Kyle urgently needed the support of the Jefferson family. His connection with Carol was a crucial part of the plan.

"Miss Jefferson, did you hear that Brian and Diana have publicly confirmed their relationship?" Kyle asked casually.

Hearing Brian's name instantly put Carol on edge.

"Why do you mention him?" she replied coldly.

"I just don't appreciate Brian's behavior. He not only treats me badly, but he also bullies you, an innocent young woman. It's infuriating!"

"Me too… I can't believe he has become that sort of person."

Carol was totally disillusioned with Brian. Now, with Kyle's words giving her encouragement, she began thinking about how to get her own back on him.

After finishing their coffee, Kyle stood up to leave.

Pained to see him go, Carol, plucked up the courage to ask, "Shall we keep in contact, maybe meet up again some time?"

She looked up nervously to see Kyle's reaction, and fortunately, he sincerely replied, "I'd love to see you again."

Carol was moved by his earnest attitude. Compared with Brian Williams neglect, Kyle treated her with such sincerity.

Carol gave her number to Kyle, and they said their goodbyes to each other.

However, Carol didn't see the smirk on Kyle's face after he turned away. This was all part of the plan to get Carol on his side.

After the talk with Kyle, Carol's dissatisfaction with Brian grew deeper.

When she arrived home, her father was reading a newspaper on the sofa.

"How come you're back so early today?" he asked.

Carol let out an angry huff.

"What's wrong? Who has made my little princess angry?" Mr. Jefferson exclaimed.

Carol's mother had given birth to her when Mr. Jefferson was already well into his fifties. Carol was his only child and the absolute apple of his eye. His daughter's unhappiness made him nervous.

"Dad, could we withdraw our investment in the William Group?"

Mr. Jefferson was confused. He had planned to unite his family with the William's with the marriage of Carol and Brian. And just a few days ago, Carol was still satisfied with that arrangement. Why did she ask him to withdraw the investment all of a sudden?

"What's going on?" he asked worriedly.

Carol then told her father how Brian had been treating her the past weeks and months. After her narration, Mr. Jefferson was enraged. He thumped the table and shouted, "How dare he!"

"Dad…" Mr. Jefferson's anger was so fearsome it almost caused Antonette to cry.

He boiled over with anger on seeing how upset his baby girl was. How could that bastard bully her like that?

There and then, he decided to withdraw all his company's investment in the William Group.

When Simon William heard this news, he was on the phone, Mr. Jefferson, in seconds. But Mr. Jefferson rejected all of Simon's calls.

Since he couldn't get an answer over the phone, Simon asked his driver to take him to the Jeffersons.

When he arrived at the Jefferson household, Simon was let in by the maid and went straight to Mr. Jefferson's study. He could see his friend looked rather angry. "My dear friend, has something going wrong? Why did you suddenly withdraw your investment in the William group?"

"Go ask your son. He knows what he has done," Mr. Jefferson sneered.

"If Brian has done something wrong, I would like to offer my sincerest apologies on his behalf."

Mr. Jefferson waved his hands, refusing to accept Simon's apology.

"Let Brian come himself," he said.

Simon smiled obsequiously, "And remember, our cooperation is win-win for both of us. Moreover, you need to inform me in advance of your disinvestment, so I have enough time to find replacement capital."

"Simon, I'd rather give up all the money and pay the penalty than let your family bully my daughter!" Mr. Jefferson shouted angrily.

Simon was left disgraced by Mr. Jefferson's outburst, in front of all the servants no less. He left in a fury, and the negotiation ended with no result.

With a single-minded rage, Simon went directly to his company.

Brian had just finished a meeting and still had no idea of the disinvestment of the Jefferson family.

Simon parked the car and strode up to Brian's office in indignation. The security guard didn't dare to get in his way.

Brian was reading a paper when his father suddenly entered his office. It was rare for his father to visit him at the company, and it took him by surprise.

In a show of dominance, Simon looked Brian right in the eye, then pushed all the doc.u.ments on Brian's desk onto the ground.

"What are you doing?" Brian yelled.

Simon treated Brian as a verbal punch bag and vented all his anger on his son. "You know what you have done!"

"Can you just explain what's going on?" Brian demanded. He was baffled by his father's sudden outburst.

At that moment, his assistant came to Brian and whispered something into his ear. Brian's face immediately went pale white.

"What did you say? The Jefferson's have withdrawn all their investment?"

"And you only find that out now…" Simon laughed.

Now Brian understood his father's fury. He took a moment to think before replying, "Come on. The Jefferson's disinvestment won't go so far as to make our company break!"

Simon was livid that Brian didn't appreciate the magnitude of the situation.

"Did you know the Jefferson family is the largest shareholder in the William Group? Where do you think we can get such a large sum of money to replace their capital? How can you not see this as a disaster?!"

With one last dark scowl, Simon left the office in disgust.

Brian sat at the table, quietly contemplating what had just happened. The suddenness of it all had left him momentarily lost.

But after deciding to be with Diana, he had already prepared to face every difficulty thrown at him as a result. This was just another problem to be solved.

Finally, he called his assistant, "Inform the board of an emergency meeting for 4 pm."

"Certainly, Sir." The assistant swiftly followed Brian's order.

As Brian sat looking out of the window at the city below, he knew he was in for a hard battle.