Chapter 66
Elizabeth's POV
I asked very directly, and Jasper seemed caught off guard. After a few seconds of being stunned, he nodded at me without denying it.
"To be honest, when I came to The Windsor Family today, he stopped me again. This time, he talked a lot about concrete cooperation plans, and I was quite tempted."
As soon as he finished speaking, I instantly became nervous.
Jasper's hesitant manner just now—wasn't that exactly what being tempted looked like?
Could he really be considering working with Aiden?
But the contract was already signed, so he couldn't...
Slowly, a thought suddenly appeared in my mind.
Right, the money was in Jasper's hands, and he never said he would only work with one company.
If he was still interested in the cooperation Aiden proposed, he could totally go ahead and work with him too. The two didn't conflict.
Jasper sighed, "Actually, I'm certainly looking forward to working with The Windsor Family, but what I was most looking forward to was completing it together with Mr. Windsor. When he said he was leaving everything to you, I felt a bit let down, so I'm planning to invest the remaining funds in something else."
I understood.
Jasper had originally come for Alexander and had brought out his entire budget.
But now, when he learned that I was the only person handling the cooperation, he felt unbalanced, so he withdrew part of the budget and was even planning to redirect that money to Aiden.
I opened my mouth, realizing things were already beyond salvaging, and no amount of fighting for it would help.
So I could only show a firm smile, "Mr. Garcia, I won't let you regret working with me. Leave the rest to me, and I'll maximize the returns on this money in a short time."
Jasper was stunned for a moment, seemingly impressed by what I said, and the way he looked at me carried a bit more respect.
"Then I look forward to your performance."
After seeing Jasper into his car, I couldn't help but ask one more question, "So you're planning to establish a cooperation with Aiden?"
He said yes, and I clenched my hands, trying to stay calm.
With my current position, I had no way to stop the decision he'd already made. After returning to the office, I couldn't help but let my face fall.
I thought snatching Aiden's cooperation would make me happy for a long time, but now it seemed I'd just gone in a circle and hadn't really succeeded.
I tried to calm myself down and started digging into everything about The Windsor Family when I got back.
For her to be in charge, the most important first step was to thoroughly understand The Windsor Family.
However, a lot of internal information couldn't be obtained through public channels, so I went to Charles's office, hoping he could tell me as much as possible.
But when I got there, I found Charles wasn't in his office at all. After asking other employees, I learned he was handling things for Alexander.
After thinking it over, I decided to wait in the office.
I don't know how long passed before he finally came back, looking somewhat surprised to see me.
"Ms. Spencer, is there something you need?"
I explained my purpose to him. "After all, it's a big project, and I'm worried I won't handle the pace well. Mr. Harper, could you assign me a few more people to form a team?"
A project couldn't be completed by me alone. Alexander said he was leaving everything to me, which implied I shouldn't bother him.
So, forming my own team was something I needed to come to Charles for.
"Mr. Windsor didn't arrange it for you?" Charles seemed surprised. "I specifically asked him about it, and he said he would arrange it himself."
I was confused and blinked at him. "Mr. Windsor said he was leaving everything to me. I thought he meant for me to come to you."
Charles's expression was a bit strange. He looked me up and down several times, then shook his head and said, "Ms. Spencer, after all, this concerns you, so Mr. Windsor will definitely oversee it personally. After all, in his heart, you're very..."
He stopped there without continuing. I didn't quite understand and asked, "What about things concerning me?"
Charles completely shut his mouth and just waved his hand at me, "You should go ask Mr. Windsor. I can't just arrange things for you randomly. Time is tight, so it's better to finalize the project as soon as possible."
With him putting it that way, I couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency and quickly said, "I also came to learn more about the company from you. After all, I don't know anything right now."
Charles cleared his throat lightly. "Please ask Mr. Windsor about that too. He should tell you."
I took a deep breath and finally fell silent, walking quickly toward Alexander's office.
I'd originally wanted to have as little contact with Alexander as possible at the company, but it turned out I couldn't get any work done without him.
I'd been at The Windsor Family for such a short time that I had no colleagues who could provide information. I could only figure things out on my own.
After organizing my thoughts, I knocked on the office door again.
Alexander was just like last time I came—silently looking at documents, with a hint of irritation between his brows.
I took a deep breath and tried to speak casually, "Mr. Windsor, I wanted to ask about my team."
"Do you have anyone in mind?"
Alexander looked straight at me, his gaze unconsciously moving to my mouth, making me instinctively want to dodge.
After a while, I shook my head, "I really don't know much about the company, so I don't know how to choose."
Alexander seemed quite satisfied with this answer. "Didn't you say you wanted to keep your distance from me at the company? Now you're coming to my office frequently—aren't you afraid of trouble?"
The topic shifted so quickly that I didn't even have time to react.
I looked at him and opened my mouth, but couldn't say a word.
After a long while, I finally managed to squeeze out, "This is different!"
Alexander seemed to be nitpicking and snorted coldly, "Then tell me, how exactly is it different?"
It looked like this topic wasn't going away today. I clenched my hands and said with forced courage, "This is work, of course it's different."
My voice got smaller and smaller, and I wanted more and more to avoid his gaze, but his look was too aggressive to ignore.
Another cold snort came, and I finally gave in.
"It's my fault. I shouldn't have been so sensitive. Most importantly, you're the company's boss, and I should naturally follow your arrangements in everything. I was being immature."
I quickly glanced up at him, only to see that Alexander's expression looked even worse than before.
As if I'd discovered something terrible, I sighed and continued, "So you'll forgive me, right?"
Alexander's emotional fluctuations were more obvious than I'd imagined, completely overturning my stereotypical impression of him.
Either way, I didn't sense any cold or dangerous emotions from him, so I went along with his words to make my request.
After a long silence, Alexander briefly said yes, and his gaze, which had been on me, also moved away.
I immediately felt relieved and experienced a rare sense of ease.
I took two steps closer and started talking business, "So, how many people can you give me?"