Ulterior Motives
The reporters weren’t idiots, so they knew how much power Tom held as the assistant of Fuller Group’s
president. The reporters knew that their bosses would certainly heed the words of Toby’s assistant to
fire them. When should we run if not now? they thought.
Soon enough, the reporters who had blocked Tom’s way a moment ago had disappeared into thin air.
Not a single one of them stayed behind. Tom pretended to brush off the non-existent dust particles on
his suit before he let out a proud grin. “You little brats thought you could win a fight against me, huh?
Hmph!” Tom fixed his necktie before he strode toward Paradigm Co.’s front entrance.
Meanwhile, all of Paradigm Co.’s shareholders and high-level staff members were already gathered in
the meeting room. Sonia’s online incident had caused a huge impact on the company, so the people
involved were all gathered in the room as they waited for Sonia’s arrival. They had to ask Sonia how
she was planning to resolve this matter and whether it was even a resolvable matter.
Asher and his people, in particular, were waiting around with excitement and greed in their eyes. They
shared the same beliefs as Jessica—they didn’t think that the press conference would be enough to
contain this matter. They figured that evidence wasn’t something one could pull out of thin air, so they
thought that Sonia’s press conference would be a failure if she failed to produce any hard evidence. A
failure was exactly what they were hoping for because that was the only way they had a chance to
force some benefits out of Sonia.
Asher had it all planned out. He wanted to use this opportunity to force Sonia to give him some power
over the company. It didn’t matter if Sonia had Fuller Group supporting her; it’d still be a fact that she
was an illegitimate daughter who had stolen the Reed Family’s shares if she couldn’t resolve this issue.
The scandalous news of her bullying Jessica would then become the truth. When that happened, the
whole of society would blame Sonia, and even Toby would become a target if he spoke up for her.
Toby’s post the night before already showed that he was indeed blinded by love—he was offering
unconditional protection to Sonia despite her wrongdoings.
If such a thing happened, the rest of the people in the field of business and even the shareholders of
Fuller Group would start feeling suspicious toward a president that lacked good judgment. They might
even wonder if Toby was trustworthy and if he was able to continue leading Fuller Group to success.
Once people grew wary of Toby’s abilities, the shareholders of Fuller Group would gradually lose trust
in him, and he would no longer hold full power over his company.
Toby would struggle even to help himself at that point, so how was he going to support Sonia? Perhaps
he would even begin to resent Sonia, and he might think that Sonia was the cause of his troubles. He
might even end up breaking up with Sonia once more. When that happens, Sonia will lose Fuller
Group’s support, and she’ll lose power over the company.
Won’t I be able to do whatever I want with her then? I’m definitely going to return double the amount of
the shame and pressure she has caused me in the past few months! Asher felt increasingly
enthusiastic at the thought of this, and his teacup began to tremble in his hand while his breathing
turned shallow.
Jessica, who was sitting to his left, felt the same as he did. Whenever she saw the special spot
reserved for the chairman at the front of the meeting room, desire would pour out of her eyes. She
thought, Soon! Soon, I’m going to take over Sonia’s place to sit on that spot. She can’t produce any
evidence, so she’ll be helpless under the impact of societal judgments and harsh criticisms on the
Internet. Then, she’ll hand the shares to me. Jessica giggled at the thought of it.
When Asher heard Jessica’s laugh and saw the greed in her eyes, a dark look flickered across his face
for a moment before he put on a friendly smile. “Congratulations, Jessica. You’ll be getting what you
want really soon.”
“You must be kidding, Asher. I haven’t gotten anything yet, have I?” Jessica brushed her hair aside as
she responded in a seemingly humble tone.
Asher took a sip of his tea. “You haven’t gotten anything now, but you’re getting it soon, aren’t you? I
figured that I’d congratulate you first, and I hope you don’t forget about me once you get what you
want,” he uttered.
“Don’t worry, Asher. Of course I won’t forget about you. I’m going to need your support and guidance in
the future.” Jessica held her teacup up in front of him as a respectful gesture. He lifted his own cup and
responded with a similar gesture. As they were talking to one another, they hadn’t realized the
presence of others around them. The people who were on Asher’s side had no issues with whatever
they said, and they even seemed glad.
However, the people who were on Sonia’s side frowned without making any comments. After all, they
didn’t have that much confidence in their chairman’s victory in the upcoming press conference. There
was a clear difference in the overall mood of the two groups in the room. Those who were happy
seemed extremely excited—it was as if they were counting down to the new year.
Meanwhile, those who were down looked as if they were waiting for the world to end. They didn’t have
a choice—they had chosen to stand on Sonia’s side, so they were on the same boat regardless of what
happened to Sonia.
If Sonia’s incident caused the boat to capsize, then they would have no way of saving themselves.
Asher and his people would certainly find a way to get rid of them, so how could they be in high-spirits
during such a situation? Sigh… The people on Sonia’s side hung their heads low as they put on bitter
smiles on their faces.
At that very moment, the doors to the meeting room opened, and Daphne stepped in with a bunch of
folders. Then, she made a welcoming gesture, which was followed by the clicking sound of high heels
coming from outside the room. Everyone knew that the main star had arrived when they heard the
sound of her footsteps.
Although most of the people in the room had ulterior motives, they all put on serious expressions and
straightened their backs as they waited for Sonia’s arrival. Sonia was still the chairman, after all.
Regardless of what they thought of her, they still had to be on their best behavior. Once everyone stood
up, Daphne addressed the person behind the door. “Please come in, Chairman Reed and President
Fuller.”
President Fuller? Everyone’s ears perked when they heard this name. When the staff members
exchanged glances with one another, they saw the same look of surprise in everyone’s eyes.
What is President Fuller doing here? Could he be here to give support to Miss Reed? All of a sudden,
the people who were on Sonia’s side began to grin. They finally began to feel a sense of hope.
Perhaps we can win the press conference if President Fuller is here to support us.
Meanwhile, Asher and his people started to shift around uneasily. Their thoughts were different from
the other group—they felt like their hopes died a little the moment they found out that Toby was there.
Asher’s face, in particular, turned extremely grim.
Jessica, on the other hand, didn’t seem too bothered. She wasn’t that smart of an individual, so she
didn’t think much about the situation. She was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Toby had shown up,
and her gaze was filled with excitement and eagerness as she stared at the entrance. If Sonia’s press
conference turns out to be a failure later, will Toby be utterly disappointed in her performance?
I bet so. He’s a smart man, so he knows what will happen if Sonia fails, right? It means that he’ll be
impacted as well. If that’s the case, he’ll definitely be disappointed in her and break up with her.
Jessica’s face was flushed with excitement as she thought about this.
Her thoughts were written all over her face, and Asher let out a cold scoff when he saw her. However,
he showed no intention of reminding her to control herself a little. She was the one who was
embarrassing herself, after all, and it had nothing to do with him.
Both Sonia and Toby had no idea what was going on in the room, and they walked in holding hands
with each other. Toby was leading the way with Sonia following behind him. He held onto her and
strode into the room at a relaxed pace. There was a gentle look in his eyes and a slight smirk on his
lips. Sonia had a smile on her face as she walked in behind him.
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