Unexpected Windfall

Hearing this, Mr. Johnson nodded nervously: "I'm honored that Mr. Miller thought of me."

For someone like him, getting even a glimpse of George was normally harder than climbing to heaven, so George's sudden initiative to chat left him genuinely flustered.

After a pause, George spoke calmly: "I heard Mr. Johnson was interested in collaborating on the West City project. I'll have my secretary contact you tomorrow if you're available."

Mr. Johnson was utterly stunned by this unexpected honor, repeatedly expressing his gratitude: "Thank you, Mr. Miller, thank you so much."

For him, this was like winning the lottery out of nowhere.

George nodded slightly and gently patted his shoulder: "It's nothing."

As he spoke, he glanced at Ava and said softly: "If the young lady can't drink, don't force her. Mr. Johnson isn't the type to insist on making young women drink against their will, right?"

Mr. Johnson's heart skipped a beat at these words and quickly nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes, absolutely. I was just joking with her earlier."

With the matter settled, George nodded slightly and turned to leave the private room.

Standing there, Mr. Johnson felt a chill run down his spine, relieved that he hadn't pushed harder. His gaze lingered questioningly on Ava. Could she possibly have some connection to Mr. Miller?

With this thought, Mr. Johnson hurried over to apologize: "Ms. Flores, I'm sorry for my rudeness earlier. Please don't take it to heart."

Though Ava was completely baffled by what had just happened, since someone had helped resolve the problem, she gratefully took the exit offered to her.

For the remainder of the dinner, not only did no one give Ava a hard time, but occasionally people even engaged her in conversation.

But her mind remained restless throughout, her mind filled with the shadow she had glimpsed earlier.

After the dinner ended, Ava walked out of the hotel and specifically checked the parking spaces at the hotel entrance.

Unfortunately, she didn't see the familiar car.

Seeing this, Ava's eyelashes drooped slightly as she gave a small, wistful tug at the corner of her mouth.

It seemed George had intervened today only as a favor to Mia.

She had thought he looked familiar in the private room, but only after the dinner did she realize that this was the man who had been standing beside Sebastian at the summit, whom Mia had introduced her to.

After collecting herself, Ava hailed a taxi at the roadside and got in.

...

Meanwhile, across the street, a black Rolls-Royce melted into the darkness.

The man in the back seat noted the taxi's license plate before withdrawing his gaze and calmly instructing:

"Let's go."

Perhaps it was the alcohol, but that night Ava surprisingly didn't have any chaotic dreams, sleeping straight through until the next morning.

As soon as she arrived at the company, Lin approached her with a beaming smile: "Ms. Flores, there's good news."

Ava pushed open the office door and walked in: "What good news?"

Lin handed her phone to Ava: "Just received this email from LibertyNova's subsidiary this morning."

Hearing this, Ava's expression flickered with surprise before she quickly took the phone to check the email.

When her eyes landed on the words "confirming partnership intention" in the email, Ava felt a surge of excitement followed by an inexplicable sense of unease.

At yesterday's dinner, Mr. Johnson had clearly been more friendly toward Ruby, and the company Amelia had mentioned was close to finalizing a deal with was Ruby's company.

Was George behind this somehow?

This possibility sent Ava into a spiral of thoughts.

Had George helped her yesterday simply as a favor to Mia, or was it because of someone else...

After Ava remained silent for what felt like ages, Lin waved her hand in front of Ava's eyes: "Is everything alright, Ms. Flores?"

Ava snapped back to reality: "It's nothing."

She handed the phone back to Lin: "You can go back to your work now."

"What about coordinating with LibertyNova?"

Ava replied: "I'll go there myself this afternoon."

She needed to figure out exactly who she owed for this unexpected windfall.

-

That afternoon, Ava arrived at LibertyNova Group's subsidiary office at the scheduled time. After giving her name at reception, she was escorted to an upstairs office.

Logan Johnson wasn't exactly at the top of LibertyNova's food chain—he was just a vice president of the subsidiary—but he had just enough clout that smaller companies would bend over backwards to get on his good side.

When Ava knocked and entered his office, Logan Johnson was on the phone. The moment he spotted her, he hastily wrapped up his call and rose to greet her: "Ms. Flores, you're here. Please, have a seat."

Ava smiled politely: "Thank you for choosing to partner with Eternity, Mr. Johnson. I've brought the contract with me today. We can discuss any issues you might have."

