Chapter 151 It's All Because of You
After leaving the villa, James hailed a taxi and rushed back home.
James lay alone on the cold bed, recalling Cynthia's alluring figure, feeling somewhat lost.
He thought, 'If it weren't for Laura's call, I would probably have already been intimate with Cynthia and would be lying in her big bed, holding her as we slept, right?'
"Seems like my luck with women has been a bit over the top lately. Oh well, no point in dwelling on it. Tomorrow, I'm supposed to go get the marriage license with Laura." James sighed softly and then closed his eyes, slowly falling asleep.
The next day, at 8 AM, James brought his ID to Laura's cosmetics company.
Laura's company was located in the southern part of Lumina City. It was medium-sized, with about seventy to eighty employees.
Upon entering the company, James found the decor very impressive, giving off the vibe of a publicly listed company.
"Hello, sir. Are you here to see someone?" the receptionist asked.
"Yeah, I'm here to see Miss Hall," James replied.
"Ms. Hall is in a meeting. Would you like to wait in the reception room?" she said.
"Sure," James nodded and went to the reception room, where the receptionist brought him a glass of water.
Sitting on the sofa, he glanced around the company before focusing on the conference room. Through the glass doors, he saw Laura arguing with a middle-aged man.
'Is Laura in some kind of trouble?' he wondered.
"James?" a familiar voice called out. It was Laura's cousin, Nancy.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, puzzled.
"This is my fiancée's company. Why wouldn't I be here?" James shot back.
"You... You're shameless. You and Laura are only married in name. Get that straight," Nancy whispered angrily.
"What's going on with your cousin today? I saw her arguing with someone," James pointed to the conference room, not in the mood to argue.
"You have the nerve to ask? It's because of you that she's arguing!" Nancy fumed, glaring at him.
"Because of me?" James was baffled. He had no idea how Laura's argument had anything to do with him. If she hadn't called him, he wouldn't even know she ran a cosmetics company.
"I've never been here before. Their argument has nothing to do with me," James told Nancy.
Nancy pouted, "Don't play dumb. My cousin's arguing because of you. If it weren't for you, Mr. Diaz wouldn't have pulled his investment. Without his money, the shareholders are causing trouble."
"Mr. Diaz?" James was surprised. He remembered the rich guy who confessed to Laura last night had a surname of Diaz.
"Nancy, explain how this is my fault," James asked seriously.
Nancy rolled her eyes, "You're just a delivery guy. Even if I tell you, you can't fix it. Knowing more won't help."
"Laura is my fiancée. I care about her," James said softly.
"You really think you're something, huh? If Laura didn't have a useless fiancé like you, she wouldn't be in this mess," Nancy snapped.
"What's going on? Tell me clearly," James demanded, growing more anxious.
Seeing his agitation, Nancy softened a bit, "This company is Laura's own cosmetics business. We make our own products."
"And then?" James pressed.
Nancy leaned in, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "When the company was first started, my cousin borrowed ten million from the family. She thought that was going to last forever. But after six months, she realized the Summit brand wasn't catching on. Most people just preferred international brands and were skeptical of local products. Within a year, she had burned through that entire ten million, and the company was still in the dumps, losing money hand over fist."
James, growing impatient, asked, "What's this got to do with what's happening now?"
"Just hang on, I'm getting there. If you're not interested, I'll shut up," Nancy snapped.
"Come on, just tell me," James pleaded.
Nancy continued, "So, my cousin's family wanted her to quit because the company was losing money and the market wasn't responding well. They thought it was a lost cause. But my cousin was hell-bent on making Summit a success, so she refused to give up. She and her dad ended up having some pretty heated arguments over it.
"Eventually, her dad gave in but stopped funding her. Recently, his own company hit financial trouble, so he couldn't help even if he wanted to," Nancy added.
