Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion >>
He frowned in displeasure. “You won’t benefit from sending her to jail. There’s nothing for you apart from getting your revenge. Not only that, you’ll be on the wrong side of the Wagners. Look, Eustace has always described you as a smart woman. If so, I believe you know what’s best for yourself.”
If Danika weren’t important to Eustace, Paul wouldn’t have engaged with her at all-he didn’t hold her in high regard.
Hearing that, she almost giggled at Paul’s hubris. “Did Eustace tell you that I’m petty?” Smiling, she looked him in the eye and said coldly, “What if I told you I wanted to make her pay? What will you do to me?” Paul’s expression sank. A murderous gleam flashed across his eyes. “You’d better not challenge me.”
“Paul Wagner!” Stephanie was at her limits and jumped out to shield Danika. “If you dare lay a finger on her, I’ll fight you!”
“Get out of my way. This is none of your business.” Paul was seething, but Stephanie stood her ground, determined to give her all.
Danika pulled her aside and smiled. “Don’t worry. He can’t do anything to me.” She looked at Paul, hoping that he’d back down. “Paul Wagner, you shouldn’t forget that I am holding the evidence of your family’s appalling doings.”
He merely smirked without care. “You’re too naive. After the last incident, your evidence is no longer effective. Why don’t you try to bring it on?” He would never let Danika hold evidence against him. Since he had erased the evidence early on, he had nothing to fear.
She was unsurprised to hear that. “Oh, is that so? No wonder you’re so confident.”
He replied, “I’ll give you one last chance to make an offer.”
When Stephanie saw that Danika seemed to be considering his words, she got anxious that Danika might agree to Paul’s demand.
Amid the tense confrontation, Eustace entered the room and instantly picked up on the tension. He quickly scanned the faces of Paul and Danika, and he understood the reason. Walking up to Danika, he glared at Paul. “I’m warning you. Be nice to Danika.”
Paul chuckled. “Eustace, you’re putting your chick before your friends.”
“I almost got into huge trouble because I helped you last time. I won’t help you this time around.” Eustace stood firmly on Danika’s side.
Flabbergasted, Paul stared at the two. “Okay, I admit that it’s Marigold’s fault this time. How about I get her to apologize and compensate you for the damage? You don’t have to send her to jail. She’s so young!”
With Eustace’s help, he might stand a chance to save Marigold from serving time. His attitude softened a little. Plus, Marigold was one of the few family members who were close to him. If he failed to even protect her, no one in the family would take him seriously.
Eustace looked at Danika and waited for her to speak. Still, she couldn’t let this go. She turned to Marigold. “I don’t understand at all. Why would you be angry at me just because Gilbert doesn’t like you? Do you need to take my life for that?”
“Gilbert would have fallen for me if you didn’t stand in the way.” Marigold looked pitiful.
Danika snickered at the ridiculous idea. “You’re hopeless.” Then, she turned to Paul. “She’s your little sister. Don’t you think there’s something wrong with her head? If I were you, I would make her serve her sentence. Perhaps, she’ll be a bit wiser when she’s released.”
Paul was definitely upset when Danika humiliated his sister. To him, that was akin to offending the whole Wagner Family’s name, but he held back and didn’t refute her. Instead, he said to Marigold, “I wonder how you had the guts to plan a murder.”
Marigold was most afraid of Paul since she was a child. Under his scrutiny, she tensed up and held her breath. “Killing her wasn’t my plan.” She lowered her gaze and dodged his eyes.
“Not your plan? But the speed at which you charged at me seemed to say otherwise. You didn’t look like you would spare me.” Danika was slightly terrified after she checked the surveillance footage of the incident. Had it not been for Eustace’s timely appearance, she could’ve lost her life.
Marigold wanted to retort but held her tongue when she sensed Paul’s sharp gaze. “I planned to brake the car right in front of you as a scare. But the brake wasn’t working, and that scared the heck out of me as well.”
“Do you think that sounds believable?” Danika stared at Marigold in disbelief.
Marigold gritted her teeth. If Paul weren’t around, she wouldn’t have wasted her time responding to Danika’s interrogation. “Believe it or not, it’s all up to you. I never intended to kill you,” she scoffed and lay back on the bed, giving up and pretending to fall asleep.
Paul looked at Danika. “She won’t lie in my presence. Moreover, he believed that Marigold wasn’t bold enough to plot a murder, and she must have been telling the truth about her intention to scare Danika.
Danika, however, pursed her lips. She understood that Marigold wasn’t the type to kill, but she was hard- pressed to believe in the coincidence.
“Her car’s still around. You can open an investigation into it,” Paul suggested.
Danika nodded at his words. “Of course I will. But even if she didn’t plan to kill me, she’s not completely innocent, either. It’s naive of you to think that’ll be enough to convince me to let this go.” She decided not to go easy on Marigold.
Paul wasn’t surprised by her stubbornness, he knew from the start that she wasn’t a pushover. “State your conditions. I’ll agree to what you want as long as it’s not a ridiculous offer.” Finally, he came to the decision to protect Marigold.
Danika started thinking hard about what she could demand from Paul. When she was debating, Eustace threw out an idea casually, “Paul, I recall that you have a garment factory under your name. Is that right?”
Her eyes lit up at the mention of the asset. Even though she had established her fashion design company, she still lacked a factory. Because of that, she could only subcontract factories to manufacture her clothes, which would be an obstacle to future development in terms of quality control. Having a dedicated factory for the brand could easily solve these issues.
“You’re one heck of a good friend!” The suggestion wiped off the smile on Paul’s face. Although his factory didn’t manufacture the products from his company, it could rake in hundreds of millions annually through its subcontracting business, so he was rather reluctant to hand it to Danika.
She had little regard for his feelings and demanded, “I want the factory that Eustace mentioned.”
“That’s too much.” Paul didn’t think giving up the entire factory in return for Marigold’s freedom was worth the price.
“If you’re unwilling to give it to me, that’s fine too. I can put out the surveillance footage for the world to see. Let’s see how you’ll protect Marigold, then. Danika was cool about it since she wouldn’t suffer any loss in either scenario.
Paul was enraged by her attitude and gave her a warning look. “Danika Zellweger, you’d better not burn your bridges. One day, when Eustace couldn’t protect you anymore, you might end up in grave trouble without knowing it.”
“Don’t you worry. I didn’t get to where I am today because of Eustace’s help.” Danika shrugged without a care in the world. Paul was known to be merciless, but Danika was confident that she wouldn’t lose to him even without Eustace’s help.
Seeing that Danika was adamant, Paul turned to Eustace for help. “Don’t you have shares in that factory too? Are we going to give it to her for free?”
“I don’t care.” Eustace shrugged. Paul was about to follow suit and said he didn’t care either, but Eustace added, ” You have to compensate me for my loss in your factory anyway because it’s your family’s business.”
Danika almost burst out laughing as she didn’t expect Eustace to be such a sly bastard.