That night, when Charles Seymour came back, he noticed Sophie Wilson was in a bit of a bad mood.

The most obvious sign was that she didn’t pounce on him like usual, but just curled up obediently on the sofa and waved at him.

"What’s wrong?" Charles asked.

"Ran into an idiot." Sophie sneered.

"Hayley Cole." Charles’s certain tone made Sophie raise her brows slightly. "You’ve heard the rumors too?"

"Yeah." Charles nodded. The business circle was that small; even if he hadn’t taken part in the bidding, he could still get the news.

"You really aren’t worried at all, huh." Sophie arched a brow at Charles. There was no way he’d get the news later than Edward Palmer. "And you didn’t even tell me."

"Would it make any difference if I told you? Would you revise the proposal?" Charles asked, amused.

"Of course not!" Sophie said with a mocking laugh. "Why would I change the proposal because of some idiot? We put our sweat into that. It’s the most reasonable bid out there. I’m not doing a ’lose money just for the applause’ kind of thing."

"Worst case, we just don’t win the bid. What do I have to be afraid of?" Sophie snorted disdainfully. "I am not bowing my head to ’evil forces’!"

Charles ruffled Sophie’s hair and asked, "Need me to do anything?"

"Nope!" Sophie said. "This time I’m taking on Hayley Cole myself. I refuse to believe I can’t beat her."

As far as she was concerned, winning the bid was just the icing on the cake.

If they didn’t get it, hmph, she was not going to let Hayley Cole off easy.

"Alright, go upstairs and get changed. Let’s eat." Sophie patted Charles like nothing had happened.

"You’re not upset anymore?" Charles asked.

Coming home to one less hug today was annoying.

Charles silently made a note of Hayley Cole in his heart.

"What’s bothering me is that everyone at the company is running around with me." Sophie frowned gloomily. She didn’t care about the money, but her team had been working hard alongside her. Now, if they found out they lost to someone else’s scheming, how could they not feel bad?

There was a smile in Charles’s eyes. His Sophie was exactly like this: she could shrug things off for herself, but if anyone she’d drawn into her circle got bullied, she wouldn’t stand for it.

"Hayley Cole, James Reed—I’m not letting either of them off." Sophie sneered.

She wasn’t stupid enough to think this was all just Hayley Cole’s doing. Without James Reed guiding things step by step, how would it have ended up like this? 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

James Reed really was a master player—he played it beautifully.

He always knew how to grab people’s weak spots and make them work for him.

"Benjamin Walton has already taken over Wilson Corporation." Charles dropped another bomb.

Sophie froze for a moment, but wasn’t too surprised. "My dad’s dad really does put profit above everything."

"Has it never crossed his mind that one day, if he misplays his hand, he’ll end up getting eaten alive by Benjamin Walton?" Sophie really couldn’t figure out what Old Mrs. Wilson was thinking. She clearly knew Benjamin’s intentions weren’t pure, but still kept going down this road.

Back then, when Old Mrs. Wilson agreed to Emerie Wilson’s marriage, it was also because he knew Benjamin Walton had his eye on the Wilson Clan’s assets and wanted to use those assets to rein him in and force him to treat Emerie well.

But was he not worried that one day Benjamin Walton would break free of the leash and bite back?

"Looks like my appearance messed up Old Mrs. Wilson’s hand." Sophie thought about it briefly and understood.