“Andrew, I knew you were pretending to be drunk.” Isabella smiled softly, leaning in to hug his arm. Her bright eyes looked at him curiously as she asked, “What kind of trick did Idris try to pull?”
Andrew straightened up, lazily resting his arm on the car window, a trace of disdain showing in his expression. “It was a basic and old-fashioned trick. They tried to get me drunk so I’d sign the contract. Your dad was very enthusiastic about it; Idris must have promised him a lot of benefits.”
“That’s just like David. If there’s profit involved, he’d even dig up the Harris family ancestral graves,” Isabella said sarcastically. Then she asked, “You didn’t sign it, did you?”
“Of course I signed it.” Andrew’s smile turned wickedly charming. “If I didn’t sign it, how would they give up?”
Isabella blinked her long lashes, looking at him suspiciously.
Andrew chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders.
“Our conglomerate is a massive enterprise, not some small workshop. To start an investment project, the proposal has to go through the project department, market research, planning approval, and auditing. Only then does it reach the executive vice president’s office. After Ryan reviews it, it finally comes to me. In other words, a contract needs signatures from more than a dozen departments to be valid. Idris thinks that just my signature can get him money from the company. His idea is too naive. Tomorrow, whether he can even enter the company gates is uncertain.”
Isabella sighed lightly. “Idris is going to come up empty-handed. Aria is definitely going to suffer.”
“Your cousin is so eager to play matchmaker. She must be getting a lot of benefits too. She deserves it,” Andrew said calmly.
It was clear that he had everything planned out, and she had worried for nothing.
“You old fox, I was worried you’d get tricked. Now it seems, if you don’t trick others, it would be surprising. I was really worrying for nothing,” Isabella pouted slightly, half-jokingly complaining.
Andrew, hearing this, turned her face towards him and laughed playfully. “How did I, this old fox end up falling into the hands of you this little girl, hmm?”
As he spoke, he leaned closer, his hot breath falling on Isabella’s cheek, making her blush.
“Stop that, there are people here,” she said instinctively, glancing at the driver in the front seat.
However, as soon as she spoke, the driver, without changing his expression, pressed the automatic divider, turning the car into two separate spaces.
Isabella was speechless.
Andrew’s driver was too proficient at his job.
In the moment she was dazed, Andrew’s arm wrapped around her waist, and he kissed her boldly and passionately…
The next day, Idris eagerly took the contract signed by Andrew to the Turner family conglomerate.
But he didn’t even get past the front door. He was stopped by the receptionist.
“Sorry, sir, you can’t enter without an appointment.” The receptionist was polite but firm.
“Why are you stopping me? I’m a relative of your CEO,” Idris protested loudly.
The receptionist, probably used to such claims, immediately categorized Idris as a ‘fraudster.’ “Sir, if you continue to make a scene, I’ll have to call security to escort you out.”
Idris, of course, didn’t give up and tried to force his way in, only to be thrown out of the building by several security guards.
“You people are outrageous! I’m a relative of your CEO, and you dare treat me like this? Just wait and see!” Idris shouted furiously as he picked himself up off the ground.
The security guard snorted dismissively and mocked, “Alright, stop making up stories. Every day, there are at least a hundred people pretending to be the CEO’s relatives. Does he really have that many? If you were really his relative, why don’t you give him a call and have his secretary come down to fetch you?”
Idris lingered outside the Turner family conglomerate for a few days, never getting past the front gate. Eventually, he got smarter and, using his connections, found a low-level employee from the planning department who had an access card. Finally, Idris managed to sneak into the company.
Carrying the contract signed by Andrew, Idris strutted into the finance department, directly demanding the financial director to approve the funds. The outcome was predictable-he didn’t even get to see the financial director, who was in a meeting.
Idris waited for most of the day before finally meeting the director, who dismissed him with a single sentence. “Sir, is this your first time collaborating with the Turner family conglomerate? Investment contracts require stamps from over a dozen departments and then the CEO’s signature before funds can be released. Please complete all the necessary procedures.”
Idris was utterly dumbfounded. He ran to several departments, only to hit a wall every time. Not a single department dared to stamp the contract.
Eventually, the market department director, irritated by his persistence, threw him a line, “Since Mr. Andrew signed it, just go directly to him for the money. Why waste time here?”
As Idris was being thrown out of the market department, he overheard two employees mocking him.
“Nowadays, scammers are getting bolder, trying to scam the Turner family conglomerate.”
“What good is being bold with such low intelligence? This bumpkin has never seen the world; he didn’t even realize Mr. Andrew’s signature on the contract was just a facsimile stamp, and he dares to come here and scam…”
Idris left the Turner family conglomerate, disheveled and humiliated. The contract he had clutched, once worth billions, was now just a stack of worthless paper. Fuming, Idris returned home, grabbed Aria by the hair, and beat her mercilessly, blaming her terrible idea for his disgrace.
Aria was once again severely injured and hospitalized. When Mrs. Ada rushed over and saw her bruised and swollen on the hospital bed, she nearly fainted from grief, shouting that she wanted to kill the wretched Idris.
As it turned out, Idris’s family didn’t show up, nor did they pay for the medical expenses.
Mrs. Ada was livid. After understanding the full story, she redirected her anger towards Isabella and Andrew.
“Andrew is indeed a businessman; he’s played us all like fools. And to think we were so smug, believing we had outsmarted him.”
David remained silent, his lips pressed tightly. With no news from Idris, he knew something had gone wrong.
Andrew, despite his young age, held a high position and commanded a significant presence. He wasn’t someone who could be easily schemed against. It was evident that they had underestimated the situation.
Mrs. Ada, still clutching Aria’s hand, continued to cry and curse.
“The Turner family has so much money. What does it matter if they help out a relative? By playing Idris like this, isn’t Andrew pushing Aria to her death? David, call Isabella right now and tell her to come back! I need to ask her if she’s forgotten about her grandmother and father just because she’s transcended class. If she has, she shouldn’t come back anymore!”
David’s head throbbing from Mrs. Ada’s yelling, pulled out his phone and dialed Isabella’s number.