Jerry Sutton leaned forward as his secretary passed him the contract to scan through.
Upon seeing it was the same one he had drafted out earlier and kept with her, he passed the contract to Kelsie.
Kelsie picked it up and lowered her eyes to also scan through it.
Deborah Thompson saw her reading it and panicked. But it only lasted for a split-second before she grew calm again and switched to criticizing her.
"What's the use of reading it? Your father is already compromising a lot by having you agree to sign the contract in public."
"Reading it despite his constant reminder that he would never do anything to hurt you screams that you don't trust his words at all."
"If you, his daughter doesn't trust his words, how do you think the board members in this room will begin to see your father?"
Jerry Sutton, who was visibly panicking, nodded immediately and pointed a shaky finger at Kelsie.
"After everything I've done for you all these years, this is how you plan to pay me? By making me out to be liar in front of the board members? To make them trust me less, has it always been your plan?"
Kelsie finished reading the contract without bothering to spare them a glance and picked up her pen to cross the things she didn't agree with.
"This, this, and this, remove them. It's such a short and concise contract, yet it has so many wrong things in it."
"You shouldn't have let your secretary draft this. These sentences aren't even trying to hide the fact I'll never get my shares back from you."
"I already know you're not the one who instructed her to draft this up as you're more intelligent than that."
Hearing the last sentence which sounded like a compliment, a small smile graced Jerry's lips.
However, it disappeared the moment he realized what the underlying meaning behind it was.
Now that she had highlighted and spoken up to the hearing of the board members the one thing he didn't want her to see, he would no longer be able to keep the shares for himself.
In the future when she asks for her shares back, these board members would serve as her witness and he would have no choice than to return it.
Getting the shares was meaningless if it was only going to be temporary.
Seeing the annoyed look in his eyes, Kelsie pretended not to know what she had just done and asked in confusion, "What? Why aren't you saying anything? Could it be these aren't her words, but yours? Do you really have no plans to return my shares to me once I sign this contract?"
Fearing that the board members would misunderstand, Jerry hurriedly shook his head in refusal.
"Of course not! But isn't it better that you leave the shares in my name? You never know when news about your unwanted teenage pregnancy will come up again."
"If such a thing really happens again, news about you being a shareholder in the company will leak and we will suffer greatly. Lumen Group cannot stand having our stock price plummet for any reason."
"So listen to me when I say this is the best thing to do. You will no longer have to worry about the affairs of the conpany and just focus on your children."
"You'll be sent money every month for you and your children. You're the only parent they have, so you can't afford to be working while they're still so young."
Jerry was speaking so enthusiastically that he failed to realize his eyes were shimmering at the thought of someone digging up news of Kelsie's teenage pregnancy for the second time.
It was almost as if he wanted it to happen.
When the board members saw this, they frowned tightly.
Jerry and his family had just complained of how that same news almost ended their Sutton family.
Merely thinking about it was supposed to make him angry and terribly upset. Yet, here he was sounding and looking happy at the thought of such a thing happening again.
Their eyes shifted slightly as they stared right at him.
Laura was quick to see their eyes shift and hurriedly clarified, "My father doesn't mean he wants such a thing to happen again."
"As the father of the girl who got pregnant on her engagement, he was shamed enough for it."
"Everything he's saying, he's saying as a father who cares about the well-being of his daughter and wants the best for her.
Clinton Smith, who hadn't said anything the whole time, suddenly got up on his feet and glanced at the time on his wristwatch.
With his eyes still lowered to it, he mumbled in a displeased voice, "Didn't you say this was an emergency meeting which would take just a few minutes? I have other plans for the day and will like not to waste any more time here."
Clinton was a quiet man of action. He didn't say much, but he always knew the market trend.
He knew which area was going to be developed by the government in the near future and he had good eyes for stocks. How he had these knowledge, no one knew.
But thanks to him, many of them sitting around the table had accumulated quite a lot of wealth after doing exactly what he did.
So he was a man whose words was respected a lot by many.
One of those who often sided with him quietly leaned towards him and directly asked, "What do you think, Mr. Smith? Don't you think it's only right that we keep away a fragile time bomb waiting to go off like her from Lumen Group?"
Clinton turned to glance down at him with a blank look on his face.
"Remind me, wasn't it just three months ago that your wife caught you, a married man with two boys, in a hotel with a B-list model?"
The board member's expression immediately cracked and he laughed nervously and returned his attention to the others.
"Mr. Smith is right. We shouldn't kick anyone out as a shareholder simply because of what happened in the past."
"It's been seven years already, hasn't it? I'm sure the public has forgotten about it. We have nothing to worry about."
Recalling all the rumors about them in the past, the rest of the board members unanimously agreed it was fine to let Kelsie remain in the company as a shareholder and board member.