Chapter 191: She Wants to Become My Stepmother!
As soon as Sophia got in the car, she received a call from Lyra.
The other person started with a weak, angry complaint, "Philip is a shameless, bad-tempered, petty bastard!"
The sound of a door opening came from the other end of the phone, followed by Philip's helpless response, "Lyra, you were the one who hit me first..."
Hearing their conversation, Sophia could roughly guess what had happened last night.
After Lyra finished cursing at Philip, she remembered she was still on the phone. She calmed herself down and said to Sophia, "About that thing you asked me to look into, I found out."
"There's a dinner party on Friday, and that person will be there too. Let's go together, and I'll introduce you."
Sophia responded, "Okay."
The two chatted for a bit longer before hanging up.
Right after, Rat called. He told Sophia that someone in the underworld had been putting a bounty on her head lately, and she should be extra careful when going out.
Sophia's eyes darkened. After telling Rat to investigate who these people were, she focused on driving to the lab.
When she left home, she paid special attention to the vehicles around her. Although she didn't notice anything unusual, she saw a familiar Rolls-Royce.
If she remembered correctly, that was Benjamin's car.
She only glanced at it briefly without stopping. Looking in the rearview mirror, that car didn't follow her either.
Sophia couldn't quite figure out these men's behavior. At that moment, the car radio was broadcasting a follow-up report on the '$10 million prize pool' incident.
[It's been a week since the Rain Village incident, and the person involved seems to have used money to turn public opinion around. Our reporter contacted Tammy, the person who reported this matter. Let's hear what she has to say...]
Seeing that things weren't developing ideally, Tammy contacted Molly again, who found her a reporter and told her to play up her misery as much as possible.
Tammy's shrill voice came through the radio, "I've really had it rough. I took care of her out of kindness back then without charging any money, but who knew she would turn against her benefactor! The two elderly people were always in good health, but she treated them wrong and killed them. It's all her fault."
"She even got people online to lie for her. Isn't she just bullying me because I'm from the countryside, with no money or power, and no way to get justice! I'm telling her right here today, people who do evil will face divine retribution. I don't believe there's no one who can deal with her!"
The person behind Tammy, knowing that public opinion had already shifted to Sophia's side, still wanted Tammy to make a fuss online.
While stopped at a traffic light, Sophia was thinking about this person's purpose when she turned her head and saw Molly driving a luxury car alone, coming out of an upscale apartment complex and turning onto another main road.
At the end of that road was Peace Group.
And the neighborhood she came from was also a famous luxury residential area in Empire City.
Sophia's fingers tapped lightly on the steering wheel, but she didn't think too deeply about how a secretary assistant like Molly could afford to live in a mansion and drive a luxury car.
After all, there are many working people nowadays whose families are well-off. Perhaps Molly was one of those people.
Over the next few days, Sophia was either at the lab or at home with Emily.
Before she knew it, Friday arrived.
Lyra came early to pick her up and go to the Cole Mansion. The styling team was already, from beauty spa to exquisite makeup, with countless limited edition dresses and classic jewelry filling the dressing room.
On the way to the party.
Lyra asked her puzzledly, "Sophia, if you want to find a partner to sell the new drug, Harmony Pharmaceutical would be better than HealthCore Pharmaceuticals."
Although the real chairman behind Harmony Pharmaceutical now was Quinn, whom Lyra didn't really like, in terms of company strength, Harmony Pharmaceutical was indeed better than HealthCore Pharmaceuticals.
Sophia said frankly, "Harmony Pharmaceutical was indeed strong in the past, but since Quinn took over, he's been cutting corners on quality and the pricing is extremely unreasonable."
During this time, because Clementine was sick, her daughter Lyanna had been pulling strings to get help from people at ZN Lab.
Sophia had someone take over Clementine's treatment and later discovered that she had been given chronic poison, which caused her current severe physical deterioration. Even if cured, she would suffer lasting effects.
Lyra wasn't good at business management, but having seen all kinds of complicated people in the entertainment industry, she immediately understood what Sophia meant. The two then changed the subject.
What Sophia didn't expect was that Lyanna, who should have been at Seraphim taking care of Clementine, appeared at the party.
She went straight to Sophia and took the initiative to invite her, "Ms. Johnson, can we talk?"
