Evelyn couldn’t shake off the fact that Tedmond’s words might have made Persis think Harold and Maxine didn’t find her important enough to meet, and she wanted to clear the misunderstanding.“It’s not like that!” Evelyn said. “They had to go to the company to meet an important client. Since the contract involved a huge amount of money, they had no choice. But they’ll be here soon.”Persis looked at Evelyn, wondering why she was trying so hard to convince her. It wasn’t that important for the entire family to be present.“I don’t mind,” Persis replied. “They have important business to attend to. It’s not a must for them to be here.”Evelyn flinched, clearly not expecting that response, but she kept her composure. “Let’s wait a little while. They’ll be here soon.”Maxine nodded in support of his mother’s words. Evelyn had asked him to ensure Tedmond’s baby mama stayed if the business meeting took too long.“They’ll be here soon. My little sister has been eager to meet you for a long tim

“I can’t believe this happened in just a few hours!” Max yelled, grinning from ear to ear as he looked at his phone.He was on Kenstagram, scrolling through the flood of comments. He hadn’t posted the rumor himself, so it would be hard for anyone to trace it back to him.“I had no idea it would blow up that fast, too,” Evelyn said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “As long as everyone isn’t on their side, we will get that contract.”They were in Max's bedroom, sitting in front of his monitor. Lisa was lying on the bed.“You did a great job, Max,” Harold said.Max shook his head. “Lisa was the one who edited the images. I had no idea she was that talented until she asked me to do it.”Evelyn grinned and placed her hand on Max’s shoulder. “That's great. At least she’s not useless in situations like this. You did a great job marrying her.”Harold nodded in agreement. “That’s right. Now that the rumors have spread, we need to go pay the compensation money to the company.”Evelyn sighed.

“Can I get her name?” Harold questioned. “She is the same age as my granddaughter; they could be friends.”Hearing that, Tedmond frowned. The two girls were the same person, and he was trying to get them to be friends with each other. That was the worst thing he had heard all day.“Don’t cross the boundaries, Mr. Griffin,” Tedmond replied, peering at Harold. “Why are you here?”Harold wasn’t shocked by Tedmond’s words—he had been expecting it. After all, he hadn’t paid the compensation or regained trust between them, but that didn’t bother him much. GNN was in crisis, and Griffin’s Cooperation would be the one to be picked no matter what.“I’m here to pay the compensation fee and apologize again for my family’s behavior,” Harold answered.“I thought I told Ms. Fincall to give you the account number to which the money should be transferred. Did you lose it?”Harold flinched. Was it that obvious he had thrown the account number away to have an excuse to meet the president in person?“I

Hearing his father’s words, Tedmond's smile dissipated, but then the grin returned to his face. “What did you say?”Guessing their father’s intentions, the others joined in. Harold had just gotten an idea: if he could convince Tedmond to make his baby mama invest in their struggling company for a fake project, they could get the hundred million back.“There’s a project going on, and we need investors to fund it,” Max added, his face serious. “It’s a big project, and the investment required will be substantial.”“That’s right. Your baby mama will be part of the family too. It would be great for her to help us,” Maxine continued.Evelyn even went as far as holding Tedmond’s hand—something she had only done when she was about to hit him as a child.“You’ll have the right to return to the family as long as you agree to help us with the investment,” Evelyn muttered. “You’re my son, after all, and it makes me sad that you were kicked out.”Tedmond was taken aback. He had guessed they might

Tedmond made his way downstairs, heading to the one place he knew Max would be. He could tell that if Max met the others there, they would side with him since Tedmond wasn’t in sight.As he approached the kitchen, he heard voices. It was his stepmother and ex-father, speaking so quietly that he couldn’t make out their words.“I can’t believe I have to cook for that brat!” Evelyn cursed loudly, making the maid at the end of the kitchen flinch and frown as she hurriedly cut the fish. “He’s the son of you and that useless maid, and now I have to be a maid to him!”Harold glanced at her, concern etched on his face. “You should be more worried about that,” he said, taking the knife from her and helping cut the fish. “It’s good his mother isn’t around. It’ll be easier to control him once we get custody of his daughter.”Evelyn frowned at his words. “How are we supposed to get custody? Tedmond’s never brought her home before. That means he doesn’t have custody either—it must be with his baby