Realizing the catastrophic financial hit their own family was about to take, Mrs. Patton frowned deeply.
"So, what's our move?"
Patton let out a heavy sigh. "We never should have taken Rose under our wing."
Feeling like she was being blamed, Mrs. Patton bristled defensively. "I wasn't the only one who wanted to mentor her. You adored her just as much as I did."
To be fair, her affection for the girl had waned significantly as Rose grew older.
When she was little, her sweet-talking had been endearing.
Now, it just felt calculated and painfully fake.
It was the same girl, but her innocence had long evaporated.
Rose only ever poured on the charm when she wanted something expensive.
Still, she had been a fixture in their lives for years, and Mrs. Patton cared for her.
But weighed against her own family's survival and fortune, the girl's well-being was entirely irrelevant.
"If it comes down to it, we reject the shipment and cut them off!"
When pushed, Mrs. Patton was far more ruthless than her husband. "Randall crossed the line. We are just adhering to standard business protocol."
"Even if Vertex finds out, showing them we handled it swiftly might mitigate the damage."
Patton pinched the bridge of his nose, his voice grim. "You're right. I can't sit back and watch decades of hard work burn to the ground."
"We're meeting them at The Summit View tomorrow. You're coming with me."
"I'll pick up the check, but after tomorrow, we're cutting ties with The Randall Family."
While the Pattons finalized their strategy, a very different kind of panic had consumed the Randall household.
"Rose, you're coming to dinner tomorrow. If Patton loses his temper, I need you to smooth things over."
Randall knew that playing with fire inevitably led to burns.
He had no excuse for getting caught.
He had assumed he could just offer Patton a bigger cut of the profits to make it disappear.
But his old friend's furious reaction had deeply unsettled him.
Desperate for a safety net, he decided to use his daughter as a human shield.
Rose was shocked that her father's partnership with her mentor was fracturing. "Don't worry, Dad. I've got your back."
Despite her confidence, Randall wasn't optimistic.
He had a sickening feeling that this wouldn't just blow up his business-it would permanently sever the ties between their families.
The next evening, Randall and Rose arrived at The Summit View.
Patton and his wife pulled into the valet a few minutes later.
Claire and Dane had arrived early, and after watching the two families walk into the restaurant, they requested the private dining room right next to theirs.
fo FindNovel.net
The two spaces were separated by nothing but a thin, sliding partition, designed to
open up for large corporate parties.
Randall had originally requested a
fully soundproof, exclusive VIP suite,
but a man of his social standing
simply didn't have the clout to
reserve one. He had settled for this
room out of pure desperation.
What he didn't realize was that Dane had used his limitless wealth to orchestrate
this exact seating arrangement.
Dane and Claire casually ordered four of the restaurant's signature dishes.
Next door, however, it sounded like an endless parade of appetizers and main courses being ordered.
The partition was so thin that Claire and Dane could hear every word perfectly.
They knew exactly what Randall was doing—trying to butter Patton up with expensive food and liquor.
Then, he would try to guilt his friend into sweeping the substandard materials under the rug.
No doubt, they'd then conspire on how to outsmart the Vertex Quality Control Team.
Truthfully, a dispute this trivial didn't require a billionaire CEO's personal intervention.
But Claire had seemed intrigued, mentioning she had crossed paths with the Randall gir, before Dane had tagged along simply to indulge her.
It was practically a date.