Chapter 275
Chapter 275
Poor Alexander hadn't even steadied himself when Landon was already pointing at him with a harsh warning.
"Touch her again and you can kiss that hand goodbye!"
Alexander ignored his own injury, his face still urgent with desperation. "Landon! You can't do this—"
But before he could finish, Landon had already scooped up the stunned Charlotte and deposited her in the car. "Buckle up."
With that, Landon fired up the engine and shot forward like an arrow.
Alexander clutched his thigh in pain, calling out helplessly, "Charlotte!"
In the car, Landon's expression was stern as he warned Charlotte, "Alexander's lost it. For the time being, wherever you go, I'm going with you."
Charlotte sighed. "He just wanted to talk to me."
Landon's jaw tightened. "Talking requires manhandling you?"
Suddenly remembering, he glanced at her wrist. "Did he hurt you? Does it hurt?"
Charlotte rolled her eyes. "No."
Landon secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Ever since the parking lot incident, whenever Charlotte went out alone, Landon practically shadowed her.
Even when he couldn't make it himself, he'd send bodyguards to stick close to Charlotte's side with orders to chase Alexander off the moment he showed up.
He wasn't giving Alexander even the slightest opening!
But Alexander seemed possessed, refusing to listen even to Sabrina's pleas.
Once, he even tried to bring Owen along to find Charlotte, hoping she'd forgive him for Owen's sake.
Fortunately, Landon had anticipated that move.
He'd sent people to intercept them, then tattled to Nicole, who was so furious she summoned Alexander back to the estate on the spot. She tore into him and strictly forbade him from harassing Charlotte again—or else he could forget about staying in the CEO's chair at the Forbes Group!
Cynthia panicked when she heard.
She frantically cajoled and scolded Alexander, begging him to stop going after Charlotte.
Alexander had barely given up on finding Charlotte when the Forbes Group was hit with more bad news—several longtime clients filed complaints simultaneously about substandard product quality and fraudulent substitution of materials.
While Alexander was drowning in this mess, Calvin's situation also went south!
When Calvin called begging for help, Alexander was in the middle of negotiating returns and compensation with clients. He simply didn't have the time or energy to help the Wallace Family salvage their situation.
So within just a few days, the Wallace Family collapsed.
Aside from Daniel, who'd already separated his assets from the Wallace Family, Calvin and Patrick officially declared bankruptcy.
When news of the Wallace Family's bankruptcy broke, Alexander was in the middle of a conference room tirade, demanding they find whoever was behind the product quality scandal.
Soon enough, they traced it back to supplier Vincent.
Vincent just happened to be the nephew of Quentin, the vice president of the Design Association. Even more coincidentally, the person who'd been in direct contact with Vincent was none other than Sabrina and her assistant Sarah.
And Sabrina was close with Quentin—she'd even acknowledged him as her godfather.
The truth was crystal clear.
Alexander was livid. He summoned Sabrina to the CEO's office immediately.
After a round of confrontation and questioning, Sabrina pinned everything on Nolan, the purchasing department manager, completely washing her hands of it.
"Alexander, it's all my fault! I'm too naive, too trusting of others."
"Alexander, I'm so sorry! I just wanted to save the company money, but I let you down."
"Why don't you yell at me some more? Maybe then I'll feel better."
Watching Sabrina cry her eyes out, Alexander finally gave in.
He could only blame himself for being too hasty, for entrusting such an important matter to someone as inexperienced as Sabrina.
In the end, Alexander had no choice but to fire Nolan and Sarah.
As for Vincent, he had the company lawyers draft a lawsuit to recover the company's losses.
When Vincent got the news, he immediately called Sabrina.
After a heated argument, Sabrina only agreed to return a third of the kickbacks she'd received, claiming she'd already spent the rest.
Vincent was furious but couldn't do anything about it in the moment.
Finally, to save himself, Vincent had to turn to his uncle Quentin for help.
Quentin had no sons, only a daughter who'd married and moved abroad, so he'd long treated his nephew Vincent like his own son.
When he learned what happened, he was both heartbroken and furious at Sabrina's ruthlessness.
In the end, he had to dip into his life savings to help Vincent scrape together enough money to compensate the Forbes Group for their losses.
Though the Forbes Group received Vincent's payment, their reputation in the business community was completely destroyed!
Aside from their existing partners, almost no new clients were willing to work with the Forbes Group anymore. Even some clients whose contracts were about to expire refused to renew.
While Alexander was agonizing over the Forbes Group's future, Sabrina was racking her brain trying to deal with the fired Nolan and Sarah.
Since they'd been terminated, neither received any severance, so both turned their attention to Sabrina.
Nolan was reasonable enough, only asking for what he should've been compensated.
But Sarah actually demanded Sabrina pay her five million dollars!
Her reasoning? Her reputation was ruined, and she probably wouldn't be able to find a decent job after leaving the Forbes Group.
Sabrina was livid.
She never imagined that a young woman fresh out of college would have the nerve to challenge her like this.
But Sarah had clearly underestimated her former boss.
After a war of words and veiled threats from Sabrina, Sarah reluctantly accepted one million dollars.
After ripping off the check and throwing it at her, watching Sarah's smug expression, Sabrina was seething.
"Take your check and get out!"
"Oh, and take Laura with you when you go!"
But Sabrina's moment of satisfaction came back to bite her—she hadn't counted on Sarah and Laura holding a grudge.
That evening when she returned to Forbes Estate, she found Alexander sitting on the sofa waiting for her, his expression dark.
Sabrina's heart skipped a beat, but she still put on a cheerful face as she approached. "Alexander, what's wrong?"
The moment she sat down beside him, Alexander instinctively pulled away. "You fired Laura?"
Sabrina hadn't expected him to ask about this. After a brief pause, she admitted it. "Yes, I fired her."
"I thought about it and realized her cooking never quite measured up to Lisa's. You and Owen didn't seem to enjoy her food that much, so I let her go."
"Oh, I've already found a suitable replacement. She can start tomorrow."
She waited for Alexander to praise her thoughtfulness, but instead he gave a cold laugh. "Seems like you really have broken your back looking after this household."