Chapter 236 Morning Banter 

“Yup. I did,” Quinn replied without hesitation. 

Laura muttered, “What finally changed your mind? I thought you were going to hold out till the end of time.” 

Quinn merely answered with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. 

Laura said. “By the way, we never finished yesterday’s performance. Want to go back and catch the rest some other day?” 

Quinn replied, “Find someone else to keep you company. If I go along, the show will probably get shut down halfway all over again.” 

Laura froze, then seemed to put two and two together. “Wait–you’re telling me Julius was the one who stopped it yesterday?” 

“Yeah,” Quinn said. 

Laura clicked her tongue. “Figures. When Mr. Whitethorn makes a move, it’s always a grand gesture. Fine, I’ll rope in somebody else.” 

“Oh, right–how did things go with Wesley last night?” Quinn asked, concerned. 

Laura shrugged. “What could happen? We spelled everything out, said our goodbyes, and that’s the end of it.” 

“You and he-” 

“It’s nothing, Quinn.” Laura patted her friend’s shoulder. “We were over ages ago. If I can bring it up, I can let it go. I’m fine.” 

“Good,” Quinn said. 

“I got word this morning,” Laura went on, “that the venture capital firm backing Grafton Technologies is pulling out. Trent must be running around like a headless chicken. If he can’t nail more investments, he’ll have to sell the company for pennies.” 

“His firm was never worth much to begin with,” Quinn answered mildly. 

“Exactly. A tech company lives and dies by its talent pool, and he still hasn’t figured out that brains–not bluster–got him to an IPO in the first place.” Scorn colored Laura’s tone. “Someone like him even wanted to exploit your patent. As if he could do anything with it!” 

Quinn smiled. “I’d never actually let him use my patent.” 

“Divorcing you was the biggest mistake he could make. Give it a little time, and Trent will have nothing left,” Laura declared, already picturing his downfall. 

“And divorcing him was the best thing that happened to me,” Quinn said. 

Men like Trent always want too much. In the end, they got nothing at all. 

1/3 

She was deeply grateful she had finally seen him clearly and then walked away for good. 

Inside the CEO’s office at Grafton Technologies, Trent hurled his phone to the floor with a vicious snap. 

How could this be happening? I swallowed my pride and begged them, yet they still insist on withdrawing their funds! 

They knew perfectly well what their exit would do to his company, but they refused to leave the slightest room for negotiation. 

“Trent!” Sidonic burst through the door, almost taking the flying phone to the face. “What’s wrong? What happened?” 

“It’s…nothing.” Trent forced down his fury. “Why are you here?” 

“I know someone who offers unsecured credit loans,” Sidonic said. “The interest is higher than a bank’s, but you need cash now. Borrow it first. Once the company rebounds, you can pay it back.” 

“Unsecured credit?” Trent frowned. Such loans normally required steady operations and healthy annual 

revenue. 

Since Quinn quit, it had been one setback after another. The stock price kept diving, and the firm’s reputation in the industry was in tatters. 

What reputable bank would extend a large loan to a company in that state? 

“I’m afraid it’ll be hard to secure,” he muttered. 

“Not hard at all. I mentioned your firm, and they said they could lend you about fifty million,” Sidonie told him. 

“What? Really?” Trent looked stunned, then suspicion flickered. “You’re not talking about a loan shark, are you?” 

“It’s not. The annual rate is under thirty–six percent,” Sidonie assured him. 

Trent’s heart sank. It wasn’t a loan shark, yet the rate sat right at the legal ceiling. 

“At that rate, it’s still too expensive for me. I should look for another way…” 

“Trent, my uncle is keen on the drone sector. If you take this money and revive the company, you’ll have leverage to negotiate with him. Once he invests, paying off the loan will be no problem. Besides, in two months, your shares will no longer be locked up. Sell a portion and you’ll have the cash. You could unload all of them for, what, about two hundred million?” Sidonie urged. 

That projection was exactly why she still believed in Trent. 

Hearing her, Trent hesitated, then said, “All right. I’ll take the loan.” 

With the venture capital firm pulling out, he needed stopgap money. Two months from now, he could sell some stock and repay principal plus interest. 

“Fantastic!” Sidonie beamed/“I’ll let them know.” 

After the call, she sent a text to Detective Lindgren, the man blackmailing her. “You’ll get the 49.5 million 

2/3 

in three days.” 

At the same time, Quinn received a call from the military district. “Quinn, could you come by? The drone Caleb Bridger left behind has been officially recovered. The SD card is in better shape than expected. Our tech team has restored part of the data–you may want to see it for yourself.”