A Waste of Effort
If Jessica were to become the chairperson of Paradigm Co., it would mean an untimely demise for
Paradigm Co. and its workers.
Naturally, Jessica felt everyone’s piercing gaze directed at her. Being unable to control herself, she
yelled while her eyes were red with rage, “What? What are you all looking at?”
Predictably, no one in the room bothered to give her a reply.
Sonia, too, left Jessica to fume on her own as she turned to Asher and said coldly, “Really, it is a pity to
see your calculated plan slowly falling apart just because of a slight miscalculation. Indeed, I have to
give up half of my shares to Jessica if I had gotten any from my father. But surprise, surprise…” She
continued, “The shares that I have were not my father’s.”
“What did you just say?” Asher was so shocked that he unconsciously stood up and asked, “You didn’t
get the shares from your father?”
“Well, of course! My father had to give out his shares to the bank and other corporations in exchange
for funds to get Paradigm Co. through 6 years ago. He exchanged a total of 40 percent of his shares
and was left with only 11 percent by the end of it. He was fine with not being the chairperson as long as
Paradigm Co. was safe. But guess what happened to the money he had gotten from the 40 percent he
had given out? Jessica and her mother stole it!”
After finishing her sentence, Sonia slightly shifted her gaze to look at her sister.
Sonia’s eyes were so void of emotions that Jessica was stiff from that one look.
How could anyone’s gaze alone look so frightening? If looks could kill, Jessica would long be dead by
now.
Never would Jessica have expected there would come a day when Sonia, whom she used to bully at
any given chance, would grow a spine and become so intimidating!
“You’re telling me that you have only inherited 11 percent of Henry’s shares?” Asher asked with a
twisted expression on his face.
Sonia smiled and answered, “That’s right.”
Asher was so enraged that with one angry swipe, he pushed the things in front of him––including his
teacup––off the table. “Impossible!” he cried.
A few droplets of the hot tea in his cup coincidentally fell on Jessica’s face, which in turn made her
scream and jump in pain.
“What the hell are you doing?!” she roared while glaring at Asher. At that moment, the sweet tone she
used when addressing him was long gone.
Not one to take disrespect, Asher returned her an equally fierce look and yelled, “You. Shut your
mouth!”
Hearing that, Jessica immediately stopped talking as her face turned pale.
It seemed like Jessica had needed that scolding to be reminded of what kind of force of nature she had
seated beside her. Behind the loving uncle facade he had on with Jessica was an enigma who had
been in the game for more than half his life. Therefore, he was not someone to be trifled around with––
especially not by a bimbo like Jessica.
And so, Jessica, who was usually a villainess herself, could only lower herself and submit when in the
face of such a powerful man.
After Jessica stopped whining, Asher continued questioning. His eyes held a hint of uncertainty as he
asked, “Do you have proof that Henry had given out 40 percent of his shares?”
“Of course, I do,” Sonia chirped before looking at one of the shareholders in the room. “Uncle King here
is one of Paradigm Co.’s oldest shareholders. He has been with us from even before Paradigm Co.
was established. He would know the most about everything that has happened.”
Despite being called ‘uncle’ in front of the crowd, Samuel still respectfully called Sonia by her title.
“President Reed is right.”
He had always been one to draw a distinct line between business and personal matters. Therefore, at
times like these, he knew just what would be appropriate, given that he was an expert at reading the
room.
Then, he turned toward Asher and continued saying, “I was the first person Mr. Reed had approached
to exchange his shares with 6 years ago. I gave him 20 million in exchange for his 5 percent. I still have
the agreement for exchange with me. And I was not the only one. Mr. Ellen had an agreement with Mr.
Reed too.”
Upon hearing his name being mentioned, Ellen nodded in reply and said, “That is correct. There were a
few more shareholders other than us, but most of them have already divested from Paradigm Co.
However, I’m sure that their shares still count if President Dafoe were to propose a deal with them.”
Asher could barely stop himself from shaking after hearing their words. As of now, there was no reason
for him to not believe Sonia now.
He then turned to look at Sonia, and in a cold voice, he asked, “Where is the other 40 percent you hold
from then, if not from Henry?”
The corners of Sonia’s red lips lifted as she heard that. “Of course, I had to get Grandpa to help me buy
the remaining 40 percent. Grandpa and President Lane from Lane Corporation were the ones who had
bought over the shares that my father had exchanged with Uncle King and Mr. Ellen. Oh, they were
also the ones who had bought the shares that were divested. Do you finally understand what I meant
when I said you had a minor miscalculation in your plans? You thought you could claim half of the total
shares I own, when in fact, all you can take away from me is a meager 5.5 percent!”
Even if she had 5.5 percent of her shares taken away, she would still be Paradigm Co.’s biggest
shareholder.
Her biggest regret, however, would be the fact that she did not have complete power over the
company’s shares. It was unfortunate that not even an arbitrator could take Asher’s shares away from
him.
But that did not bother Sonia too much. As long as it had led to the outcome she had wanted to see,
she would not mind being a mere disruptor of their evil plan.
Currently, Asher was holding back his fury by unconsciously clenching his fists. His eyes were ablaze
as he stared at Sonia with an unreadable expression on his face.
5.5 percent?
What could 5.5 percent of shares even be used for?
It wasn’t difficult for Jessica to finally understand the sudden turn of events from the grim look on
Asher’s face and the glaring smile on Sonia’s.
She processed Sonia’s words briefly, and then parted her lips a few times in silence before she
eventually asked, “Uncle Asher, does this mean that we can’t get Sonia’s shares anymore?”
His eyes were red from holding back his anger when he spat, “Are you actually talking about getting
her shares still?”
His hatred toward her was at its peak at this exact moment. He could only blame it on Jessica for
approaching him without properly planning it through now. At this moment, he could still clearly
remember how ambitious she had sounded when she had asked for his help in getting into Paradigm
Co. and securing the chairperson position for her.
At first, he had been overjoyed by her sudden appearance as he had thought that she was his key to
getting a major chunk of Sonia’s shares.
In the end, however, the outcome was the complete opposite of what he had expected. Now that he
knew that Sonia’s shares were mostly bought, and not inherited, he had no way of forcing her to hand
over her shares anymore.
In other words, his plan could not even be considered a failure at this point. All it was now was a joke!
“Are we seriously not getting it?!” Jessica howled hysterically as she was still unaware of how badly
Asher was holding himself back from coming for her throat.
Jessica had returned with high hopes to snatch Paradigm Co. away from Sonia. But it was a blatant
fact that she did not stand a chance against Sonia.
How was she supposed to accept that fact?!
Asher soon took in a deep breath as he looked at Jessica. At this point, he had already given up on
making sense of her behavior.
He was afraid he wouldn’t be able to control himself from strangling her with his own hands.
Meanwhile, Sonia let out a small laugh as she looked at how defeated Asher was. She then proudly
declared, “It seems like President Dafoe will no longer aid Jessica in fighting for the shares, eh? If that
is the case, I guess the position will naturally go to me!”
Alarmed, Jessica immediately exclaimed, “You don’t have the right to!”
“I don’t have the right to?” Sonia repeated with a scoff. “I have every right to, and it is all because I
have my wonderful grandfather who has been backing me up. I have what you can’t even dream to
have!”
“You…” Jessica was cut off by Asher’s reprimanding gaze before she could even say a thing.
After Jessica became quiet, Asher turned to Sonia and briefly reminded her, “Sonia, you are definitely
still in the running to be the next chairperson. However, you have to hand over 5.5 percent of your
shares to Jessica.”
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