Jeff's smile froze on his face. He was utterly confused, not understanding the situation or the source of Mr. Jones's sudden anger.

  He blinked in bewilderment. "Mr. Jones, what's wrong? The results have already exceeded our previous expectations. Aren't you satisfied?"

  "Satisfied my foot!" Jones asked through gritted teeth. "Were you blind to the fact that someone was missing from the press conference? Where is she!"

  "Someone?" Jeff didn't catch on immediately, staring blankly. "Mr. Jones, what are you talking about? What person..."

  "Damn it, I..."

  Jones wished he could slap Jeff right then and there. Just as his anger was about to erupt, Peter, the overall person in charge of the press conference, arrived.

  He rushed over, panting heavily, and with one motion pulled JessFF aside. Catching his breath, he said, "Mr. Jones, I'm here."

  He had already returned to the company when Mr. Jones's call summoned him back.

  Peter was much more perceptive than Jeff. He immediately noticed Grace standing to the side with a frosty expression. He quickly spoke up with an apologetic look, "You must be Miss Grace? This was our mistake. I'm truly very sorry."

  "Of course it's your mistake. Could it possibly be my sister's fault?" Grace retorted sharply.

  Peter nodded repeatedly. "But you see, the press conference is already over. Could you give us another chance? I promise, all our future work will be handled with extreme caution. A situation like today's will absolutely never happen again."

  Grace slightly turned her head to look at Jones. Her gaze was dark and intimidating, making Jones understand instantly.

  Miss Grace had said it on the phone: the press conference might be over, but this matter wasn't. If she didn't get a satisfactory outcome, she would withdraw her investment!

  He immediately reacted, saying, "Miss Grace, let's discuss this at the back. It's too chaotic here at the front."

  After speaking, he extended his hand in a gesture of "please." Without another word, Grace walked towards the backstage area. Jones shot a glare at Peter and Jeff before hurriedly following.

  Peter wiped the cold sweat from his temple and was about to follow when Jeff anxiously stopped him. Jeff asked with a nervous and astonished look, "Who is that young lady?"

  "Your worst nightmare!" Peter retorted angrily, pointing at Jeff. "You've messed up big time this time. Pray for yourself!"

  Hearing this, Jeff was dumbfounded.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  What was going on?

  Backstage, Jones personally brought a sofa chair for Grace to sit on, while he pulled up a small stool to sit beside her.

  "Alright, explain. What really happened?" Jones adopted the commanding presence of a superior, staring at Peter and Jeff as he asked.

  As the overall person in charge of this press conference, Peter knew that any problem arising from it, even if not directly his fault, would ultimately fall on his shoulders.

  Hesitating for a moment, he spoke first: "It was an oversight in our work, Mr. Jones. We truly understand our mistake this time."

  "I don't want to hear the word 'oversight'!" Jones's eyes darkened as he reprimanded coldly. "Don't use such a lame excuse to brush off Miss Grace. State the facts as they are. I want to hear the truth!"

  Missing a person and claiming it was an oversight? Not only did Grace not believe it, Jones himself couldn't possibly believe it either.

  Peter's eyes darted about. He stole a couple of glances at Grace. Although she hadn't said a word, the atmosphere around her was terrifyingly oppressive.

  She was a major investor in the project, someone even Mr. Jones had to treat with utmost respect. He truly couldn't afford to offend her.

  "It's... it's because the stage area for the press conference was insufficient for the camera shots. We had to temporarily reduce one slot for going on stage. We thought... we thought..."

  "You thought since Chloe was a newcomer, you could bully the easy target, right?" Seeing Peter struggling to finish, Grace coldly spoke up to complete his sentence for him.

  Peter felt both embarrassed and scared, but at this point, he could only brace himself and nod. He hurriedly added, "Miss Grace, this is truly a huge misunderstanding. If I had known Chloe had you backing her, I wouldn't have dared to cut her even if you gave me ten thousand times the courage. Isn't that right?"

  He likely thought this reason was sufficient enough. They had admitted it was a deliberate reduction, cutting Chloe out. Their attitude in admitting fault seemed very sincere. As an investor, even if Grace was angry, she should consider the bigger picture.

  After all, the press conference was over. Digging deeper wouldn't achieve much.

  However, Grace's mood didn't improve in the slightest because of Peter's words. Instead, she was so angry she let out a cold laugh.

  She stared fixedly at Peter and asked, "Do you think I'm easy to fool because I'm young?"

  "I... I don't mean that, Miss Grace! How would I dare fool you!" Peter said, terrified, casting a pleading look towards Jones for help.

  Jones pretended not to see it. He knew Miss Grace was determined to get to the bottom of this today. Only when Miss Grace said she was satisfied would this matter be over.

  "Then let me ask you, if you had known from the very beginning that Chloe was my sister, who would you have chosen to cut from the stage slot in the end?"

  "The third male lead, Bryan? The second female leads, Veronica and Bunnie? Or the fourth male lead, Alan?"

  Grace's tone seemed calm, but it was overwhelmingly forceful.

  Peter opened his mouth but found himself momentarily unable to answer.

  Seeing this, Grace snorted coldly and answered for him: "You wouldn't have cut anyone. Because all these actors have name recognition. None of their teams would allow their actor to miss the stage. If any of them kicked up a fuss, your press conference wouldn't proceed smoothly."

  "So, you would have tried every possible way to squeeze all the actors onto the stage and into the camera shots. But you are a professional team. You simply wouldn't let such a chaotic situation have a chance to occur."

  "That leaves only one answer: the excuse that 'the stage couldn't fit that many people' is pure bullshit. I can have someone recreate the press conference stage exactly to scale right now and get the same number of people to stand on it. If it truly can't fit, I won't say another word. I'll bow my head, admit my mistake, apologize, and add another five thousand dollars to my investment!"

  "But what if it can fit that many people? Can the two of you bear the consequences? Hmm?"