Chapter 286

Chapter 286

Silas's fingers suddenly clenched tight.

"And then?"

"Then you agreed. You brought up the divorce to Serena yourself. Serena left with nothing, didn't ask for anything."

The room fell quiet for a while.

"What about the wedding day?"

John's voice dropped even lower.

"On the wedding day, Luna burst in and told you everything in front of everyone. Miss Frost's heart condition wasn't serious at all, and there was no terminal illness—it was all made up. After you found out, you pushed Miss Frost away and said you were going to find Serena."

"But Serena had already left the country. When you got the news, you drove to the airport yourself and got into a car accident on the way. After you woke up... you couldn't remember anything."

Silas closed his eyes. This was the memory he had forgotten.

This was the past he hadn't recalled.

"So..." his voice squeezed out word by word through clenched teeth, "Clara cleared out everything related to Serena and made all of you hide it from me."

John didn't make a sound.

"Right?"

John nodded.

Silas opened his eyes.

Those photos were still scattered on the coffee table. The little girl's smiling face looked up at him, innocent and bright.

His daughter.

His ex-wife.

They had spent two years somewhere he couldn't see.

And he couldn't even remember who they were.

After what felt like forever, Silas finally spoke.

"I want to make it up to them."

His voice was rough, each word seeming to be forced out from between his teeth.

"What can I do?"

He had forgotten their entire past.

He had just learned his own daughter's name.

What did he have to make it up with?

John was silent for a long while before carefully speaking.

"Mr. Sterling, perhaps... you could first help Serena get through her current situation."

Silas turned around.

John continued, "Serena is now the Marketing Director at Synergy Global Corporation. Because of her bet with Lisa, she's been working on several overseas projects, trying to help them break into the domestic market. Those projects were almost finalized, practically a done deal, but today they all suddenly hit problems."

"What problems?"

"The other parties sent emails saying they need to reassess their cooperation intentions, and all the signings have been postponed." John paused. "We haven't figured out the exact reason yet, but the timing is too coincidental—it doesn't look like a normal business decision."

Silas's brow furrowed.

"Which overseas branch companies are they?"

John listed a few names.

After listening, something flashed in Silas's eyes.

"Two of them have had indirect dealings with us."

"Yes." John nodded. "That's why I said if you step in on this matter, you'd be more suitable than anyone else."

Silas said nothing more.

He looked down at the photo of Aria on the coffee table.

He picked up the photo, looked at it for a few seconds, and put it in his shirt pocket.

"Which room is she in now?"

"1206."

Silas pulled open the door and walked out.

The elevator from the eighteenth floor to the twelfth took less than a minute.

Silas stood at the door of 1206 and knocked three times.

Inside came the sound of a chair moving. After a few seconds, the door opened.

The moment Serena saw him, her expression visibly turned cold.

"What are you doing here?"

Silas didn't rush to go in.

He glanced inside. Serena's laptop was open with an English email on the screen, and several printed documents were spread out on the desk.

"Problems with the overseas projects?"

Serena's hand rested on the doorknob, unmoving.

"What's it to you?"

"I can help you."

Serena stared at him for two seconds, her lips moving slightly without any hint of a smile.

"Mr. Sterling, are you too free today? First the hot spring, now offering to help."

"Serena, I'm not joking with you."

Silas's tone changed.

It wasn't the probing, ambiguous tone from before, but a serious, business-like manner.

Serena noticed this change. She frowned and stepped aside to let him in.

Silas walked in.

The room wasn't large. The table between the two single beds was piled with materials.

Someone else was sitting in the chair nearby—Rex.

When Rex saw Silas come in, he jumped to his feet.

"Mr... Mr. Sterling?"

Silas glanced at him without responding and walked straight to the table, picking up the top contract to look at.

Serena closed the door and leaned against the wall with her arms crossed.

"You're certainly not shy."

Silas flipped through two pages, then opened the email on the laptop and scanned through it.

His expression grew more serious as he read.

"What reasons did these overseas companies give for postponing the projects?"

Serena walked over and sat down across from him.

"The emails say they need to reassess the market's input-output ratio. But I talked privately with one of the company heads before—just last week he was still pushing us to sign, and now his attitude has completely flipped. It's not normal."

Silas scrolled to the sender's information in the email and clicked a few times.

"I worked with them on a project a year ago." Silas tapped the table with his finger. "This person is very shrewd but not very bold. If a competitor in the same industry hints to him that this cooperation has risks, he'll back out immediately."

Hearing this, Serena's frown deepened.

"You mean someone's sabotaging this behind the scenes?"

"Very likely."

Rex chimed in from the side, "Mr. Sterling, what about the other two companies? Same reason?"

Silas pulled up the other two emails and quickly scanned them.

"These two—their wording is almost identical. 'Reassess cooperation intentions'—this kind of language is too uniform. Three companies sending emails with almost identical content on the same day, unless someone coordinated it."

Serena fell silent.

She had considered this possibility, but she couldn't figure out who it could be.

The network of contacts she'd built up during those two years overseas had been developed one by one—she hadn't offended anyone.

Silas looked up at her.

"Don't worry about who did it for now—I'll investigate that. What you need to do now is stabilize these three companies."

"How? The emails have already been sent."

"I'll give you their CEO's private number. Talk to him through video conference, reorganize your market data and investment plan, and send it over. Put the numbers in front of him, let him do the math—he'll change his mind on his own."

Serena looked at Silas without responding.

Silas continued, "As for the other company, they have an advisor who happens to have business dealings with us. I'll have someone pass along a message—won't need to say much, they'll understand what it means."

"As for the last one, they have no experience operating domestically. You're the first reliable local partner they've contacted. They're hesitating not because they don't want to cooperate, but because they've been spooked. Just give them some reassurance."

Silas finished speaking and looked up at Serena.

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Rex's mouth hung open, his eyes darting back and forth between the two of them, not daring to say a word.

Serena leaned back in her chair, her expression complicated.