Chapter 13 Only Business
“Mr. Davies?” Lucia tilted her head, for Arthur did not shake her hands. But the next moment, her hand was grasped by a large hand, entirely.
When their eye met again, he pulled his hand back in a way that was not so natural and said coldly, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Then he simply passed Lucia and sat down, “Just tell me what you need.”
Lucia slightly ducked her head and stared at her hand. Then she let out a smile. It seemed she did not mind his rudeness. She turned around and sat opposite Arthur.
“I do have a favor to ask from you, Mr. Davies.” She said after a short moment of pause, “It is about JTP Group.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
Arthur frowned when the name JTP was mentioned.
“You are helping JTP assess CTD, right?” He soon realized why Lucia came for him today. As the director of Branch of Davonnis, of course, he knew what was going on in other financial firms.
“Yes, something was wrong with the assessment, but we cannot find out why. I heard you have made business with them two years ago, is that true?” Since Arthur directly cut to the point, Lucia decided to do it in a frank and honest way and told him her current dilemma.
“Yes, we did have business with them, but it was not a happy one.” Arthur sneered.
If that was the case, then Lucia knew that she had the right person. She then asked tentatively, “The result of our assessment is wrong, but the process is correct. Did Mr. Davies bump into the same problem as we do now?”
Arthur then told Lucia everything he knew.
Two years ago, Branch of Davonnis first appeared in the financial world of Athegate and was growing with strong momentum. At that time, there was a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy due to cash-flow problems. JTP Group, known for its large appetite, offered to buy it out. And the firm that the bankrupting company hired to do the assessment work, was Branch of Davonnis.
When he heard that JTP Group were unsatisfied with the assessment result, Arthur sensed there might be some traps, so he sent someone to look into what that company had handed them.
It turned out that somehow their data were altered, which explained why the result went wrong. The mole was eventually found out and punished, but Arthur simply withdrew from the case. He was too proud to do something like that.
“It has been two years, but the cases were almost the same. If there was something wrong with the data the other party sent, then JTP Group must be responsible.” There was even no need to consider other possibilities.
“The compensation was not small.” Arthur sneered again. If he hadn’t found out the mole, Branch of Davonnis would have been fully responsible for the mistake and would have been required to pay compensation thirty times what they earned from the case.
“I got it. Thank you, Mr. Davies.” With no further questions, Lucia knew exactly what she needed to do next.
“You are welcome,” He replied blandly while taking up the coffee and taking a sip. Just as Lucia thought it was time to say goodbye, he asked, “Are you going to see Jacob?”
Lucia lifted her eyebrow, and answered frankly, “Yeah, it’s the only way to solve the problem.”
“Right. Take care.” What happened between Jacob and Lucia was not something that needed to dig. And now he was just reminding her out of sheer whimsy.
Lucia was startled for a minute, then thanked him softly.
After paying the bill, the two of them were going out. Arthur went to pick up his car, while Lucia was told to wait for him. He would send her back.
When she caught sight of the black Rolls-Royce Phantom driving towards her, she was surprised. If she remembered it correctly, it was this car that drove her son to her company, right?
When it stopped in front of her, and as the car window slowly went down, showing Arthur’s handsome face, Lucia was almost deranged.
“Get in.” Arthur did not think that much and simply invited her to get in the car.
Lucia stopped for a moment before getting on the passenger’s seat. The doubt in her heart was slowly unveiling itself. She wanted to confirm with him but didn’t know how.
Are you the man that my son made the acquaintance of?
Isn’t that weird?
Lucia felt it impossible to ask in that way.
Arthur glanced at the rearview mirror, in which he noticed Lucia had peeped at him several times. The corner of his lips could not help curving up. “What’s wrong?”
“No…nothing.” Feeling her peeping was detected, Lucia cast down her eyes and answered perfunctorily.
Arthur did not pry. He simply drove Lucia to her company. When they arrived at Jibillion Inc, he got off the car to see her off.
“Mr. Davies, I’m really grateful for your help.” Lucia gave him a polite smile and waved him goodbye.
She soon went back to her office and gathered her people to make a plan, a plan that would uncover whoever did this and bring justice to their firm.
In a blink of an eye, it was almost time for Lucia to pick up her son. She had no other way but to call the teacher, hoping she could look after Theodore for some time. When she finally made it to the kindergarten, there were only a few children. Looking at Theodore who was sitting in the corner, Lucia felt a prickling pain in her heart.
When he walked out with his little hand in the teacher’s, Lucia instantly bent over, held him in her arms, and kissed his little face that was getting a bit cold. “Sorry, baby. Mommy’s late.”
Theodore hugged her back and comforted her in turn, “It’s all right, Mommy. I had fun in school.”
A bittersweet sensation came over Lucia that pushed her to secretly decide to spend more time with her kid.
After picking Theodore up, Lucia was walking home with him. Now that a new nanny had been hired, they could have a nice dinner the minute they arrived home. Thinking of that, Lucia could even feel her footsteps lighter.
When they opened the door, a delicious smell of food wafted over. The whole apartment seemed more like home.
“Mom, it smells good.” Theodore jumped to the dining table while clapping his hands.
Lucia smiled, looking at him. She was not so good at cooking and could not make any delicate food. Now seeing Theodore was so excited and happy, of course, she was happy too. When Lucia was laying down her stuff in the living room, she heard someone walking out of the kitchen.
She was apparently shocked by the person from the kitchen.