Chapter 45 Undercurrents Surging

Valerie got the picture right away. She'd slashed half the subsidiary's projects as soon as she took over. No wonder Jeremy was pissed.

Among the projects she eliminated, there were even some that were beneficial in relation to Wayne. Valerie realized that the subsidiary had a close partnership with the Smith Group, and pursuing so many projects that brought no benefit to the company undoubtedly meant that Jeremy was profiting personally from them.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "But Mr. Harris wants me to boost the subsidiary's performance."

"Yeah, they've been saying that for years. Look where we are now." Jeremy chuckled, opening a drawer and pulling out a bag of cash.

Valerie's face hardened as she stared at him. After a moment, she suddenly smiled. Right in front of Jeremy, she took the bag of cash, then slowly placed it back in the drawer and closed it gently, all while keeping eye contact.

Jeremy's expression shifted instantly. "What do you mean by that?"

"What do I mean? Don't you understand, Mr. Wright?" Valerie smiled. "Seems like you underestimated me."

"Ms. Brown, are you saying this isn't enough?" Jeremy frowned, his voice icy. "But if you're looking for long-term dividends, aren't you afraid of being too greedy and not being able to handle it?"

"Did I say I wanted long-term dividends?" Valerie took a few steps back, putting some space between them. "I'll do what I need to do. If you're not happy, Mr. Wright, feel free to report it to Mr. Harris at headquarters. I won't mind it."

"Since I'm here at the subsidiary, I'm determined to get the results we need. I hope you can support me, Mr. Wright."

Jeremy stood up angrily, pressing his hands on the desk, and warned Valerie coldly, "You need to understand where you are right now."

"Of course I know," Valerie said nonchalantly. "The subsidiary, your turf."

"I have confidence in leading the company to sign good project contracts, but I also need you to have some confidence in me, Mr. Wright, so I can achieve good results here."

To Jeremy, Valerie's words were a direct provocation. Before he could respond, Valerie had already lost patience and said to him, "If there's nothing else, I'll be going."

As the office door closed, the tension between them quietly escalated.

Meanwhile, Joseph was reporting on the Carter Group's projects. When he casually mentioned that the Smith Group and Aurelia Holdings' subsidiary had project collaborations, Howard suddenly raised his hand, interrupting him.

"Did you just say Wayne and Valerie have project collaborations?"

Joseph didn't get Howard's intent but nodded. "Wayne's had several projects with Aurelia Holdings' subsidiary over the past year, and they've worked well together."

"This time, Mrs. Carter will go to interact with Wayne."

Howard's eyes darkened as he pressed his knuckles. "How's the Carter Group and Aurelia Holdings' collaboration project doing?"

"Very well."

"Make some moves to disrupt the project's performance and situation."

"What?" Joseph was stunned. He looked at his boss in confusion. "The project's going well, why would you want to..." Before he could finish, he met Howard's displeased gaze. Joseph reluctantly closed his mouth. "I'll get on it right away."

Knowing Howard's temper, Joseph, despite his confusion, quickly got to work. To disrupt the project's performance, Joseph brainstormed various tactics. First, he secretly contacted the factory responsible for the project's product production and used some covert methods to interfere with the production process, causing some products to have quality issues. Then, he tampered with the logistics, delaying the transportation time and causing order deliveries to be late.

The previously smooth-running project fell into chaos due to Joseph's actions. The product issues led to customer dissatisfaction, and the factory faced continuous problems. Within minutes, Aurelia Holdings received several complaints. Employees who had been idle were suddenly swamped with handling the issues. But soon, they discovered new problems.

Samuel stormed into the employee area, slamming the table and shouting, "What are you all doing? It's been an hour, and the issues aren't resolved yet?"

The employee area fell silent. Just as Samuel was about to continue his outburst, someone stood up shakily and explained, "Some of the contacts only want Valerie. They refuse to deal with anyone else."

"And many of our issues need to be addressed through these contacts..."

Samuel's face darkened. "Are you saying they're unhappy because I transferred Valerie to the subsidiary?"

The woman didn't speak, lowering her head timidly.

This infuriated Samuel. After a long pause, he finally gave an order. "Valerie is originally from Aurelia Holdings. It's just a matter of headquarters versus the subsidiary. Inform her to come back tomorrow to handle the headquarters' issues."

"But they said," the man at the computer turned to Samuel, pointing at the chat on the screen, "they only want to work with Valerie long-term!"

The headquarters was in an uproar. Valerie had already heard about it from her former colleagues. Looking at the messages on her phone, she couldn't help but imagine Samuel's furious yet helpless expression. She chuckled softly.

Her former colleagues sent her several congratulatory messages, but Valerie felt nothing. She could see that Samuel harbored deep hostility towards her. Even if she returned to headquarters because of this, Samuel wouldn't give in easily.

He hadn't notified her yet, likely thinking of other plans. With this in mind, Valerie still didn't understand why Samuel was so hostile. They had no deep-seated grudge. How could one incident of catching him off guard lead to such persistent targeting?

Shaking off the thoughts, Valerie focused on the projects on her desk that hadn't been signed yet. After her confrontation with Jeremy, she had been continuously scouting for projects. Now, she had barely managed to secure three or four project contracts, but they still needed to be finalized.

As she was considering which project would be most suitable for Aurelia Holdings' subsidiary, a commotion outside her office caught her attention. Curious, she put down her pen and walked out to see what was happening. She saw Jeremy, who should have been in his office, standing at the entrance, waving his phone as if driving someone away.

Valerie took a step closer. When she saw that the person being pushed around was Raina, her eyes widened in shock. "Grandma?"