Logan Johnson subtly pushed the contract aside and smiled at Ava: "Ms. Flores, you look very young. Are you twenty-five yet?"

Ava saw no reason to share personal details with someone who was merely a business contact.

She glanced down at the contract Logan Johnson had pushed away and replied vaguely: "You have a good eye, Mr. Johnson."

Hearing this, Logan Johnson studied Ava for a few more seconds before saying with a smile: "There are many young and beautiful women in the business world, but few as stunning as you, Ms. Flores. No wonder Mr. Miller... holds you in such high regard."

He had been asking around in his circle yesterday but couldn't figure anything out. The real reason he'd invited Ava today was to probe her relationship with George.

If they truly had that kind of relationship, giving this order to Eternity as a favor wouldn't be a bad move. After all, getting close to someone like George wasn't easy. If he could use this opportunity to connect with George, wouldn't that pave the way for his own advancement?

Ava smiled tightly without saying a word.

It was crystal clear that Logan Johnson had zero interest in actually discussing business today—he just wanted to find out if she had any connection to George. This contract was clearly just bait, dangled in front of her because of whatever connection they thought she had with George.

With this realization, Ava picked up the contract and stood up, her manner neither submissive nor arrogant: "Since Mr. Johnson doesn't have time to discuss our partnership today, I'll take my leave."

With that, she turned and walked out of the office.

Logan Johnson hurried after her: "Wait, Ms. Flores—"

Despite coming up empty-handed in his fishing expedition, he still couldn't risk offending Ava and felt compelled to personally see her out.

At the doorway, Ava turned to face Logan Johnson: "When Mr. Johnson has time, feel free to have someone contact me. I'll send someone over to coordinate then. I'm afraid I must go now."

After a pause, she continued: "Mr. Miller and I have barely crossed paths twice. Please don't make wild assumptions, Mr. Johnson."

Before Logan Johnson could react, Ava had already walked away in her high heels.

Logan Johnson: "?"

Had he misunderstood something?

Just as Logan Johnson was about to turn back to his office in confusion, a group of people appeared at the end of the corridor, walking toward the elevators.

Logan Johnson looked up and saw that George was leading the group.

Seeing his opportunity, Logan Johnson approached to strike up a conversation: "Mr. Miller."

George glanced at him and gave a slight nod out of politeness.

Logan Johnson was visibly stunned. George's attitude was clearly different from last night, as if they were complete strangers.

Seeing this, Logan Johnson followed and said with a smile: "What a coincidence—Ms. Flores just left. If I'd known you were coming, I would have asked her to stay a bit longer."

Hearing this, George frowned slightly and glanced at Logan Johnson again.

He couldn't immediately place who this man was, but after a few seconds of recollection, he remembered last night's events.

Guessing that Logan Johnson had likely misunderstood his relationship with Ava, he stopped and said with a light chuckle: "Mr. Johnson, you jest."

How could he even think of pursuing someone under Sebastian's wing?

-

After leaving the LibertyNova Group subsidiary, Ava had initially planned to return directly to her studio, but since there wasn't much to do there and the Flores Group headquarters was nearby, she thought about waiting for Jacob to finish work so they could have dinner together.

To avoid catching Jacob at a busy time, Ava sent him a text message first: [Are you busy, bro? I'm thinking of coming over so we can have dinner together tonight?]

He replied quickly: [Free]

Classic Jacob—a man of few words who couldn't even spare a punctuation mark.

"..."

Ava responded with a meme, then tucked her phone into her jacket pocket and hailed a cab.

Meanwhile, in the CEO's office on the top floor of the Flores Group building, two men in tailored suits sat facing each other.

Jacob glanced down at his phone, then looked up at the man across from him: "Are you free tonight?"

Sebastian raised his eyes: "Something up?"

Jacob waved his phone: "Avie's coming over. If you're free, we could have dinner together."

Sebastian looked away without responding.

Twenty minutes ago, he'd gotten a text from George saying that Ava had gone to see Logan Johnson today, so he guessed she might stop by to see Jacob on her way back.

Seeing his silence, Jacob smiled: "No pressure if you're busy. Avie and I can go eat together."

"I'm free," Sebastian replied, his voice deep. "Would I be sitting here drinking tea in your office if I weren't?"

Jacob smiled and took a sip of his tea: "You're in for a treat. These tea leaves were air-shipped just yesterday."

Sebastian nodded: "It's excellent indeed."