Chapter 286 The Project Runs Into Problems
Chapter 286 The Project Runs Into Problems
After the stock market opened, Grant Corp's share price soared all the way up. The market value lost over the past few days recovered more than half in just half a day.
Meanwhile, Baldwin Group's stock price plummeted instantly, hitting the limit down.
Baldwin Group Headquarters was in complete chaos.
Chase had just arrived at his office when his subordinate rushed in with a pale face, voice trembling, "Mr. Baldwin! We're done for! Our stock has hit limit down, and all our partners are calling to terminate their contracts."
Chase's face turned ashen, his eyes filled with viciousness, "Arthur! How dare you set me up!"
If that's how it is, then nobody gets to survive!
"Contact the media immediately and issue a statement! And find out who leaked the evidence!"
Chase roared furiously.
His assistant quickly responded and left, "Yes, sir!"
While the atmosphere at Baldwin Group was gloomy, it was a completely different scene at Grant Corp.
At Grant Corp headquarters, the executives watched the rising stock price and all breathed a sigh of relief, relaxed smiles appearing on their faces.
"Mr. Grant, that was amazing! This move completely blindsided Chase!"
"We were worried we couldn't hold out before, but now it looks like we don't need to fear him at all!"
......
Arthur sat in the main seat, his expression still calm, speaking lightly, "This is just the beginning."
He looked out the window, his gaze deep.
His counterattack would likely provoke Chase's retaliation, and right now, the easiest targets for Chase's revenge would be Aria and Jasper.
So after launching his counterattack, Arthur had assigned more people to watch over them.
This time, he absolutely wouldn't let anything happen to the mother and son.
Several employees at Aria's flower studio had also seen the business war between Grant Corporation and Baldwin Group. They all knew that Grant Corporation was Arthur's company.
So everyone was paying close attention.
"Aria, why did Grant Corp suddenly go to war with Baldwin Group this time?"
"Yeah, why so sudden?"
......
The employees were all very curious, but Aria didn't say much, only saying she wasn't clear about it either and told them to focus on their own work.
Seeing that Aria didn't want to talk about it, everyone stopped asking.
But they remained curious.
Aria saw that everyone had stopped asking and quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but felt an inexplicable unease in her heart. She had a feeling this was like the prelude to a storm.
Whether or not her sixth sense was accurate, that very day, the floral design project that Arthur had taken over from Chase ran into problems.
Originally, Arthur's team had already taken over and was handling the project, and everything was going smoothly, nearing completion.
But right at this critical moment, problems arose.
The client called directly.
"Ms. Hall, what's going on with your Serenity Blooms Studio? Today's on-site inspection found several areas that don't match the contract! So close to completion and suddenly there are all these issues - do you guys even have the ability to handle such a large project?"
Aria's heart sank, immediately realizing something was wrong.
This project had been handed over to Arthur's company's people some time ago. It could be said that now, except for being nominally handled by their flower studio, the actual work had been taken over by Arthur's people.
Those previous problems had clearly been resolved, so how could these issues arise at this critical moment?
She suppressed her unease and said slowly, "Please calm down, I'll go to the site right away to verify the situation."
After hanging up, Aria didn't dare delay. She grabbed her coat and rushed out.
Just as she received the news, William also got the message simultaneously.
Without a second's delay, he went straight to find Arthur.
At that moment, Arthur was listening to the marketing department report on the progress of the counterattack against Baldwin Group.
When the conference room door was pushed open, he glanced at William and raised his hand to pause the meeting, then stood up and walked out.
Before he could ask, William spoke up urgently.
"Mr. Grant, we have a problem."
William's voice was anxious, "Ms. Hall's floral design project has run into issues during the final stage......"
"What's going on? Didn't our people take over? How could such problems still occur?"
Arthur's originally calm eyes instantly surged with bone-chilling coldness.
William informed Arthur of what he had found out.
"It should be Chase's people who tampered with it."
Arthur's eyes turned cold as he said in a deep voice, "Prepare the car, we're going to the project site. Before we arrive, I want to know the reason."
"Yes! I'll arrange it right away!"
William immediately responded, not daring to delay even a moment.
When Arthur left the company, he first called Aria to reassure her, "Aria, I know about the project issue. I'm heading to the site now."
Aria, who was also rushing to the site, felt somewhat relieved after hearing Arthur's words and responded, "I'm also on my way to the site."
"Alright, wait for me when you get there."
"Okay."
......
Project site.
When Aria hurried over, quite a few people had already gathered at the scene.
The client's representative had an ashen face, pointing at the messy arrangement and shaking his head repeatedly.
"Look at this setup, it's a complete mess. Does this look like professional work?"
"Serenity Blooms Studio is just a small workshop after all, clearly can't handle big projects."
"Exactly!"
Various comments around her pierced Aria's heart like needles.
Even though she knew this might all be a conspiracy targeting her, hearing these words still made her very uncomfortable.
Before she could explain, the client's representative spotted her and approached directly, his tone dissatisfied, "Ms. Hall, at this point, what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Problems just a few days ago, and now more issues at the final stage. Are you guys even putting any effort into this?"
"Mr. Baldwin recommended your shop before, saying it was decent, which is why we gave you this project. You should have told us earlier if you didn't have the capability. What a waste of my time."
......
The client representative's accusations put Aria on the spot.
She felt the surrounding discussions growing louder and bit her lip slightly.
Seeing her silence, the client representative continued, "So what now? How do you plan to resolve this? You need to give us an explanation, Ms. Hall."
"An explanation? What kind of explanation do you want?"
Before Aria could explain, a magnetic voice rang out.
Aria's tense nerves relaxed upon hearing this voice.
She turned her head toward the source of the voice and saw Arthur striding over. He positioned himself in front of her, facing the client directly, his gaze cold and stern.
The client hadn't expected to summon this big shot. Seeing Arthur's protective attitude, his heart sank, but thinking of that person's instructions, he steeled himself and said, "Why is Mr. Grant here?"