Chapter 7

Linus looked like he wanted to eat Thea up right there and then.

Ever since he became the manager, he had slept with countless women, offering them benefits with his role.

At first, most of them rejected him.

However, after a while, they started to offer themselves up to him to gain access to deals, partnerships, and other benefits.

Jane was keen to make Linus’ plan a success as well. Making him happy was imperative to her own benefit.

She walked up to Thea and pulled her aside. “Thea, I know that you’ve suffered over the years. Now that you’re beautiful again, you have to use your looks to your advantage. We won’t stay young forever, you know? Once this golden period is gone, we’ll never get it back.”

“I’m married. I won’t do it.” Thea refused to give in.

Jane lost her temper. “Who do you think you are, Thea? Don’t you know it’s an honor that Linus likes you? If you offend him, you can forget about working with Celestial Group. Forever.”

“Jamie…”

Thea walked over to James.

James ignored Linus and Jane, gesturing toward the entrance. “Go on,” he said. “You’re meeting the chairman, not a lowly manager. Just ignore him.”

“Who are you, boy?” Linus looked at James coldly.

“F*ck off.”

James only had two words to say to him.

He was still the legendary Dragon General of the Southern Plains after all. Linus was a complete nobody.

In the chairman’s office on the top floor of the Celestial Group building.

Alex had been waiting for Thea since morning.

After all this time, she still had not shown up.

Being extremely anxious, he went downstairs to the first floor, checking with reception if a woman named Thea Callahan had asked to see him. The reception confirmed that no one by that name had come by.

Oh sh*t, he thought. Thea was the Dragon General’s wife. If he had somehow missed her or messed this up, not even the power the Yates name had could protect him.

Alex exited the building, planning to wait at the entrance for Thea.

As soon as he walked out, he saw his manager speaking to two people. He glanced over and noticed James. He shuddered involuntarily, his knees almost buckling. Wiping the sweat from his face, he quickly made his way over to them.

“Gen…”

Before he could finish, James glared at him.

Alex understood at once, quickly stopping himself.

James said, “Thea, isn’t that the chairman? Why are you still standing here? Go on. My fate depends on you.”

Thea followed his gaze and saw the balding man. Her eyes lit up. That was the chairman of Celestial Group indeed, Alex Yates.

“Ha ha.” Jane burst out laughing. “What a joke. The chairman is in his office.”

Linus wore an ugly expression on his face. “Thea, let me make this clear once and for all. If we don’t go to the hotel now, you’ll never be able to make a deal with Celestial, ever.”

He had to have Thea.

Every connection Celestial had with other companies and businesses was under his charge.

Besides the core partnerships, he decided on the distribution of the extra orders. If he blocked the Callahans off within Celestial, Thea would never get an order.

Alex approached them. With a wooden expression, he asked, “What are you doing? Don’t you have work to do?”

Jane and Linus turned around together.

Their smug expressions slid right off their faces as soon as they saw Alex.

“S-sir.” Linus started sweating. If the chairman found out what he had been doing, he would lose his job.

All he could do was pray that Alex did not hear what he had said earlier on.

Alex spread his arms. “What’s going on?”

James lightly shoved a stunned Thea.

Thea came to her senses. “H-hi, Mister Yates. I’m Thea Callahan from Eternality Group. I’m here on behalf of the company to explore a collaboration with Celestial Group. We would like to obtain some orders from you.”

As Alex Yates was a very important person, Thea felt small talking to him. She lost a bit of her confidence.

Cansington was the capital of medicine.

There were thousands of medicinal processing companies operating in Cansington, and these companies depended on big pharmaceutical organizations like Celestial to survive.

As Eternality Group was not a large company, they were not yet qualified to work with a company as large as Celestial Group.

“I’m asking you again. What are you doing here?” Alex’s face was stern as he looked at Jane and Linus.

James piped up. “My wife’s here to talk business with Celestial, but this manager wanted to take advantage of her. He’s abusing his power by dismissing Eternality Group. I think that as a large company, Celestial Group should deal with this matter fairly.”

“Of course.”

Alex nodded and said, “He’s right. Looks like we have some corruption to eradicate in the company. Linus Johnson, right? Go to the finance department and collect your salary. You’re fired.”

“Huh?”

Linus was shocked.

Had he been fired just like that?

“S-sir, don’t listen to him. The Callahans are too small to work with us. Celestial’s orders are meant for the more capable companies. They were bothering me, so I came up with an excuse to brush them off. All I do is for the company’s benefit.”

