"So that's how Rose's family operates. Embezzling all that money and cutting corners, while his daughter parades around town bragging about how their family is about to strike it rich."
"Looks like they thought the Westside Heights Project was going to be their golden goose."
Assigning the culinary center's renovation to Patton had been a test of his capabilities.
Whether they would continue contracting his firm was entirely up in the air.
Yet, Old Randall had already treated the materials contract for the Westside Heights Project as his personal piggy bank.
The sheer audacity was staggering.
Patton had only allocated a fraction of the orders to Old Randall, and the man had immediately let the power go to his head.
"I didn't terminate the contract with Patton for two reasons. First, he was honest and owned up to it. Second, making a mistake like this will force him to be infinitely more cautious moving forward."
Patton knew this was the only lifeline Dane would throw him.
If he fumbled it, he'd share Old Randall's fate.
No, worse-he'd end up just like the ruined James Family!
From now on, Patton was going to be ruthlessly thorough when selecting material suppliers.
He would even require Vertex International to vet and approve every single vendor before finalizing anything.
That exact level of caution was exactly what Dane wanted from him.
Claire nodded in understanding. "Patton just had a lapse in oversight, but he caught
it in time to do damage control."
"At the end of the day, his only crime was trusting the wrong guy."
"Hopefully, he actually steps up to fix this."
Dane actually saw potential in Patton.
Though his misstep would delay the culinary center's completion slightly, Patton was a fundamentally responsible contractor.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have discovered the defective materials during a holiday weekend.
Vertex International had chosen Patton out of a sea of contractors for a reason.
He might not have been the absolute best in Apex, but he had the highest customer satisfaction rating.
Even with a slight dip in recent years, his foundational skills were solid.
Patton desperately needed a high-profile client to stage a comeback.
That was why he was taking the Westside culinary center so seriously.
This was his golden ticket, and he absolutely wouldn't let anyone jeopardize it!
Patton's proactive attitude had genuinely saved his business.
Now that Dane was giving him a second chance, Patton would work twice as hard to prove his worth.
Even if he didn't make a single dime off the culinary center, he was going to earn back his reputation.
Understanding the corporate chess moves at play, Claire actually felt a twinge of sympathy for Patton.
His massive comeback had nearly been annihilated by Rose's father.
However, now that Old Randall was
buried under lawsuits, how was Rose doing to afford her luxury shopping sprees to show off to everyone?
Claire couldn't wait to share the juicy update with Shirley.
It wasn't that Claire loved kicking people when they were down; Rose was just
uniquely insufferable.
Shirley practically blew up her phone immediately.
"Claire, what did you just say? You ran into Rose's dad?"
"Are they really swapping out materials and scamming people?"
"And Mr. Green is dragging them to court?!"
Shirley sounded ready to pop champagne.
"You have no idea how toxic Rose has been. She secretly took photos of us that day and posted them everywhere, mocking us for being broke."
"Everyone actually believed her
family snagged the Westside
Heights Project, and was about to fitt
the big leagues. So many people
were kissing her ass."
"But she's got plenty of haters too, so the second she posted, people were sending
me screenshots."
Shirley was absolutely thrilled.
Now, she got a front-row seat to watch Rose desperately try to salvage her trashed reputation.