"Mr. Patton! Mrs. Patton!"
Rose greeted them enthusiastically, immediately moving in for a hug.
Completely oblivious to the fact that Claire—the girl she despised most—was sitting mere feet away.
She flashed her mentors a brilliant, sycophantic smile.
"What are you doing here, Rose?"
Patton and his wife frowned in unison.
They shot Randall a glare of pure disgust.
This was a critical business dispute. If Randall actually wanted to resolve it professionally, he shouldn't have weaponized his daughter.
Dragging her into this was a blatant attempt to manipulate their affection for her.
The Pattons exchanged a heavy look, whatever lingering fondness they had for the girl vanishing instantly.
Rose had always been an expert at reading the room. Noticing their icy demeanor, her stomach dropped.
Damn it!
She never should have come!
Her father might have been able to plead his case alone, but her presence had clearly backfired.
She tried to catch her dad's eye to signal him to back off, but Randall was entirely oblivious to her desperate looks.
Mrs. Patton, however, caught the exchange perfectly.
Mrs. Patton's frown deepened.
Rose felt a wave of bitter regret. She had completely misplayed her hand!
"Patton, my man, this is The Summit View's most exclusive reserve. Have a glass."
Randall completely missed the tension, eagerly reaching for the bottle to pour his friend a drink.
Patton covered his glass with a firm hand, disgusted by the charade. "I'm not feeling well. I'm skipping the alcohol tonight."
"Randall, we've been business partners for years. We were practically brothers. But you stabbed me in the back without a second thought!"
Randall feigned absolute shock. "Patton, I would never do that to you! It's just... things are tight right now. You know how ambitious Rose is."
"She's trying to study abroad, and I simply didn't have the cash. I had to cut costs wherever I could."
"We have to sacrifice everything for our kids' dreams, right?"
"I panicked, and it clouded my judgment."
"But the materials aren't even that bad! Once the drywall is up, it's not like Vertex is going to tear down the walls to inspect every single beam!"
Patton had guessed this was his logic. Randall naively assumed Vertex wouldn't micromanage the construction, which made him bold.
He had no idea Vertex had inspectors crawling all over the site.
"Vertex International isn't like the other developers," Patton said through gritted teeth. They run a ruthlessly tight ship. They don't just sign a check and walk away..."
Patton laid out the brutal reality of their situation.
He wanted Randall to fix this before it was too late.
Replace the defective materials, eat the cost, and offer a massive discount to make amends.
Then, Patton would march into Vertex headquarters and personally grovel for forgiveness.
He was gambling everything on the hope that Vertex would respect his transparency and let him off the hook.
If they blacklisted him, his career in Apex was entirely over.
Patton refused to go bankrupt.
The collapse of The James Family was a cautionary tale for everyone in town; Latham couldn't even secure an entry-level job now.
Everyone had watched his humiliating downfall, and Patton wasn't about to end up in the same gutter.
"Patton, I think you're being overly... cautious!" Randall stammered, biting back the urge to call him paranoid.
He needed to pacify the man, not ignite a full-blown war.
"Look, their CEO is based in Cabinda. The suits they sent down here are probably just annoyed to be on a business trip. If we show them a good time and grease the wheels, you really think they'll dig that deep?"
Randall was pitching the only strategy he knew. Bribery.
To him, corporate inspectors were all the same. Buy them enough,
enough cash, and they'd signoff on whatever you put in front of them.
expensive dinners and slide, me