The Rebirth of a Scorned Heiress

“You still have not gotten in contact with the expert who developed the Waves software?” Chairman Watson, Mark’s grandfather asked with a dissatisfied tone as he poured himself a cup of freshly brewed tea.

“They told me they had some other commitments and it takes them a while to settle it” Mark replied calmly, unbothered by the old man’s temper.

“And you let them off just like that? What if they are going to work for another company? What should we do by then? For those genius experts, their newest works are always better than the last one and you know what that means when our rivals get them to work for them?” The old man argued, his face contoured in annoyance as he glared at his grandson.

Despite Mark being his favourite amongst his children and grandchildren, Chairman Watson forgets the favouritism when the group business is involved.

Mark smiled and picked up a cup of tea. “You have nothing to worry about, I already have a project planned with them and it is scheduled to begin immediately after they settle their commitment. They insisted they wanted to work on Nex and upgrade it, but I declined since we can’t work on it without Hamilton’s approval” he explained.

Chairman’s face, which was already starting to relax after hearing that Mark has another project, began to crease again.

“Why do you need their approval? You should quickly have the expert do the upgrade! What if they refuse to work with us because of this?” He asked worriedly.

“It is a collaboration project with the Hamiltons. We will be going against the contract if we do anything to it without their consent and it will lead to negative publicity for us” Mark explained, truly feeling amused by his grandfather’s unruly business sense.

“Then buy out the copyright from them, you can buy their side of the deal. It’s been years already and the phone is long outdated” Chairman Watson advised and Mark sighed.

“I already thought about buying it too but I’m thinking it would affect the profit. What if the upgrade does not fetch us as much profit as we hoped? As you said, the phone is already outdated and an upgrade might not necessarily revive it” Mark argued and Chairman Watson hummed.

“Your thought is valid but if the expert wants to work on it, that would mean they are genuinely interested in it and that also means they’ve studied the concept. Remember how hot the sales for Nex were when it first came out? Now imagine if it got upgraded. All we have to do is probably change its packaging to fit the upgraded software and all those tech enthusiasts will come running for it” Chairman Watson explained.

“Even then, buying the copyright at this time will cost us more than it should. After Waves was released, a lot of tech companies have reached out to us for collaboration including Hamilton. If I go to him now, he won’t be able to hide his greed and he would want something that has to do with Waves” Mark explained.

“If we buy the copyright, I’m sure he’d know we are up to something and he would want to have a piece of it” he added.

“You can offer him something in exchange unless you want to cut off future collaborations with them,” Chairman Watson suggested.

“For now I don’t want to work with them until they get their problem solved, but future collaboration can still come in as long as they can keep up with the deceased mother and daughter” Mark grumbled the last part and Chairman Watson scoffed.

“Just offer them whatever they want in exchange for the copyright and if they are not letting go of their share, try to get their consent. It doesn’t matter as long as we have the expert with us, we can always make better products in the future” the old man advised.

“Then I would get to work on it,” Mark replied.

“How is the real estate project going?” He asked. “Frederick is keeping me out of the game for whatever reasons, since the last time you told him to consult me” Mark voiced, finally getting to the main reason he had come to visit the old man.

It was precisely to get the Chairman’s approval to take over one of the real estate projects from Frederick who was in charge of the sector. Having seen Sinful blueprint for the new project, the only way he could get a hundred per cent profit was to get hold of a piece of Watson’s real estate project.

His collaboration with Frederick would just be an unnecessary boost for his ungrateful cousin.

Hearing about the second most profitable sector for the group, Chairman Watson sighed, “I don’t know what is going on with the boy, a little praise from me for getting the state project made him arrogant” he complained.

“Did he do something out of line?” Asked Mark.

“If by out of line, you mean he refused to work with our old partners because they were getting in his hair, then yes. All the people he is working with for the state project are a troublesome bunch. I heard they all have ties with the senate candidate, which means Frederick is declaring his collaboration with him. No matter how much I say it, he doesn’t listen to me, only his father can talk to him” the Chairman explained.

“Why don’t you have a talk with uncle then? He should be able to get through to Fredrick” Mark suggested.

“If we mess up on this project, the next one would be given to the foreign companies and we can’t have that! I heard from a partner that there would be some estate development project from the federal government next year and it’s going to be on a large scale, we can’t afford to miss out on it” Mark explained.

“I will send for them tonight and see what it would lead to. But why are you asking, do you have your eyes on real estate now? You’ve never been interested” Chairman Watson pointed out and Mark chuckled.

“I’m not interested in the state project, naturally next year’s project is my goal” Mark replied calmly and the old man frowned.

“You can’t dive into the real estate for now, you are already hated for heading Alpha, if you go for the real estate, you’d become a public enemy with your cousins” he explained and Mark shrugged.

“I’m not going for the whole sector. To tell the truth, my next project with that expert has to do with home security and the like and as much as I would like to collaborate with Frederick on the project, we all know how that would end. So I want the whole thing for myself” he explained and Chairman Watson nodded with a thoughtful expression.

“Given that one of the major things lacking in our country is security, having such a project will be a hit and displaying the effect through a ready project is the best way to get the best outcome. How about you collaborate with Nathan, he’ll be back in the country by next month. You can test your compatibility with him” Mark shivered in fear as the smiling face of his crazy cousin flashed through his mind.

“You think?” He asked with a weird expression and Chairman Watson laughed.

“He has always been fond of you, so you have nothing to worry about. I have already been thinking about what to have him do, if your collaboration with him works, then he’ll take over the real estate sector” Chairman Watson voiced.

“You are trying to make him another me? Out of four grandsons, do you want the two youngest ones to take over the two largest sectors? Aren’t you scared of what people would say?” Mark asked worriedly.

“Everyone of you has been tested, some of you have amazing business sense and others are just so-so. I wanted Connor to take over the real estate but he became Fredrick’s lackey lately and I can’t have a puppet leading the company, so the eccentric Nathan is the other best choice”

“Whatever you do, keep me out of it, I can work with any of them as long as it is not Frederick”

****

“Hello and welcome to the official beginning of the show!” The host announced as the representatives walked in through the back door, every one of them wearing a tag given by the host to identify what team they belong to.

Celina and her group walked in the earliest and they chose the seat at the corner of the room and away from the others while watching the stage through the large TV placed in the waiting room.

“What is this segment for?” A representative from team two, belonging to Brian’s fashion house, asked as they walked in.

“This segment is just an introduction, you’ll get to know other representatives and the audience will get to know you. It will only last for an hour after which you’ll all have to go back and make your designs” a guide replied just in time for another guide to call out the representatives to the stage for the introduction.

“Just be calm, you don’t have to be nervous!” Celina whispered to Lily who raised her brow at her.

“I’m not nervous”

“I’ve been to bigger stages than this in my last life” she added to herself.

“Good! After the introduction, I’ll let you know who we are on friendly terms with and who you should stay away from. Others can handle themselves but I’m really worried since it’s the first time you are doing something like this” Celina explained and Lily nodded with an appreciative smile.

“But shouldn’t we be worried? Light isn’t here yet!” Lily voiced and Celina sighed.

“I told you not to sigh, it makes you look like an old woman” a voice spoke up from behind and Lily turned to him noting how familiar the voice sounded.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

A look of surprise flashed through her eyes as she called out his name. “Gary?”