Supreme Mars novel Chapter 71

Virgil Corporation, located in a developing industrial park in Emerdale, used to be drop in the well of Ford family's business empire.

But now it became a life-saving straw for The Ford family after Vesper Corporation was sold, and the other businesses were also nibbled away by The Lawson family.

The Ford family went to Atlas Beauty's bidding to try their luck but surprisingly, they won the bid with Leo's help.

Just as they were rejoicing at this good start, a series of twists and turns followed. The Ford family had gone from hell to heaven, then back to hell, and finally to a happy ending. This roller coaster ride almost gave them a heart attack.

At last, William signed the contract with Atlas Beauty on behalf of The Ford family yesterday, which marked the day that they officially won the project. Atlas Beauty also advanced 20,000 dollars to them.

Although it was minuscule sum for Atlas Beauty, it meant a lot for the current Ford family.

Early in the morning, the core members of the family all attended the meeting at the Virgil Corporation office.

When they heard that the down payment had been wired into the account, everyone grinned from ear to ear.

"Ahem, William, since the money has arrived, shall we divide it up now?" Samuel spoke directly, exerting his seniority.

"Yeah. Atlas Beauty is being kind of stingy, right? The down payment is only 20,000 dollars. How much can each of us get then?" Patricia also complained. "Shouldn't it be at least one million?"

"Auntie, 20,000 dollars is already good enough. It's easy for you to say." Caroline was unhappy to hear all them gripe, thinking to herself, "Dad worked so hard for this. It's already too kind of him to share it with you guys. How can you be such back seat drivers now?"

Rebecca did not say anything, but merely offered a hostile look at the others.

In her opinion, these vultures were here to rob she and her husband.

"Stop, that's enough!" William slammed the table and shouted. In an instant, no one dared to speak again.

"Have you all forgotten who helped us to win the project?" He glanced around and said angrily, "It's Leo. What about you? What have you done so far? All talk and no action!"

Samuel, Patricia, and the others all looked embarrassed at once. It was true that they had not contributed much in the process of securing this project.

But Patricia still persisted, "That's what he should do. Our family raised him for years. What's wrong with him throwing us a bone or two?"

William's eyes turned cold. Just as he was about to berate her, Rebecca stopped him. "Enough, William. Let's just split up the money. None of us can find a job these days, and we’re all living on our savings."

The others also stopped talking about Leo, and nodded one by one in agreement with what she said.

Atlas Beauty had great influence in the cosmetics industry. Ever since they blacklisted the entire family apart from William, none of them could find a job in the days afterward, and some were even kicked out immediately when their family name was mentioned at interviews.

There was nothing they could do about it, because Atlas Beauty was just too influential. Prospective employers would think , "Who would hire people that Atlas banned? Isn't this like making an enemy of them if we hire any of these people?"

As a result, the entire Ford family had been relying on William now.

William snorted and began to divide the money.

Samuel and Marla received 10,000 dollars, Jonathan and Patricia 10,000 dollars, and Caroline and Rebecca had 10,000 dollars each. Along with some additional family members, a total of 60,000 dollars was doled out.

Everyone was immediately angry when they saw the figure.

Samuel banged the table as he rebuked angrily, "William, are we beggars? Are you trying to send us away with just 10,000 dollars?"

"Yeah. How can you be so cheap? Are you looking down on us?" Another member yelled.

Caroline asked in confusion, "Dad, did you make a mistake? 10,000 is too little. I'd end up spending that in just two days."

William looked around coldly, but felt so helpless in his heart. He thought, "Don't you know that this is courtesy money from Atlas? If they’re dissatisfied with us, there will be no more business with them in the future. Why are you all being so short-sighted?"

"Atlas Beauty gave us the advance for the project. It's not our net profit. I've already done you a favor by giving each of you 10,000 dollars." He replied harshly.

"But what can 10,000 dollars do?"

"I can't live like this anymore!"

What they cared about were only how much money they could put in their pockets.

William felt a crushing sense of powerlessness. "Shouldn't we be thinking about how to do this project now? Not how much money we can get?"

