Celeste murmured a reply. Jordyn paused, realizing that Celeste might not know who Shanice was, and quickly added, "Shanice is my friend—she calls Mr. Harper her uncle."Celeste responded softly, noticing how eager she was to share. "What did you guys do?""We explored a maze!"Celeste listened without much reaction, but Betty's expression grew stern. When Trevor took Jordyn back, she thought he would be looking after Jordyn himself. It was only now that she realized Trevor wasn't taking care of Jordyn himself. Instead, he was focused on dating Wynn and would rather leave her with someone else than let Celeste care for her. Betty's face soured. Jordyn had no clue what Betty was thinking. Then, she added, "Mr. Harper asked me to stay for dinner, but I want to come back, so I called you."Celeste nodded. "Did you thank him then?" she asked. "Yes, I did!" Jordyn replied cheerfully. Celeste didn't ask any further. Since Jordyn had finished her homework, she stayed in
Even though YodaVision had sealed the deal with Jorge and Beck, certain aspects of the business still lacked suitable partners. To accelerate the search for the right partners, enhance the company's exposure, and push for growth, YodaVision had been organizing an investment conference, which officially took place on Monday morning. After dropping Jordyn off at school in the morning, Celeste headed to the hotel for the conference. By the time she got there, Matthias and the others were already present.Celeste was set to take the stage shortly as the company's core engineer to deliver a speech and answer the media's questions. Hence, she was going over the agenda backstage with Matthias. Just then, Beck arrived.He had only been seated for a moment when Jorge also showed up. About 20 minutes later, Matthias and Celeste went upstage to give their speeches. Jorge appeared engaged during Matthias's speech, yet when Celeste stepped forward, a frown crept onto his face. Was
However, everyone thought she was just being humble.After a brief moment of celebration, the team settled back into work. Wynn knew YodaVision had a press conference this morning. She was just too busy to look it up online. Then, she grabbed her phone and searched for news about the conference. "Did you attend the press conference this morning as well, Mr. Robinson?" she asked Jorge."Yeah."She was watching the video seriously, and the screen happened to be displaying Celeste's presentation on YodaVision's products and technology. He observed Wynn's expression and noticed that she looked composed, without any hint of displeasure or irritation toward Celeste. Remembering Celeste's hostility toward Wynn on Christmas and comparing it to Wynn's demeanor now, he was even more convinced that Celeste couldn't match Wynn's level of composure. Just as he was about to speak, Albert leaned over and commented, "I watched parts of YodaVision's press conference, and I have to say, t
After hanging up, Harvey set down his phone. As he watched the YodaVision press conference playing on the huge screen, he pressed his fingers against his temple, feeling the weight of his concerns. Linda lounged as she enjoyed the fruit. However, watching Celeste command the stage with such ease at a major event unsettled her. With a scowl, she turned off the TV. "Why does she get to be the one up there? She's stealing all the attention.""That's not the point," Lilian said. As far as she was concerned, Celeste was just benefiting from Matthias' influence. A speech at the press conference? So what? That was nothing but a superficial moment in the spotlight. What truly mattered was YodaVision's technology. That was the real prize. Harvey caught on to Lilian's meaning. Sure, Celeste spoke well at the event, but when it came to YodaVision's technology, he, Wynn, and Lilian all believed that Matthias had fed her the information beforehand. There was no way she genuinely un
"Okay.""I'll hang up now. I have to work later," Celeste added. "Alright, bye, Mom!"Celeste then ended the call. After having breakfast, she went to the office. Yesterday had been hectic, and today was just as demanding. But in the afternoon, she managed to leave a little early and went back to the Rodriguez residence to have lunch with Betty. When she arrived, she noticed that Betty seemed a little down. She glanced around the living room, and Jordyn was nowhere to be seen. Jordyn was probably out having dinner with Trevor. Celeste wasn't fazed, but Betty noticed how attached Jordyn was to Trevor. With a serious tone, she said, "Cel, when work isn't as hectic, you really need to spend more time with Jo. Otherwise…"Celeste nodded absentmindedly. "I know. I will. Let's eat first."Betty sighed, letting the conversation end there. After dinner, Celeste chatted for a bit with Betty before she went upstairs to rest. At around 9:00 pm, she went downstairs, only
