The reporters weren’t idiots, so they knew how much power Tom held as the assistant of Fuller Group’s president. The reporters knew that their bosses would certainly heed the words of Toby’s assistant to fire them. When should we run if not now? they thought.
Soon enough, the reporters who had blocked Tom’s way a moment ago had disappeared into thin air. Not a single one of them stayed behind. Tom pretended to brush off the nonexistent dust particles on his suit before he let out a proud grin. “You little brats thought you could win a fight against me, huh? Hmph!” Tom fixed his necktie before he strode toward Paradigm Co.’s front entrance.
Meanwhile, all of Paradigm Co.’s shareholders and high-level staff members were already gathered in the meeting room. Sonia’s online incident had caused a huge impact on the company, so the people involved were all gathered in the room as they waited for Sonia’s arrival. They had to ask Sonia how she was planning to resolve this matter and whether it was even a resolvable matter.
Asher and his people, in particular, were waiting around with excitement and greed in their eyes. They shared the same beliefs as Jessica—they didn’t think that the press conference would be enough to contain this matter. They figured that evidence wasn’t something one could pull out of thin air, so they thought that Sonia’s press conference would be a failure if she failed to produce any hard evidence. A failure was exactly what they were hoping for because that was the only way they had a chance to force some benefits out of Sonia.
Asher had it all planned out. He wanted to use this opportunity to force Sonia to give him some power over the company. It didn’t matter if Sonia had Fuller Group supporting her; it’d still be a fact that she was an illegitimate daughter who had stolen the Reed Family’s shares if she couldn’t resolve this issue. The scandalous news of her bullying Jessica would then become the truth. When that happened, the whole of society would blame Sonia, and even Toby would become a target if he spoke up for her. Toby’s post the night before already showed that he was indeed blinded by love—he was offering unconditional protection to Sonia despite her wrongdoings.
If such a thing happened, the rest of the people in the field of business and even the shareholders of Fuller Group would start feeling suspicious toward a president that lacked good judgment. They might even wonder if Toby was trustworthy and if he was able to continue leading Fuller Group to success. Once people grew wary of Toby's abilities, the shareholders of Fuller Group would gradually lose trust in him, and he would no longer hold full power over his company. Toby would struggle even to help himself at that point, so how was he going to support Sonia? Perhaps he would even begin to resent Sonia, and he might think that Sonia was the cause of his troubles. He might even end up breaking up with Sonia once more. When that happens, Sonia will lose Fuller Group's support, and she'll lose power over the company. Won’t I be able to do whatever I want with her then? I’m definitely going to return double the amount of the shame and pressure she has caused me in the past few months'. Asher felt increasingly enthusiastic at the thought of this, and his teacup began to tremble in his hand while his breathing turned shallow.
Jessica, who was sitting to his left, felt the same as he did. Whenever she saw the special spot reserved for the chairman at the front of the meeting room, desire would pour out of her eyes. She thought, Soon! Soon, I’m going to take over Sonia's place to sit on that spot. She can’t produce any evidence, so she’ll be helpless under the impact of societal judgments and harsh criticisms on the Internet. Then, she’ll hand the shares to me. Jessica giggled at the thought of it.
When Asher heard Jessica’s laugh and saw the greed in her eyes, a dark look flickered across his face for a moment before he put on a friendly smile. “Congratulations, Jessica. You’ll be getting what you want really soon.”
“You must be kidding, Asher. I haven’t gotten anything yet, have I?” Jessica brushed her hair aside as she responded in a seemingly humble tone.
Asher took a sip of his tea. “You haven’t gotten anything now, but you’re getting it soon, aren’t you? I figured that I’d congratulate you first, and I hope you don’t forget about me once you get what you want,” he uttered.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Madam Escaped Again Sir