Chapter 194
As Grace listened to Liam complain, she apologized over and over. She was shocked to hear that Quentin was bedridden. That explained why Alice had shown up today.
Grace was now holding the partnership contract between Lambert Group and Henderson Group. If she wasn’t mistaken, this was the project Quentin had worked so hard on for two years. But now, Henderson Group was walking away with all the benefits, handed to them by Alice herself.
This would crush Lambert Group’s hard-earned chance to climb the corporate ladder. She wondered if Quentin even knew what was happening.
With this realization, Grace couldn’t sit still any longer. She asked Ethan for time off and drove straight to the Lambert residence.
The mood at the Lambert residence was downright gloomy. Everyone who saw her return looked like they had seen a ghost. Grace asked where Quentin’s room was and headed upstairs.
The smell of medicine hung in the air. She pushed the door open gently and heard Quentin coughing. It had been such a short amount of time since she had last seen him, yet his health had gone downhill so quickly.
When he saw her, Quentin froze, then he gave a bitter smile. Was he hallucinating before death came for him too?
Grace sat by the bed and pulled out the contract. “Mr. Lambert, I remember Lambert Group had a major project two years in the making. Is this it? Alice went to Henderson Group today, and I just found out she handed this project over to them yesterday.
“The contract’s already signed. Was this your idea?”
As she spoke, she noticed Quentin staring at her face. “Mr. Lambert?”
Quentin seemed to snap back to reality and nearly fell off the bed. Grace quickly steadied him, but the next second, he slapped her across the face. She hadn’t seen that coming.
Quentin trembled so hard as if he might pass out. “I never cared about your rebellions or disappearing acts before because you’d always show up when you got bored. But this time, Liam was in a coma for so long, and you were out there playing dead.
“Grace, do you feel anything for this family at all? When your grandfather died, I promised him I’d raise you right, but you’ve only gotten more selfish.”
Grace touched her cheek. She’d thought nobody in the Lambert family genuinely cared about her, so she had not bothered to call. But her decision had clearly hurt Quentin a lot.
He sat hunched on the bed, his fingers trembling with anger. Grace stayed quiet for a few minutes before saying, “I’m sorry.”
Quentin coughed hard several times, then let out a bitter laugh. “I really don’t know how to handle you anymore. You seem so well-behaved, but you’re stubborn as hell about Yancey.
“When your grandfather died, you knelt outside my study for a week, and I thought maybe you weren’t a lost cause. But you kept pursuing Yancey.
“Grace, you won’t even call me Dad now. I really don’t know where I went wrong.”
He felt helpless with Grace. He resented her for upsetting Jordan, yet he could not bring himself to cut ties with her because he was her father. He had ended up being the one suffering.
Grace quickly poured him a glass of water and knelt by the bed. As Quentin spoke, she felt her heart breaking. She saw how desperate and helpless her father was.
Quentin didn’t take the water. Instead, he covered his mouth and coughed heavily, blood appearing in his palm. Grace’s eyes widened as she grabbed tissues to wipe his hand.
Quentin waved her away, his eyes lifeless. Grace silently set down the glass, wanting to comfort him but coming up empty.
Quentin coughed for a full minute, his face turning red from the strain.
Eventually, he asked, “That project took me and the executive team two years to prepare. Lambert Group has been sliding backward year after year, and this was our lifeline. Are you saying Alice just gave it to Henderson Group?”
Grace opened the contract and placed it before him. “It’s all spelled out right here.”
As a businessman, Quentin immediately understood what he was reading. This was like handing over a winning lottery ticket.