Celeste placed the cake box into the fridge. Just as Jordyn finished her bath, her phone rang. It was Trevor who called. She answered the call. "Dad?""I just received a message from your grandpa, and he's coming back in the afternoon tomorrow. I'll send someone to pick you up after school, and we'll have dinner at home. Go tell your mom about this."Trevor's father, Lincoln Fleming, worked for the government. He was usually busy working, and he seldom had time to visit his family. The night Martha took a fall, Lincoln rushed back at dawn but left again before the sun even rose. Now, with her still in the hospital, Lincoln arranged for two days off so he could return and spend New Year's Day with her. Upon hearing what Trevor had just said, Jordyn replied, "Okay, got it."After speaking, she suddenly remembered that Trevor had said "pick you up" on the phone—not "pick you both up".That meant Celeste wasn't part of the plan. Hence, she turned to Celeste and asked, "
Technically, she was still married. And with where things stood between them, saying something like that would be inappropriate. After seeing Beck off, Celeste quickly headed back upstairs. He watched her go, lingering for a moment before turning to James Ford, one of his company's core engineers, and said, "I need your help with something.""Of course," James replied. "A friend of mine is looking to study natural language processing in depth but needs an elite mentor…"James listened and, given their rapport, agreed without question.However, he paused for a moment before continuing, "I may have some expertise in this field, but to be honest, I don't think I measure up to Mr. Yoder from YodaVision or Ms. Rodriguez, who has been handling our collaboration discussions. So, if you're looking for the best guidance, Ms. Rodriguez or Mr. Yoder might be better choices."Beck was a little surprised when he heard what James had said. His background was in finance, and AI wasn't h
Wynn was stunned for a moment. After processing his words, she responded kindly, "No worries. Your plans should come first."Beck nodded. Once Wynn drove off, he got into his own car. But instead of starting the engine, he reached for his phone, found Celeste's number, and, after a brief pause, dialed. Celeste was still at the office. Seeing his name on the screen, she answered the call casually, "Mr. Harper?"Beck had words at the tip of his tongue, but the noise in the background made him stop short. Instead, he asked, "Still working at this hour?""Yeah."Considering the time, Celeste assumed this wasn't a work matter. "I'm free tomorrow. What does Shanice have in mind?"Silence.Noticing his silence, Celeste prompted, "Mr. Harper?"Beck knew how busy she had been this week. It was already past nine, and she was still working. He didn't even need to ask—she had to be drained. Her own daughter had returned to the Fleming Manor, and she wouldn't get to see her tom
It turned out that Matthias was away on business.Wynn was lost in thought when Kieran asked nonchalantly, "Anything else?"She shook her head and asked, "It's been a while since you started working at YodaVision Co. Is everything going well for you?""It's been good," he responded. "If that's all, I'll be heading up then."Then, Kieran turned and left. Wynn frowned slightly as she watched his retreating figure. There was no hesitation in his footsteps. Kieran was upset at her for revealing his whereabouts to the Gibsons. So, he hadn't answered any of her recent phone calls. Then, she ran into him today. When he finally responded to her, she thought he was done being upset at her. However, he was still much colder to her than before. Wynn grinned. He probably just needed more time to calm down. A phone call interrupted her thoughts. It was a number she didn't recognize, and the person said that he was an attorney representing YodaVision Co. He was acting on Matthias' orde
Linda was completely dumbfounded. She hadn't expected that even Trevor couldn't resolve the incident.She said frantically, "I still don't get it. T-This was obviously a trivial matter. Can Celeste and Matthias take us to court and terminate the collaboration just because they couldn't let go of a jibe? S-Surely, something like that is not feasible."Wynn responded, "I got my lawyer to go through and confirm the clauses in the collaboration agreement between InnovaTech and YodaVision Co. The stipulations clearly stated that either party has the right to terminate the collaboration if the other party damages its reputation.""B-But, it doesn't matter if this incident damages their reputation. It's not going to have a big impact on them."Wynn said, "It would barely scratch their reputation. Ordinarily, if something like this happens, we just have to eliminate the impact this matter brought to YodaVision Co., apologize, and give them some gifts as compensation. That would've been eno
"He called me several minutes ago." Celeste said.Matthias snickered. "I knew it. You were the first person he called."Both of them had predicted that Wynn would seek Trevor's help and that he might want to screw with the Rodriguez family for her sake.Meanwhile, Trevor also predicted that they might threaten him to back off with the latest collaboration between Fleming Tech and YodaVision Co. That was why he got in touch with Celeste first. He wanted to see if he could work things out with her. However, she didn't give him a chance to do it. So, he contacted Matthias instead. Matthias dealt with Trevor because he was the official person in charge of YodaVision Co. It was more appropriate for him to have the conversation with the latter. This also led Matthias to see that Trevor intended to set Celeste up for Wynn's sake because Trevor mistakenly thought that she was meek and gullible. The notion filled his heart with rage. At the same time, he was concerned about Celeste a
