Cyrus' voice remained indifferent as he said, "Don't resort to killing to solve your problems. It's too bloody."
Xavia swallowed her next words, thinking that he had done far bloodier things in the past, so why hesitate now?
"The Sullivan Group is a partner company of the Whitman Group and Fairlight, so don't touch them. When I take over, I don't want these two companies to become useless messes."
Not only did he not want to be the one to clean up the messes, but he also knew that Fleurette would feel heartache over such a situation.
"Okay… But what if Noah tries to blackmail me with it?"
"Having more allies is better than having more enemies. Do you know what I'd like to see?" Cyrus asked, his voice dripping with venom.
"I know... You want to see the Whitmans isolated and defeated on all fronts," Xavia replied.
From the other end of the phone came a low chuckle. That was right. Cyrus despised the Whitmans more than anything else in his life.
*
About a week later, Harold sensed something was amiss and called Chloe to ask why they had not come by the family home recently.
Joseph was making coffee at that moment, and Chloe silently mouthed to him, "What should I say?"
Joseph wiped his fingers clean with a handkerchief and replied, "Tell him we'll go this afternoon."
"Grandpa, we'll be stopping by this afternoon."
"Okay, okay. What would you like to eat? I'll have the chef prepare it for you."
"Anything will do. I'm not picky."
After hanging up the phone, Chloe asked cautiously, "Have you figured out how to handle it?"
"Yes." Joseph nodded. "But I'll go back alone. You stay here."
"You’re not taking me with you?" Chloe was surprised and frowned, feeling a sense of unease rising in her heart.
"That's right. I have a plan, and it's for your own good.” He walked to her side, tucking the stray hair falling on her forehead behind her ear. "I'll take care of everything. Don't worry, my dear."
He did not want to involve her in the mess because he did not want to put her in a dangerous situation.
"But I want to go with you."
"I know, but it'll be easier for me to handle this alone. There are some things that I need to talk to Grandpa about," Joseph explained.
Chloe chewed her lip. She was still worried and said, "Are you going to confront him? He's so old, and his heart isn't well. Please don't stress him too much."
Next, they intercepted Joseph as he stepped out of his car. "Mr. Joseph, please give us an explanation. Is it true what they're saying?"
Joseph stood tall and straight in his suit, emitting a compelling aura.
"I won't support a bunch of useless people," he declared.
"What do you mean?"
Joseph presented internal company data before them. "These are the projects undertaken by Preston in the past five years. Out of the total projects, only around ten percent or so had been a success, while the rest had met with miserable failure."
"But even so, you shouldn't be so ruthless. After all, he's your uncle."
Joseph's expression turned cold. "That's why I left him with a 0.5 percent share. He'll receive regular dividends every year, and his life will remain comfortable. Or can your company not stand him living in such a state and wish to take care of him?"
The reporters were left speechless and unable to respond. Shaking with anger and realizing that he was losing the upper hand, Preston quickly brought up Harold. "My father has treated you well, but why didn't you leave any shares for him?"
"They were meant to be mine eventually. What's the problem if he transferred his shares to me a little earlier?"
"It wasn't a transfer! It was outright snatching! You've driven Grandpa into the hospital with anger!"
"Then you should be at the hospital by his bedside right now instead of attempting to use public opinion to suppress me," Joseph retorted coldly before turning around and striding into the Fairlight, paying no further attention to those people throughout the whole encounter.
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