Chapter 42: A Trap
Mia walked out of the study with excitement. Her gloomy mood suddenly became better.
Back to the guest room, she immediately locked the door and couldn't wait to call her father.
"Hey, Dad, I have good news to tell you."
"What good news?"
Colton didn't care very much. As long as his sweet daughter didn't cause trouble for him, he would be grateful.
He dared not expect that she had some good news.
"Don't you want to inquire about the detailed bidding plan for Carlos' company?"
"Yeah, how would you know?"
"I heard Alicia say."
Upon hearing the name of his eldest daughter, Colton was immediately interested in it, "Could it be that your sister has asked Carlos, and Carlos has also told her?"
Mia snorted, "She's not so kind. She wishes our family to go bankrupt."
"What? I shouldn't be excited."
It could be heard that Colton felt so disappointed.
"Dad, can you think of me except for Alicia? I can do what she can do, and even I might do what she can't do."
Her father was a little inexplicable, "What are you talking about? I'm a little confused."
"Let me tell you frankly, the bidding plan for the Carlos' company this time is to select partners in the charity auction in WF Museum on July 13th. On that day, the person who gets the item of charity auction in WF Museum with the highest price will get the construct right of the project."
Mia finished speaking in one breath, but there was no sound on the phone for a long time. She assumed that her father had not heard what she said, so she asked uncertainly, "Dad, did you hear what I said?"
"Yeah. But where did you get the news?"
Colton asked in astonishment. How could such an important source of information be easily known to his daughter?
"Do you not believe me?"
Mia was a little unhappy. She thought she would be praised by her father.
"It's not that I don't believe it, but this matter is a big deal. I have to confirm whether the source of the information is true, otherwise it will cause economic losses."
"I saw the bidding plan in my Carlos' study."
...
Colton asked some details before hung up the phone, and then he thought about it carefully. It was not impossible. This time, Carlos Noel Group was going to build a Hope Primary School, which was itself a charity project. The reason for keeping it secret was that they were afraid that there were so many competitors on the day of the auction, and then there was no way to tell the winner.
He had to admit that Carlos was smart enough to use this method for bidding, which was unprecedented in history. Every time, benefits would eventually fall into the hands of people who was willing to do charity.
If it wasn't her daughter who told him, he would definitely lose the project. He had never been a good person, so naturally he would not spend money on those meaningless things.
After a whole night of deliberation, he finally decided to give it a go. The business world was cruel. If he couldn't spend the money, he couldn't get much more benefits.
If the project could be obtained by him this time, the profit would be absolutely beyond imagination. The most important thing was that if he could cooperate with Carlos Noel Group in business, he wouldn't have to worry about the future financial resources. On July 13th, the weather was fine. Early in the morning, Colton came to WF Museum with excitement.
He thought he had arrived early. But when he arrived in WF Museum, he saw that a lot of people had already arrived. Except for some of them were his peers, the others were all dignitaries who he didn't know.
It seemed that there were not many competitors, so he found a seat to sit down, full of confidence.
The auction started at nine o'clock on time. It was just a very ordinary cultural relic, but the bidders kept bidding one after another. Colton had to get it. Naturally, he kept bidding closely.
"One million."
"1.5 million."
"Two million."
"Four million."
"4.5 million."
When the current bid was six million, basically no one bided again, but there was one person who did not give up. Colton did not know him, and the man was definitely not his peer. But that person who was as the same as him had a unique feeling for the item. "Eight million."
He stared in amazement at the middle-aged man sitting in the corner. Who was he? He dared to compete with him? It was just a shit cultural relic. Was it worth so much money? If it wasn't for Carlos Noel Group's project, he didn't want to it at all. "Eight million for the first time."
"Eight million for the second time."
He was so anxious that his palms began to sweat. If he kept bidding again, even if he got the construction rights of the project, he might not be able to make so much profit. He hesitated and finally said, "Ten million."
The man didn't bid again, so Colton successfully got the cultural relic with ten million dollars. When he came to Carlos' company with the cultural relic happily, he learned the bad news.
Carlos stared at the bronze pottery which was put on his desk by Colton, and asked in surprise, "What's it?"
"Isn't it a condition for winning the bid?"
"The conditions for winning the bid?" Carlos frowned, "What do you mean?"
Colton was startled, and said anxiously, "Isn't it true that as long as I get the item of the charity auction in WF Museum today, I can get the construction right of your company?" "Who said that? There is no such a thing."
