Jeffery was unaware of Lance's actions. After visiting the prominent families in Cloudmere, he waited for news while engaging in business battles with Lance from afar.
Despite being more than twenty years older than Lance, Jeffery couldn't gain any advantage over him. In fact, Lance often saw through his schemes, causing even greater losses for his company.
After struggling for a week, the situation at Cody Group worsened. Jeffery could no longer sit still and quickly contacted the families he had visited earlier.
"Mr. Wade, about the collaboration I mentioned before, it's been a week now. Have you given it any thought?"
"Oh, Mr. Cody, I almost forgot about that. Sorry, but after discussing it with our board members, we've decided not to proceed with the collaboration."
With that, the other party hung up the phone. Jeffery's face darkened, but he suppressed his anger and continued dialing the next number. Unsurprisingly, the responses from these families were similar to Mr. Wade's.
Jeffery was extremely unwilling to accept this and found it strange. When he visited them earlier, they had shown interest in his proposal. Why were they rejecting it now? Had something happened without his knowledge?
With these doubts in mind, Jeffery made one last call to the Dawson family, on whom he had pinned his greatest hopes. The call connected quickly.
"Good afternoon, Old Dawson," he greeted eagerly.
"Ah, Jeffery," Old Dawson recognized Jeffery's voice and responded cheerfully.
After a few pleasantries, Jeffery got to the point. "Old Dawson, it's been a while since we discussed our collaboration. Have you made a decision?"
"I'm sorry about this. I forgot to inform you that our Dawson family won't be participating," Old Dawson stated plainly.
Jeffery wasn't surprised by this response for some reason. Gripping his phone tightly, he couldn't help but ask, "Old Dawson, can you tell me why?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end before Old Dawson sighed and explained slowly, "I can't tell you the reason, but if you take my advice, try to make peace with the Mercer family. You can't win against them or Lance; you're not on the same level."
"How could this be?" Jeffery muttered to himself in disbelief.
Unfortunately, there was no response as Old Dawson had already hung up. Putting down his phone, Jeffery clenched his fists tightly, his eyes filled with intense hatred and unwillingness.
He refused to believe that after nearly forty years in business, he couldn't outmatch someone who had been around for less than ten years.
Over the next two days, Jeffery used every resource available to him to oppose Mercer Group at every turn, even at great cost to himself. However, these actions did not cause any difficulties for Mercer Group; instead, Cody Group's situation worsened.
The company's funds began to run dry and their stock prices plummeted significantly. Panic spread within Cody Group as board members lamented their losses since part of Jeffery's expenditures came from their pockets too.
Finally, after another defeat at Lance's hands, the board members called an emergency shareholders' meeting. During the meeting, they urged Jeffery to reconsider.
"The company can't endure any more turmoil. Chairman, please stop opposing the Mercer family."
"Yes, in just half a month we've lost billions of dollars-our hard-earned money!"
"No matter what happens, we can't keep losing money like this."
Their words darkened Jeffery's expression further as he glared around angrily before speaking through gritted teeth. "So according to you all, my daughter should just let Lance bully her? You all are her uncles who she has known since childhood!"
The others looked embarrassed but quickly found excuses for themselves.
"We feel for Bella too but Lance said her situation has nothing to do with him. If you want revenge go after those who actually hurt her."
"That's right! Since Mr. Mercer isn't involved stop targeting him or we'll continue losing company profits-a lose-lose situation."
"I know a great private detective who can help find those responsible for hurting Bella if you stop fighting Mercer Group."
Someone suggested this but Jeffery didn't listen at all.