Asher was caught between a rock and a hard place; if he were to walk out on Paradigm Co., he would immediately be replaced and with Toby blacklisting him in the industry, he wouldn't be able to join any other enterprise. He would have nowhere to turn to and his whole career would be done for.
More to the point, he never intended to leave in the first place.
At this moment, Toby kept his eyes on Sonia as he asked, "So, what do you think?"
As much as she disliked the idea of keeping Asher around, she was more apprehensive toward the idea of having Toby's people working in the company. With that in mind, she nodded and answered flippantly, "Well, President Dafoe did say that he was only joking, so I'll take his
word for it and brush this incident off."
"Alright, then." Toby was slightly dejected by this and pressed his lips into a grim line.
He had hoped that she would agree to his suggestion and allow Asher as well as his subordinates to leave Paradigm Co. That way, he could send his team over as promised and use that as an excuse to see her as often as he would like.
Meanwhile, Asher let out a huge sigh of relief after hearing what she had said. Thank heavens she has the good sense to say all the right things; otherwise, I'd be doomed!
Sonia eyed him impassively. "Are you still planning to oppose my decision to delist, President Dafoe?"
He snapped out of his thoughts. He didn't want to concede, but when his gaze flickered over to Toby, he swallowed his retort and was immediately agreeable. "Of course not, Sonia.
You can do whatever you want."
"In that case, I'm going to put the word out. Now, is there anything else you'd like to discuss, President Dafoe?" She had as good as told him to get out of her office.
The corners of Asher's lips twitched slightly. "Not at all. Carry on with your work, Sonia. I shan't bother you anymore and take my leave now."
The moment he spun around, the smile on his face was replaced by a menacing grimace.
He had walked into her office with the thought that he could wheedle Sonia into giving up her share of authority by threatening to leave the company if she didn’t.
What he hadn’t expected was for Toby to put his foot in and ruin his plans. As things were, Toby would rise to Sonia’s defense for as long as their collaboration was an ongoing concern. It will only make it harder for me to deal with that wench, Asher thought, gritting his teeth. I have to find a way to ruin their collaboration!
After Asher left in defeat, peace and serenity returned to the office once more. Sonia tucked her hair behind her ear as she thanked Toby for speaking up for her.
Toby gave her a bemused look. “You’ve already thanked me half a dozen times today.”
She took her seat and said, “I know, but it’s only polite for me to do so.”
In truth, she was sure that she could have handled Asher on her own even if he hadn’t interfered. Prior to this, she had already made up her mind to go head-to-head with Asher, should he oppose the delisting. If he threatened to leave the company, well, she would not stop him at all.
The worst that could happen was that she would have to downsize Paradigm Co. and turn it into a small or medium enterprise. As long as the company remained, there was still a chance that it could flourish and eventually regain its former glory as a conglomerate.
Toby rounded her desk and took the seat across from her. “You don’t actually have to thank me out of courtesy. I know things have been tense between you and Asher; you could have taken the chance to throw him out of Paradigm Co. if you wanted to.”
Sonia’s gaze darkened. “I know that, but I didn’t think there was a need for such desperate measures.
“Is that what you truly think? Or, do you just hate the idea of having my people under your nose?” He stared at her intently as he asked.
She opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something, but ultimately did not and turned her head away in defense instead.
Upon seeing this, Toby knew instantly that he had been right. She didn’t want his people under her nose and although he grew frustrated at this, he merely sighed and allowed the matter to slide.
At this point, Sonia picked up the phone on her desk and called Daphne’s line. “Get all the documents ready for the delisting and send them over to the government department in charge.”
“I thought President Dafoe was against the delisting, though,” Daphne pointed out.
Sonia massaged her temple in exhaustion. “He changed his mind.”
“Really?”
Sonia nodded. “Really!”
Daphne broke into a wide grin at the turn of events. “That’s wonderful. I’ll start to prepare the documents immediately.”
“Alright.” With a final hum of agreement, Sonia put the receiver down and ended the call.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Madam Escaped Again Sir