Chapter 349

Genevieve stood frozen, utterly speechless. She never imagined even Alexander Whitmore couldn't fix this mess.

Her voice trembled as she protested, "This makes no sense! How can Isabella Sinclair and Nathaniel Graves drag us to court and cancel our partnership over some harmless teasing? That's ridiculous!"

Victoria Kensington's expression darkened. "I had our legal team review the contract between InnovaTech and YodaVision Co. Clause 12 explicitly allows termination if either party damages the other's reputation."

"But this incident barely scratches their reputation!" Genevieve argued desperately.

"Normally, yes," Victoria admitted through gritted teeth. "A public apology and compensation would've sufficed. But—"

Reginald Kensington cut in sharply. "If you'd forced Genevieve to apologize immediately when this started, Nathaniel wouldn't have grounds to terminate. Instead, you defended the insult and accused Isabella of overreacting when she stood up for her team."

He slammed his palm on the table. "You handed Nathaniel the perfect justification to claim breach of trust. In business, sometimes all it takes is one well-timed conflict blown out of proportion to achieve an agenda."

Genevieve swallowed hard. "But Victoria apologized to Isabella as soon as she realized—"

"And now it looks like damage control," Reginald snapped. "Too little, too late. They'll argue we only apologized because termination hurts us."

Genevieve's throat went dry.

"Is Nathaniel absolutely refusing to reconsider?" Reginald demanded. "There must be some way to salvage this."

Their only hope was changing either Isabella or Nathaniel's mind. The former seemed impossible, but perhaps the latter...

Victoria shook her head. "He was adamant on the phone." The unspoken truth hung heavy in the room - Nathaniel was doing this for Isabella.

They had nothing to offer him. Not even Alexander's influence had swayed him. The termination would devastate InnovaTech.

Despite Nathaniel's firm stance, Victoria wasn't ready to surrender. She called repeatedly that evening, getting only voicemail. The next morning, she went to YodaVision Co. to intercept him.

Isabella arrived first, spotting Victoria in the lobby. Their eyes locked. Victoria's hands clenched into fists, her expression icy. She'd underestimated Isabella this time. Never again.

Without acknowledgment, Isabella turned and entered the elevator.

Kieran Blackwood arrived shortly after, noticing Victoria immediately. He'd heard about yesterday's incident at InnovaTech, though news of the termination hadn't spread through YodaVision yet.

As he moved toward the elevators, Victoria called out sharply, "Kieran!"

He paused, turning with raised eyebrows. "Yes?"

"I'm here to see Mr. Graves. Will he be in this morning?"

Kieran shook his head. "Mr. Graves is traveling. He won't be in today."