Sheffield smelled like perfume. Kaylee could smell it, standing this close. If she were to guess, it must belong to the woman he spent the night with. "Go ahead, try it—if you're not afraid your dad will break your legs!"
"As the saying goes: Nothing is yummier than dumplings, no woman is more fun than a sister-in-law. I'll get my brother to join us!" It was obvious what kind of "fun" he was referring to. Sheffield was the only member of the Tang family who would say something like that. The man casually pulled his suit jacket over his shoulder and walked off. His every move was charming.
Looking at his back, Kaylee took a deep breath. This man was a serious flirt. He didn't need to do anything to seduce her. She already wanted him.
In the study on the second floor
Sheffield sat down on the sofa and casually draped his suit jacket over the arm of the sofa. Then he looked at the two other men in the room and said, "Sterling, why are you still here? Your wife's gonna run off with another guy. Aren't you going to stop her?"
Every time he spoke, he always said something wrong. Peterson cast a sharp glance at his son.
But he received no response from Sheffield. Instead, the young man looked provocatively at Sterling. But the older brother seemed to be completely calm.
Sterling smiled. "Don't be ridiculous. Kaylee's not that kind of girl."
"So you mean I'm that kind of guy? To tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind having a taste of my sister-in-law—"
"Sheffield Tang!" Peterson roared in a great fury.
Assuming a helpless look, Sheffield pretended to fall in line and said, "Fine, I'll stop. But why did you want me to come back?"
Peterson was pissed off, but Sheffield acted like nothing had happened. His old man was even more enraged. "We're hemorrhaging money! Money and clients! When will you grow up and stop pissing me and your brother off?"
Sheffield didn't have an answer. So he said nothing.
He was not frightened by his father's anger. Instead, he was worried that if he continued to argue with him, his dad would have a stroke or a heart attack.
As the saying goes, saving a life is better than building a pagoda. His silence at the moment was meant to save his father's life.
Without Sheffield egging him on, Peterson calmed down a little. He took a deep breath and continued, "Theo Group is in trouble. Sexton has managed to get Langston and Duran on his side. Not only that, but he encouraged several companies to hit us where it hurts. A couple of them lured away our suppliers, others are taunting us on social media, convincing customers to go elsewhere. We have hackers mounting cyber attacks. They're hitting us from all sides. A couple banks have even begun to freeze our loans. What do you think?"
The last question was directed to Sheffield.
This time, Sheffield chose to answer seriously, "Just ask Sexton to stop."
Peterson closed his eyes to hold back his anger. He began to wonder if he had done the right thing, letting Sheffield take over the company.
"Sheffield, Sexton's determined to screw you over. You'll ask him to stop? How? Are you going to beg him?" Sterling taunted.
"Beg him? Well, it's yet too early to say who will beg," Sheffield retorted with a fake smile.
He had his trump card.
"What do you mean?" Peterson stared at him.
Sheffield picked up his suit jacket and stood up from the sofa. "I mean nothing. I just want you to know that Sexton and Langston are going to pay for this, especially Duran Xie, who likes women wearing a cheongsam, and Mad Duck. They ripped me off for thousands at that restaurant!"
Peterson pushed away his anger and growled, "Mr. Zhu's name is Maddock!"
"Maddock or Mad Duck. I don't give a damn," Sheffield said contemptuously.
Sterling laughed, "I'm not looking down on you, Sheffield. But you're being unrealistic. These guys are massively powerful. Langston and Duran are bad enough, but add Sexton into the mix and you're asking for trouble. All three of them are a nightmare. What makes you think you can deal with them?"
"Because I'm me! I've been in tighter scrapes." With that, Sheffield walked towards the door, in no mood to say one more word to his brother.
At this moment, Peterson's phone rang. He checked the caller ID. It was Tobias. Peterson shouted to Sheffield, "Wait a minute!"
Sheffield turned impatiently. Peterson answered the phone. "Yeah, it's me."
After listening to Tobias for a while, Peterson glanced at Sheffield and asked, "Is your phone off?"
Sheffield took out his phone from his pocket, and it was indeed off.
"Oh, I was busy with my woman last night and forgot to charge it."
Peterson glared at him and told Tobias, "He's with me. Go ahead. What? Okay. I see."
After ending the call, he looked at Sheffield with a complicated look in his eyes. "Were you with Evelyn Huo last night?"
"Yeah! So?" 'The press is really efficient.' In his heart, Sheffield gave the reporters a thumbs up.
He tried to turn on his phone, and a message came in: Dear Mr. Tang, your bank account has just been credited five million dollars. He didn't have time to think about it, because his phone died.
"So?" mocked Peterson. "So Theo Group has been besieged by reporters! We're in the news for the wrong reasons!" he continued. That was why Tobias had called.
Sheffield nodded. "I get it. Hey, didn't your last check-up show that you have high blood pressure? Take care of yourself. Don't worry about business. See ya!"
When the door of the study closed, Peterson had a feeling that sooner or later Sheffield would drive him over the edge.
At ZL Group
Evelyn was conducting a morning meeting when Nadia trotted in with an iPad in her hand. "Miss Huo, turn on the news," she whispered in Evelyn's ear.
Evelyn took the iPad from her and frowned at the title. "Evelyn Huo Spotted at CEO's Apartment." She furrowed her brow, reading further. "Did she spend the night with Sheffield Tang?" read the sub-header.
Below were a series of photos, including photos of Sheffield getting out of his car, her getting out of her car and walking into his apartment, as well as them emerging together the next morning. The most sensational pic was the last one, the photo of them kissing by her car that morning.
Nadia reported in a low voice, "The reporters downstairs are blocking the entrance of the building. Theo Group has the same problem. Our phones are ringing off the hook." The news had caused a huge sensation on the Internet, much more sensational than news of Evelyn Huo and Calvert Ji's relationship in the past.
By now, everyone knew the love declaration on the outdoor screen of Theo Group's offices was from Sheffield.
"Miss Huo, what should we do?"
Evelyn took another look at the iPad and closed it. She stood up and said to the executives, "I'm sorry. I have something else to deal with. Please continue without me."
As soon as she walked out of the meeting room, she called Sheffield.
