The Year I Was the Other Woman To Myself novel Chapter 368

“My time is valuable as well, so I can only give you five more minutes.”

“I was hoping to have a pleasant dinner with you, Mrs. Stapleton.”

“No one feels pleasant after being kept waiting for so long.”

Hans' smile vanished completely. No wonder they had warned him about Penelope’s sharp tongue. Now he was seeing it for himself.

“Very well, then. I’ll be brief.” He paused for a moment. “I want you, Mrs. Stapleton, to withdraw from the competition for the Higgins Plaza project.”

Penelope just shook her head with a smile. Instead of retorting, she glanced over at the commotion nearby. Rebecca was lying on the floor, pale and desperate, in a growing pool of blood, her screams of pain echoing through the restaurant. “Help! Someone, please, save me and my baby!”

This, Penelope thought, must be karma.

She turned her gaze back to Hans. “Mr. Bishop, why should I withdraw just because you ask me to?”

Hans placed two items on the table: a check and a file folder.

“What’s this?”

“I would never expect you to walk away empty-handed, of course. The amount on this check should be more than satisfactory. However, if you are a woman of ambition and money holds no appeal, this folder contains a project for another shopping plaza, one with even greater potential than the Higgins Group’s. I’m prepared to give it to the KINY Group, no strings attached.”

Penelope raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand. Either choice seems like a losing proposition for you, Mr. Bishop. And what businessman willingly makes a bad deal?”

“I’m not speaking to you as a businessman right now.”

“Then as who?”

“As Yvonne’s grandfather.”

“…”

“Young lady, I am offering you an opportunity. You’d be wise to accept my generosity.”

Generosity? The Bishops truly were a condescending lot. Others may have catered to them, but she certainly wouldn’t.

As she passed Rebecca, their eyes met.

“Penelope…” Rebecca whispered.

Penelope gave her a single, dismissive glance and kept walking.

“You… you have a heart of stone!”

A few days later, the deal between KINY Group and the Higgins Group was all but finalized. That afternoon, Penelope left work early, planning to take Mr. Johnson out for a nice dinner. But as she approached his study, she saw him kneeling on the floor. Seated across from him was Hans.