On the same afternoon, Celeste received a phone call from Trevor not long after she arrived at YodaVision Co. InnovaTech would suffer a huge loss if they were to terminate the collaboration.When she saw his name on her phone screen, she knew why he had called. So, she didn't answer. He gave her two more calls, but she didn't answer any of them. Then, he dialed Matthias' number instead. Needless to say, Matthias also knew why Trevor was calling him, but he answered it. He went straight to the point and said, "Is this about InnovaTech?"Trevor responded, "Yeah. Mr. Yoder, name your terms.""I'm sorry, Mr. Fleming. Ms. Locket crossed a line, and I'm not going to waver this time." Then, Matthias added coldly, "Is there anything else you want to talk about?"Trevor asked, "Is there no way we can turn this around?""No," Matthias said. "My lawyer and I will follow up with this matter closely. I don't want you to pester my company staff. Otherwise, it just tells me that you're the s
Wynn had the same idea, but the thing was that they started the whole mess to begin with. She had maintained a gentle demeanor around Trevor to this point. If he learned about this incident, she wasn't sure if he would think that she and her family had been picking on Celeste. That, in turn, would affect her image in his heart.Needless to say, Lilian understood Wynn's concerns. She knew better than anyone how important it was to maintain one's image. After all, that was the key to making a man love a woman forever. Erin also understood it. Trevor loved Wynn deeply because she was very special to him. If they handled it carefully, it might not have a lasting effect on Wynn. However, it was still not a good move for her. She glanced at Linda and said nonchalantly, "Linda, you're a grown-up. You really have to mind what you do and say in the future."If they failed to handle this incident with finesse, it might prove to be a fatal blow to their families. "But, I…" Linda trailed
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 a
Celeste made some time in the afternoon and filled Matthias in about what had happened. "You'll have to shift the focus of the conflict for this."He paused briefly before he caught on to what she was hinting at. Grinning, he said, "Okay. I know what I have to do."Shortly after, Matthias received a call from Wynn. He answered it casually and heard her voice over the phone. "Mr. Yoder, I wonder if you're aware of the morning incident."He chuckled and said, "Ms. Locket, are you referring to the moment when your family ignored the truth and accused my staff of being incompetent? If I got it right, they also slandered my staff for not being committed to fulfilling the terms of our agreement."Wynn responded, "I'm sorry, Mr. Yoder. Linda is in the wrong this time. I will…"Matthias interrupted her and said, "Furthermore, it was made known to me that my staff told you about what happened and defended my company, but you accused her of blowing the incident out of proportion. Did some
Lilian and Wynn's expressions shifted slightly when they heard what Celeste said. Normally, they would have made Linda apologize when something like this happened. They would never let the incident get worse and affect their reputation. However, Celeste said that they were free to terminate the contract with YodaVision Co. if they found her and her colleagues to be incompetent. Saying something like that shifted the Lockets and the Shaws' focus to the question of whether she had the power to call the shots for YodaVision Co.They instinctively thought that it didn't matter if Linda was in the wrong. They could still decide if they wanted to apologize to Celeste after they were done arguing with her. However, they didn't expect Celeste to capitalize on their careless mistake and steer the focus off track.Not everyone in the company had a clue about the feud between Celeste and the Lockets and the Shaws, be it YodaVision Co.'s technicians or InnovaTech staff. They were merely on
If a party breached the contract for no good reason, that party was required to pay compensation as per the stipulations. Celeste wouldn't mind calling off the collaboration with InnovaTech if YodaVision Co. was compensated handsomely. "Why, you!" Linda would love to draft the violation of contract agreement. However, she didn't have the authority to make any decisions for InnovaTech. Even if she could do it on behalf of Wynn, Matthias had YodaVision Co.'s back. She was aware that Wynn and the others in the family wanted to keep an amicable relationship with him. If Linda rashly called the shots and terminated YodaVision Co.'s contract, she would definitely cross Matthias. This alone was enough to make Wynn think twice before agreeing to do it. For that matter, Patricia, Erin, and the others shared the same thoughts. Patricia found it distasteful when she saw how Linda was stumped. In fact, even Lilian's gaze turned colder when she looked at Celeste. None of them thought Celest