My Family Called Me a Freeloader, So I Took Every Client Away Chapter 05

My Family Called Me a Freeloader, So I Took Every Client Away Chapter 05

Daniel put on a smile. “What brings you by? Did Mr. Lawson need something?”

The assistant brushed aside his greeting. “Mr. Bennett, Mr. Lawson asked me to let that he won’t be working with you on future projects.”

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“We’ll settle the last invoice under our contract. After that, there’s no need to contact us.

Now that it had happened to him, Daniel jumped to his feet. “Why? We’ve worked together for years…”

The assistant sighed. “Mr. Lawson said he wouldn’t have chosen your company in the first place if it hadn’t been for your sister. She’s no longer involved, so neither are we.”

When the assistant left, the office was so quiet they could hear the water cooler gurgle.

Daniel slammed his fist on the desk. “She’s ruthless. Family means nothing to her!”

Now that he’d lost a client himself, Daniel couldn’t stay calm. Megan gritted her teeth. “We kept quiet for ten years out of respect for family. The minute we spoke up, she cut us off. We have other business partners. She won’t scare us.”

Brooke nodded. “Exactly. Look at the size of our businesses. You think we can’t find customers? She’s an intermediary, but she acts like she runs the show.”

Daniel rubbed his hands together. “Maybe…what we said last night upset her. You know how

proud she is.”

Megan scoffed. “You’re too soft, Daniel. Let her sulk. Once she’s out of money, she’ll come back begging. She’ll take five percent then, never mind ten.”

Tyler folded his arms. “Dad, don’t let her play you. She pocketed our money for years. Now she pulls a few clients to put on a show, and we’re supposed to give in? We’d be taking orders from

her forever.”

Brooke set down her coffee. “Enough. Stop scaring yourselves. We have plenty of potential partners. Everyone’s here to make money. Do we really need her to introduce us?”

“We can bring something over to the clients, offer a better deal, and they’ll say yes. Why beg her?”

Tyler wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Right. I’ll come with you. We can make our own Introductions.”

They talked Daniel around, Finally, he nodded. “Fine. Let’s go. We’ll bring two cases of good bourbon and knock another two points off the price.”

They went to Mr. Lawson’s office first.

He saw them there without even offering coffee.

Daniel put the bourbon down and forced a smile. “Mr. Lawson, we’ve always worked well together. We can lower our price another two percent.”

Mr. Lawson sat on the couch, flipping through a file without looking up. “This isn’t about price.”

“Then what is? Tell me, and we’ll fix it.”

Mr. Lawson finally looked up. “We had better options all along. We chose you because of your sister. Her word was worth more than a two-point discount, and we’ve already signed with another manufacturer.”

Daniel’s face went stiff.

Tyler jumped in. “Mr. Lawson, you know the quality of our products. We haven’t had a problem in all these years.”

Mr. Lawson smiled faintly. “There are plenty of quality manufacturers. You can go.”

They made the rounds to Mr. Lewis, Mr. Carter, and Mr. Walker. At most places, they couldn’t even get through the door.

Some were turned away by assistants. Others got a polite meeting but no agreement.

They carried the bourbon out and brought it right back.

In the car, Tyler cursed. “She must have warned them. How can she be so petty to her own family?”

Megan posted in the group chat: “Some people will screw over their own family over the smallest thing. It’ll come back to bite them.”

Brooke replied, “We respected our family ties. Some people only care about money.”

I saw the messages and smiled.

What they didn’t know was that my company had repeatedly urged me to drop my relatives’

accounts because the margins were so low.

My manager had told me, “You get ten percent, and the company gets five points. You might

as well be working for free. Summit Group offers seventeen percent. Why do you insist on giving the business to your family?”

“Because they’re family,” I’d said.

He shook his head. “Can family ties pay the bills?”

I hadn’t listened.

Now he beamed when he heard I’d canceled everything. “You finally saw sense. Summit Group

has been waiting. Seventeen percent, and the contract’s already drafted.”

The next day, Claire deliberately posted a photo in the family group chat.

She was shaking hands with Mr. Sterling in front of a banner that read, “CONTRACT SIGNED.”

Her caption read: “$420,000 deal. Thank you for your trust, Mr. Sterling. Turns out the world

keeps turning without you.”

Megan shared it immediately. “Way to go, Claire! I landed a new buyer for the furniture center

too. Payment due on delivery.”

Tyler commented, “Aunt Claire for the win. Somebody’s probably crying at home right now.”

Daniel added, “I signed a long-term deal with a new client too. Mr. Walker.”

Not to be outdone, Brooke wrote, “I found a new sales channel with better margins.”

The group chat erupted in celebration.

Claire posted again. “See that? We don’t need you. You pulled the clients, and we found better ones. Thanks, really. I never would have landed Sterling if you hadn’t.”

I read it and gave a cold smile.

What they didn’t know was that Sterling was notorious in our industry for not paying his bills.