She walked over, pulled out the chair beside him, and sat down, placing her bag on the table.
Elias looked up from his phone and shifted slightly in his chair so he could face her.
“Took you long enough,” he said.
“Your office is pretty far from where I was,” Sophia replied as she leaned back in her chair. “I had to drive for an hour through traffic to get here. You should be grateful I even showed up.”
Elias tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows lifting with mild amusement.
“You’re busier than a billionaire now?” he asked.
“Yes,” Sophia answered shamelessly.
Elias shook his head with a faint smile.
A few moments later, a waiter placed two cups of coffee in front of them.
Sophia wrapped her fingers around the warm cup but didn’t drink. Her expression slowly turned serious as she looked at him.
“Something happened,” she said.
Elias glanced at her, his attention fully shifting away from his phone.
She leaned back slightly before continuing.
“Today Emma and I went to try to sell some jewelry pieces,” Sophia continued. “We needed to arrange some funds for Centurion Hall since several projects were suddenly canceled.”
She let out a frustrated breath.
“But we had to come back without selling anything.”
Elias frowned slightly and looked at her more carefully.
“You tried to sell auction items?” he asked. “If you’re selling jewelry like that, you’d have to sell them below market price.”
Sophia nodded.
“Yes,” she admitted quietly. “We didn’t really have a choice.”
She looked at him seriously.
“Because Empire Group canceled their deals with Centurion Hall, several other businesses followed them and canceled theirs too. It’s becoming a chain reaction. Everything is falling apart.”
She looked at him hopefully.
“Do you think you can help with this? Maybe use your connections to fix the situation? If we could somehow get those projects back, or at least replace them with something else…”
Elias slowly placed his phone on the table.
Then he picked up his coffee and took a calm sip.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said casually.
Sophia blinked in confusion.
Elias continued calmly, “And tell Emma not to sell anything.”
Sophia frowned slightly. “Why?”
