After the race ended, Donnie approached Frank. "Mr. Frankton, now that the race is over, why don't you drop by at my humble abode? The place could use your cheer!"

Frank smiled. "Thanks for the invite, but I have work to do back at the office. Next time, perhaps."

Donnie did not press the issue despite Frank's refusal-if anything, his visit was inconsequential. As long as his daughter remained glued to Frank, there was always hope.

As Frank returned to his office half an hour later, Jada was calmly working while teasing him. "I really thought that the people keen to obtain the Shagan spiritron vein would try to challenge you like Rudy Himmel did. Imagine my surprise to see someone like Sayna Quill using strategic marriages to her advantage!"

Frank smiled in wry amusement, but Jada's words actually made sense when he thought about it.

Sayna was herself a businesswoman and would really not care for death battles her priority was building win-win partnerships instead!

"I'm sorry, Ms. Turin! We have a problem!" Aron Hampton exclaimed as he entered just then.

"What now? You're always having problems. Can't you get a hold of yourself for once?" Jada lectured him ruthlessly.

Still, Aron was completely tamed after Jada showed her chops before and did not take offense to her snappiness.

"Do you remember the construction project on the west side of town?" he asked.

"Yes, we're supposed to build a square... is there a problem?"

"Nothing gets past you!" Aron exclaimed. "As you know, we only have that many contractors, so we had to outsource experienced workers from other companies for the sake of progress, but they suddenly went on strike!"

"What?!" Jada exclaimed—she had put in considerable effort for that project, even promising the urban development body that they would definitely complete the project within the deadline.

She certainly did not account for this!noveldrama

Alda, who was still traumatized by previous events, asked, "Could it be someone like Rudy Himmel again?"

"No!" Jada shook her head. "Have you asked why they went on strike?"

"I've not met the supervisor, but some of the contractors are saying that they were paid a huge sum of money to stop working for now. It's very likely that it was meant to sabotage us!"

Jada nodded in the end, who else could it be, other than the out-of-state investors?

They had just arrived, so they had to assert their dominance, or how else would they establish themselves?

Sighing, Jada said, "Get another construction team. Pay them above the usual rate."

"Why? Are you just going to let it slide?" Callie asked, bemused.

l.n

"You're not in this line of business, so you might not understand the politics." Jada smiled and explained, "Since they are using money to. tempt our construction team, we need to repay the favor, or we'd lose the moral high ground!"

Callie more or less understood, since the fact that the previous team left basically proved that Frankton Group was not paying them enough.

It was quite sickening but still the best solution at the moment. They just had to accept the other losses, or an eye for an eye would make the whole world blind.

Aron then asked, "How much should we pay the new team?"

"Double. No more, no less!" Jada replied.

"Got it!"

And once Aron left, Jada made a call to Billy Caffee, one of the local & bigwigs who was at that convention. He was mainly a broker and had been helping the Jarics and Ingrams find cheap, reliable partners.

Connections were the top priority for such professions, and Billy was well-connected enough to help Jada.