Logan heard this and couldn't help but laugh in anger.
"Jeffery, you must be mistaken. Given Lance's character, he would have bankrupted your Cody family directly. Now he's just asking you to move out of the province, giving you a way out. Isn't that enough?"
Jeffery was speechless.
At the same time, Logan's patience ran out. He said coldly, "I've shown you the way. How you choose is up to you."
With that, he hung up the phone.
On the other side, Jeffery put down his phone, seething with rage.
"Damn Mercer family!"
He roared and swept everything off his desk in a fit of anger.
With a loud crash, a glass ashtray shattered on the floor, startling Kelly downstairs and Bella in her room.
They hurried to the study, worried about what had happened to Jeffery.
Pushing the door open, they saw the study in chaos, with bookshelves overturned and books scattered everywhere.
Jeffery stood in the middle of the room, his face flushed red, chest heaving with anger.
Kelly and Bella had never seen him so furious before and were visibly shaken.
"Honey, what's wrong? Why are you so angry?"
"Dad, what happened?"
The mother and daughter took a deep breath and asked in unison.
Jeffery looked up at them and gritted his teeth. "The Mercer family responded."
Hearing this, Kelly and Bella's hearts sank.
Clearly, it wasn't good news from the Mercer family; otherwise, Jeffery wouldn't be so angry.
Indeed, that was the case.
As they were thinking this, they heard Jeffery say in a grim voice, "Lance said we can negotiate peace, but our Cody family must leave Cloudmere."
"How can he demand that!"
Bella was stunned and then filled with endless resentment.
Kelly was also furious. "The Mercer family is going too far!"
In her view, her daughter had already paid a price for this matter. For Lance to make such demands was outrageous!
Jeffery didn't say anything, standing there exuding a menacing aura.
After a while, Kelly and Bella calmed down a bit.
They looked at Jeffery and asked, "What do you think about this?"
"I haven't decided yet. I need to discuss it with Dad," Jeffery replied solemnly.
Despite saying this, in the following days, there were no signs of Cody Group relocating.
Xavier had been keeping an eye on Cody Group and noticed this. He reported directly to Lance.
"Just now, our people monitoring the Cody family said that Jeffery met with a foreign bank today to secure a loan. It doesn't look like they plan to move; rather, they seem to be trying to save themselves."
These last few words were his own thoughts.
Lance frowned slightly. "What's the situation with that foreign bank?"
"I've had it investigated. This bank has been in Cloudmere for five years but hasn't made much headway in the market here. I suspect Jeffery plans to strike a deal with them," Xavier reported truthfully.
Lance narrowed his eyes slightly and instructed, "Contact the head of that foreign bank. Tell them if Jeffery gets his loan approved, they will have to leave Cloudmere along with Cody Group."
"Understood." Xavier nodded and left to carry out the order.
Soon after, Lance was alone in his office again.
Just as he was about to resume work, his phone rang. It was Deanna calling.
"What's up?" he answered gently, a stark contrast to his earlier icy demeanor.
Deanna didn't know any of this and spoke with a hint of helplessness. "It's nothing serious. Gregory and Chloe just wanted me to ask if you're coming over tonight."
"Of course I'm coming." Lance responded with a smile but felt something was off.
After all, it wasn't like those two kids to call him like this.
Thinking about it, he asked again, "Are they really okay?"
"They're fine. They're just excited about the pony at the ranch like it's a new toy they can't get enough of," Deanna's cheerful voice came through the phone again.
Lance chuckled. "I see. I'll take them there again this weekend."
"We'll see," Deanna didn't commit immediately since there were still several days until the weekend and anything could happen in between.
Shortly after that, they ended their call.
Lance put down his phone and sped up his work pace.
About an hour later, he left the company and headed to Deanna's apartment.
As soon as he walked in the door, he was warmly greeted by two eager children.
"Uncle Lance, you worked late again. You must be tired."
"Uncle Lance must not have eaten yet. Mommy saved some food for you in the kitchen."