Richard glanced at Kevin. "Mr. Burlow, this is the person in charge of our company. Her name is Miss McKinney," Richard said.
Kevin pushed his glasses up his nose. "That's odd. Why is it that the person in charge of Crossley Group is someone who has the surname McKinney? You look like you're in your twenties. Are you sure you're able to handle the company?" he asked.
Richard was about to protest when Leanna stopped him and responded to Kevin, "There's no clear relationship between one's age and capabilities, is there? You seem pretty old, yet you don't seem to be able to fit much in that brain of yours."
Kevin took a while to make sense of the other woman's words. "You—" His face turned grim. Freddie couldn't help but chuckle at this conversation. He took a step toward Kevin before throwing his arm over Kevin's shoulder. "Calm down. She's a young girl; that's why she's so impulsive."
"Who are you?" Kevin shot Freddie a displeased glare. "I… I'm a lawyer, I guess," Freddie replied.
Kevin had his guard up after that. "Who sent you guys here? What do you guys want?" Then, Kevin turned to Richard. "I want to see Mr. Ollander. Where is he?" Kevin asked.
"I just told you, Mr. Burlow. Miss McKinney is the person in charge of Crossley Group, so she's the one handling things related to Mr. Ollander."
Kevin scoffed at this. "I've always been in direct contact with Mr. Ollander. I never knew Miss McKinney or any other person in charge. Furthermore, this is Mr. Ollander's… Well, anyway, I only wish to work with him. There's no use in sending any other of your guys over," he uttered.
"You only want to work with him, huh?" Leanna uttered all of a sudden.
"Didn't I make myself clear—" Kevin started.
"Are you the victim? What's there to work through with him? Are you guys going to discuss how to lessen the damage that has been done to the company to the maximum, how you guys can use the money to hide the truth, or how you guys can continue hurting others?"
Kevin's face turned pale after he heard her words. Soon enough, a rather grim look formed on his face. His lips were trembling, and he was about to speak when he felt Freddie tapping on his shoulder. "Calm down. You shouldn't take it to heart." Kevin slumped into the couch before he started protesting. "I knew you guys weren't here to resolve the issue. Well, if that's the case, you can go ahead and make a big deal out of this! We're just a small company, so it wouldn't harm our reputation much even if we end up going down with Crossley Group."
Leanna laughed to herself. "I agree that this wouldn't have much of an impact on you guys, but the one who should go down with you guys isn't us—it's Jimmy!"
Kevin shot Leanna a glare before he scoffed. "I knew this would happen. Crossley Group used a few of their higher-ups as scapegoats the last time some issue came up. You're doing the same thing again, aren't you? You're just trying to shun your responsibilities! There's no way I'm going to let you do that! Why don't we argue in front of the media? We'll see who the loser is, then."
Richard whispered into Leanna's ear. "He's a scoundrel, Miss McKinney. Just ignore him."
However, Leanna glanced at the tightly shut door behind her before she sat on the couch. "Sure. You want to contact the media, right? I'll wait around here." Then, she took a look at the clock. "But please, hurry up. I need to work in two hours."
Kevin took a glance at Leanna to see that she was being serious. Half the rage Kevin had felt earlier disappeared as he cleared his throat while straightening his back and fixing his outfit. "I didn't mean that we have to do it now… I just said I wanted to meet Mr. Ollander," he uttered.
"Give Jimmy a call," Leanna told Richard. Richard nodded and dialed the man's phone number. Once the call got through, Richard handed the phone to Kevin. There was a 180-degree change in Kevin's attitude as he became a lot more polite and civil. "Hey, Mr. Ollander, it's me! I'm Kevin from Fessler Advertisements. I had a meal with you yesterday. Do you remember me?"
The man on the other end of the line immediately started snapping at Kevin. "Are you crazy? Since when did I have a meal with you? Do I know you? Don't act like you're all close to me! I'll sue you for defamation!" Jimmy ended the call after that.
Kevin was too dumbfounded to do anything for a moment—he simply clutched onto the phone.
Leanna kept a smile on her face as she glanced at Kevin. "What should we do now? Do you want me to send you over to his place so you can chat with him?" Richard stepped forward to take the phone back from Kevin, while Kevin stared at the both of them puzzledly. "Are you guys really from Crossley Group?"
Leanna didn't respond to his question, but her face turned rather stern. Kevin glanced in the direction of the bedroom. "Well, then… Tell me… How are you guys going to handle this? You guys heard me. I tried talking to her, but she won't listen. She insists on filing a police report. That's Mr. Ollander we're talking about—would it do us any good to file a report? But… She's not listening to me. Why don't you guys talk to her?"
"What was your discussion with Jimmy like?" Leanna asked.
"He disappeared after the incident. I only got to speak with him through the phone after you called him…" Kevin muttered.
"How did you guys come to this partnership at the start?" Leanna asked again.
Kevin cleared his throat, but he was reluctant to talk. Freddie spoke up in a lazy tone. "My guess is that Jimmy probably wanted a lot in return for your partnership with him, right?"
Kevin smacked his own thigh to express his agreement. "Exactly! Do you know how much he wanted? He wanted 70% of the profit! I wouldn't have agreed to this losing trade if I hadn't been offered the opportunity to work with Crossley Group!"
"Based on my knowledge, your company was established just a while ago, right?" Leanna asked.
"Yeah. We wanted to work with Crossley Group to increase our visibility in the market," Kevin replied.
"For a new company like yours to agree to a losing trade like this… You guys must have a pretty huge capital," Leanna commented.
Kevin let out an awkward laugh. "Our boss is a foreigner, and he ran a few businesses abroad that gave him some profit. Now, he's looking to start a business locally. He doesn't mind having some losses at the start if it means that we get to develop our business in this market," he replied.
"Where's your boss? Isn't he going to show up after such a huge incident?" Leanna asked.
"Our boss is still abroad now. Furthermore, this is a small matter, so I can handle it. There's no need to bother him," Kevin replied.
"A small matter?" Leanna's gaze turned cold.
Kevin hesitated for a while. "Well… It's not a big deal."
Leanna exasperatedly shut her eyes as if she was tired of chatting with him.
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