CEO’s Seduction Trap

Leila remained expressionless. “Mr. Ramirez, I’ve outgrown the age of dreaming and have endured the harsh realities of society.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a call from Mr. Moore, again.

On the phone, Mr. Moore expressed his hope that they could finalize the deal tonight.

Mason smirked as he held his phone, “Mr. Moore, there’s no rush on finalizing the deal. I know there are many companies you want to cooperate with. You can take your time.”

Mr. Moore admitted that there were indeed many companies interested in partnering with Premier Construction. However, he had received a call from his assistant informing him that all the companies that could compete with The Ramirez Group had suddenly withdrawn their intention to collaborate.

Both of them were smart negotiators, adept at playing dumb in negotiations.

“Thank you for your high regard for The Ramirez Group,” Mason said.

Mr. Moore frowned slightly and lowered his voice. “Mr. Ramirez, even if you want to pave the way for the beauty, you can’t cut off my retreat.”

Mason glanced at Leila, who was still confronting him, and smirked. “Someone might not appreciate it.”

Leila indeed did not appreciate it. In fact, upon realizing that Mason and Mr. Moore were discussing her, her expression turned colder.

Unaware of Mason’s situation, Mr. Moore chuckled at his remark. “Regarding the acquisition price, I hope Mr. Ramirez will show some mercy.”

Mason replied, “I’ll have Miss Patel work overtime tonight to draft a new acquisition plan and send it to your email later.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up with Mr. Moore, Mason lifted his chin towards Leila. “Heard everything on the phone?”

Leila nodded. “Yes.”

Then, she furrowed her brows and asked, “Is there something wrong with Premier Construction?”

Mr. Moore’s sudden change in attitude couldn’t have happened for no reason.

Facing Leila’s inquiry, Mason took a half-step forward, wearing a mischievous grin. “Curious?”

“Not really,” she responded.

Mason chuckled abruptly. “If you’re not curious, don’t ask. Go edit the acquisition plan.”

Leila had left flexibility in the acquisition plan she proposed to Mr. Moore, aiming to leave room for negotiation. Now that the cooperation was almost set in stone, there was no need to keep a bottom line.

Leila walked into the bedroom and retrieved her laptop from the suitcase. She opened it and asked Mason, “Is the acquisition price based on the price I proposed earlier?”

Mason glanced down at his phone. “Yeah.”

Leila followed up, “Do you want to review it after I’m done editing?”

Mason didn’t immediately respond to Leila’s words, seemingly preoccupied with texting someone. After about a minute, he looked up at her and said, “Leila, Samuel’s expression in the restroom was quite strange.”

Leila was taken aback by his words.

Mason’s intense gaze bore into her, carrying a hint of scrutiny. “After seeing me, he didn’t show any anger at being cuckolded by his girlfriend, just panic.”

Leila remained silent.

Their eyes locked, and Leila struggled to maintain her composure.

After a moment, Mason chuckled and said, “Are you two putting on a show for me?”

Leila still didn’t respond.

Their gaze lingered, Mason’s eyes filled with amusement while Leila forced herself to appear calm.

Eventually, Mason smirked and said, “After you finish editing, send it directly to Mr. Moore’s email. No need to show it to me.”

Seeing Mason steer the conversation back to business, Leila breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay.”

With that, Mason left Leila’s room, grabbing his suit jacket before stepping out.

Sensing him open the door, Leila didn’t even dare to lift her head, afraid that he might change his mind and stay.

At three in the morning, Leila sent the latest acquisition proposal to Mr. Moore’s email. She then stretched, tired from both dealing with Mason and revising the acquisition plan, and went to wash up before resting.

Leila didn’t have the energy to think about Keith’s situation. After taking a hot shower, she climbed into bed and fell asleep.

She had a dream.

In her dream, she was in college and unable to afford tuition. Her mom was helping her borrow money from various sources. The dream was filled with coldness and ridicule, culminating in a failed attempt to borrow money from her uncle, Darren Galang. In the dream, her mom tried to explain their financial situation, but they were met with disdain and criticism from her uncle and aunt. The dream ended with a phone call from the school’s dean, informing her of a generous donation that would cover her tuition fees.

In the middle of her dream, the hotel’s landline suddenly rang.

Leila frowned, blinked her eyes, took a deep breath, and after a few seconds, got up to answer the phone.

“Miss Patel, there’s a man named Keith Patel claiming to be your father who wants to see you,” the front desk staff said on the other end of the line.

Leila furrowed her brows slightly and, after a moment, replied calmly, “Let him come up.”

“Okay, Miss Patel.”

After hanging up the phone, Leila walked into the bathroom to wash her face.

As the doorbell rang, she stepped out of the bathroom to answer the door.

Keith had changed into a different outfit today. When their eyes met, Keith’s face was filled with embarrassment as he extended the breakfast he had bought towards Leila, speaking in a conciliatory tone, “Haven’t had breakfast yet? I bought you breakfast, it’s the porridge you used to love.”

Having calmed down from the events of the previous night, Leila’s mood was relatively calm. She reached out to take the porridge from him, stepping aside to let him into the room without mentioning that she hadn’t liked this particular porridge for years.

From the moment Keith entered until he sat down, he appeared to be very restrained. Once seated, he nervously rubbed his hands on his lap before taking the initiative to speak to Leila, “Yesterday, the meeting was too short. I didn’t get a chance to ask you, how is your mother now?”

The relationship between father and daughter was sometimes subtle. When the relationship was good, they were closer than kin, but when it soured, they could feel like strangers, or even enemies.

Leila was no longer a child and could tell whether Keith’s inquiry was sincere or not. She picked up a bottle of mineral water from the table and handed it to him. “She’s sick, in the hospital.”

Keith took the bottle and, perhaps to mask his nervousness, took a big gulp before asking, “What illness?”

Before Leila could respond, he continued, “Getting old brings about a lot of health problems. I’ve been experiencing a lot of back pain and leg aches these past few years. Your mother should be better off than me. With your grandparents spoiling her when she was young and living a pampered life after marrying me, she…”

Leila interjected coldly, “Uremia.”

Keith’s words caught in his throat, and he looked at Leila in shock.

Compared to Keith’s surprise, Leila remained calm. She continued to stir the porridge he brought while speaking calmly, “When you had your accident, those creditors brought my mother and me to the company, forcing us to pay off your debts. My mother was scared.”

Keith remained silent.

Leila leaned forward and took a sip of the porridge, the sweetness of the red dates overwhelming. “You said yesterday that you left us five hundred thousand, but we never received it. And even if we did, five hundred thousand wouldn’t be enough to cover your debts.”Têxt © NôvelDrama.Org.

Leila took a sip of the porridge and then set it down without taking another. She looked up at Keith and asked, “Do you want to see my mom?”