The Fake Heiress and Her Purrfect Partner novel Chapter 242

Chapter 242

Chapter 242

“When a crisis hits, instead of actually trying to fix things, you all just look for someone to blame. Isn’t that sad?” Nina said.

A trace of grievance appeared on her face. “What really gets to me is-

“Today, I just came back to Summer Group to grab my personal stuff, and you still found ways to humiliate me, kicking me when I’m already down.”

“So,” she paused, “all I can say is, I genuinely feel sorry for you.”

With that, Nina stood up with effortless elegance, raised her champagne glass to Claire, and said, “Ms. Summer, thank you for your generous hospitality.”

With everyone watching, their faces a mix of emotions, Nina downed her champagne in one go.

She set the glass down and strode out of the hall, leaving behind a stunned silence and everyone drowning in

regret.

The employees looked at each other, faces red with shame, a cold fear creeping in.

‘Was this really the end for Summer Group?’ everyone thought.

Crash.

Claire finally snapped, unable to hold back her anger any longer. She flipped the entire dining table over, and dishes crashed to the floor, soup and wine splashing everywhere.

Amid the chaos, the assistant hung up the phone with a beaming smile and hurried over. “Ms. Summer, I found out something.

“Fletcher Foods, Lynn Wellness, and several other companies in Southeast State are all sitting on huge stockpiles of Celestial Algae.”

It was like a ray of hope breaking through the darkness. Claire, who had been feeling utterly hopeless, suddenly had a spark of hope in her eyes. “Really?”

“Absolutely,” the assistant replied. “I heard they were planning to start a health supplement project and needed a ton of Celestial Algae as raw material, so they stocked up ahead of time.”

The assistant was practically bouncing with excitement. “But now, with the mountains closed for reforestation, the supply’s cut off, and they had to scrap the project. They’re stuck with all that stock and have no idea what to do with it.”

“That’s perfect.” Claire let out a long sigh of relief, as she’d just survived a disaster.

Her tone snapped back to confident and urgent. “They can’t sell it, so we’ll swoop in and take it off their hands. Let’s squeeze them for the lowest price we can get.

10:44 Tue, Jan 20

Chapter 242

“Get me meetings with their top people ASAP. I want to handle the negotiations myself and secure the supply as soon as possible.”

“There’s always a way out,’ Claire thought.

All the doubt and regret that Nina had stirred up in her heart was completely swept away by this unexpected burst of hope.

Claire let out a sigh of relief, a small smile tugging at her lips without her even realizing it.

‘Just as I thought, luck really is on my side,’ she told herself.

She immediately told the assistant to call and get a quote, but as soon as the other side answered, they said, “800 dollars per pound.”

“800? Are they trying to skin me alive?” Claire almost burst out laughing in disbelief. “The market price was only 300. That’s 2 times higher. They’re stuck with all that stock, desperate to sell, and they still want to treat me like a cash cow?”

She let out a cold snort and declared, “Drag it out with them. Let’s see who caves first.”

But the very next day, the head of production burst in, looking panicked. “Ms. Summer, we’re almost out of raw materials. The production line can only last another week, tops.

“And if you count the time it’ll take for new supplies to actually get here, we’re out of time.”

Right after, the procurement manager came jogging in, looking worried, and spoke in a low voice. “Ms. Summer, not only did they refuse to lower the price, they’ve actually jacked it up to 1,000 dollars per pound.

“Plus, I pulled some strings and found out there’s a third party making moves behind the scenes, trying to snatch up this batch.

“The way they’re going about it, it doesn’t feel like a normal deal at all. It’s like they’re gunning for Summer Group specifically.”

He asked, barely catching his breath, “Do we keep waiting?”

Pressure to secure supplies kept coming one after another, like a tightening noose around their necks.

Claire gritted her teeth, barely hanging on, until the assistant came back, her voice shaking with nerves. “They’ve raised the price again. It’s 1,200 dollars per pound now.”

Hearing 1,200, Claire felt her mind go blank. She finally realized she was completely cornered.

She’d considered giving up on the production line, but that just wasn’t an option.

They’d already sunk millions into R&D, had orders lined up from research institutes, overseas contracts waiting, and the media was all over how Celestial Dog Food was blowing up worldwide.

It was like that carrot dangling in front of a donkey; she was being forced to keep moving, no matter how tough things got.

10:44 Tue, Jan 20

Chapter 242

If she quit now, that would be losing everything for real.

The finance team crunched the numbers overnight. Even if they had to buy the raw materials at that insane price of 1,200 dollars per pound, there’d be no profit left.

But at least they could keep things afloat and dodge those crazy penalty fees for running out of stock.

But even more important, Celestial Dog Food was blowing up worldwide. If they shut down production now, all that buzz and trust they’d built would go up in smoke overnight.

That would be the real death blow.

They were backed into a corner now, and there was no turning back.

Summer Group’s cash reserves were nowhere near enough to cover the cost of those sky-high raw materials, so Joanna’s Summerview Capital had no choice but to step in.

The suffocating tension wasn’t just closing in on Summer Group.

Meanwhile, at Jelasburg University, inside the top-tier lab, the air was filled with the sterile smell of disinfectant, and everyone could feel the tension hanging in the air.

Nina’s new vaccine project was finally up and running, and she wasn’t flying solo anymore.

Thanks to introductions from Ronan and Spencer, plus all the connections she’d made at international conferences and top labs, she’d put together a team of elite researchers.

With the team getting bigger and the project ramping up, the burn rate was insane; they were bleeding cash faster than ever.

All the prize money Nina had stashed away from curing luxury Akhal-Teke horses for the wealthy, cracking cases for the police, and training animals was vanishing in no time.

Faced with those massive R&D expenses, she could practically watch her savings go up in smoke.

And just recently, she made a gutsy financial move, throwing down almost 6 million and having Fletcher Foods clean out the entire market supply of Celestial Algae.

That investment wiped out the project’s cash reserves in a flash.

They had to hold off on buying new lab equipment, delay some supply orders, and the whole project slowed to a crawl; everyone could see it happening.

Team members who weren’t in the loop started to sense that something weird was going on in the lab.

Orders for key reagents were delayed, and some of the less urgent experiments were put on ice.

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