Chapter 474
“Mr. Brown, is there any way we could reconsider the contract we signed earlier?”
Carlene knew it was a long shot, but the thought of inheriting a $2 billion debt from the Pennyfeather Group the moment she took over was a hard pill to swallow.
She had already sunk hundreds of millions into the acquisition and hadn’t seen a dime in return. If she sold off the Pennyfeather family’s company to repay the debt, she could be looking at a loss of a billion dollars.
The Shepard family’s coffers weren’t exactly overflowing at the moment.
Pretty much all the money she could spare had been spent over the past few days.
First, there was that painting she had barely been able to afford and bought to impress Edith, but it only ended up creating an awkward situation between them.
Then there was the company acquisition, which she had poured a lot of money into, and she might even have to dip into the Shepard family’s assets. If the other members of the Shepard family found out about this, they would flip their lids. She could expect a lot of ridicule, and the Shepard family might not have any peace for a while.
She had thought that acquiring the Pennyfeather family’s company would be a win, but it turned out that the contract the Pennyfeather family had signed with the EliteEdge Consortium was a real stinker.
This was a real kick in the teeth!
Her emotions flared up in a heartbeat.
“Why not ask Maja?”
“Ms. Shepard, you’re the president of the company now.”
Carlene bit her lip, her eyes welling up with unshed tears.
“If the contract doesn’t expire until next week, then come find me next week.”
Samuel, on the other end of the call, chuckled and said, “I just didn’t want you to forget, Ms. Shepard. After all, I did remind Maja last time.”
Carlene felt utterly helpless after hanging up the call.
How did it all come to this?
No wonder Maja high–tailed it out of the company the moment she was kicked out. She must have known about the Pennyfeather family’s debt. Being president had no perks at all.
So, she had become the scapegoat and even helped Maja?
Carlene was livid, and when Edith and Selena saw her stormy expression, they asked what had happened.
“Who was that on the phone? What’s wrong?”
Carlene found the words hard to spit out, especially with the two of them still hoping she would completely knock Maja out of the park.
But the reality was that she had ended up helping Maja!
She felt shattered, like she couldn’t bear the brunt of this blow.
She started crying and slowly spilled the beans.
But Edith, seeing her blubbering, was clearly not amused.
“Didn’t you check the contracts the Pennyfeather family had with other companies before the acquisition?”
Carlene heard the reproach in the question and felt like she had been frozen solid. She couldn’t afford to lose Edith’s support.
“Edith, I’ll try my best to fix this. You should get some rest tonight.”
In reality, Carlene was in a complete state of panic, but sticking around here would only make Edith and Selena more on edge.
And with Maja not here yet, the three of them waiting in advance looked like a total joke..
Carlene quickly took her leave, her whole body trembling as she walked out the door.
Even now, she still felt like she was stuck in a nightmare.
Just half an hour ago, she had been brimming with confidence; even had the EverBest Group officially issue a statement and had subtly bragged on Twitter. But now she had ended up taking on Maja’s debt.
She was so angry, she could spit nails.
If she was to pay off the EliteEdge Consortium, she would have to sell off the Penny feather family’s company right away. But if the EliteEdge Consortium leaked this information, who would buy it?
She was going to be stuck with all these shares, meaning she would owe more than a billion dollars.
Once she had thought this through, Carlene felt the last bit of color drain from her face.
She simply didn’t have that kind of money. If she used the Shepard family’s funds, all the influence she had built up over the years with lan would crumble. She had just wanted to give Maja a hard time; why had things suddenly spiraled out of control?
Carlene felt a wave of panic, her eyes wide with fear. Then she thought of lan. He was the only one who could help her now.
As long as lan was willing to step in and convince Samuel to drop this deal, there was still hope for her.
Carlene, pale as a ghost, gave lan a call. He had just gotten back to his hotel.
He was undoing his suit button with one hand and holding phone in the other.
“Carlene, what’s up?”
“lan, I don’t know what to do anymore. You’re the only one who can help me now.”
lan tossed his suit aside, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Tell me what happened.”
