Chapter 186 Backup Plan?
Imperial City is a county town in a small country.
The streets here aren't very busy in the morning.
Jake chose to stay here temporarily precisely because it's quiet.
He drops Seraphina off at kindergarten in the morning, and on his way back home, he takes a detour to the market to buy groceries.
Tonight he needs to cook carrots, which Seraphina hates, and chicken legs, which she loves.
Jake carries a small bag of groceries, slowly making his way home. He hasn't opened the door yet.
He suddenly realizes something, turns around, and sees he's been surrounded.
Jake calmly raises an eyebrow, "Timothy sent you?"
Max doesn't say anything.
Jake shrugs—doesn't need to guess to know.
He takes off his mask, takes off his glasses, thinks for a moment, and suddenly understands. No wonder.
For five years Timothy couldn't find him, and he was pretty pleased with himself. Turns out he was the one who got played.
But he's long been prepared for Timothy to find him.
Jake curves his lips into a cold smile, "Call Timothy. I have something to say."
Max frowns, but still calls to ask Timothy's opinion.
When Timothy hears from Max that Jake wants to talk to him, Timothy pauses, "Give him the phone."
Max tosses the phone to Jake.
Jake catches the phone and sneers, "Timothy, you think if I die, everything just ends there?"
While talking on the phone, Jake pulls out a folding knife from his pants pocket.
Timothy listens coldly, "Jake, you're half responsible for Annie's death too. You shouldn't have let Annie get pregnant—her body wasn't suitable."
Jake laughs. He stabs himself with the knife.
Max and the others had been on guard against Jake fighting back, but suddenly they see Jake stab himself.
What a crazy man.
After Jake finishes laughing, he roars at Timothy on the other end of the phone, "I admit I made mistakes too, but my drug research was already showing promise. If you'd just given me a little time, I could have saved Annie. Why were you in such a rush to operate on Annie! Why!"
"Timothy, I'm telling you, this won't end here. Your Robinson family even sent those two damn kids Tommy and Jane to disgust me and Annie—absolutely disgusting and shameful."
Jake pulls out the knife and stabs it viciously into his heart again.
Seraphina is Jake's tool for revenge against Timothy.
Jake slowly leans against the door, sliding to the ground. Blood flows from his body, and he can still hear Seraphina's voice calling him.
"Jake, you're sick, you need to drink more water."
"Jake, I want to fly."
Jake thinks of Elizabeth again. He blinks and curves his lips: Elizabeth, I'm sorry.
His vision gradually blurs. Leaning against the door, he tilts his head slightly upward, looking at the sky—so blue, so beautiful.
Timothy frowns, "Jake, I called you before the surgery. The surgery was urgent..."
Suddenly Max's voice comes through the phone, "Mr. Robinson, Jake is dead."
Timothy can't help wanting to curse. He rubs his temples—explaining to a crazy person never gets through.
He caught the threat in Jake's last words.
What other tricks does Jake still have hidden?
After Elizabeth fires Brice, the work efficiency of those old employees in the company really improves a lot.
She looks through the investigation materials on Silicon Express and reviews the acquisition plan, "Robbie, help me set up dinner with Mr. Reyes from Silicon Express tonight."
Robbie agrees and walks out of the office to call Byron Reyes.
At six in the evening, Elizabeth arrives at Golden Palace Restaurant first.
Robbie has already reserved a private room.
Byron also arrives ten minutes early.
Elizabeth shakes hands with Byron. After exchanging pleasantries, they start their meal. They don't rush into business talk.
At times like this, both have patience.
Byron came to this dinner after specifically looking at the news the Sherman Group released a few days ago.
The newly appointed chairman Elizabeth is very young, and being young means lacking experience, which gives him more room to maneuver in the upcoming negotiations.
Elizabeth fills her stomach to seventy percent full, puts down her utensils, picks up her teacup, takes a sip of tea, and smiles, "The food at this restaurant is pretty good."
Byron also puts down his utensils and nods, "It is quite good. My wife loves eating here."
Elizabeth puts down her teacup, "Mr. Reyes, regarding the acquisition terms for Silicon Express, what are your thoughts?"
Byron doesn't answer immediately. He's silent for a while, "What acquisition price can the Sherman Group offer?"
Elizabeth gives a rough figure.
Byron frowns—the price is too low. He shakes his head, "The acquisition price is too low."
The two go back and forth negotiating about price, terms, and employee benefits, roughly discussing everything.
They keep at it for two hours.
Finally, they stop.
For the detailed negotiations, they schedule a meeting at the Sherman Group the day after tomorrow.
After Byron leaves the private room, he wipes the sweat from his forehead.
He originally thought Elizabeth would be easy to push around, but it turns out he was the fool.
Where is she easy to push around? She's so articulate.
Robbie smiles as he sees Byron to his car.
Elizabeth goes to the restroom.
Coming out, she looks down at her phone replying to work messages when suddenly someone blocks her path.
She looks up and sees a man who seems familiar.
Albert strokes his chin, staring at Elizabeth's face, "You're that, what's her name, let me think, oh my god, I remember now—you used to be Mr. Robinson's mistress."
Elizabeth is speechless.
Elizabeth also remembers—the idiot from five years ago who randomly claimed to know women.
She walks around Albert to leave.
Albert reaches out to block her again, laughing, "Mr. Robinson dumped you, right? Want me to take care of you? Don't worry, I'm very generous with money."
Elizabeth raises an eyebrow. She crosses her arms, looking down at Albert somewhat.
She's wearing high heels today, making her excellently just a bit taller than Albert, "Move, or I'm calling the police."
Albert has managed to play around this long without getting in trouble because he has some brains. Since she's saying she'll call the police, it means she's not interested.
He moves aside and watches Elizabeth leave.
Russell slowly walks out of the restroom. He shakes his head—what he just overheard is pretty explosive.
Who was Albert talking about? Someone from the Manuel family?
Yesterday Freya was praising Elizabeth for having great insight into painting, and also praised her for being an honest girl.
Russell shakes his head. Other people's private matters—he won't gossip about them.
But still, he should give Freya a heads-up.
A woman like Elizabeth might have deeper schemes.