Chapter 17
Henry stared at Harper in shock, still trying to process what was happening.
"Who?"
"Charlotte." Harper repeated impatiently. "Why isn't she here right now?"
Everyone looked at each other, bewildered. No one expected this big shot to show up at the company asking for Charlotte right away.
Charlotte had never done anything at the company before—how could she possibly know Harper?
Henry was even more confused and said cautiously, "Charlotte isn't here at the moment. Did you want to see her? I had no idea you two knew each other."
Harper's expression darkened further.
She sneered, "I came to the Johnson Group specifically for Charlotte. Since she's not at the company, I don't see any point in doing this inspection."
Everyone was even more shocked at her words.
Susan blurted out, "Charlotte has never worked at the company. She was raised in the countryside and only recently brought back. How do you know her?"
Harper's face turned cold as she asked expressionlessly, "Do I need to explain my friendships to you?"
Susan was caught off guard and her face flushed red, not knowing what to say.
Chloe immediately sensed something was wrong.
Friendships?
Harper and Charlotte were actually friends!
Chloe forced a smile and stepped forward to support Harper.
"Since you're already here, don't let it be a wasted trip. Why don't you go upstairs for some tea, and when Charlotte is free..."
"Who are you? Don't touch me!" Harper shook off Chloe unhappily.
Two bodyguards immediately stepped forward, looking fierce as they blocked Chloe.
"Please don't touch her without permission!"
Chloe froze in place, frightened, and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
Before she could finish, Harper cut her off, "If Charlotte doesn't show up, I won't be inspecting your company. I'll give the investment opportunity to someone else. Bye."
She turned to get in the car and leave.
Henry and the shareholders' faces all changed.
They had finally gotten an investment mogul to visit the company, with hope of solving their cash flow problems—how could they let her go so easily!
Henry panicked and quickly stepped forward to stop Harper.
He smiled apologetically, "Harper, can you wait half an hour? I'll have Charlotte come over right now!"
Harper paused and put back the foot she had lifted to get in the car.
She turned around, curled her lips carelessly, and said reluctantly, "Fine, I'll wait in the car. But if Charlotte doesn't show up within half an hour, I'm leaving."
Henry was breaking out in a cold sweat and nodded quickly, "Okay, okay, please get in and rest."
As the car door closed, he turned around to face the accusing looks from the shareholders.
"What's going on here? Harper only came out of respect for Charlotte, and you didn't arrange this in advance?"
Henry said helplessly, "I had no idea she even knew Charlotte. Anyway, there's no point talking about it now. I'd better call her over."
With that, he immediately took out his phone and walked aside to make the call.
Watching his back, Chloe clenched her teeth. "How is Charlotte so capable? She even knows Harper."
Susan's face looked unpleasant as she snorted softly, "That country bumpkin, who knows what methods she used to cozy up to Harper. But don't worry, she won't be able to stir up any trouble!"
While they were talking, Charlotte, who was at her studio, had already received Henry's call.
She answered, "Hello?"
Henry spoke to her in a surprisingly decent tone, "Charlotte, the investment mogul Harper is here. She's waiting at the Johnson Group entrance right now. Get a cab and come over."
Charlotte leaned back in her chair, casually playing with a pen. "Why should I go? Don't forget, I've already cut ties with the Johnson family. I'm not going to the Johnson Group. If Harper wants to see me, I'll arrange another time."
"You!"
Henry's face turned dark with anger.
He took a deep breath, suppressing his fury. "Then tell me, what will it take for you to come? What do you want? Things have been a bit tight for you since leaving the Johnson family, right? I can give you a bank card!"
Charlotte found it laughable. "I don't need money. I have plenty of that. If you really want me to go, I have one condition."
"What condition?" Henry was on guard.
Charlotte said unhurriedly, "Chloe sent media reporters to smear me online, saying I had a messy private life and had an abortion. She needs to record a video apologizing to me and post it online. Then I'll come over."
"What did you say?" Henry could hardly believe his ears.
An apology, and a public video apology at that?
Chloe was the daughter he had carefully raised, representing the Johnson family's reputation. How could she possibly do something so humiliating!
"You don't want to agree?" Charlotte knew exactly what Henry was thinking. "Then I'm sorry, I won't be coming."
She was about to hang up.
Henry panicked and immediately said, "I'll have her record the video right now! Just get over here!"
Charlotte raised an eyebrow slightly. "That's more like it. But I should warn you—if the apology isn't sincere, that won't work either."
Henry seemed furious, took a deep breath, and hung up.
Soon, Charlotte got in a car and headed to the Johnson Group.
On the way, her phone buzzed with a news notification.
Chloe's public apology video had shot to the top of the trending topics.
In the video, she stood downstairs at the company in work attire, her eyes red and biting her lip, looking rather pitiful.
"I'm sorry. I'm recording this video to publicly apologize to Charlotte. I did something wrong to her that damaged her reputation. I sincerely apologize again and hope she won't hold it against me."
In the video, Chloe's apology seemed very sincere, but she didn't mention at all what she had actually done.
Plus, Alexander had acted very quickly to suppress the trending topic. Although people in their circle knew about the rumors of Charlotte's scandal, the general public didn't.
Seeing Chloe come out to apologize now, people who didn't know the truth thought she was still apologizing for the plagiarism incident.
The comments below were actually sympathetic toward Chloe.
[How long does she have to keep apologizing? She was punished for plagiarism and everyone knows about it. Why does she still need to publicly apologize? Isn't this too aggressive?]
[Exactly. Don't people deserve a chance to reform? Charlotte is a top designer but has no tolerance at all, and this is her own sister!]
[Even if they're not blood-related, she doesn't have to be this ruthless, right? Enough already. I feel sorry for you, Chloe.]
The comment section was full of sympathetic voices.
Charlotte's eyes turned cold as she closed her phone.
So they were exploiting this loophole?
Then she shouldn't be blamed for using the same tactics to thoroughly disgust the Johnson family right back.