Trouble in Paradise (Arianna and Nicholas)

Chapter 0424

I did not stay in Jay Caldwell & Co. for long as I had a dinner that night. The project manager from Hawk Corporation had invited me for dinner.

I had purposefully leaked the Information to Frances, so I was not the slightest bit surprised to see her sitting at the side of the table when I entered the private room.

The project manager got up and greeted me respectfully as they shook my hand. I turned to look at Frances coldly, only to see her fidgeting in her seat.

She looked extremely uncomfortable. It seemed that after all this time, she had still failed to realize that the gap between us had grown incredibly large. After the usual pleasantries, I pretended to have finally spotted her as I went to greet her. "Ms. White, I didn't expect to see you here today." Frances/smiled and said, "Lily told me that you're planning to increase your investments in this project."

I immediately understood why she was there. She had already pieced together what was happening and could no longer watch from the sidelines.

I did not answer her as I turned to look at Lily unhappily, Lily quickly got up and poured me a glass of wine as if trying to deny Frances' claims.

Frances also knew that everyone in the industry had always been cautious to not be so frank with their words. That's because one wrong word might cause someone to fall into the other party's trap.

But after acting as the madam of the Hawk family for so long, she was no longer as thoughtful and considerate of other people.

The atmosphere immediately tensed. After recalling that my goal today wasn't to put Frances in her place but to tempt her, I quickly stood up to smooth things over.

I said, "There are indeed some issues with the investments. Whether I continue investing or not still depends on what Lily says next."

Upon hearing this, Lily instructed her assistant to hand me a document. She stood beside me and said, This is a report of our project's progress.

"If we follow our original plan, we had planned to finish the project within the next month. However, there have been a few minor issues with the funding.

"Hawk Corporation had originally planned to come up with 50% of our funding. However, the finance department halted the funding during our meeting today."

Her voice was heavy as she said, "So, there's a very serious shortage of funds at the moment."

As she spoke, she turned to glare at Frances before rolling her eyes and placing her focus back on the documents.

"Ms. Jones, although I am an employee of Hawk Corporation, I have been managing this project for a long time now. I have poured a lot of effort into it, and I wish to complete this project."

The second Lily finished her sentence, Frances interrupted her and said anxiously, "How can you not

Bush the power? Ive exerted at of my money into the project

You be sending me to my death if I can't get a single time back from this investment. Ariana, you're the one who asked me to invest in this project. You need to take responsibility. You can't let me lose all my ity scoffed and said, "Ms. White, I'm sure you know that each investment has its own risks right? You'll have to bear the consequences alone!

so, from what I know, our funding had been placed on hold ever since Mr. Hawk's sister handed us a document that Mr. Hawk himself signed regarding the termination of our project.

"Before Claudia had joined the finance department, every request I had put in had been approved without

problem."

Embarrassment filled Frances expression as she said, "Why was I uninformed about that?"

Seeing that Lily and Frances were about to start arguing. I quickly stepped up to smooth things over.

I said, "Since everything has already happened, we need to solve the problem before pointing fingers at who to blame. Right now, we have three options to choose from.

Option one, we terminate the project as it'll be difficult for us to recover the money we've already put into the project.

"Option two, we move quickly to find another corporation to cooperate with us and bring in more investors. That will help us minimize our losses.

"Option three, we tally the number of investors we have and loosen the original investment caps. We'll encourage everyone to increase their investments and promise to divide the profits originally allocated to Hawk Corporation among the investors based on their shares. I'm sure there will be takers.

Lily's excitement grew as she clapped her hands and laughed out loud.

*Back then, small investors were limited to investing up to ten million dollars. But if we were to remove those restrictions, they could potentially double, triple, or even invest ten times more than their original

on

amount

*Til draft a detailed report outlining the profits and risks of the project and hold a meeting tomorrow!"

Frances had been listening intently to Lily's words, and she was clearly interested. "Can I increase my investments too?"

Although Lily didn't get along with Frances, there was no reason for her to refuse easy money. So, Lily nodded in confirmation. Once we settled the problem, I prepared to leave.

*Remember to send me a copy of

the report tomorrow. If the gap in

funding is too big, I don't mind earning some more money for myself, I said purposefully before I left to increase the credibility of the entire situation.

Frances seemed to be in deep thought as she held her wine glass in hand. She did not even notice that I had left.

That same night, I received a call from the finance department. The woman on the other side had only told me one sentence.

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Chapter 0424

"The fish has taken the bait!"