Betrayed by the Father Reborn in His Rival's Arms novel Chapter 489

First thing the next morning, Madeline went to the office as usual.

In the CEO's office, her assistant briefed her on the project's progress.

The Med-Tech Robotics Initiative proposal had passed the Whitman Board of Directors' initial review.

The next steps involved assembling the technical team, partnering with top-tier tech labs, and finalizing clinical hospital collaborations. There were countless moving parts, and every single one required her final approval.

She spent the entire morning in meetings, clashing with the R&D Director twice and spending forty minutes in a heated debate with the CFO over budget allocations.

By the time the last attendee left the conference room hugging his laptop, the midday sun was blazing directly overhead.

Madeline leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes and massaging her temples.

The scent of coffee and printer ink lingered in the air.

The whiteboard was covered in her technical roadmaps, a chaotic web of arrows and annotations.

She opened her eyes, stared at those arrows for a long moment, then grabbed her phone and pulled up a specific number.

She had gotten this number from Silas, via that city official from last time. It was the direct line to Xavier York's secretarial office.

She couldn't ask for Xavier's direct line—that deputy mayor didn't have the clearance, and it broke protocol.

But by scheduling through his secretary and making it official.

Xavier had no reason to refuse her, especially since he already knew exactly why she was calling.

The call connected after two rings.

A professional, middle-aged male voice answered. Madeline introduced herself and requested an in-person meeting with Mr. York to follow up on the discussion from his last visit to the company.

The man asked her to wait. The line disconnected, but less than five minutes later, he called back.

He stated that Mr. York could stop by for an inspection at 2:30 PM the next day, and they could meet in the exact same office as before.

Madeline thanked him and hung up.

She knew this matter concerned the Yorks' reputation. Xavier wasn't going to let anyone in his circles witness it, which was why he was deigning to visit her personally under the guise of an "inspection."

Still, since The Prescott Group was a heavily monitored enterprise, there were plenty of valid excuses to 'inspect' its corporate development.

Madeline called Quentin. "Xavier York is coming to my office tomorrow to negotiate terms. Don't worry, I know exactly how far to push."

Quentin replied, "Call me the second you're done tomorrow. I'll be waiting nearby."

Madeline had wanted to decline, but she knew Quentin wouldn't budge once he made up his mind.

She put her phone in her purse, stood up, adjusted her collar, and walked out of the conference room.