CHAPTER 448: CAN YOU EVEN HANDLE IT?

Riley looked at Selina and couldn’t resist showing off.

"Selina, you might not know this, but I’m very close with the SL Chairman."

Someone in the audience nodded.

"They’ve known each other for over twenty years—they’re childhood friends. The entire Nelson Family knows the Chairman is pursuing Riley. Selina’s question is ridiculous."

Selina raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? Funny, I’ve never heard the SL Chairman’s special someone was you."

Madam Nelson jumped in.

"Selina, don’t project your own pathetic standards onto others. Just because no one likes you doesn’t mean no one likes Riley."

Riley sighed theatrically.

"If you don’t believe me, you can ask Taylor, our VP."

Eric didn’t hesitate.

"Yes, I’ve personally seen the Chairman dining with Miss Nelson. She’s a regular at SL."

He gave Selina a scornful glance.

"Some people have already wasted too much of our time. The press conference needs to start. Shouldn’t the irrelevant parties get lost?"

Riley was satisfied and offered Selina a faux-regretful smile.

"Selina, if you really want to be the lead on this, I can mention it to the Chairman. But right now everyone’s waiting for the press conference. Can you please step aside for now? We’ll talk later."

Plenty of reporters—already paid off by the Nelson Family—immediately took Riley’s side.

"Selina, Riley’s right. Do you think you can just waste everyone’s time like this?"

"Because of you, the whole event was delayed for half an hour. How much longer do you want to drag this out?"

Eric was eager to curry favor.

"Selina, can you stop making things harder for us? Do you even understand how busy we are? Everyone’s running themselves ragged, and you want us to indulge your princess games? Completely shameless."

Riley shook her head and gave Selina a sweet, apologetic smile.

"Selina, I really am sorry. Mr. Taylor’s just stressed. We don’t have time to entertain you right now. Why don’t you go rest upstairs for a bit?"

Selina couldn’t fathom where Riley got all this confidence.

"Sure," she said evenly. "Then Riley—see you in a bit."

Riley’s smile faltered, confusion flashing at Selina’s "see you in a bit."

Selina turned to Eric with an even darker smile.

"And you... we’ll be seeing each other again very soon."

She paused, her voice dropping.

"Last time, actually."

Eric didn’t take her words seriously at all. He just snorted.

Madam Nelson sneered.

"Eric, you’d better watch out. Selina will probably go crying to Logan again. God knows why he’d ever marry such a troublesome woman."

Logan’s eyes went cold.

Riley noticed the look between Selina and Logan and felt a sudden stab of unease.

But with the spotlight on her, her vanity pushed everything else aside. She flashed Logan a dazzling smile.

"Logan, shall we begin?"

Not far away, Scott opened his mouth like he wanted to say something to Riley.

But he shut it again. The arrogance drained from his face, replaced with something uncertain. He mumbled—maybe to her, maybe to himself:

"Riley wouldn’t lie about this to Logan’s face... would she?"

After all, Logan said Selina was the real lead here. But Riley had just kicked Selina off the stage in front of everyone—didn’t that mean she had more leverage?

Ethan just scoffed.

"Still don’t believe it? Then keep watching."

In the crowd, Eric was still talking big.

"Madam Nelson, you’re overthinking it. Even if Mr. Reid tried to pressure me, it wouldn’t matter. Besides, Riley is the person the SL Chairman personally picked!"

Madam Nelson nodded in satisfaction, praising him.

"Exactly. The SL Chairman is a business genius, never missed on an investment. His judgment is razor sharp. If he picked our Riley, everyone should trust her!"

Selina was just leaving when she heard that.

...Well. Wasn’t that technically a compliment?

Considering she was the SL Chairman.

...

Upstairs, Riley gave Logan a demure little smile.

"Logan, shall we get started?"

Logan turned away coolly.

"The press conference will be handled by Jack. If you have any questions, Miss Nelson, take them to him."

Riley’s expression froze. She nearly ground her teeth to dust.

"But Logan—"

"CL is just one company under Reid Group. I don’t need to handle the merger personally," Logan said flatly. "I’m only here for the SL Chairman."

Since the Chairman hadn’t "shown up," he didn’t see why he should either.

Riley of course understood what that meant. But Logan showing up today was supposed to prove he supported her.

Why—why was he leaving now?

If she didn’t have Logan at her side, how was she going to spin this for the media?!

But no one dared stop Logan. Before he left, he gave Eric a long, cold look.

Eric felt a chill crawl down his spine. He wasn’t even sure where that sense of danger came from when an assistant ran over, scaring him half to death.

"Vice President!"

Eric snapped irritably.

"What? Don’t you see we’re about to start? Why are you yelling like a fool?"

"No, sir, you can’t host the press conference—Brooks and the Chairman haven’t arrived yet..."

At that, quite a few of Reid Group’s senior staff started to panic.

Everyone knew how much Mr. Reid valued this partnership. But SL had only sent over one VP so far? No sign of the real decision-makers? Did this mean they didn’t want to work together?

People immediately started digging for answers. It wasn’t long before word came back.

—SL’s team had come, but someone’s bad attitude sent them away.

Riley’s face went stiff, like she’d been struck by lightning.

If the SL Chairman had come, she would’ve been the one to greet him. But he just left?!

Wasn’t that basically saying she had the bad attitude that chased him off?

Sure enough, Jack looked over, voice heavy with meaning.

"Miss Nelson, you claim to be such good friends with the SL Chairman. Care to explain this?"

"I—" Riley bit her lip.

Madam Nelson jumped in quickly.

"I know! It must have been one of Riley’s staff who didn’t recognize the SL Chairman and turned him away. That’s clearly their mistake, not Riley’s!"

Jack didn’t look impressed.

"Even if that’s so," he said gravely, "the Chairman isn’t coming. Without him, this press conference can’t go forward."

Jack turned to the person who’d brought back the intel and asked pointedly.

"Any other news?"

"Uh—yes." The guy was one of Eric’s own team, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"There’s also... Mr. Brooks says that Mr. Taylor here met with Riley behind the Chairman’s back. The Chairman’s furious. He told Mr. Taylor to come find him... and apologize."