"How is it possible!" Colton jumped up, "Carlos, you can't go back on your word. Although ten million dollars is not much, it is not a small amount for a small merchant like us!" Carlos' face sank, "What did you mean? When did I go back on my word? Show me the evidence."
Seeing that Carlos didn't admit it and asked him to show the evidence, Colton was anxious. He took out his mobile phone to dial Mia's number, and asked her to come over immediately.
When Mia received the call, she had a bad feeling. Although her father didn't say what happened on the phone, her instinct told her that it must not be a good thing.
Sure enough, as soon as she appeared in the president's office, her father said angrily, "Mia, Carlos doesn't admit it now. He doesn't admit that as long as I get the cultural relic in WF Museum, I can win the bid. Now you tell him that if you see the bidding plan with your own eyes?" "Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes, Carlos, how can you..."
"Where did you see it? Show me things now."
"In the drawer in the middle of your study. If you don't take it away yet, we can go home and look for it now."
In order to let the father and daughter give up, Carlos patiently followed them back home. After getting upstairs, the three of them entered the study together. But when they opened the drawer, there was nothing. The evidence was gone.
"It's weird. I saw it here two days ago!" Mia frowned, "Carlos, you took it away, right?"
"How many times have I said it? I haven't put any bidding plan here. The specific bidding plan for this project is still under discussion. If you don't believe it, you can go to my company to confirm it."
"Then when I asked you before, why didn't you tell me?"
Colton had already been desperate. The facts were already in front of him, but he was still struggling.
"It's not certain yet. How can I answer you?"
The atmosphere in the room was solemn. After a long time being stunned, Mia suddenly realized something and roared angrily, "It's her. It must be her!"
She grabbed her father's arm, "Dad, it must be Alicia. She must have set up a trap to frame us. I'm going to confront her now. I will not spare her!"
"Enough."
Carlos sternly shouted, "What are you doing now? Do you think here is your home? I haven't asked why you entered my study and look through my things. On the contrary, you want to make trouble for my wife. Isn't she your sister? Why do you slander her? Your sister is just a teacher who knows nothing about business affairs. What can she do to set up a trap to frame you?"
After the reprimand, he turned to Colton and said, "Mr. Colton, I really didn't expect you to teach your daughter in this way. It's really disappointing."
"Dad, I really saw the document. You believe me. I really saw..."
Slap.
Colton couldn't stand anymore. He directly slapped his daughter. This was the first time he had slapped his daughter. If it were not extremely embarrassing, plus the loss of the ten million, he couldn't slap his sweet daughter.
Mia covered her right cheek in shock. Tears of humiliation burst into her eyes. Then she ran out of the study, quickly packed her luggage, and returned home, crying bitterly with anger and grievance.
When she arrived home and saw her mother who loved her the most, her depressed emotions broke out in an instant. She was crying hysterically and was screaming that she wanted to die... After Alicia received her father's call, she went directly to her father's home.
Before entering the house, she heard someone's crying. After taking a deep breath, she stepped in calmly.
When Holly saw Alicia, she was extremely furious.
Holly rushed to Alicia, pushed her hard, and yelled furiously, "The shameless bitch. How dare you to show up in front of me? Do you feel you hurt my daughter not enough?"
Alicia steadied her pace and asked innocently, "What did I hurt her?"
Colton stood up with gloomy face. He told Alicia what happened. At the end, he asked her, "Alicia, tell me honestly, did you do that?"
"If I say it's not me, will you believe me?"
She smiled bitterly, "You should not believe me, should you? You have always believed in your guess, haven't you?"
"What do you mean? Just yes or no. If it weren't you, naturally we won't get you wronged."
"Well, I'll tell you frankly. It's not me."
"You're lying!"
Mia roared hysterically, "It's the trap you set up deliberately. I was too stupid so I would jump in!"
"Do you have any evidence to prove that it was the trap I set up?"
"If it were not you who implied me that there were important documents in the study, I would never go there. Dare you say you have no bad intentions?!"
"It's because you behaved too casually. I have warned you not to enter others' rooms and touch others' things, but you just don't listen to me. The matter has happened. Now you blame me." Alicia paused and looked around, "You all think I'm useless. Do you think that I have such an ability to fool you? Set up a trap to frame you? Mia, you really overestimate me."