Chapter 111: Laid Out A Trap
With her arms hooked around Wendy’s, Zen led her straight into a restaurant. Wendy had no choice but to dine with them despite her reluctance. After all, Zen was her friend. She does not want to hurt their friendship simply because of the fact that the companies that they served were competitors with each other.
Christian had already booked a private dining room, and after the trio had settled down, he handed the menu over to Wendy and notified her, "I didn’t want to keep you hungry while you wait for the food, so I’ve already ordered some dishes, though it’s nothing much. You can see if there’s anything that you would like to try, and you can add to the order."
Wendy would have accepted the meal without feeling any stress if it was just a meal between Zen and her. But now that Christian was present, the meaning behind the meal had changed.
Instead of ordering any other dishes, Wendy replied emotionlessly, "That’s not necessary. The both of you can go ahead and order what you want."
Zen was clueless about the complicated relationship between Christian and Wendy from five years ago and merely thought that Wendy had behaved like this because she disliked Christian. After all, Wendy never shared much about what happened back then with Zen out of fear of implicating her. However, Zen only took up the job offer in Christian’s company because she was ill-informed of what happened.
Nonetheless, Wendy had always kept her work separated from her private affairs, and wOuld never change her opinion of Zen because of this.
Wendy knew that she would always respect Zen, whether or not she chose to stay on in DR.
When Zen sensed the awkwardness, she took the menu over and grinned before she replied, "Mr. Lucas, since you’re so generous, I’ll gladly take up your offer and order a few more dishes."
Zen flipped open the menu and ordered a few more dishes.
After the waiter left the room, Zen added, "I ordered the dishes based on what you liked in the past. Not sure if your taste has changed in cent years?"
"Thank you," Wendy replied and her gaze visibly softened up as she nodded at Zen.
Some of the food was served quickly. Wendy simply stared down at her plate and ate in silence. As she chewed away on her food, someone served some vegetables into her bowl With a fork.
It had been Zen who had served her the vegetables, and she quickly turned to take one glance at Christian after she had done so. The expression in her eyes was rather dark and gloomy.
Christian simply reacted as if nothing had happened and continued to smile as he usually does before he urged, "Wendy, look how skinny you’ve become. Here, help yourself to some more food."
Wendy stared hard at the vegetables in her bowl and fumed in silence. She knew that she had to consider Zen’s feelings even if she couldn’t care less about Christian. However, she genuinely found it hard to stomach the fact that Christian was urging her to eat and serve her food.
Placing her fork down, Wendy instructed the waiter beside her, "I’d like to replace my bowl."
The waiter swiftly left to get her a new bowl. It was obvious from Wendy’s reaction who was the one that she regarded with contempt.
Christian did not continue to bring her hate down upon himself, and he stopped trying to serve her any more food. This made Zen feel compelled to follow suit, staying quiet as well. The atmosphere at the dining table quickly became awkward again.
Wendy simply kept her head down and dug away at her food, and after some time, she placed her fork down and said calmly, "Mr. Lucas, thank you for your hospitality today. Please excuse me as there are some matters in my own work that need to be attended to."
Wendy was already regretting her decision to dine with them out of consideration for Zen’s feelings. She would have been firmer in her stance and would have left right away had she known better. But now that she was here, Christian would never let her off the hook so easily.
Placing his fork down, he whipped out a contract from the briefcase beside him and placed it down in front of Wendy before he said, "Actually, I’m not just asking you out for a simple meal."
"What do you mean, Mr. Lucas?" Wendy asked as she stared at the contract in front of her.
Wendy’s brows knítted into a frown and she noted in bafflement, "So you’ve laid out a trap for me?"
"Not really. Please take a look at the contract" Christian disagreed and pushed the contract toward Wendy.
Zen turned to stare at Christian and a hint of surprise flashed across her eyes. She couldn’t understand Christian’s intentions behind taking out the contract. All along, he had never mentioned anything about this to her. Zen was under the impression that Christian wanted her to invite Wendy down to their office for the sake of provoking and humiliating Michael. Zen had felt that his approach was rather inappropriate, but he was her employer. Moreover, she also had some of her own concerns and thus, she eventually called Wendy and invited her down.
But now, it was obvious that there was more at play than met the eye.
Wendy took one glance at the contract that was merely inches away from her and reached over to pick it up. As she read through the contract, her expression became increasingly gloomy.
When Christian saw that she was almost done with reading the contract, he explained, "Since you tried to poach my employee while you were in my company, then surely I can try to poach you as well. I’ve mentioned to you before that there’s someone whom you’re close within my company. But it’s a pity that you’ve turned me down."
Zen finally knew what Christian had meant. This had been his plan all along. Zen could finally see why he was so insistent on getting her to invite Wendy over to the office.
"You’ve already toured around my company today. Although the scale of our design department is nothing compared to MR’s, it isn’t small either. If you’re willing to work in my company, I could give your 35% of the profits of the design department, as stipulated in the contract," Christian resumed.
35% was, indeed, an attractive figure. Wendy could only earn less than 10% in annual profit even when she collaborated with MC using the identity of Corinne. Christian’s offer had caught her by surprise. Zen was even more astounded than Wendy.
’If he was willing to spend so much money to recruit Wendy, then what would become of me if Wendy really decides to work in DR? Would there even be a place for me at DR? Surely I didn’t work so hard for five years only to be left with nothing after that,’ Zen thought.
Her hands, which were resting on her thighs, had subconsciously balled up her fists.
However, it was not her place to comment about the matter.
"I will not participate in any matter related to the design department, no matter how serious or trivial it is. You can decide on everything independently," Christian added.
