No 1 Supreme Warrior

The venue suddenly quieted down. Jesse, who was standing behind Rachel, nodded covertly at Martin. "With Jesse's help, I'll definitely become a partner," he thought with a sigh of relief.

With an expectant attitude, Martin straightened his clothes, adjusted his tie, and readied himself for what was about to happen.

William was so nervous that his hands were sweating; if they lost this bid today, the Ford family would be finished for sure.

But after what Leo did yesterday, their success rate had most likely plummeted to zero.

Rachel announced with a professional smile on her face, "After heavy consideration, Ms. Henderson finally chose one company as our future partner. It is..."

Everyone waited for the decision with bated breath. Martin was already getting out of his seat leisurely.

"Virgil Corporation representing the Ford family!" Rachel said after a pause. "Let's give them all a warm round of applause."

"..."

There were no voices, no whispers, and no certainly rounds of applause; only a baffling silence filled the room.

Like pretty much everyone else in attendance, Martin was frozen in place like a statue.

How the hell did they manage to pull this off?

William was shocked as well, though his surprise was offset by growing relief.

Caroline and Rebecca looked like they'd both just seen a ghost.

Leo, on the other hand, was smiling confidently, as if everything had gone according to plan.

"Time to take the stage, Dad," Leo said, patting William's hand.

William snapped out of his daze. "We… We did it," he stammered.

up to the stage and shook hands with Rachel, suddenly looking 10

feet, his face

a candidate list and handed it over to Ms. Henderson yesterday," he thought. "I even strongly recommended Vesper Corporation

tone was firm. "This is Ms. Henderson's final decision.

could I..."

failed to meet the criteria, of course. What's so mystifying about that decision? If you spout nonsense like that again, you'll be expecting a lawyer's letter from us soon. Defamation

letter?!" Martin broke

itself a large company, it was nowhere near Atlas Beauty's level of

open, and in marched a group of police

were led by a feisty female officer with short

her sharp eyes scanning the room. "I'm Sandra Johnson from

edge. Not even Rachel, who was in charge with today's event, had expected the authorities to

on shaky feet. "That's… That's

to Martin and handcuffed him instantly. "Martin Bailey, you're under arrest on suspicion of money laundering and fraud. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you

this is some kind of

to remain silent. Please escort Mr.

the Ford's won the bid; now a veil

merely coincidence that Martin lost the bid and got arrested on the same day. Someone

any desire to linger around. They each

back at Jesse and said, "Ms. Henderson is waiting

beat. He asked nervously,

Corporation very much, but you've been assisting them, whether it was intentional

Jesse's face paled immediately.

outlining our collaboration. Please give it a thorough review. If you

William took the contract gratefully and studied it. After he confirmed the

signed copy to Rachel and said, "Miss Ward, thank you so much. Will you please ask Ms. Henderson if it's okay to have dinner tonight, to celebrate our

these days." Rachel declined with an apologetic smile. Then, she looked at Leo who had been