Patricia immediately rolled her eyes and said unhappily, "Isn't that your job? What does it have to do with us?"

"Atlas Beauty has made it very clear that you're our representative in this cooperation. The rest of us have been blacklisted. What else do you expect us to do?"

For a moment, more and more voices expressed their dissatisfaction with William and they gradually filled the entire meeting room.

"Hah, it looks like the happy family are having some problems...." A laugh rang through the room, then a group of people barged into the meeting room.

When they saw these uninvited guests, all of them fell silent, and looked warily at the young man in the lead.

"Peter, what are you doing here?" Rebecca asked nervously.

The visitor was none other than Peter Lawson. He narrowed his eyes and said, "You know, you guys really should be a little more polite."

"I know that whenever the Ford family meets the Lawson family, you'll be as terrified as a mouse confronting a cat. But don't worry. I'm here today on my own." Peter then continued, "I'm here to help you solve some problems."

William sneered and refused right away. "We have no problems. Please leave now."

"Oh? Really? Then what were you fight about just now?" Peter sat down unhurriedly and said with a smile, "Everything goes wrong for a poor family. The root cause why a secondary family like you quarrels every day is nothing else but money."

What he said hit a sore spot for everyone present. Caroline flared up immediately. "What on earth are you trying to say?"

"Calm down. I'm here to help you out." Peter looked around and said, "I've also heard that aside from William, all of you have been blacklisted by Atlas Beauty. Right now, you guys can't even find a decent job, and are almost broke."

"It just so happens that Vesper Corporation isn't afraid of Atlas Beauty. Besides, Vesper was yours before, right? Mrs. Ford was even the vice president. So, I'd like to give you an opportunity to return there."

The meeting room fell still at once. Everyone looked at each other, all silent.

William broke the silence and said with a grim face, "Peter, you're here to turn us."

"You could say that." Peter shrugged and said casually, "Instead of doing such a small project, suffering constant pressure from Atlas Beauty, and fighting over pocket change every single day, why not return to Vesper Corporation instead? I promise to treat you well."

After a brief pause, he stretched his fingers out and said, "Each of you will enjoy a monthly salary of at least 10,000 dollars. Core members of Vesper Corporation like Rebecca and Caroline will be promoted after the probation and will assume managerial positions."

"10,000 dollars... a month?"

"Go straight to the senior management after probation?"

"This..."

Everyone was wavering after they heard Peter's promise.

Peter continued, "The door has been opened. To go or not go? It's all up to you. Those who want to get on board can come to Vesper Corporation with me right now."

After which, he left instantly without giving the family any time to respond.

Everyone sat in the meeting room; minds had been made up.

William urged hurriedly, "Don't listen to him. It's a trap..."

"William, I want to go back to Vesper." Before William could finish, Samuel interrupted him scornfully. "He will give us 10,000 dollars a month. Isn't it the money we received from you just now? The answer seems self-evident."

"You..." William stared blankly at his brother, unable to utter a single sentence.

"Me too. After all, it used to be our company and it still feels like home for me." Patricia's face lit up with excitement, then she said to William, "As for that bullshit project with Atlas Beauty, just keep it for yourself!"

Marla also got up and left.

"You..." William felt so powerless.

Very quickly, most of the family left, leaving behind only Caroline and Rebecca.

William shifted his gaze at them and saw the same struggle on their faces. They were getting itchy feet too.

"Caroline, Rebecca, you can't be..."

"Dad, sorry." Caroline stood up and said to her father, "Money isn’t everything, but we can’t do anything without it either. I'm fed up with the condescending attitude from Atlas Beauty's people. I'll go to Vesper Corporation!"

"But it's owned by the Lawson's now. Have you forgotten how they treated us before?" William talked bitterly.

"So what?" Caroline said hatefully, "It's all the fault of that piece of trash, Leo. If you have to blame someone, blame him!"

"Mom, let's go." She then dragged Rebecca away with her.

In this enormous meeting room, only William was left there, sitting in a trance.

He sunk into the chair, and felt like he had aged ten years in the last ten minutes.