Chapter 73

Charlotte heard everything clearly from outside and couldn't help but curl her lips, a hint of coldness flashing in her eyes.

She knew it - William's belongings weren't in their hands at all.

Otherwise, when she took over the Smith Group before, Thomas should have handed over the belongings to make a deal with her. Why would he wait until now?

These two must pay the price for this.

And William's belongings must be retrieved.

She wanted to see who would win tomorrow.

Charlotte had already left, but the two people in the living room were still mockingly laughing at her, completely unaware of what was coming.

"See, I told you she definitely wouldn't pass up this opportunity. As long as we threaten her, she'll compromise on everything for the belongings. Once we get the company back, we'll be the masters of Smith Group again!"

"This wasn't even her company to begin with. Why should it end up in her hands?"

Thomas quickly called Stella to share the good news.

But unexpectedly, Stella wasn't as happy as they imagined. Instead, she hesitated on the phone.

"If you want to get the company back, you need to be careful. Don't offend her."

"What do you mean by that? If she wants the belongings, she has to do what we say. What's this about offending or not offending?" Thomas dismissed it.

Stella went silent, and only hung up after a long while.

Thomas felt something was off about her and looked at Vivian.

"Has Stella been through something lately?"

"No." Vivian was confused. "What could she have been through? She's been really well-behaved these past few days, staying at home the whole time."

"Then I don't know. Maybe she's just tired lately. Anyway, Smith Group will be ours soon, and the engagement with the Wilson family can also..."

The two were still immersed in the joy of getting the company and having Charlotte under their control.

Little did they know that Charlotte had already arrived at Smith Group and called Max over.

"I need you to release a recording online."

"What recording?" Max looked at her curiously.

Charlotte opened her phone and sent Max all the conversations recorded by the bug she had planted at the Smith Mansion.

After hearing what Thomas and his wife said, Max instantly sneered in anger.

"They're really something, threatening you with this."

Charlotte let out a cold laugh, too.

"Whatever. Once this recording is exposed, using my own father's belongings to threaten me and take away the company -'s reputation will be completely destroyed."

"What about the belongings?"

Max looked at her with concern. "The belongings are in their hands. If they're completely disgraced and things get ugly, won't you be unable to get them back?"

"Who says I can't get them back?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "The watch isn't in their hands at all. They've already sold it to an auction house. Go find out when the auction house will sell the watch. I must get Grandpa's belongings back."

Max nodded. "Alright, I'll get on it now."

After he left, Charlotte returned to Smith Group.

In less than half an hour, the internet exploded, and everyone knew what the Smith family had done.

When Thomas found out, he immediately brought a lawyer to the Smith Group.

"Charlotte, where are you? Get out of here and explain yourself. Why did you secretly record us and release it?"

He kicked open the office door and stormed in. Seeing Charlotte leaning back in her chair, his face turned red with anger as he clenched his teeth.

"You secretly recorded me - that's not legal!"

Charlotte crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, looking at him lazily with a half-smile. "When you threatened me with Grandpa's belongings, you should have realized I would never let you manipulate me. You threatened me, and as the threatened party, I kept the recording as evidence and exposed it. What's wrong with that?"

"What do you mean? You don't want to give me the company anymore? You don't want your grandfather's belongings?"

Thomas demanded furiously.

"When did I say I didn't want them?" Charlotte stood up and looked down at him. "Thomas, when you worked at the company, you embezzled company funds and cooked the books. I have evidence of all of it. If you had just stayed quiet, didn't threaten me, didn't disgust me with Grandpa's belongings, I wouldn't have bothered with you! But you shouldn't have sold Grandpa's watch and then used this method to threaten me."

She glanced at Max, who immediately took out a document from his briefcase and placed it in front of Thomas.

"This is evidence of your embezzlement over the years, Mr. Smith. Want me to help you calculate how many years this adds up to? Even if you're not sentenced, once the company shareholders find out you embezzled funds, how much will you have to pay back, and how will they deal with you? You can imagine, right?"

Thomas's legs went weak, and he almost collapsed to the floor.

Vivian had followed along, thinking they could confront Charlotte, but she never expected that not only were they disgraced online, but now they were caught with this evidence too.

She shook Thomas's arm in fear. "What... what do we do now?"

Thomas couldn't say a word, just looked at Charlotte in defeat.

Charlotte sat down, her tone calm.

"If you still want to make trouble, I don't mind going all the way. But today I've actually prepared a contract that can let you off the hook."

She pushed a prepared contract toward them.

The contract required them to voluntarily give up any inheritance rights to the company.

Thomas was stunned.

But seeing Charlotte's calm expression, he just felt scared and had no way to respond.

To avoid going to jail, they could only sign such a contract.

But once signed, Smith Group would be completely cut off from them, with no possibility of ever owning it again.

Thomas shuffled forward dejectedly, signed the contract, and left with Vivian, not daring to say another word the whole time, afraid of offending Charlotte.

Afraid that if she got upset, she'd expose their embezzlement.

As soon as they reached the hallway, the two started blaming each other.

"Coming up with such a stupid idea to manipulate Charlotte - we should have stuck with our original plan to just please Charlotte all along! Maybe we could have gotten some benefits!"

As Max went to close the door, he heard their complaints in the hallway.

He couldn't help but laugh. "Boss, that was a brilliant move."

Charlotte pressed her lips together, her voice softening.

"No matter what, no one should threaten me with Grandpa's belongings."

She thought of how good her grandfather had been to her when he was alive.

That old man was the only person who treated her well during all those long years before she was recognized by the family.

Just then, her phone rang.

Charlotte saw it was her mother calling and answered.

Helen's voice carried a hint of worry.

"Ellie - she's been diagnosed with an illness."