Wrong Flirt, Right Trouble: His Uncle Pulls Me Close

Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Teaching Ivy a Lesson

In the restaurant, Timothy Sherwood was beaming as he finished the arrangements, waiting for his distinguished guest.

Messages on his phone came in one after another. Before, Timothy Sherwood wouldn’t have dared to open them—they were all from debt collectors. But things were different now.

Last night, his godfather had someone wire him money—a full two hundred million. He could now pay the outstanding balances for his various projects and had settled all the back wages.

However, that was just enough to keep the company running. They weren’t completely out of the woods yet. So, Timothy Sherwood had to find another way to get more money out of Charlie Rhodes.

Just then, the door to the private room opened. A waiter led Charlie Rhodes in, who seemed to be in a rather good mood.

Timothy Sherwood immediately rushed forward to greet him. "Godfather!"

"Thank you, Godfather, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to have a meal with me." Timothy Sherwood bowed low, like a sycophant before Charlie Rhodes.

"Ah, Timothy," Charlie Rhodes began, "you’ve always been the son-in-law I’ve had high hopes for. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have married Jade off to you back then."

Although his ’fun’ had been interrupted yesterday, Charlie Rhodes had already gotten what he wanted.

"To have your approval, Godfather, is the greatest honor of my life. Let me toast to you, Godfather. Thank you for saving me and for saving my company."

"Don’t be so formal. We’re all family. As for my granddaughter, it had been a while since I’d seen her, so we were just catching up last night. It’s a shame your older daughter seems to lack some sense. She interrupted me and my sweet granddaughter’s good time."

Timothy Sherwood naturally understood. "I know, Godfather. I apologize on behalf of my disappointing daughter!"

Charlie Rhodes sneered. "There’s no need to apologize. I didn’t take it to heart. But for a young person to be so hot-headed... she needs to be taught a lesson. I’ve already taken care of it for you."

He had given the order, and now those factories wouldn’t dare ship anything to Ivy Sherwood. This was to be her lesson.

"I understand, I understand. Feel free to teach her any lesson you see fit, Godfather. It’s just... Godfather, isn’t two hundred million a little too little? You know my company isn’t small, and the amount we discussed before wasn’t this much," Timothy Sherwood said cautiously.

Charlie Rhodes toyed with the wine glass in his hand, his sagging face looking particularly sleazy.

"Money? I have plenty of it. It’s just that I’ve been in Lustre for some time now and haven’t had a proper look around. I hear there’s a mountain resort about to open that’s been getting a lot of buzz. If my sweet granddaughter could willingly accompany me on a vacation to that resort, then everything will be negotiable."

Timothy Sherwood’s breath caught. "Godfather, that’s not what we agreed upon before."

Before, it was just about having Thea accompany him once. Now he wants her to go on vacation with him?

’And willingly, at that? How could Thea possibly agree to that!’

Charlie Rhodes lost his appetite. "If you’re unwilling, then I won’t force you. I have plenty of other goddaughters, you know. And you’re not my only godson-in-law. There are plenty of people waiting to inherit my money."

Charlie Rhodes stood up, ready to leave. He didn’t stop, no matter how much Timothy Sherwood called after him from behind.

Timothy Sherwood gritted his teeth. ’As the saying goes, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.’ To his mind, since Thea had already gone through it once, a second or third time wouldn’t matter.

Before, Timothy Sherwood had felt a flicker of reluctance, but now, he was long past any semblance of humanity.

Having seen so much money, he now knew just how quickly a fortune could be made.

If selling his daughter once could net him two hundred million, that was more than his company could earn in a year.

Timothy Sherwood immediately picked up his phone, transferred five million to Yasmin Lee, and then gave her a call.

"Don’t tell anyone about this, and more importantly, don’t mention that I contacted you."

"I understand. Thank you, Uncle Sherwood." Yasmin Lee was ecstatic. She had never seen so much money before.

After pretending to be a rich heiress at school for so long, this was the first time she actually felt like one.

"You did very well this time. If Thea comes looking for you, tell her that Ivy Sherwood threatened you into taking Thea to that room yesterday."

Yasmin Lee didn’t know what had happened in that room. Timothy Sherwood had simply approached her earlier, telling her to find an opportunity to get Thea Sherwood into that room. He promised her a large sum of money afterward.

She was curious, but he was Thea Sherwood’s father. ’Surely he wouldn’t do anything to harm his own daughter.’ So, Yasmin Lee had agreed.

"Uncle, why should I say it was Ivy?" she asked. She knew Ivy Sherwood was the boss at her current job.

With so much money now, why would Yasmin Lee possibly keep working?

"Just do as I say. You must make Thea believe this. Once it’s done, I’ll give you more money."

At the prospect of more money, Yasmin Lee readily agreed. "No problem, Uncle."

Having arranged everything, Timothy Sherwood finally allowed himself a smile. ’It seems this daughter wasn’t raised for nothing,’ he thought, ’unlike that ungrateful wretch, Ivy Sherwood!’

...

Ivy Sherwood called the factories, but they either wouldn’t pick up at all or would just make excuses if they did.

Having no other choice, she went to the factories in person. But the managers in charge wouldn’t dare come out to see her, claiming they were "on business trips." They wouldn’t let Ivy inside either, saying no one could enter the workshop without authorization. In short, they simply barred her from entering.

When Ivy asked about the situation, they were vague, fobbing her off whenever they could.

"Our contract clearly states this delivery date," Ivy said, holding up the document.

"Yeah, it does, but there’s nothing we can do about it. Why don’t you just go through legal channels? Sue us, go ahead."

The penalty for breach of contract wasn’t much anyway. Besides, going to court was time-consuming and exhausting. If they just dragged their feet on paying, there was nothing Ivy could do.

These people were just being shameless. Offending one Ivy Sherwood was nothing. But if they offended Mr. Rhodes, their factories might go bankrupt overnight.

Ivy Sherwood went to several factories, and they all gave her the same story.

After hitting a wall several times, her young assistant, Edie, was frantic. "Boss, what are we going to do?"

"There are already a lot of people in our system asking about their orders! We told them all that we’d be shipping in the next couple of days."

If they couldn’t ship the products, the reputation of Iris would be damaged.

"We’ll find a way," Ivy Sherwood said, her expression grim.

Ivy Sherwood then tried to contact other contract manufacturers, but without exception, they all refused her request.

Some of them hung up the moment they heard the name "Ivy Sherwood."

It was already past closing time. Ivy told her assistant to go home for the day while she tried to figure something out.

Previously, when she was looking for sales channels, no one wanted to distribute her perfume because of President Walker.

So, she created her own brand and opened her own stores.

But back then, she had time. If she were to start her own factory now, the site, the machinery, the manpower—none of that could be arranged in a short amount of time.

Even if she didn’t eat or sleep, it would be impossible to ship the orders on time.

Ivy knew this was all Charlie Rhodes’s doing. She knew these were the consequences she had to pay, but she didn’t regret what she did yesterday.

Even if she could do it all over again, she would still choose to charge upstairs.