As long as Natasha showed a hint of hesitation, Thea would be the winner of that negotiation.
However, Natasha could not be bothered.
“What has that got anything to do with me?” she asked. “It’s not even my project, and the bonus would not be mine.”
“One word from me is all it takes to make you in charge,” declared Thea confidently.
Natasha’s eyebrows arched slightly. From the looks of it, Thea was familiar with what she was doing.
“I have no interest in snatching away my colleague’s efforts. I might not be good at much, but I have a bottom line. Whether or not you use our company’s proposal, I couldn’t care less. After all, it’s your loss. I can’t say that our company’s proposal is the best in the world, but it definitely is the best that you’ve ever encountered.” Natasha spelled it out word by word, mocking Thea at the same time.
Instantly, Thea’s expression darkened. At the sight of Natasha’s mocking gaze, Thea wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off her face.
“Instead of using the project as a leverage on me, why don’t you ask me how much money I would accept to obey your requests? Wouldn’t that be a lot better?” Natasha stared at Thea.
Thea narrowed her eyes. Looks like you’ve finally revealed your greed.
“How much do you want?”
“How much do you think Kenneth is worth?”
No matter what question was asked, Natasha would always reply with another question.
Thea could tell that the woman in front of her was sharp. Out of all the previous negotiations she had been in, Natasha was by far the toughest opponent. It was nearly impossible to break her stance.
“One million,” offered Thea.
Natasha arched an eyebrow in response. “Looks like Kenneth is only worth one million in your eyes!”
“Natasha Watson, you’re well aware of Kenneth’s worth. One million is to give you a chance. Even greed should have its limits,” replied Thea.
Natasha mulled over Thea’s words. After a moment, she nodded. “You’re right. In that case, have you prepared the check?”
Thea had originally expected to go through a few more rounds of debate. Never would she have imagined Natasha to agree immediately, causing her to be slightly taken aback.
Nonetheless, as long as money was concerned, it was child’s play to Thea.
Thea reached into her bag to pull out a check for one million and placed it on the desk.
Natasha’s gaze swept over the check. “Anything else that you’d want me to do?”
“Do not have any further contact with Kenneth.”
Natasha nodded. “Understood.”
A subtle smile appeared on Thea’s face. No matter how difficult a woman is, as long as she can be pacified by money, she won’t be a match for me.
“If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving now!” With that said, Natasha picked up the check on the table and exited the office with an ambiguous expression.
Once she was out of the door, Natasha bumped into Mark.
Upon seeing her, Mark asked carefully, “Is everything all right?”
The corners of Natasha’s lips curled into a small smile. “Mr. Yondel, hurry and inform the company that Ms. Jarman from Hamilton Corporation feels sorry for us. She’s given the company one million as a bonus to be divided among all the employees.”
“W-What?” Mark gaped in disbelief.
Many from the front desk perked up their ears as well.
Natasha waved the check in her hand. “The money’s here. I trust you to distribute it to everyone, Mr. Yondel.” With that said, she shoved the check into Mark’s hand and turned to leave.
Following Natasha out of the office, Thea witnessed everything that had happened. Within a second, her face paled in fury.
At that moment, Natasha turned around and noticed Thea. “Thank you, Ms. Jarman.” Then, she walked to the front desk. “Help me order one hundred sets of afternoon tea. My treat.”
“R-Really?” the receptionist stammered.
With a firm nod, Natasha answered, “Of course! Order whatever you guys feel like eating. I’ll pay!”
“All right! I’m on it!” The receptionist broke into a huge grin.
Beaming, Natasha went back to the Programming Department in a good mood.
In contrast, Thea remained standing with her hands balled into tight fists. Well played, Natasha. Well played.
Meanwhile, Mark’s eyes had not once left the burning check in his hands. Lifting his gaze to look at Thea, he smiled uncertainly. “Ms. Jarman, t-this is…”
To his surprise, Thea left without another word, leaving him standing there in confusion.
Mark had no idea what to do with the hot potato he had been left with.
Natasha’s actions had been relayed in the group chat.
Within minutes, everyone in the company caught wind of the news.
One million is a hefty amount. Even if it was distributed to the many employees of the company, everyone would still receive a huge chunk. It was easy money. No one would mind it.
Naturally, people expressed their disbelief in the group chat. The receptionist needed to take multiple photos—including one of Mark holding the check in disbelief—before the people were convinced.
Yet, one million still seemed like an impossible amount.
Natasha had distributed it to everyone else as if it was no big deal.
Moreover, people were puzzled as to why Thea had just randomly given them one million.
Thousands of questions were flying in people’s heads.
In the end, someone finally could not hold it back any longer and went to ask Natasha, “M-Ms. Watson, w-what’s with the one million?”
“So, you’ve heard?” Natasha asked with a smile.
“So, it’s true?”
“Mm-hmm!” Natasha nodded. She had predicted that Thea would be too proud to ask for the check back. “The money’s with Mr. Yondel right now. You can go see him if you don’t believe me. However, the money is in the form of a check, so it’s going to take some time for everyone to receive their bonus.”
“I-I…” The person was stunned. “I’ll get right to it!” With that, he scurried away.
The exchange between them had spread like wildfire among the other colleagues.
Even though no one knew why Natasha had done something like that, everyone was astounded by her actions.
Before long, the man who had talked to Natasha returned. When he reached the department, he leaned against the doorframe for support, as if his soul had been sucked out of his body.
“So? How was it?” someone prompted.
That was enough to trigger an exclamation. “F*ck, it’s real! The check is real!”
The Programming Department instantly gave way to a wave of emotions.
Just then, a hundred meal sets were delivered.
A few staff members carried all the food into the office.
Bewildered, Ross asked, “Yvonne, what’s all this? Who bought all this food?”
“Ms. Watson did! She said she’s treating everyone to afternoon tea!” answered Yvonne with a bright smile.
Once again, everyone turned their gazes to Natasha.
Natasha stood up from her desk and cleared her throat. “I know that I’ve brought quite a lot of trouble for everyone ever since I started working here, but do know that it was never my intention. As an apology, I bought everyone some afternoon tea! Please accept my little offer!”
Money and free food?
Needless to say, Natasha had won everyone over.
“To be fair, everyone knew that what happened wasn’t your fault. Nonetheless, thank you for the meal!”
With that, the crowd hurried toward the table for the free food.
Truthfully, anyone rational could see that what had happened had nothing to do with Natasha. However, Xavier was unhappy. With a disdainful huff, he kicked the chair next to him and left.
“Don’t worry about it. Xavier’s just in a bad mood. He’s not against you,” Thomas comforted.
Natasha did not mind either. With a shrug, she took a cup of coffee from one of the meal sets she had bought.
Besides Xavier, everyone else from the Programming Department was overjoyed.
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