That shut Sexton up. Carlos' words did make sense.
Sheffield and Evelyn came from families of equal social status. He was competitive and smart, and she was attractive and brilliant. They made quite a couple.
Carlos left the building and got into his car. Debbie asked anxiously, "How did it go?"
"Are you done shopping?" he asked instead.
"Yes. I wanted to come upstairs to look for you, but I was afraid to interrupt." She and Carlos had left the manor together. While Carlos met with Sexton, she had gone shopping to keep herself busy in the meantime.
As Debbie stared at him, still waiting for an answer, Carlos finally replied, "What do you think? You asked me to handle it. How could I face you if I didn't do well?" He snorted.
Debbie had been extremely anxious ever since she had found out that Sheffield was being sued, especially after realizing that he had acted in defiance for Evelyn's sake.
Carlos couldn't bear to see her gloomy face all day. She had finally felt relieved after he agreed to help Sheffield make the problem go away.
Debbie's eyes brightened. "Sexton agreed to drop the lawsuit?"
"Yes."
She was thrilled! She grabbed his hand and urged, "Call Evelyn! Tell her the good news."
"No way!" Carlos refused arrogantly.
"Fine. I'll tell her myself." Debbie was just glad that the matter had been settled.
After a few minutes, Carlos said thoughtfully, "Sexton is the type of man who holds onto his grudges. It's true that he promised to withdraw the lawsuit, but I'm not sure whether he plans to leave Sheffield alone. He might deal with the brat in some other way."
"Oh! What should we do?"
"'We?' We are not gonna do anything. It's Sheffield's problem. What do I care? I am not the one Sexton hates."
Debbie rolled her eyes and snapped, "All right, let's play it by the ear. If Sheffield needs your help, we can talk about it then."
"No! There will be no more talking." Carlos didn't want anything to do with Sheffield after this. He had only helped him this time to make Debbie happy.
"Fine, then I'll help him!"
Carlos was enraged. He didn't understand why Sheffield was so important to his wife. First, Evelyn had fallen in love with that man and had fought against her own father to be with him, and now, his wife was threatening him to help Sheffield. Carlos couldn't fathom why she was so protective of him. Two of the most important women in Carlos' life were on Sheffield's side now. At this point, Carlos really wanted to kill the guy. Well, before he did that, he needed to make sure that the news of his death wouldn't break his wife and daughter's hearts. He was frustrated to no end.
On his way back home after the meeting with Sexton, Peterson received a call from Tobias. "Mr. Tang, I've sent an interview video to your phone."
Peterson hung up and played the video in which Sheffield was answering the press' questions.
It had aired only a few moments ago.
The first few questions were about his work as the CEO. Sheffield answered them promptly, considering the overall interests of the group and made sure not to offend anyone in the process.
The later questions were about his personal life. One of the reporters asked, "Mr. Tang, you are now a hot topic on the Internet and have a lot of fans who care about you. Would you mind if I asked a few questions outside your work?"
"Please, go ahead," Sheffield agreed.
"All right. Mr. Tang, do you have a girlfriend?"
"I do, and we love each other a lot," he said with a gentle smile.
"Oh! Your fans will be heartbroken!" exclaimed the reporter.
"I hope not," Sheffield replied with a low laugh. "If they really like me, they will be glad to see me happy."
The reporter smiled, "You're a very interesting man, Mr. Tang. Could you tell us who the lucky girl is?"
"Not yet, but I'll tell you as soon as she nods to my proposal."
"Wow! We will be looking forward to hearing all about it." Sheffield only nodded once in reply.
"Thank you for answering all the questions, Mr. Tang. One last question. You finished a research project two years ago. The results have amazed the entire world. There must have been a few people who had offered their support for you. Who do you want to thank the most?"
Everyone in the hall figured that Sheffield would thank his team mates, or that he would bestow his success to his woman, who had always been there for him.
Well, he did express his gratitude to his team for their hard work. But he continued, "Besides my co-workers, who have worked hard with me from the beginning, I am very grateful to my future father-in-law. When I was stuck in a difficult situation, he invested a lot of money into my research and development unconditionally. So, I want to thank him in particular."
Everyone was shocked. For a while, the reporter stayed baffled, but soon she responded, "Since your future father-in-law was able to invest so much in your project, he must be an important figure in the society. Am I right, Mr. Tang?"
Sheffield smiled and his eyes filled with admiration as he said, "Yes, he is a very powerful man. He is my idol and role model. I wish to learn more from him and strive to be as outstanding as him in the future. And I take this opportunity to promise him that I would give his daughter the best of everything, and also to let him and my future mother-in-law have a great retirement life."
"You have succeeded in raising our curiosity, Mr. Tang. Good luck with the proposal. We're looking forward to the announcement of the engagement."
"Thank you."
'Future father-in-law…' Peterson pondered. 'Was it Carlos who had given him money?'
No one else could have helped Sheffield with such a large amount. Plus, Sheffield and Evelyn had been in a relationship at the time, so Peterson guessed that it must have been Carlos. No wonder Sheffield was willing to give up the lucrative profit from the research to ZL Group. He must have been in an endeavor to impress Carlos.
That night in the Huo family manor
Debbie had her arms tightly wrapped around Carlos' waist.
Terilynn was blocking the door. Holding Gwyn, Evelyn calmly watched what was going on in the bedroom.
"Let go of me! I'm going to kill that bastard!" Carlos' face darkened with fury.
'Who the hell is his future father-in-law? Invested money in his research unconditionally? That idiot must be tired of his petty life! I will gladly send him to the afterlife!'
Debbie tried to hold him down. "He earned that money. Why are you so angry? If you want that money back, earn it back from him!"
Terilynn seconded with a nod. "Mom is right, Dad. Sheffield didn't steal from you or rob you. He earned it fairly. What's wrong with that?"
Debbie and Terilynn didn't know about Star Anise. They both thought that Carlos had invested in Sheffield's research. He couldn't admit to them that he had been outwitted by Sheffield. "He schemed against me. I won't spare him," he threatened, glaring at the closed door.
Evelyn hadn't said a word until now. "Dad, he installed our company's defense system. What if he destroys it when you go after him?"
By now, Evelyn knew that Sheffield was Star Anise. She also figured that since he was so good at IT, it must be a piece of cake for him to destroy their entire defense system in the blink of an eye.
She remembered the times when Sheffield had offered to fix her computer issues, but back then she had believed that he was only trying to create some sort of trouble for her. Now she realized how ignorant she had been at the time, and how little she had believed him.
"Y-y-you!" Carlos grunted at Evelyn. "He took a billion from me! I'll get back at him! You just wait and see!"
"Come on, Carlos. I heard from Dixon that ZL Group has made billions of dollars through Sheffield's research project. However much he had taken from you, he has already paid it back in double and more. Just take the win," Debbie said before Evelyn could respond, casting a burning glance at him. But seeing how upset he was, she didn't have the heart to get mad at him. She patted his back to make him feel better. "Calm down. Stop throwing a tantrum. You might scare Gwyn."
