Hayden decided to throw away his pride to beg Valeria to break up with William instead of forcing her to
do so.
However, this was not some other man, this was William, whom Valeria loved deeply.She would never
give up on him.
A life without William was meant to be filled with nights of missing him, and she couldn't bring herself to
go through that sort of torture.
"I'm sorry, but I can't comply to your wishes"
Valeria answered softly, "I do understand where you're coming from, but I really want to be with
William."
"Even if it meant watching him being picked on by the ruthless b*stards of the Howard family?" Hayden
retorted furiously.
"He wouldn't allow others to trample on him that way! I'll help him with all I can.I'll even give up my own
company to make sure that he has enough resources to fight back against them.I promise he would
live a happy and carefree life." Valeria begged Hayden sincerely, "Please don't separate William and I,
Mr.Howard.I love him very much."
"l refuse, you have to break up with him immediately! Tell me what you want in return for leaving him
alone, and I'll try to grant your wishes to the best of my abilities."
"I don't need anything else except for William!"
"Even though he has nothing? Would you still be with him?" Hayden threatened.
"Miss Brown, let me be honest with you, if you refuse to break up with him, I will not pass on the 80% of
my shares in the Howard Group that I have left for William.Without the shares, he would be penniless!"
Valeria did not flinch at Hayden's threats, "We'll be fine, I have the money to support him after all!"
"Hah!" Hayden was exasperated.
"Miss Brown, even if you can afford to support Howard now, it doesn't mean that you'll be able to
continue doing so in the future.You're too childish, do you think that you can continue to be together
with William without worries in the future?”
"I cannot guarantee that I would always have enough to live comfortably, but for William, I will learn
how to run my company properly so that I would be able to support him every step of the way.Once I
am able to do so, no one would dare mess with William."
"Miss Brown, aren't you a little full of yourself? William still has my support as his loving father, but what
about you? You have nothing.You're currently in a worse situation than William, so who are you to
worry about him? How can you give William a stable future?"
"You're right.I do understand that I'm in a terrible situation myself, but I believe that my hard work would
pave the way to a brighter future.Don't you worry"
Hayden shook his head at Valeria's confidence, "Look, having confidence is great, but being
overconfident would only ruin you.You're still young, and who knows? You might even end up living on
the streets next week itself!"
"I won't!" Valeria shook her head.
"Let's make a bet then."
"What would you like to bet on?"
"How about breaking up with William on your own if you lose the bet ?" Hayden suggested.
"I refuse! I will never risk my relationship with William like this!" Valeria objected.
"Why not? Are you worried about being on the losing end?"
"William is the most important person in my life, it would be unfair to treat our relationship like a joke
and use it as collateral for a bet"
"So you say!" Hayden mocked her.
In his eyes, Valeria was nothing more than a brat, and this whole thing about ‘loving William deeply and
not willing to let him go' was merely an act that she was putting up.
"Stop trying to deceive me with your obedient act, Miss Brown! All I wanted to do today was to have a
peaceful discussion with you, but if you refuse to heed my warnings, then I would have no choice but to
take measures against you.It won't be my fault if you end up in the streets when I do then"
Both Hayden and Valeria’s faces darkened as they refused to let each other get the upper hand.
However, Valeria broke the silence as she met Hayden's gaze before asking gently, "Haven't you
already taken measures against me, Mr.Howard?"
Hayden was stunned.
Had Valeria found out about the contract between him and Ronald? Ronald had only met with him
secretly at night every time.
Even if Valeria knew that something was going on, she couldn't have known that Ronald had decided
to transfer the ownership of Brownard Group to him.
Valeria continued to speak as Hayden was deep in thought.
"I know that you're in a completely different league from me as you have gone through more brutal
fights and conflicts in the business world when you were trying to build up your company.However, the
past is not a good predictor of the future, and you should watch out for any troubles that come your
way."
"What does this mean?" Hayden was annoyed.
"I will continue to treat you with the respect you deserve as you are William's father.However, please
think about the consequences before you act, you wouldn't want to lose your hard-earned reputation at
this age right?"
Valeria's mocking warnings irritated Hayden greatly, and he couldn't bear with it any longer.
His anger spiked, "Alright, looks like our discussion was futile then! I gave you a chance to change your
mind, but you were the one who didn't take it!"
Valeria sighed as she realized that their negotiations had ended unsuccessfully and that Hayden was
now completely angered.She sat in the coffee shop for quite some time before making her way out
unhappily.She received a call from Ronald just as she was leaving, "Where are you now?"
"I'm dealing with some issues outside of the company.Do you need anything?" Valeria asked.
"I'm going to be discussing about a potential contract with a client and I thought it'd be a good hands-on
experience for you.Come over now."
Why would Ronald still look for potential clients even though he had already sold the company? Valeria
was suspicious, her instincts told her that something was up.
However, she would never find out the truth if she never went to where they were meeting, so she
agreed, "Alright, I'll be there soon."
After a slight pause, Valeria started her car and picked up her phone to call Lamont.
Lamont picked up almost immediately, "Hello Miss Brown, what can I do for you?"
Valeria decided not to beat around the bush, "Where are you now? I have a favor to ask of you."
"I'm in B City.How can I help you, Miss?"
"My father said that he's bringing me to meet with a client.Something feels off, so could you come over
to take a look as well, just in case?"
"Alright, I'll be there.Just give me the address" Lamont agreed.
Following the directions that Ronald had given her, Valeria pulled up ona VIP club lounge.
As soon as she arrived, she was greeted by the staff, "Nice to see you, Miss Brown! This way please."
Valeria saw Ronald and Kyrie in the room when she had arrived.
Valeria pretended to be surprised when she saw Kyrie, whose eye was still wrapped with gauze, "Nice
to see you again Kyrie, how's your eye? Shouldn't you be resting in the hospital?"
"Thank you for your concern, Miss Brown.My eye's been recovering well." Kyrie replied politely.
"That's good news!" Valeria commented as she sat down.
"Where is this potential client of ours, dad?"
"He's on the way, just let me call him to ask where he is."
Ronald picked up his phone and pretended to make a call, "Hello President Anderson, it's Ronald
speaking.I'm already at the club lounge, will you be arriving soon?"
Ronald had hung up the phone without bothering to hear a reply before turning to Valeria, "President
Anderson will be here soon!"
The door opened once Ronald had finished his sentence.
Valeria immediately turned her head out of curiosity, but her jaw dropped when she saw the figure that
was standing at the door.
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