“Why not?” Averie asked in confusion as she put her glass down. “Is it the price?”
Mike shook his head and said, “We pose a threat to the other drone companies in the country. They’re worried that we’ll monopolize the market, so they joined forces to kick us out.”
Averie could not help but laugh.
“Do they think we can’t survive if Nycra doesn’t sell us their high-end lenses? What a joke!”
“The other domestic camera companies won’t work with us either.”
Averie nodded and said, “Let’s look for a company abroad.”
“The cost would be too high, Averie,” Mike said. “Besides, there aren’t that many famous camera companies in the world. Most of them have exclusive contracts and already signed special agreements.”
“I know,” Averie said blandly. “It’s just like how Alpha Technologies has an exclusive contract with Bohmer Holdings. Although we own Tate Industries, too, Bohmer Holdings can’t sell lenses to us as long as we go by that name and not Alpha Technologies.”
Averie hung her head and began to think of a plan.
At that moment, Mike spoke up.
“Nycra gave me Golden Technologies’ president’s business card. I talked to him earlier. He said Nycra will work with us if we share information on our core technology for the Super Brain system.”
Averie scoffed and said, “Golden Technologies? Isn’t their vice president my father’s former vice president, Shaun Locklyn? He almost killed me over the Super Brain program.”
“Haha! You’re old enemies, then!”
“That’s right! You can tell the president of Golden Technologies to dream on!”
“I knew you wouldn’t accept, which was why I declined last night.”
An idea suddenly popped into Averie’s mind.
“Recall the Storm Series and give a refund to every customer.”
Mike raised his brows in disbelief, then said, “Are you sure? The lens on the Storm Series may not be high-end, but it’s not considered that bad. As long as it’s used in a professional setting, the average consumer would find it just fine.”
Averie corrected his way of thinking and said, “We have to brave the consequences of our mistakes. The loss of money is nothing compared to the loss of reputation.”
“Roger that!” Mike said with a grin. “Our biggest customer is Elyette Foster. Should I go talk to him, or will you?”
Averie’s cheeks turned crimson red.
She had just drawn the line between herself and Elyette and even blocked his number.
In the end… Such a serious issue just had to occur with their sales!
How embarrassing!
“Of course you’re going!” Averie said as her eyes glistened and her cheeks flushed. “Didn’t you hear my argument with him earlier?”
“Okay. I’ll go see him tomorrow,” Mike said, then pulled Averie over to the kitchen. “You should eat! The problems will be solved. If worse comes to worst, we could invest in Bohmer Holdings and let them open a brand new company here in Aryadelle!”
Averie chuckled and said, “My thoughts exactly.”
“They underestimated you! They thought you’d be scared to tears! Ha!” Mike sweet-talked.” If Elyette Foster doesn’t scare you, who could?!”
The mention of Elyette’s name made the smile on Averie’s face disappear. “I had a pretty big fight with him earlier, Mike. Be careful tomorrow.”
The next day, Elyette showed up at the intensive care unit first thing in the morning.
After drinking the soup that Mrs. Scarlet made her the night before, Shea’s mind turned cloudy.
She felt drained and fell asleep.
When she woke up after a night of sleep, her eyes were lifeless.
That was until Elyette appeared.
“How are you feeling today, Shea? Does your head hurt?”
His gentle, familiar voice made the emotion return to Shea’s face.
“Why isn’t Averie coming to see me, Big Brother?” she asked dejectedly.
Elyette’s brows furrowed slightly, and the tenderness in his eyes disappeared.
“She won’t come to see you. Don’t think about her or her children anymore, Shea.”
She was even more upset now.
“None of you believe me… Averie spoke to me. She asked me a lot of questions…”
Elyette’s heart ached at the sight of his sister’s sickly complexion.
“It’s not that I don’t believe you. Perhaps she really did speak to you, but it was only in your dreams.”
“Really?” Shea glanced at Elyette, as if in a trance.
Was it all truly just a dream?
“I always dream of our childhood, but I come back to reality when I wake up. No matter how real the sights and sounds feel, it’s all still just a dream. None of it is real,” Elyette explained patiently.
Shea lowered her gaze, as if she was processing and trying to accept his words.
Elyette left the hospital at 10 a.m. and made his way to Sterling Group.
Mrs. Scarlet was taking care of Shea, so he was not worried.
Shea was a little downcasted today, but it was still a more suitable mood to be in during recovery compared to the intense emotions from the day before.
Mrs. Scarlet mentioned that Zoe had prescribed some sedatives to Shea.
Perhaps this was the work of the medication?
Speaking of Zoe…
When Averie told him to live a good life with Zoe last night, he was so furious that he did not get a wink of sleep.
However, his mind changed slightly after he had time to calm down.
When Elyette arrived at Sterling Group, he entered his office with Chad following closely behind him.
“Tate Industries is in trouble, sir. Have you seen the news?” Chad asked.
“Not interested,” Elyette responded coldly.
Chad had found out about Elyette’s fight with Averie from Mike, so he was not surprised by his boss’s reaction.
“Here’s the thing, Tate Industries released a public statement this morning announcing their decision to recall all of the Storm Series drones,” Chad said cautiously as he observed Elyette’s expression. “Mike called me this morning and wanted me to ask you if you’d like to return all the products we bought before.”
Elyette turned on his computer, then raised his brows and said nonchalantly, “Do you know why Mike was the one who contacted you?”
Of course Chad knew the reason, but he did not dare show it.
“Averie blocked’my number,” Elyette said with a bitter chuckle. “She can’t contact me, so she asked Mike to do it.”
Chad was speechless.
He did not expect this at all!
Fighting aside, was there a need for something as childish as blocking someone’s number?!
“What would you like to do?” Chad saw Elyette’s broken heart through his cold laugh and tried to guess what he was thinking. “Shall we return everything and let them suffer the loss?”
Elyette’s face froze.
“She won’t suffer from a monetary loss. I won’t return anything. Let her feel bad about it.”
Chad was dumbfounded.
It was getting harder for him to figure out the way his boss’s mind worked.
Did he want Averie to suffer, or did he feel bad about making Averie refund the money?
Chad called Mike when he walked out of the office.
“How did it go? What did Elyette Foster say?” Mike asked.
Chad adjusted his glasses, then said, “Make Averie unblock my boss’s number right away! He’s furious about this.”
Mike held his head in his hand and said, “He won’t return the goods if she unblocks him?”
“That’s right,” Chad said with certainty.
Mike opened the door to Averie’s office.
There was nobody inside. Averie had left for the office first thing in the morning to deal with this fiasco.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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