, we made a bet. You said that if I could win the cooperation seat, you would share half of Paradigm Co.’s management rights with me. Now that I’ve gotten it, you should do as you said, right, President Dafoe?”
Sonia beamed at him. Asher’s lips twitched while he tightly clenched his fists. Theodore, who was on his right, lowered his head even more. Sure enough, he had guessed correctly. If Sonia was so insistent on holding the meeting, it meant she certainly didn’t lose, but was instead eager to retrieve the management rights from Asher. Theodore had persuaded Asher, but the latter was too conceited and didn’t think that Sonia would win. Now, he ended up getting a slap to the face.
“Sonia—” Asher tried to speak while reluctantly forcing a smile.
With an unchanging smile plastered on her face, Sonia interrupted him. “President Dafoe, you’re not going to play dumb, are you? But, it’s useless to play dumb now. When the bet was made, everyone here heard it, and I voice-recorded it too. President Dafoe, would you like to hear what you said at the time?” She held up her phone.
When Asher saw that, his face paled considerably, and his expression turned even nastier. “There’s no need for that. I admit that I’ve said it before!”
Since so many people had witnessed the betting, he simply couldn’t afford to play dumb. If he actually played the fool, his followers would doubt whether he was worthy of their support, so he could only accept it. At worst, he would just find an opportunity in the future to obtain information that could be used against her and get back his power.
“Now that you’ve admitted it, President Dafoe, please sign here.” Sonia smiled and handed him a pen.
Asher sneered, then flipped open the file and signed his name.
When Sonia saw this, her smile grew wider, and at the same time, she felt completely relieved. After Asher signed it, she would get half of the management rights, and she would truly be worthy of the title ‘President Reed’. Next, she had to come up with a plan to get the other half of the management rights back from Asher. When she got all the management rights back, she would be able to kick Asher out of Paradigm Co.
After the conference ended, Sonia returned to her office, picked up her phone, and called Charles to report the good news.
Meanwhile, at Fuller Group, Tom had just walked into the president’s office. “President Fuller, I’ve gotten everything about what you asked me to find out.”
Toby released the mouse and lifted his head. “Hmm?”
“According to the news from the marketing department, Titus sent out the message in search of his eldest daughter,” Tom reported.
