Chapter 07

Looking at her parents ridiculing Charlie, Claire sighed and said, “Dad, Mom, don’t blame Charlie for this. It was my idea, I just don’t want our family to be looked down on anymore. Haven’t we suffered enough all these years?”

Claire’s mother blurted, “But still, you can’t take on such a task. It’s not just you—even if your grandma goes in person, they wouldn’t entertain her!”

Charlie managed a bitter smile as he watched the bickering. He bet that his snobbish in-laws would never believe that he was the real owner of Emgrand Group.

At this exact moment, there was a knock on the door.

“I’m coming…”

Elaine heaved a distressing sigh as she walked to the door and opened it.

Charlie shifted his gaze to the door and saw a young man donning an Armani suit standing at the door. The man looked very charming and alluring with a Patek Philippe watch on his wrist, which seemed to be worth at least four million dollars.

Elaine shrieked excitedly, “Hey, Wendell! Why are you here?”

The man was Wendell Jones, the young man of the Jones family who had been pursuing Claire relentlessly.

Wendell donned a smile and said, “Auntie, I heard about Claire’s negotiation with the Emgrand Group, so I’m here to give her some ideas.”

“Wow, you really are our family’s life savior!”

Elaine was very excited and thrilled, and she looked at him like she was looking adoringly at her son-in-law. She quickly welcomed him into the house and said, “Wendell, could you help Claire to win Emgrand Group’s contract?”

Wendell nodded with a polite smile. He ignored Charlie entirely, treating him like a lowly ant. He walked straight to Claire and said gently, “Claire, why didn’t you tell me anything about this? This is huge. Anyway, don’t worry, my family has some connections with Emgrand Group. I’ll speak to my father, let’s see how we can help you with this.”

Frankly, Wendell’s father wasn’t as influential as he claimed to be, but he was simply trying to win Claire’s heart by saying so.

Claire knew that Wendell had feelings for her all along, so she said indifferently, “Wendell, I appreciate your kind offer, but no thanks, I’ll find a way myself.”

Elaine gaped in bewilderment and chided, “Claire, are you crazy? Mr. Jones is kind and generous enough to pay you a visit and help you, how could you say such things?”

Claire remained quiet, but Charlie asked Wendell intriguingly, “Mr. Jones, I’m curious, how can you help Claire? Emgrand Group is so big and I don’t think you’re much of an influence to them, right? And now you claim that you have a way to help Claire win the contract?”

Wendell sneered contemptuously and said, “What do you know? The Jones family and Emgrand Group have always been cooperating partners for years. This time, our family can get at least one-third of their two billion dollar project! Until then, I’ll ask my father to allocate ten million dollars as a subcontract to Claire—mission accomplished, isn’t it?”

Charlie gaped in surprise, “Wow! I didn’t know that the Jones family has such an intimate relationship with Emgrand Group!”

Wendell sneered. “Of course! Everyone in Aurous Hill knows about that!”

He then glared at Charlie disdainfully and uttered, “Charlie Wade, let me offer you a piece of advice. A frog in the well like you had better leave Claire now. A hopeless man like you can’t bring her happiness, you’ll only be her burden.”

Claire said coldly, “I’m sorry, Mr. Jones, I don’t need your help and please watch your mouth!”

Dumbfounded, Wendell said in disbelief, “Claire, I’m helping you, why are you still taking this loser’s side? Why are you so protective of him?”

Claire said in a serious tone, “He’s not a loser, he’s my husband!”

A gloomy cloud hovered over Wendell’s face. He growled furiously, “Okay! You asked for it, do as you please! I want to see how you’re going to solve this problem! Don’t come crying at me for not giving you a chance later on when you fail!”

Then, Wendell turned around, slammed the door, and left.

Elaine went after Wendell hurriedly, but he was long gone. She slapped her thighs indignantly, pointed at Charlie’s nose, and screamed, “You! How dare you! What else can you do besides being Claire’s burden? Mr. Jones had kind-heartedly lent a hand but you chased him away!”

Charlie said flatly, “Mom, he’s all talk. He can’t even win a contract with Emgrand, how can he help Claire?”

“Bullsh*t!” Elaine scolded, “What do you know, you ignorant fool! The Jones family can get one-third of the two billion dollar contract!”

Charlie was inexpressive but deep in his heart, he was grinning as he thought, ‘I don’t know how powerful the Jones family is, but I know that my Emgrand Group will never have any connection with them anymore! Even if they did work together on many projects previously, from now on, all of this will be terminated!’

Of course, Claire couldn’t read her husband’s mind. She turned to her mother and said, “Mom, don’t blame Charlie. Just wait until I return from Emgrand Group!”

“Huh!” Elaine sighed in great dismay, feeling that God was unfair to her. She had married a useless husband, while her daughter had married an even more useless man!

What had she done to end up like this!