He had thrown out yet another seductive offer to Wendy. "Don’t worry about the liquidated damages that you’ll have to pay MC, DR will pay the full amount for you. If MC is dissatisfied and wants to take the case to court, I’m willing to play along with them. You have me and DR behind your back as long as you, Corinne, are willing to sign this contract," he persuaded.
At that very moment, Christian appeared serious and seemed like he meant business.
This was Wendy’s first time seeing Christian handle business affairs.
’So Christian had called me when I returned to the country genuinely because he wanted to poach me?’ she wondered.
Wendy took one glance at Zen’s expression and noticed that her expression had darkened and she had fallen silent. Wendy knew that there Wouldn’t be a place for Zen in DR if she were to accept Christian’s offer. However, just when Wendy was about to say something, someone flung the door open violently.
"That’s a tall order for DR to fill," Michael interrupted and showed up by the door. He then quickly strode into the room.
After walking up to Wendy, he sat down beside her, picked up the contract on the table and took a brief look at it.
"You’re trying to poach my employee with just a 35% bonus? Mr. Lucas, it seems like you’re underestimating MC," Michael smirked.
Christian raised an eyebrow when he heard this and he folded his arms across his chest.
He was not the least surprised by Michael’s arrival.
Staring at Michael, he replied, "I wonder how much bonus you offered to Corinne, Mr. Lucas?People are naturally inclined to choose what’s best for them. If DR has a better offer than MC, then you can’t blame your employee for jumping ship."
Wendy felt exceptionally uncomfortable listening to the exchange between the two men.
However, she couldn’t be bothered to interrupt their conversation. After all, she abhorred the both of them.
Just then, Wendy was taken by surprise, as someone suddenly laid a hand on her shoulder.
In the next instant, Michael had pulled her right into his arms, leaving her leaning against his chest.
Before she could even react to the situation, Michael declared boldly, "Bonus? I don’t even need to pay her a bonus, since all of MC’s profits belong to Wendy."
Everyone noticed that he used the name Wendy and not Corrine, and they were well aware of what he implied through this. Wendy was Michael’s wife and Michael was the holder of MC. Thus, Michael’s money would naturally belong to Wendy as well. As the entirety of MC belonged to Wendy, a discussion on the amount of a bonus that she would receive was ridiculous and unnecessary.
Wendy abhorred how touchy Michael was with her. In the morning, he had used Zen’s business card to be touchy with her in the office. And now, the same thing was happening again.
Wendy forcefully pulled her hand away from forcefully and straightened her back as she sat tall in her seat. When Christian noticed this, he couldn’t help but chuckle and remark, "Mr. Lucas, it seems like Corrine doesn’t really enjoy getting all of the bonuses that she has received from your company."
Five years had passed and Michael was no longer as easily agitated as before. He knew that Christian was trying to provoke him, and now, he could simply retaliate with a smile.
"She is now MC’s business partner. People in MC will not be so easily drawn in by the petty wins and fights of other small companies."
"Is that so?" Christian replied and turned to look at Wendy before he resumed, "I’ll increase the 35% stipulated in the contract to 49%."
49% was the highest dividend that one could offer. Based on the terms of the contract, the dividend represented the essential ownership of the design department.
While Christian had mentioned that Wendy could have full autonomy to call the shots within the department, this did not imply that she would have the power to make strategic decisions. If he offered Wendy more than 50% of the shares, the entire design department would be as good as hers.
"49%? What a seductive order indeed" Wendy remarked. She would never accept Christian’s offer, but she felt slightly repulsed by Michael’s arrival, so, with the intent to spite Michael, she chuckled and replied, "I could consider that."
"Wendy..." Michael called out and stared at her as she smiled at them gently. At first, Michael had felt like he had managed to gain the upper hand in the situation, but now it seemed like his standing took an immediate sharp plunge when he heard Wendy’s reply.
"Mr. Lucas, you havent had eaten yet, have you?" Wendy asked and looked at Michael before she resumed, "You’re just in time to enjoy a good meal with the other Mr. Lucas."
After throwing this out, Wendy rose to her feet and walked over to Zen to grab her hand. "Give me a lift, will you?" she requested softly.
When the duo strode out of the private room, Wendy’s expression became increasingly irritated, and she remarked furiously, "I never would have thought that you would help Christian to ask me to join DR. I thought that you invited me down to DR because you genuinely wanted to meet up with me."
Wendy had originally hoped that their relationship would not be affected by the two companies. But now, it was obvious that Zen was completely siding with DR. Wendy pursed her lips and let out a soft chuckle before she continued, "Zen, have you ever wondered if it’s possible for you to maintain a foothold in DR if were to work there?"
"Wendy, would you believe me if I were to tell you that I knew nothing about Christian’s intention to poach you?" Zen replied and bit her lips, for she knew how weak her explanation sounded.
After all, she was the one who had called and invited Wendy over. In fact, she was also the one who had dragged Wendy down for the meal. It was probably hard for anyone to believe that she knew nothing of Christian’s plans.
"I believe you," Wendy said and nodded her head.
However, there was no change in her tone of voice. "I believe that you were unaware that Christian had prepared a contract. But I suppose weren’t acting out of your own intentions when you invited me down to DR, were you?"
Christian had already been very cunning five years ago. Wendy knew what he was like. She knew that he wanted to poach Wendy, and if he were to succeed, that this would pose a threat to Zen’s position at DR. Thus, out of precaution, she understood that he certainly wouldn’t have let Zen in on his plans. Nonetheless, the fact was a fact that Zen was the one who had invited Wendy over.
