Chapter 94: Subjugated

Chapter 94: Subjugated

Peter was alone in the private room, unsure what to do, when a message came in from the company's finance department.

[Mr. Jackson, we have two final payments due next week, but we don't have enough money in the account.]

How could payment be due so soon? If only he'd taken on fewer projects before, so he wouldn't be in such a rush now.

Peter had just been hesitating, but now he gritted his teeth. Either way, it was all for the company's benefit. At worst, he'd make it up to Maya later.

Right, if he wanted Donna to willingly go keep Dino company, he felt that was just wishful thinking. Better to set his sights on Maya instead.

As for Donna, her turn would come eventually!

Peter felt that every time he got money from Dino, it seemed like he didn't have to do anything—just send women to Dino's bed, and money would naturally flow into his pocket.

This gave him the illusion that money came easily. After tasting success a few times, he could no longer settle down and earn money properly. Instead, he kept trying to find shortcuts.

After making up his mind, Peter picked up his phone and transferred a hundred thousand dollars to Chloe. Last night, as the person involved, she had been very cooperative when the police came for routine questioning, saying it was voluntary.

This saved Dino a lot of trouble. In Peter's view, Chloe was quite sensible.

After the transfer, he didn't forget to add a reminder.

[Don't tell anyone about what happened last night. If anyone asks you again, stick to what you said yesterday. If I need you again later, I'll contact you.]

Chloe immediately accepted the payment. Although she'd suffered a bit, seeing so much money come in made her very happy.

[I understand, thank you Mr. Jackson.]

She wasn't someone content with a hard life to begin with. Getting this large sum of quick money put her in an excellent mood. She could now buy that handbag she'd had her eye on. She'd been pretending to be a rich girl in front of others anyway, so carrying the latest designer bag would definitely earn her respect.

She was even looking forward to the next time Peter would contact her.

……

Thinking this batch of goods was very important, Donna decided to try one more time.

She called the factory using her own phone number, but still got no answer. Donna simply drove straight to the factory to ask them in person what they meant by all this.

But when her car stopped at the factory entrance, the security guard refused to let her in. She had to park her car to the side and negotiate with the guard for a long time before finally getting in.

When she entered the manager's office, the manager wasn't there. Only an intern was in the office. When Donna asked where the factory manager had gone, they said he'd gone on a business trip with no fixed return date.

So he'd already arranged everything before leaving. Whether he'd actually gone on a business trip or not, Donna had no way to verify, but clearly he didn't want to see her.

Donna simply pulled out the contract.

"The delivery date is written here in black and white. Are you planning to breach the contract?"

The intern looked very anxious, appearing pitiful.

"I know, but my boss told me before leaving that we really can't deliver this batch of goods."

Donna laughed in frustration.

"They pushed you out here when you don't know anything—what's that supposed to mean? Think I'll just leave because I can't get the answer I want? Let me tell you, if you don't explain this clearly today, I'm not leaving."

The intern had a prepared response and repeated word for word what she'd been told to say to Donna.

"My boss said before leaving that if you're willing to wait, we'll continue with the contract, but the delivery time will be pushed back seven days. If you're not willing, then go ahead and take legal action."

The intern clearly lacked confidence saying these words, but she couldn't say them carelessly. Donna understood this was the boss's real attitude.

After choosing this factory, she'd thought both parties could have a long-term partnership, so the penalty clause was the lowest in the industry.

If they insisted on going through legal proceedings, they wouldn't have to pay much in the end. The key issue was that going through that whole process would definitely take longer than the delivery time.

How had Donna not noticed before that the factory owner was so cunning?

The factory owner was also very practical. Between short-term and long-term interests, he could tell them apart clearly. Offending one Donna didn't matter, but offending Dino meant he couldn't do business in Silvermere anymore.

Donna didn't waste more words and went to several other factories, only to get the same response. Moreover, since she hadn't signed contracts with them, they didn't even mention legal proceedings—they just said they couldn't do it and kicked her out.

Carol saw Donna sitting in the back seat with a dark expression and carefully leaned forward.

"Ms. Jackson, what should we do now?"

"I took a quick look earlier, and the store has already received several orders asking when we'll ship. I had customer service tell them we'd ship in a couple of days."

Carol was already trying her best to buy time. If they couldn't ship successfully this time, Spark Creative Studio's reputation would definitely be affected.

For a small shop that had just opened, after setting up an online store, every customer review was very important. If negative reviews piled up, it would be very bad for the shop.

Donna's knuckles turned white as she gripped her phone, her expression somewhat grave.

"We'll figure something out."

That evening, she had Carol drive her to several smaller factories. These factories didn't have the capacity to complete all the orders independently, so Donna planned to find several to produce together.

Who knew the result would be the same as before.

Even more ridiculous, there were a few more that could do it, but when Donna called ahead and identified herself, they hung up directly without giving her any respect.

Donna had never been this frustrated before. When people refused business that came to their door, it could only mean the other party had offered better terms, or they had a stranglehold on these factories' production lifelines.

Before she knew it, it was afternoon. When Donna saw it was quitting time, she told Carol to go home first while she figured out a solution herself.

Donna drove the car back to the company to think about how to handle what came next.

Never mind solving the immediate problem—judging from this incident, Donna really wanted to establish a factory dedicated to producing products for her own company.

She couldn't have her lifeline in someone else's hands at critical moments.

Donna knew all this was the consequence of her impulsive actions yesterday, but if she could do it over, she would still run upstairs.