“Do you want me to repeat myself? And you, pack your things up and get lost.” Alex pointed to Jane.

He turned to James and Thea after that, smiling at them. “Miss Thea Callahan from Eternality Group, was it? This way to my office, please. Let me handle this personally.”

Alex gestured politely with his arm.

Thea was confused.

Since when was the chairman of Celestial Group this polite and easygoing?

James pushed her lightly again. “Go on then. This is a golden opportunity. My fate is in your hands.”

Thea caught up and nodded. “Oh, yes. Okay. Of course. No problem at all, Mister Yates.”

She was a little nervous.

Over the past ten years, she had barely left the house.

She had read a lot of looks and gained plenty of knowledge, but this was her first time conducting business after all.

Furthermore, she was trying to make a deal with the chairman of Celestial Group, of all people!

She lost her confidence and turned to James, looking scared. “Honey, I-I don’t think I can do it.”

“Mister Yates has extended an invitation to you personally. What else are you afraid of?” James pushed her, saying, “Go on. I’ll wait for you in the car.”

“Miss Callahan, this way, please.” Alex bowed slightly, gesturing with his arm again.

Jane and Linus goggled at this display.

They were right outside the building of Celestial Group. As they were a big corporation, there were always plenty of reporters lurking around. Many of them snapped pictures as they saw this scene play out.

It would be big news.

Alex Yates was the chairman of Celestial Group after all.

The Great Four were imposing, but even they had to play by Alex’s rules. Now he was being so respectful toward this woman.

Who was she?

What family did she come from?

Why had nobody seen her before?

Thanks to Alex’s invitation, Thea finally entered the building.

James, on the other hand, climbed into his car.

Sitting in the passenger seat, he lit a cigarette and passed one to Henry.

Henry did the same and took a drag from it. He asked, “General, was all that necessary? All you had to do was ask, and the Yates would have given you their entire corporation.”

James blew a smoke ring. “And why would I want it? As a gift for Thea? She might not like it. All I have to do is support her in her endeavors. Also, how many times do I have to tell you? Don’t call me General. It’s James here.”

“Sorry, James. It’s hard to break the habit.”

On the top floor of the Celestial Group building.

Alex took Thea to his office and made tea for her himself.

Thea was extremely shocked. Quickly, she said, “Mister Yates, l-let me do it myself.”

“Please sit down, Miss Callahan. I’ll make the tea. Make yourself at home, please.”

Thea could not wrap her head around it. “Mister Yates, I’m here to talk business…”

“Yes, yes, I know. Have a cup of tea first. I’ll get someone to prepare the contract right now. Oh, is an order of a hundred million enough? If not, I can increase the volume.”

“What?”

Thea was stunned.

She had not even said anything, yet Alex had given her an order of a hundred million dollars just like that. Since when was it so easy to conduct business with Celestial?

Alex noticed that Thea’s expression was uneasy, and thought that a hundred million was not enough. Immediately, he said, “Is it not enough? I’ll give you more. How does five hundred million sound to you?”

“No, no, it’s enough. A hundred million is enough,” Thea replied hurriedly.

Five hundred million?

What was going on?

With an order of five hundred million, the commission would be 20%. If the deal went through, the Callahans would get a profit of a hundred million dollars.

The Callahans were not able to pull off such a huge order yet.

They would be scrambling to keep up, and even an order of a hundred million dollars would require them to put their best foot forward.

Alex was extremely efficient. In no time, his secretary had drawn up a contract. Thea signed it, still in a state of shock.

Before she left, Alex gave her his business card. “Miss Callahan, this is my card. Let’s keep in touch.”

He never mentioned James once.

He knew who James was, yet Thea did not seem to know. As the chairman of Celestial Group, he knew how to read body language fairly well. James did not want his identity exposed. That much he knew.

Thea took the contract with her. As she left the building, she felt like all that happened was like a fever dream.

It was too easy.

She had barely spoken, yet Celestial had practically gifted the order to her.

She got into the car.

“Honey, I think that Alex Yates is trying to get into my good books. I barely said two words before he gave me an order worth a hundred million dollars. Actually, he wanted to give me an order worth five hundred million.”

James smiled. “You must have met him before.”

“Impossible. In the last ten years, I have not made any friends.” Thea rolled her eyes and looked at James, her eyes sparkling. “Honey, Alex was only so nice to me because of you, right?”