Hearing her pleading, Isabella breathed a sigh of relief. “OK. I haven’t come up with a third rule yet. But you’d better not get into any trouble.”
They said goodbye in front of the bar after finishing their drinks. As Isabella had to return to work at the convenience store, she told Tammy to text her when she arrived at the hotel. She didn’t until she saw Tammy get into a cab.
***
Anthony’s face lit up when he saw Isabella return. “I thought you weren’t coming back,” he said.
“Why?” Isabella asked as she fastened her apron.
“Nothing. Where is your sister?” Anthony looked behind her, but there was no one there.
“She returned to her hotel. I caught up with her just now.”
“So… Are you going to stay here?” Anthony asked after a brief pause.
“Yeah.”
“How long are you planning on staying?”
“I don’t know,” Isabella had no idea how long she would be in the city, so that was all she could say. She couldn’t go anywhere else but here. And she didn’t feel like going anywhere until she figured out the thing between her and Jasper.
“I heard her call you Isabella,” Antony said, looking at her.
Isabella paused for a moment before nodding. To her surprise, Anthony didn’t say anything else. “What’s wrong?” she asked, looking up at him.
“I wanted to return this to you. You must need it more than I do,” Anthony said, pulling the necklace from his bag behind him.
“You didn’t sell it?” Isabella asked, surprised.
Anthony shook his head.
“My name is Isabella Thomas,” Isabella said, clutching the necklace tightly.
“Isabella? That’s a beautiful name. And what do you want me to call you from now on?”
“I still want you to call me Chelsea. I told you my name because I trust you, but I have no plans to continue using it.”
Anthony froze for a moment before breaking into a smile. “OK, I’ll still call you Chelsea,” he said.
When she saw Anthony’s smile, Isabella felt a pang of guilt inside. She wasn’t sure if she was using him by doing so. But she was aware that, aside from Anthony, she didn’t appear to have anyone she could rely on at the moment.
The collapsed construction site was close to several universities. So, it might endanger the university town and surrounding towns. In response to the collapse, Carousel Group planned to hold a press conference to address the public. At the same time, they wanted to publicize the plans for future development to reassure the residents. Therefore, Carousel Group held a press conference in Cliatin the following afternoon.
Before the conference began, Anna came to encourage Matthew in the hotel lounge. Originally, Wayne refused to come, but Anna persuaded him to do so.
In a hurry, Maria handed a stack of papers to Matthew and said, “These are the questions that the journalists will ask here. I’ve written appropriate responses to each question, so you can just answer them according to it.”
Matthew took a quick glance at the script before tossing it aside. “Thanks, but that’s not necessary,” He said.
“Mr. Wright…” Maria made an attempt to persuade him. To her surprise, Matthew motioned with his hand that she didn’t need to say anything else. Confused, Maria cast a glance at Wayne, who sat next to her. Then Wayne nodded in approval and told her to leave Matthew alone.
Later, after Matthew went to the stage, Maria said to Anna and Wayne “Shall I let the driver drive you to the airport? You may miss your flight if you don’t leave now.”
Extremely nervous, Anna said with a frown, “I still want to stay here with Matthew. Never mind; I can change my tickets.” Hearing her response, Maria froze for a moment before walking away.
“Don’t worry, Matthew will take care of everything,” Wayne said, taking Anna’s hand.
At the conference, Matthew sat on stage in his suit while reporters were photographing him. They took pictures of him so quickly that he didn’t even have time to blink.
Then one of the reporters began asking questions, “Mr. McCarthy, how does the Carousel Group intend to deal with this collapse?”
“We will strictly adhere to the engineering plan. In fact, this building had a foundation and internal structure deterioration issues before we took it over. As a result, we will not make the next planned changes to it until these issues are resolved,” With composure, Matthew answered the question logically and coherently.
“The person in charge is said to have fled after the incident happened. Is this because he committed an illegal act, Mr. McCarthy?”
“No. In fact, we signed a contract before making the deal and we didn’t do anything illegal.”
Maria had prepared a script with all the questions the reporters might ask. However, after a while, out of her expectations, all of the reporters on the scene began to murmur as if they weren’t satisfied with Matthew’s answers.
Then a reporter abruptly stood up and said, “I heard one of your group’s car brands was having issues with many of its products. Did it happen because of a break in your capital chain?”
Stunned, Anna stood up right away backstage. She said, “Those cars? Why do they want to know about that? What does it have to do with the collapsed building?” After rereading the manuscript and ensuring she didn’t miss anything, Anna asked Wayne, who was next to her, “What’s going on here, Wayne?”
Shaking his head, Wayne frowned and sighed, saying, “Ten minutes ago, there was news exposing that one of the car brands of Carousel Group’s had defects, and the court filing note was also made public. This incident sparked a huge uproar on the Internet.”
“Then what should we do? Can Matthew handle it himself? If he can’t, we have to do something to help him,” Anna asked, her voice trembling. Meanwhile, Maria had also just learned the news. She frowned, not knowing what to say.
As Matthew tapped the microphone twice and pushed the speech into his hand. , the meeting room gradually became quieter. The next second, what he said amazed Anna, Wayne and Maria, “After we received the feedback that showed one of our car brands had flaws, we immediately recalled all of the vehicles in this batch and compensated the owners. Whether the quality of these cars is truly defective still remains unknown, so we will examine and study them further to verify it later.”
“But since you have recalled these vehicles, so you have complete control over the findings. What if you lie to the public about the actual result of the testing?” One of the reporters asked sharply.
“Rest assured. A third-party agency will fully supervise the entire process. So, it’s impossible for us to falsify the result,” Matthew calmly answered calmly.
Seeing how Matthew was good at playing it by ear, Anna finally felt relieved. And the heavy stone on her chest finally dropped
“Shall we leave now?” Wayne asked, taking her hand in his.
“Where to?” Still immersed in the amazement that Matthew brought her, Anna was a bit confused as to what Wayne was talking about.
Then Wayne displayed the news on his phone to Anna. “Let’s go home. You don’t need to worry about Matthew. See, just as I told you before; the kid is a natural. He can handle the crisis excellently. And I’m sure he can handle everything on his own in the future. And now, I need to go back to the headquarters and deal with the situation.”
And Wayne analyzed to himself, This time, someone must’ve deliberately leaked the news about the so-called flaws of our brand’s car during the press conference. Clearly, someone is doing this to tarnish our group’s reputation and make Matthew panic. And I’m curious as to who the black sheep is.
Following the press conference, Matthew and his staff returned to the hotel. On the way, Maria kept apologizing to Matthew, saying, “Mr. Wright, I’m sorry. This is entirely my fault. I should’ve predicted the situation and been more prepared. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry!”
“It’s OK,” Matthew said in a flat tone, “By the way, where are my parents?”
“They’ve arrived at the airport.” Matthew nodded and continued, “Come back to Birmingham with me when everything is finished here.”
“Why?”
“The international racing competition is about to begin. I want to form a professional racing team with a group of racers.”
“Racing competition?” Maria froze for a while and asked.
Nodding firmly, Matthew explained, “My father has acquired several car brands before I took over the group. It took him a lot of effort to acquire those car brands. So, I’m determined not to let my father’s efforts go in vain. The annual international racing competition will provide an excellent opportunity for major automobile manufacturers to promote themselves. And many companies invest in racing teams to show off their vehicles to the public. Therefore, I can’t miss the chance to clear the name of our group.”
***
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.