Chapter 13 Termination of Collaboration
“Notify the Affairs Department that we are terminating our collaboration with the Hale Cobb Law Firm.”
Peter said in a deep voice.
“OK. I’ll get right on it.” Noah couldn’t make it out why his boss made such a sudden move, but he would never dare to disobey Peter’s orders.
It’s just …
After a while, Noah said, “Sir, the owner of Hale Cobb Law Firm is your fiancée’s best friend. I fear that this may … may damage their relationship.”
“Inform the Legal Affairs Department that we’ll pay double indemnity.” Peter announced firmly.
…
In the afternoon, at the Hale Cobb Law Firm.
Adriana looked at the people in front of her, confused. “Is there anything wrong, Mr. Holman?”
Noah and the lawyer next to him made a quick eye contact, then the lawyer took out a contract from his briefcase.
“Well, according to our assessment, your company doesn’t seem to meet our standards of cooperation, so the Board of Directors decided to terminate the collaboration. As for the penalty charge, we’ll pay you double compensation.”
He handed a notice of the breach of contract to Adriana.
Her brows were furrowed in deep concentration-she didn’t see that coming this quickly.
She took a look at the notice. The original settlement with Horizon Global was twenty million, but now they generously offered forty.
“As far as we know, your company was founded fairly recently in Waverly. Your yearly income is about ten million. After subtracting your expenses, we don’t think you’re able to earn forty million in three years.”
Noah said to her.
She had to say, forty thousand grand was indeed a big figure, and she couldn’t deny that she was beguiled at first.
But she had always stuck to her principles.
“Well well, very impressive, Mr. Holman. You seem to be quite acquainted with our financial transactions.”
Adriana handed him another contract, “This one, right?”
Noah took it and turned a few pages to check, then nodded, “Yes.”
“OK.”
Adriana nodded, took the contract back, and then dropped the two files into the shredder, which soon turned into scraps.Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.
“Excuse me, Mr. Hale?” Noah stood up and exclaimed.
Adriana said calmly with her hands in her pockets, “Tell Peter, we intend to terminate the contract anyway. Now, we have the best of both worlds, really.”
When they left, Vivian closed the door and went up to Adriana, “Mr. Hale, what happened?”
Something wiped the smile off Adriana’s face. She had her elbows on the desk, hands holding her forehead. “I think I need time alone to think right now, thank you.”
Vivian wanted to say something but the words just wouldn’t come out of her mouth, so she turned around to leave the office and closed the door.
“Asshole!”
Adriana said through clenched teeth the moment the door was shut,
Lately Adriana had been trying to avoid Luis, but Peter’s still accusing her of this. She had also thought about terminating the contract, but she couldn’t afford to pay the huge indemnity.
She didn’t expect that Horizon Global would bring it up first, even with double compensation. Were they trying to see if she’s a greedy person?
If she accepted the money, that will only confirm all his prejudice towards her: she’s getting close to Luis in order to hit on Peter; she’s seeking money from the Alston family; she wanted to marry Peter Alston.
God damn it!
At the same time, Noah had returned to Horizon Global.
In Peter’s office.
Still buried in the files on his desk, Peter asked without looking up, “All done?”
“Sort of.”
Noah answered.
“That was quick. What a snob.” Peter quickly signed the paper, put away the file and said sarcastically.
Noah’s mouth twitched slightly, then he glanced at Peter and said, “Miss Hale didn’t accept the money, instead she dropped the contracts into a shredder.”
“Excuse me? The shredder?” Peter raised his eyebrows, puzzled by what he had just heard, but suddenly smiled, “Playing hard to get? I shouldn’t have underestimated her.”
A bit confused by his words, Noah couldn’t understand what he meant by “playing hard to get”.
After thinking about it for a while, he said, “Miss Hale said, even if you didn’t bring it up, she would submit a proposal herself. Now that both parties would like to cancel the agreement, she thinks it’s the best of both worlds.”
Peter’s face darkened when he heard that, “Really? That means money isn’t what she really wants?”
For some reason, it bugged him that things didn’t go his way.
Though he knew she’s Luis’s birth mother, the fact that she worked her ass off to get close to him was still unforgivable.
“Since Hale Cobb Law Firm is not interested in profiting, we’ll give them a little nudge by breaking off their business relations. Get it done right away.”
Noah’s mouth twitched again, and then he asked before he could stop himself, “Are you sure, Sir? After all, Miss Hale is Lady Theresa’s …”
Hardly had he finished the sentence when he noticed a piercing gaze from Peter, “Theresa doesn’t need a friend like her, who would do anything to get what she wants.”
“You’re absolutely right, Sir.” For fear of a reprimand, Noah walked out of the office right away.
Then he asked his subordinates to make arrangements.
In less than two hours, Hale Cobb Law Firm had received dozens of calls to cancel their collaboration.
“Mr. Hale, Philia Company, Vezay Group, Borderless Media and three other companies have just called to cancel as well.”
Vivian dashed into Adriana’s office to report the emergency, then she said quietly, “That would be twelve companies in all.”
The running of her company relied on the profits brought by collaboration with large corporations. If all of them terminate the contract … Hale Cobb Law Firm may go bankrupt.
Her eyebrows all tangled in a worried frown. She tried to keep calm by closing her eyes, but her face went deathly pale.
She was lost in her thoughts for a short time before she went on, “Arrange meetings with their CEOs, now.”
Obviously, Peter must be the culprit behind all this.
“Okay, Mr. Hale. I’m on it.”
The window wall in Adriana’s office used to be her favorite spot, where there’s a view of the skyline in Waverly.
But standing in front of it right now, she felt so depressed and let out a long sigh.
There’s another reason why she didn’t accept the 40 thousand grand.
If only Peter were not Theresa’s fiancé, she would definitely take the money.
But the fact was quite the opposite. If she should take it, what would Theresa think of her?
Who knew Peter could be this ruthless!