Chapter 12

On the other hand, Sheila and Rachel returned home to see Francis walking down the stairs while on the phone. He looked anxious. "Hasn't everything already been sorted out, Mr. Tate? We're close to concluding negotiations; why is Jensen Corporation suddenly pulling out of the cooperation?" Sheila's and Rachel's hearts sank when they heard this. They exchanged looks. Rachel stepped forward, wanting to say something to Francis, but he held up a hand and signaled for her to settle down. He turned away, sounding like he was trying to keep the anxiety from coloring his tone. He sounded ingratiating as he said, "Is it because Gray Corporation's asking for too much? This is all up for negotiation, and we're willing to give up a portion of the agreed profits. I'm genuinely interested in working with Jensen Corporation." Sheila and Rachel didn't know what Joey Tate, the person on the other end of the line, said. They only saw Francis' facial muscles twitch. Then, he hung up and seemed to collapse on himself. He plopped onto a chair in the foyer. Sheila and Rachel hurried forward. The former asked, "What's wrong, Francis?" He buried his head in his hands, looking frustrated. "What's wrong? How would I know what's wrong? Someone from Jensen Corporation suddenly called and said the deal's off when everything was going perfectly before this!" He looked up at Sheila. "Didn't you bring Rachel to visit Adrian Jensen's wife? Did something happen when you guys were there?" Sheila's heart raced at his words. Evidently, Joey hadn't mentioned anything about what had happened at the Jensen residence. She parted her lips, wanting to explain the situation. But Rachel grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Nothing happened, Dad. We didn't even get to see Mrs. Jensen." Sheila looked at her. She pinched Sheila's arm lightly, obviously not wanting her to tell Francis the truth. Francis didn't suspect anything. He merely clutched at his not-too-bushy hair and muttered, "What went wrong, then? Jensen Corporation is such a good business partner… "If this cooperation hadn't fallen through, our family and the company would be able to attain greater heights! No, I can't let this opportunity get away." He stood up and hurried out of the house, forgetting all about Sheila and Rachel. Once he was gone, Sheila turned to Rachel. "Why did you stop me? There's a chance Jensen Corporation called off the business deal because of the little bitch." "Mom!" Rachel stopped her. She said stubbornly, "I thought about the whole thing on our way home. Mr. Jensen didn't explicitly say Shannon's his daughter, right? Maybe we heard him wrongly!" She refused to believe Shannon had suddenly become the daughter of a prestigious family like the Jensens after they'd kicked her out. She couldn't accept Shannon being better than her. "How could we have heard him wrongly? If Shannon wasn't Mr. Jensen's daughter, why would he suddenly call off the cooperation? And why would the butler have said those things?" Sheila was almost positive Shannon was the daughter that the Jensen family had just tracked down. Things couldn't be so coincidental! And if that were the case, she had to make things clear to Francis as soon as possible. The Gray family had raised Shannon, and it was only right for the Jensen family to repay them by giving them even a bit of their massive fortune! How could they call off the cooperation? This was such ungrateful behavior! "Whatever it is, I don't believe it. Think about it, Mom. If Shannon really were the Jensen family's daughter, why didn't they send anyone over to take her home? "The people who contacted Dad earlier also told him they had a bad signal because they lived deep in the mountains, didn't they? There's no need for a family like the Jensens to lie to us." Rachel was doing her best to convince Sheila and herself of this. She continued, "Maybe Mr. Jensen just got mad at us for causing a ruckus at the Jensen residence. I'm sure calling off the cooperation was just a coincidence—he can't be so whimsical when it comes to doing business! I'm positive it has nothing to do with what happened at the Jensen residence earlier." Her words made Sheila start to doubt herself. "Really?" "Really. I'm sure that's what happened." Rachel looked confident. She pulled out her phone and said, "I saw that everyone in my group chat is talking about this daughter of the Jensen family. "Apparently, the Jensens are going to throw a party in a few days to formally introduce her to the world. All we need to do is find a way to score invitations to the party. We'll know exactly what's going on once we see who this daughter really is." Sheila looked hesitant. If Jensen Corporation had just called off the cooperation with Gray Corporation, it wouldn't be easy to get invitations to the party. At her hesitance, Rachel said, "If Shannon isn't the Jensen family's daughter, we can take the opportunity to explain today's misunderstanding to Mr. Jensen. Maybe Dad will be able to get the cooperation again! I'm sure it'd be hard for Mr. Jensen to turn us down under such circumstances." She paused and gnashed her teeth before talking about the other possibility. "If—and this is a big if—Shannon really is the daughter of the Jensen family, she can't deny that our family raised her. She can't kick us to the curb after being reunited with her biological parents, can she?" Rachel's words woke Sheila up, making her eyes light up. Yes, why hadn't it occurred to her? Regardless of whether Shannon was a Jensen, the situation was beneficial to them! "You're right, Rachel. If the little bitch really is a member of the Jensen family, Mr. Jensen won't be able to kick us out with so many people watching. When the time comes, he'll have to express his gratitude to us by giving us the business deal or doing something else. We raised his daughter, after all!" Sheila grew more confident as she thought things over. She clapped her hands and said, "I'll think of a way to get the invitations. We'll bring your father along to the party, and you'll need to get a couple of pretty evening gowns for the occasion. You have to look your best for the party." The Jensen family's party guests had to be members of Seastone City's upper crust. This would be Rachel's first public appearance with these people, and she had to take their breath away. Rachel snuggled up to Sheila a little shyly at her words. But deep down, her thoughts mirrored Sheila's. … Shannon had no idea what the Gray family was up to. After dinner, Linda finally led her to her new bedroom. It was a suite toward the end of the corridor on the third floor, and it was spacious. It had two rooms, one inner and one outer. The suite was designed in a dreamlike princess style suitable for children. Various toys and gifts were piled in a corner of the outer room, as well as a pram and things meant for babies. "This is the nursery that was originally prepared for you; Adam's kept it around all these years. I found the design to be a little too childish for you and wanted to arrange for you to temporarily take another room while this one was being redesigned. "I didn't expect it to upset you. Don't be mad at me, okay?" Linda linked arms with Shannon affectionately as she spoke. Shannon pulled away from her. "I'm not." Linda's smile froze at her aloofness. She reminded Shannon of a few more things before turning and leaving. Once the door shut behind her, her warm smile disappeared. Her gaze was somewhat menacing as she turned to look at the door.