She Left She Thrived She’s Worth Billions novel Chapter 932

"You really have a talent for dodging accountability, Mr. Lockridge."

Before Melanie could even respond, Preston fired the shot.

"If our Ms. Royce hadn't handled herself brilliantly, and if she didn't have a reliable partner like Stellaris backing her up, her entire supplement line would have been shut down back at Minister Halevy's banquet."

"Exactly!"

Gabriel practically threw his hand in the air to back Preston up.

"That blood-sugar supplement is our product too! Do you even know how much money we stood to lose? Could the Lockridge Group actually afford to cover that?!"

Unwilling to cross swords with Gabriel, Holden could only settle for glaring furiously at Preston.

But the second he met Preston's eyes, he felt an icy chill shoot down his spine. It was like staring into a bottomless abyss.

Holden knew Preston was Melanie's assistant, as well as her ex-boyfriend.

Beyond that, he knew absolutely nothing.

Which was why he couldn't comprehend how a lowly assistant could radiate such suffocating, dominant energy.

It was the kind of absolute, effortless power that belonged only to someone at the absolute top of the food chain.

Yet, Holden was seeing it in an assistant.

Completely crumbling under the visual standoff, Holden finally managed a tense smile.

"Please rest assured, I am a man of my word... Even though he's my own flesh and blood, I will not let this slide..."

His expression suddenly twisted, and he bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"Gavin! Get the hell out here! What kind of man cowers behind a woman?!"

Defeated, Gavin stepped out from behind Melanie, looking thoroughly miserable.

"The Royce Group was violently dragged into this smear campaign for absolutely no reason. Yet, your grand 'solution' offers zero reparations to my company. Are you telling me... you really thought you could just brush past us like that?"

Having his cheap tactic dismantled in front of everyone, the muscles in Holden's jaw twitched aggressively.

"Of... of course not. Compensating the Royce Group is our top priority... Tell me, Ms. Royce, what exactly do you want from us?"

With Minister Halevy, Vice Director Thorne, and Gabriel Whitmore all watching him like hawks, Holden couldn't afford to look stingy.

After all, Gabriel had literally paraded in the head of Valiant Manufacturing along with the forged contract signed by his own facility.

They had caught him dead to rights; there was nowhere left to run.

Rather than let the Royce Group blow this up into a catastrophic PR nightmare, he'd be better off settling it right here.

Melanie met Holden's gaze, let the silence stretch for just a second, and then smiled warmly.

"You don't need to be so tense, Mr. Lockridge. Gavin and I are old friends, and the Royce Group has never viewed the Lockridge Group as an enemy..."