Chapter 152 Mr. Diaz's Trap
James stared at Nancy, still puzzled about how her story related to their argument in the conference room.
Nancy glanced around and said quietly, "Without my uncle's financial help, the company couldn't function. Laura had to look for outside investors. Luckily, she had good connections and sold 50% of the company's shares to those people in the conference room."
"So, they're all shareholders?" James asked, surprised.
"Yes," Nancy nodded, frowning. "After selling the shares, Laura got some money to keep the cosmetics company going. But it didn't help much. The shareholders started pressuring her to switch from making our own Summit cosmetics to becoming an agent for big foreign brands."
"And then?" James asked.
"Laura started the company to create her own brand. She didn't want to become an agent for foreign brands, so she refused. The shareholders then demanded to withdraw their shares," Nancy explained.
"Let them withdraw then," James said casually.
Nancy glared at him. "Are you crazy? If they all withdraw, Laura has to pay a huge severance fee, and she doesn't have the money."
"What if she can't pay?" James asked, frowning.
"They'll sue her, and she'll lose. The company will go bankrupt," Nancy said.
"Got it," James nodded, finally understanding. Laura's company was struggling, and the shareholders wanted out, but she couldn't afford to pay them.
But James still didn't see how this involved him. He wasn't even part of her company.
"I get it, but what does this have to do with me?" James asked Nancy.
"How can you not see it?" Nancy glared at him. "Yesterday, a rich guy named Mr. Diaz wanted to invest in Laura's company. If she got that money, the company might recover, and the shareholders wouldn't cause trouble."
"But what does that have to do with me?" James asked, confused.
"It has everything to do with you. Last night, Mr. Diaz confessed to Laura, but she rejected him, saying she already had a fiancé. So, he withdrew his investment, and now the shareholders are here causing trouble," Nancy explained.
James finally understood. The rich guy at the bar last night was Laura's potential investor.
"Now do you see? If it weren't for you, Mr. Diaz wouldn't have backed out, and Laura wouldn't have lost that investment," Nancy said angrily.
James squinted at the conference room, looking conflicted. For him, any problem solvable with money wasn't a real problem. But he hadn't registered his marriage with Laura yet and didn't want to reveal his identity.
"Laura's being foolish. Someone offered her a mansion worth fifty million dollars recently. If she'd accepted and sold it, her problem would be solved. But she turned it down. I don't know what she was thinking!" Nancy said, looking at James.
"She didn't take the mansion?" James exclaimed, then got up and headed toward the conference room.
"James, where are you going?" Nancy shouted as he walked away.
Ignoring her, James pushed open the conference room door.
Inside, a middle-aged man with a greasy face was shouting at Laura, "Miss Hall, we want to withdraw our shares today, or we won't leave!"
"Yeah, we're not leaving without our money!" the other shareholders echoed.
"For my father's sake, can you give me a few more days? I promise to have an answer in three days," Laura pleaded, rubbing her forehead.
"A few more days?" the middle-aged man sneered. "Laura, we invested because of your father. But you've run the company into the ground, and now you want more time? We've given you plenty, and nothing's changed!"
"I know you've been supportive, but I really don't have the money right now," Laura tried to explain.
"A few days ago, Mr. Diaz wanted to invest. Why did you reject him? You owe us an explanation!" the middle-aged man shouted, eyes wide with anger.
"But I don't have the money to pay you back!" Laura shouted in despair.
"Then go to Mr. Diaz and get him to invest. We won't ask for our shares back," the middle-aged man said coldly.
Laura was stunned. She realized these shareholders, all billionaires, didn't hold many shares. If they withdrew, they'd only get two or three million dollars, which was nothing to them. Their constant threats to withdraw seemed unusual.
With the middle-aged man's words, Laura suddenly realized they might be colluding with Donovan to force her to go to him. This was all a trap set by Donovan.
But even knowing it was a trap, Laura had no solution.
"Laura, just call Mr. Diaz and get him to reinvest. We won't ask for our shares back," he repeated.
"Yes, Laura, it's just a phone call. It's not hard," another middle-aged man shouted.
At that moment, the conference room door swung open.
Everyone turned to look.
When Laura saw James walk in, she was stunned and frowned. "James, what are you doing here? Get out!"
