Zane's face softened when he saw me. "His son was the one who stormed up to me and picked on my staff, yet he seems to think it was no big deal. Maybe he's under the impression that he's better than others because of his prestigious family, but in reality, aren't we all

equal?"

He held my gaze, and I nodded as I answered without hesitation, "We are."

Admiration shone in Zane's eyes as he patted my arm. "But don't worry. I'll put him in his place and teach him some manners."

Just as I was wondering what he planned to do about Shane's misdemeanor, he called Eric and asked, "Part of our ongoing contract with the Winslows has been fulfilled, yes?"

Eric reported, "That's right, but their products have fallen behind in the market and have lost popularity. As things are, we're looking to put our collaboration on hold, but we don't have a legitimate excuse."

"We do now," Zane said evenly. "I distinctly remember you telling me there are other companies whose products are of far superior quality than the Winslows'. Is that still true?"

"Yes," Eric answered dutifully.

"In that case, we'll just have to find the most suitable partner among those companies." Zane made the call without even batting an eye. "We're switching up on the Winslows."

Eric sounded conflicted as he pointed out, "We've been working together with the Winslows for years. They won't be happy to learn that we've dropped them."

Zane drawled, "Leave that to me. I'll handle them."

It was only then that Eric agreed to the plan. "Very well, sir."

Having given Eric the green light to drop the Winslows, Zane pressed, "If I recall correctly, we have a few projects lined up that we think have potential and are planning to collaborate with the Winslows, right?"

Eric searched his memory and listed the projects by name, only for Zane to say, "Scrap them. We'll look for other collaborators."

Eric was stunned and silently questioned if there was a need to cut the Winslows off so ruthlessly. However, he considered Zane's farsightedness. Even if his decisions seemed questionable at first, they always turned out right in the end. As such, Eric chose to keep his faith in Zane. "All right."

After hanging up, Zane reached for my hand. He led me to the cubicle and sat down.

I was still reeling from his conversation with Eric. "You scrapped all collaborations with the Winslows?"

"Mm-hmm," Zane hummed as his large palm caressed the back of my hand. "Shane is a lost cause if his tantrums are any indication. The Winslows' family business will fall into ruin in a matter of years if Carlisle passes it down to him.

"I only called Carlisle earlier to see ifnoveldrama

he planned to take his son's wrongdoing seriously. If he were a reasonable man and offered to put Shane in his place, I would have highlighted the areas in which Shane needed improvement. I wouldn't have to scrap our collaborations.

"And yet, Carlisle seems to be as unreasonable as Shane. He holds himself in such high regard that he couldn't care less about others." Zane explained solemnly, "If we continued working together with him, we'd be jeopardizing Huxham Corporation's future.

"So I figured we should cut ties before the real losses kicked in. At least then, we'd have time to look for new collaborators."

I stared at Zane, impressed by his cool analysis. "You're quite thorough with your considerations."

"Yes, well, it comes with the work. I am the head of the company, after all," Zane pointed out, already used to being level-headed and

calculative. "The alternative will end with our company being wound up, and what will happen to our staffers then? I have their futures to think of,

too."

I leaned into his embrace and murmured, "You have a point."

Zane's phone rang, and he put the call through. "Hello?"

Douglas was on the other line, and he seemed baffled as he asked, "What in the world is going on?"