The Scent of 345

When Wynn was on the phone with Matthias, she was sitting in a luxurious private room in a restaurant with Lilian, Erin, and the others, waiting for their dishes to be served.

Lilian noticed the awful look on Wynn’s face after the phone call ended. She asked, “What’s the matter? What did Matthias say to you?”

Wynn tightened her grip on her phone and responded, “Matthias is terminating the collaboration with us and demanding we compensate YodaVision Co. for damage of reputation.”

“What?” Lilian gasped, and so did Erin, Linda, and the others.

Linda said angrily, “We have apologized properly for this incident. Didn’t the bitch say that the whole thing will blow over once you get in touch with Matthias and tell him how sorry we are?

“Why is he terminating the contract and demanding some kind of compensation?”

Lilian wore an icy expression, but she caught on fast and chimed in, “Celeste did it on purpose.”

Linda didn’t get it, though. “Huh?”

Wynn said, “Celeste wanted InnovaTech and YodaVision’s collaboration to fall through because she wanted to delay the launch of our autonomous vehicles.”

Countless companies, both local and foreign, were dabbling in autonomous vehicles. If they were delayed, a wrong maneuver would drastically reduce their products‘ marketability.

If they actually terminated the collaboration, they would definitely have to look for another collaborative partner. The thing was, there was next to no chance that their new partner could compete with YodaVision Co. in terms of technology.

For that matter, the process would cost funding, and it wouldn’t be a small amount. Terminating the contract and searching for a new partner would both cost them precious resources.

If their autonomous vehicle’s marketability were radically reduced, the estimated total loss would be immeasurable.

Linda was utterly dumbfounded. She had never expected for the matter to become this serious. It wasn’t just her, either. Wynn and the others in the private room didn’t see this coming either.

Otherwise, Wynn wouldn’t have naively made a phone call to Matthias, thinking that an apology or some compensation could appease him.

Linda slammed the table and cried out, “He can’t terminate the collaboration. We can’t let him!”

Everyone knew that they couldn’t let this come to pass, but none of them had the kind of say in the matter.

Erin chimed in with a darkened expression, “Talk to Matthias again. We can amend the agreement again or give him compensation. We’re all businessmen. As such, he would never turn his back on money.

“More to the point, he stands to lose some profit if the collaboration is terminated. There’s no reason to think that he wouldn’t agree to it as long as we can make him a tempting offer.”

Wynn didn’t respond to Erin. It wasn’t so much that she didn’t want to talk to Matthias as it was that she lacked confidence he would accept her terms.

He would lose out on profits if the collaboration was terminated, but he was willing to bear that loss because he wanted to screw her over on Celeste’s behalf. In other words, it also meant that Celeste still meant a lot to him.

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Chapter 345

+25 BONUS

Lilian also came to the same conclusion, but she pondered on it and said, “This incident could be a big deal, but it’s perfectly possible to handle it as a minor hiccup. Matthias could try taking us to court to terminate the collaboration, but that doesn’t mean that his victory is guaranteed.”

Linda’s eyes sparkled. “Yeah. If they can’t win us in the legal battle, they won’t have any choice but to continue collaborating with us.”

Wynn didn’t share Linda’s optimism. She responded, “Legal battles are messy and time–consuming. They might not be able to beat us in court, but they still would have succeeded at delaying us.

“More to the point, what if they did win the case? What if we have to hold off looking for a new partner until the. legal case is resolved? That will just make us miss out on more opportunities.”

Linda was stumped. All of a sudden, she had trouble stringing sentences together.

Patricia also had a terrible look on her face. “Celeste looks like such a pushover most of the time. She had never struck me as the scheming and malicious type. I have to say that I’ve underestimated her.”

Trevor had already taken their side a long time ago, and he had made a ton more sacrifices for the Locket and Shaw families than Celeste ever did.

Initially, they all thought that Celeste would be powerless to fight back against them. However, she managed to deal a critical blow to them when they least expected it.

At any rate, avoiding the legal battle and termination of collaboration would prove to be the most beneficial solution for them.

At the thought of it, Lilian looked at Wynn and said, “You have to talk to Trevor about this.”

Chapter 346

Chapter 346