Josephine said, "I said, don't tell him. If he asks, just say it was some random soldier who saved him. Don't say it was me."
Jair was a bit thrown off. "Why not just tell him?"
Josephine shrugged, "It's ancient history, and I don't care anymore. Why dig it up and hurt him for no reason?"
"Josephine, you're still thinking about his feelings," Jair said. "Honestly, I should've knocked some sense into him back then!"
"It's all in the past," Josephine repeated.
Jair sighed, "It might seem like it's all in the past, but who knows how much it hurt back then."
Josephine stayed silent.
Jair went on, "Josephine, if Stuart ever messes with you again, I won't let him get away with it!"
"Thanks, Jair."
"Alright, you get back to it. I won't spill the beans. But Laura and Steven already know, so they might bring it up."
"I'll handle them," Josephine said. "I'm hanging up now."
After she hung up, Josephine was hit with a wave of emotions and couldn't calm down for a while.
She never expected Angela to use this to her advantage. Stealing someone else's lifesaving favor, didn't she feel any shame?
Thinking back to Angela's smug attitude, Josephine found it laughable. A thief, a liar, and yet so self-righteous? It seemed Angela had told so many lies, she started believing them herself.
Angela now thought she was Stuart's savior. Like she had really saved him back then.
Years had passed, and she didn't think there was any other possibility.
However, she received a call informing her that all the projects her family was involved in, whether in the initial stages, ongoing, or near completion, had requested contract cancellations.
"How is that possible?" Angela couldn't believe it. Over the years, using her connection with Stuart, the Lopez Family had been very successful, getting more opportunities than others in many projects.
They had made a lot of money. They weren't top billionaires, but compared to the Lopez Family of a decade ago, they were now a giant.
However, despite their influence, they couldn't manage the sudden halt of numerous projects.
Furthermore, the other parties had valid reasons for terminating the contracts, indicating that there would be no compensation for their family even if the projects were halted!
This meant all the Lopez Family's initial investments were gone!
Even if they didn't go bankrupt, they'd still face major cash flow problems.
With more and more gaps to fill, Angela couldn't even imagine what the final outcome would be!
Angela felt a sudden panic, and when she couldn't reach Stuart on the phone, her anxiety grew.
After finally contacting one of Stuart's friends, she learned that this was Stuart's order!
In other words, when she had called Stuart earlier about the government project falling through, Stuart had promised to make it up to her with other projects.
Now, not only was Stuart not compensating her, but he was also messing with her family's other projects?
This wasn't just interference; it was an attempt to bankrupt the Lopez Family! How could this be?
The friend said, "You should think carefully about whether you offended him in some way."
Angela put down the phone. How was she supposed to know what she had done to offend Stuart! She was supposed to be Stuart's savior!
Angela's phone rang out of nowhere.
She picked it up and heard her dad yelling, "What did you do? Stuart just announced he has no ties with the Lopez Family! He said there won't be any more deals with us! What the hell did you do?"
Angela was stunned and felt totally wronged! She couldn't let this slide, so she grabbed her bag and headed straight to Stuart's company.
On the way there, she was fuming, blaming everyone and everything.
"Stuart made a promise and then bailed; he's not even a man!" she raged. "Was Josephine behind this? Did Stuart change his mind because of her? It had to be!"
She thought angrily, 'I'm Stuart's savior; how could he treat the Lopez Family like this?'
Angela stormed up to the company entrance, only to be told she couldn't go in. Not just upstairs, she wasn't even allowed on the premises!
Security stopped her at the door. With so many people around, everyone saw Angela being turned away. She had never been so humiliated in her life.
She gritted her teeth and said, "Do you know who I am? How dare you block my way? I'm here to see Stuart, and you'd better let me through!"
"Sorry, ma'am, but not allowing Angela into our company is a policy. Do you think Mr. Haustia doesn't know about it?"
People around were whispering and pointing at her.
Angela felt utterly embarrassed. She snapped, "Just you wait!"
Unable to get in, she tried calling Stuart, but his phone was unreachable. So she called the project manager she had contacted before.
The call went through, but the manager said, "Ms. Lopez, please don't contact me again. The project won't be working with you anymore, and there's no need for us to stay in touch."
"I want to see Stuart!" Angela gritted her teeth. "If you let me see him today, I'll give you half a million dollars! No, two and a half million dollars!"
The manager replied, "Even if you gave me five million dollars, it wouldn't help. If I help you, I'll lose my job, and that would be a loss for me."
Angela was losing it. The manager hung up, and she paced around before dialing another number.
She called Josephine, but there was no answer.
Angela took several deep breaths, trying to calm down. But she couldn't. In the end, she had no choice but to call Laura.
Angela had their contact info but never used it.
If she felt jealousy and envy towards Josephine for getting Stuart's love, she simply disliked Laura for her sharp tongue.
Now, calling her, she could already imagine Laura's smug face. But Angela had no other choice.
Robin was in, and no one else would help her now. At this point, she could only try her luck and see if she could get any info from Laura.
Laura couldn't believe it when she got a call from Angela. She had just been about to give Angela a piece of her mind, so receiving the call felt too good to be true!
Laura's voice even had a hint of joy. "Angela, I was just looking for you, and here you are, walking right into the trap!"
Angela's heart skipped a beat, sensing trouble ahead. "Laura, what do you mean?"