Chapter 55 The Bidding Begins!
In the 20th floor office of Maple Real Estate, after dropping Sarah off at the branch office, Ryder headed straight to headquarters.
Sophia stood on the opposite side of Ryder's desk and respectfully reported, "We just received news that the Smith Group has had all their funds frozen. They will be forced to sell off a large number of fixed assets, and all individuals involved in illegal activities have been apprehended. Moreover, the Smith Group has announced their withdrawal from our project bidding."
"Tell me about Tony," Ryder asked.
"Tony's hit-and-run incident is irrefutable. He has been detained, and he is now awaiting further legal proceedings. It is expected that he will receive a three to five-year prison sentence."
A prison term of three to five years meant that Tony's influence in Houston would be completely shattered. Decades of hard work would go down the drain. However, compared to Joseph, he was somewhat fortunate. At least he managed to save his life!
In Ryder's heart, there was still some admiration for Joseph.
Last night, before leaving The Source Hotel, he gave Joseph and Sam the choice to take the role of the one involved in the car accident. In the end, Joseph volunteered to become the protagonist, undoubtedly to protect his son.
Unfortunately, Joseph didn't have Ava's luck. He was directly hit and killed by Tony's car.
Perhaps, if it weren't for having such a son, with Joseph's abilities and talents, he would have had a chance to achieve even greater success in Houston!
After reflecting on this, Ryder asked Sophia, "How are the preparations for tomorrow's bidding?"
"Everything is in order. The important participants in this bidding are the Windsor family and the Johnson family. It will start tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock in our company's conference room on the tenth floor."
Ryder nodded and said, "Alright! Then I'll leave the overall management of this bidding process to you, as it's no small feat!"
Sophia was taken aback and quickly declined, "Mr. Clark, the total scale of this bidding exceeds ten billion dollars. Such a level of business cooperation will require your personal decision!"
Ryder shook his head and said with a smile, "It's alright, I have other plans. Let me tell you how to handle it..."
Houston, the Windsor Group
As one of the oldest building materials companies in Houston, the Windsor Group was on par with the Smith Group, and the two had been competing for years.
However, as soon as the news of the Smith Group's collapse broke this morning, the Windsor Group urgently called a meeting.
Lucas, the current head of the Windsor family, was delighted and addressed the senior executives, saying, "Now that the Smith Group is finished, we have become the largest building materials distributor in Houston! Tomorrow, the Maple Real Estate bid begins, and once we secure it, the Windsor Group's building materials business will be unshakable in Houston!"
He looked around the office and continued, "Regarding tomorrow's bid, I want everyone to speak freely!"
People started discussing.
"Winning the bid this time is a guaranteed event! After all, with the Smith family out of the picture, I can't think of any other company in Houston that can compete with us!"
"That's right! The names of our competitors are confidential and undisclosed, but even if all the building material businesses in Houston come together, they still wouldn't be a match for the Windsor Group. All thanks to you!"
"You are the leader of our group!"
This series of flattery made Lucas feel delighted.
He raised his hand to signal everyone to pause and said with a smile, "The Windsor Group has a great influence presently, thanks to all of you. Although winning the bid is already in the bag, we still need to send representatives tomorrow. How about Henry representing the Windsor Group?"
Upon hearing this, a young man in his mid-twenties, with a handsome appearance, immediately stood up and joyfully said, "I will definitely fulfill this role!"
"Henry will succeed!"
"The chairman's decision is worthy of our admiration!"
The other senior executives in the room continued to flatter.
Among them, at least seven or eight people held higher positions in the company than Henry.
However, they had no choice but to flatter him because Henry was a member of the Windsor family.
He was a son-in-law who stayed at his wife’s home!
Although Lucas was a charming person, he only had one child, a daughter.
In the future, all his assets were to be inherited by his daughter. However, he was worried that when his daughter got married, all these assets would become someone else's dowry.
That's why he found a son-in-law for his daughter, Henry.
This young man looked decent and had some abilities.
Although he was a bit arrogant, it didn't affect Lucas' efforts in nurturing Henry.
It was because of this that Henry was able to be promoted to the position of Marketing Manager at Windsor Group in just over three years.
He became one of the high-level executives at Windsor Group, with boundless prospects!
Lucas nodded with satisfaction. "Then I'll trouble you to represent Windsor Group tomorrow. Remember! Although Windsor Group may not be as powerful as Maple Real Estate, now that Smith Group has collapsed, our construction materials dominate the market in Houston. It won't be easy for Maple Real Estate to find suitable cooperation partners. In other words, the initiative is currently in our hands. Do you understand what I mean?"
Henry's eyes brightened, and he nodded repeatedly to show his understanding.
In his heart, he was excited beyond words. Over the years, outsiders might have seen him as bright and glamorous, but in order to become a son-in-law of the Windsor family, he had shouldered even more pressure.
But what he couldn't accept the most was that someone was secretly comparing him to Ryder, a notorious waste of a son-in-law in Houston.
How could someone like that compare to him? What qualified them to compare?
After successfully winning this bid, he would be able to completely shake off being compared to Ryder!
In the blink of an eye, it was the next day.
The construction materials bidding for Maple Real Estate this year had officially arrived.
The people from the Johnson family arrived at Maple Real Estate early in the morning in a neat convoy of cars.
Even Grandpa Johnson came along, indicating the importance attached to this bidding.
The cars parked in the parking lot outside the company's gate.
When Andy and Abigail got out of the car and saw the entrance and building of Maple Real Estate, they couldn't help but recall their miserable encounter a few days ago.
A feeling of annoyance and anger surged within them.
Especially Abigail, who caught sight of the garbage bin on the side of the road.
She was the one who held it and shouted such shameful lines for the TikTok video.
This video brought her instant fame, but it was now deleted.
It was so embarrassing. Thinking of this, Abigail cursed Ryder in her heart once again.
After Grandpa Johnson got off the car, he looked around and frowned with displeasure.
"Where is Sarah? Why hasn't she come over yet? Does she want to roll out of the Johnson family?"