Sophia said, "Of course."
On the balcony on one side of the banquet hall, Lyanna got straight to the point, sincerely expressing her desire to cooperate with Sophia.
When choosing partners initially, Sophia had already had someone investigate the current internal situation of Harmony Pharmaceutical.
Although Lyanna had some shares in Harmony Pharmaceutical, the current person in power was actually her father. If she really cooperated with Harmony Pharmaceutical, the batch of drugs Sophia provided would most likely become exclusive products for the wealthy elite, which didn't align with her original intention.
"Ms. Wells, I'll be honest with you. Harmony Pharmaceutical does have the strength to cooperate with me, but you don't have that power yet."
Lyanna smiled bitterly, "I know."
She only found out after Clementine's incident that Quinn had been secretly transferring shares and related assets all along.
"If I can take back control of Harmony Pharmaceutical within a month, Ms. Johnson, would you consider cooperating with me?"
Sophia looked at the tired but determined look in her eyes and reminded her, "Quinn won't let you take it back that easily."
Quinn had been patient and obedient for over twenty years. Now that he could finally take full control and sit in that position, how could he possibly give it up?
Although Lyanna was the only daughter of Harmony Pharmaceutical, the shares in Clementine's hands had already been mostly transferred by Quinn. It would be extremely difficult for her to take them back from an ambitious man.
"Ms. Johnson, since you're a member of ZN Lab, you probably already know that my mother fell into a coma because she was poisoned, right?"
"It's ridiculous to say, but the person who poisoned her was none other than my own father." Lyanna's eyes showed sarcasm, her face full of self-mocking, bitter smiles.
Sophia didn't respond.
Actually, given Clementine's current status, she wasn't important enough for Sophia, as a founder, to personally look into her case.
But because of the Redwood Resort auction, Sophia had checked the information of all related personnel, which mentioned that Clementine and Lyanna were pulling strings to contact ZN Lab for medical treatment.
She had some impression of this.
It was at ZN Lab that Lyanna heard about a batch of newly developed drugs that had passed domestic agency inspections and were approved for cooperation with relevant pharmaceutical companies for market release.
Now the country was encouraging childbirth, but young people had high work pressure and often stayed up late, which changed their physical condition.
Some people had been trying to conceive for years but couldn't get pregnant due to physical reasons; others got pregnant but couldn't keep the baby due to health issues.
The drugs newly developed by ZN Lab this time were of two types: one for fertility assistance and one for pregnancy preservation.
All had undergone precise testing and could adjust people's metabolism and physical condition, helping more families who wanted children realize their wishes.
Once she got the cooperation rights for these two types of products, Lyanna's position in Harmony Pharmaceutical would definitely improve significantly.
But the problem now was...
The prerequisite for her cooperation with Sophia was that she had to have decision-making power in Harmony Pharmaceutical.
The two were contradictory, and she was in an awkward and passive position.
Simple requests were the most useless behavior in business cooperation, so Lyanna didn't show her any such intentions.
Sophia didn't give her any promises either and told her frankly that one month was too long.
"Ms. Wells, I can only give you half a month."
"...Okay." Lyanna agreed reluctantly but determinedly.
In this half month, no matter what methods she used, she would take back the decision-making power of Harmony Pharmaceutical into the hands of the Wells family!
At the entrance to the banquet hall, William's late arrival immediately attracted everyone's attention.
Some people's focus was on Molly, who was beside him in a red dress. Although she was introduced as a female secretary, everyone knew that William used to bring his male assistant, Tony, to parties in the past.
This was the first time William had appeared at an Empire City party with a female secretary, and everyone was talking about it.
Lyanna stared coldly at Molly, her delicate little bag clutched tightly in her hand, her eyes sharp and full of anger.
Sophia raised an eyebrow, "You know her?"
Lyanna had no qualms about airing dirty laundry. She said bluntly, "That female secretary Molly next to the Peace Group CEO is one of my father's mistresses."
"Over the years, among the women who wanted to be my stepmother, she's gotten the most benefits, is deeply favored by my father, and is also the woman most likely to become my stepmother."
Sophia suddenly thought of the scene she saw this morning. Were Molly's luxury car and mansion all given by Quinn?