Sylvia immediately seized the perfect opportunity.
"Dad, I heard our company recently signed a long-term partnership with Croft Design Studio. Is that true? Could you rally the other two corporations to terminate their contracts as well? Croft Design Studio is run by Julian and Scarlett! They're the ones who orchestrated this entire scandal to ruin us!"
With the door wide open, Sylvia spun the rest of her web, framing the charity gala disaster as a malicious, calculated trap entirely orchestrated by Julian and Scarlett.
Hearing this, Craig's protective heartbreak mutated into blinding fury toward Julian and Scarlett.
He slammed his palm against the table, rattling the dishes.
"Absolutely outrageous! I can't believe those two are so thoroughly rotten!"
"Even if they produce the most stunning designs in the world, I refuse to work with people completely devoid of basic morality! Fine! I'll have the money transferred to the Crofts immediately, and then I'm terminating that contract!"
"And I won't stop there. I'm going to use every connection I have in Bay City to make sure no one ever works with them again!"
Consumed by wrath, Craig called his finance department right then and there, ordering them to wire the exact sum the Crofts demanded directly into Julian's account.
Meanwhile, Julian had just finished dinner with Scarlett. The two of them were sitting by the window, quietly admiring the white gardenias under the moonlight.
Suddenly, Julian's phone vibrated. He got an alert that a massive sum of money had just been deposited into his account.
Before he could even process the notification, Craig Schmidt called him.
"Hello? Am I speaking to Julian Croft?"
The deep, aggressive voice of a middle-aged man boomed through the speaker.
Julian blinked in mild surprise but replied politely.
"Yes, speaking. Who is this?"
Craig practically sneered into the phone.


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