Nicole glanced at the man outside the elevator like he was a stranger. The man finally disappeared from her sight as the elevator door closed.

When they were in Roman's flashy sports car, he finally asked the question that had been bugging him. "Is this thing worth a lot of money? Why do the Fergusons want it so badly?"

Nicole laughed and looked at the box in her hand. " This thing is a thousand years old. I heard it came out from a royal palace and had been the Fergusons' family heirloom for almost eight hundred years. Do you think it's worth a lot?"

Roman's driving speed obviously slowed down as he was dumbfounded and shocked. 'This is simply priceless! They auctioned off such a valuable thing? No wonder Eric Ferguson asked Nicole to state her price. If Nicole asked for nine figures, Eric probably won't even have the slightest hesitation! '

Nicole's phone suddenly rang. She looked at it and saw that it was Grant, so she happily picked up the call. "Brother, I bought a little toy..."

Grant paused on the other side of the phone and let out a stifled laugh. "I heard... It only costs so little to spite the Fergusons, huh?"

Nicole could not help but laugh when she thought about Quinn and Ingrid's impending doom. " Anyway, it's mine now, so I won't let go of it easily."

Grant knew his sister's temperament. She must have been so disappointed with the Fergusons that she wanted to vent it out on them whenever she had a chance. It was indeed a rare opportunity.

'Forget it... Nothing else matters as long as she's happy...'

It was very sunny the next morning. Nicole went into the office to deal with some work matters. Recently, Samantha Lindt had been glaring at Nicole like she wanted to kill her, but she did not dare to act rashly because Nicole had something over her.

Logan knocked on the door to deliver some documents. "Vice President Nicole, the company has begun to investigate Samantha Lindt receiving kickbacks in various projects."

Hearing Logan's words, Nicole looked up at him. "My brother's ready to take action?"

"Yes. Micah Zielinski, who's backing Samantha Lindt, has already started to make his move, so President Stanton said that he'd no longer tolerate it."

To remove Micah Zielinski, they must first investigate Samantha Lindt. Samantha probably knew about it by now and that she was powerless. No wonder she did not pester Nicole about being part of the project team with J&L Corporation.

Nicole tucked her hair behind her ear. "Then hand over what we have to add fuel to the fire."

It was a recording of what Samantha said during the dinner with Nicole and Flint Zeller.

"Yes, ma' am. " Logan stood there and paused for a moment. "There's one more thing. Mr. Ferguson's secretary called saying that Mr. Ferguson would like to make an appointment with you for a meal."

Nicole sneered and leaned back in her chair with her arms clasped. Her gaze was clear and cold.

"Say that I'm busy and push it. In the future, just push off any meals with him. You don't need to ask me anymore."

"Yes, ma'am."

At noon, Nicole was planning to grab lunch when there was a knock at the door. Logan stood at the door holding a bouquet of flowers. "Vice President Nicole..."

Nicole looked up and frowned. "I thought I told you to just throw it away?"

"Nikki, how could you hurt me like that? I carefully selected these for you. You didn't even act surprised and even wanted to throw it out?! "

Ian Carter suddenly popped out from behind Logan, walked into Nicole's office angrily, and questioned her.

Nicole paused and glanced at Logan, who apologetically lowered his head and kept quiet.

'Forget it...this must've been Ian's idea.' Nicole was feeling a little guilty, so she could not blame Ian for feeling hurt.

"You can leave us, " Nicole said to Logan. Logan nodded and left with a sigh of relief.

Nicole reached out and rubbed her brow, then smiled at Ian. "Carter, why'd you come over today?"

"I came to ask you out for lunch. I didn't expect you to give me such a big surprise! " Ian said with gritted teeth as he glared at her.

Nicole smiled apologetically. "You know how much everyone will talk if I keep getting flowers! "

"I sent you flowers just to let everyone know that you have a boyfriend! "

'So that they'll know they don't stand a chance! ' Ian thought.

Ian was unabashed as he said that. Nicole felt a little helpless and said, "Ian, don't waste your time on me."

"I want to. Whether it's a waste of time is up to me."

Ian was not truly angry with her. He smiled devilishly and said, "Since you're at fault, you gotta buy me lunch! "

Nicole raised her eyebrows, took her purse, and walked out of her office. "Fine. You decide on the place."

When they arrived at the restaurant, they once again bumped into the people they did not want to see.

Keith Ludwig snorted. "Nicole, didn't you say that you have an important project? So... You pushed off Eric for a date with Second Young Master Carter?

Grant Stanton, Roman, Ian Carter... You sure change men like you change clothes! I guess you do have your hands full, huh?"