The Sinclair Group was primarily a construction materials company spearheaded by Ethan Sinclair, the eldest son of the Sinclair family. Just inside the lobby was a corridor showcasing their products.
Josephine slowed her pace and took a careful look.
Admittedly, the Sinclair Group offered a wide variety of products, most of which were developed in-house. This indicated that they had a professional research and development team. However, according to her memories of her past life, they had never developed the special construction material she currently held. This was the exact reason why the Sinclair Group would ultimately lose to Liam.
"What do you think? My brother’s company is pretty impressive, right?" Clara asked. "Every time I come here, there are new products on display. If you want, I can ask my brother to get you a position in the R&D department."
Josephine felt a surge of warmth. Her best friend was truly wonderful to her. Just because she had stood up for Clara once, Clara was now wholeheartedly willing to take care of her for the rest of her life. Compared to the Sterlings, to whom Josephine had given her all, Clara was infinitely better.
In her past life, she had been incredibly wrong, causing harm to both Clara and the Sinclair Group. This time, no matter what, she wouldn’t let the Sinclair Group repeat its past mistakes.
"Clara, I really don’t want to get in through the back door," Josephine replied. "Why don’t you let me have a proper chat with President Sinclair? With your introduction, I believe your brother won’t dismiss me just because of my educational background."
Clara nodded vigorously. "Of course. My brother isn’t the type to judge a book by its cover."
That was good. Josephine had been afraid he might be like Liam Sterling, who only cared about a woman’s looks!
Clara led her into the office, but just as she was about to speak, Ethan interrupted with a dark scowl.
"Get out," he said fiercely.
Clara’s face turned green. She grabbed Josephine’s hand to leave, snapping, "Don’t regret this. You’ll be crying once you miss out on Josie."
She was furious. He had clearly promised to see Josie, yet here he was, humiliating her in public. What would Josie think of her now? Later, she would definitely complain to their parents and tell them how he was bullying her.
"I didn’t mean her. You get out, and shut the door behind you!" Ethan rubbed his forehead.
He absolutely hated it when relatives and friends tried to use their connections to shove people into his company. Not to mention, the person Clara had brought in was known throughout their social circle as a useless young lady. If it weren’t for the fact that Josephine had once stood up for Clara, he would have rejected this meeting outright.
Clara whipped her head around. "What do you mean, Ethan?"
"I’m conducting an interview. It’s inappropriate for you to be here. Get out," Ethan said.
He wasn’t some domineering, tyrannical boss. On the contrary, he had a gentle temperament and was emotionally stable. It was only because he hadn’t slept well for days due to an upcoming bidding war that his tone had been a bit harsh. Mostly, though, it was because Clara didn’t understand proper boundaries. By bringing Josephine in like this, anyone who saw would assume Josephine had gotten her job through nepotism. How would she ever establish herself in the company after that?
Josephine could roughly guess his intentions. Before Clara could blow her top again, she gently squeezed her hand. "Clara, you head out first. I’ll chat with President Sinclair."
Knowing that Josephine didn’t want to trouble her further and that Josie had her own pride, Clara simply shot her brother a glare. She then whispered to Josephine, "Don’t be scared. He isn’t actually that fierce. If he yells at you, just yell right back. I’ll have Mom and Dad deal with him later."
"I know." Josephine, amused, gave Clara’s hand another gentle squeeze, signaling for her to leave.
Clara left the office, looking back with every step.
Once the door closed, Ethan stood up and gestured for Josephine to sit. "Miss Sterling, right? Where is your resume?"
Josephine shook her head. "I didn’t bring one. To be precise, I’m not here for an interview, President Sinclair. I’m here to discuss a partnership with you."
Hearing this, Ethan raised an eyebrow. The Josephine sitting before him seemed quite different from the useless heiress of the rumors—she was too calm. Superficial calmness could be faked, but the look in a person’s eyes couldn’t lie.
He mused, "Heh... this is quite interesting!" No wonder Clara would ignore his own words but listen to Josephine unconditionally. It seemed the rumors were mistaken.
Ethan tugged at the hem of his suit jacket and sat down opposite her. "How do you wish to collaborate, Miss Sterling?"
"Take a look at this first, President Sinclair." Josephine handed him the flash drive she was holding.
Ethan didn’t take it.
Fine, he retracted his previous judgment. Rumor had it that Josephine fiercely protected the Sterlings’ interests, obeying her brothers to the point of losing her own identity, let alone her devotion to her parents. She couldn’t stand anyone speaking ill of her family, and her willingness to sacrifice and dedicate herself to them bordered on the pathological. She constantly craved the attention of her parents and brothers. In fact, just because her parents admired and cared for Miss White from the White family, Josephine had opposed Miss White at every turn, even going so far as to frame her! She had been caught red-handed by the Sterlings, causing them to dislike her even more. Yet, instead of backing off, she tried even harder to please them. The things she had done had long since become a running joke in high society.
Right now, he and Liam were fighting tooth and nail over an upcoming bid. For her to suddenly seek a partnership with him was incredibly suspicious, no matter how he looked at it.
"What’s wrong? Do you doubt me?" Josephine asked, taking in Ethan’s expression. "Do you think my leaving the Sterling family is just a ruse orchestrated with Liam to plot against you? Are you afraid there’s a virus on this flash drive?"
He did indeed harbor those doubts. Ethan even wondered if the video Clara had sent him earlier was specifically meant to dispel his suspicions. If that were true, Liam was certainly ruthless to his own family just to scheme against him. It seemed the flawed material from Liam’s company had caused a massive impact, perhaps even pushing them to the brink of ruin. If so, Ethan couldn’t afford to take any risks.
Josephine gave a helpless smile and pulled her hand back, withdrawing the flash drive. "Since you’re suspicious, President Sinclair, we don’t have to use it. We can view it on my phone."
She pulled up a cloud backup on her screen and handed the phone over to Ethan. He took it with a sliver of skepticism, but with just one glance, his interest was piqued.
"You understand construction materials?"
Josephine gave a slight nod. "I was an engineering student. I took courses in mathematics, physics, biological sciences, materials science, and other related subjects back in college."
He had heard from Clara that Josephine had graduated from a third-rate university and was despised by her family because of her poor grades. She was even mocked by the socialites and heiresses in their circle. But judging from this document, she didn’t seem like someone who performed poorly academically. At the very least, Clara wouldn’t be able to recognize half of the chemical formulas scattered across those hundred pages of data.
"Do you mind if I get someone to verify this?" Ethan asked after taking a photo of her phone screen.
"I don’t mind," Josephine replied, tapping the screen. "However, I expect an answer from you today, President Sinclair. Any later, and I’ll find someone else."
Ethan was secretly astonished. In what universe was Miss Sterling timid and cowardly? She was incredibly assertive!
"Give me half an hour," he said, standing up and walking over to the window to make a call.
Josephine was quite curious. He could verify the data with just one phone call? This President Sinclair was quite impressive.
In less than half an hour—merely ten minutes or so—Ethan walked back over to her. "One final question. Is this your research?"
Josephine nodded. "Of course. This is the patent certificate for my development. It was just approved this morning. If you’re interested, President Sinclair, I can grant you the usage rights to the patent. The condition is that I receive a one-percent commission on every transaction made with this material."
One percent wasn’t exactly an exorbitant demand. Moreover, compared to selling the patent outright, this form of partnership was far more beneficial for the company. Unless Josephine had absolute confidence in her invention, she wouldn’t have proposed such terms.
Ethan looked at her with a newfound respect. With her calm and collected demeanor while negotiating, she truly didn’t seem like an incompetent person.
Still, he remained skeptical of her motives...