Chapter 177
Nicole really didn’t want to give up that endorsement.
She called Maxwell again to ask for help.
Maxwell had been at the club’s training base for the past few days and had no idea what was going on.
He agreed to ask Collin for her.
Then he called Collin.
Collin asked him to come home for dinner so they could talk it over.
Maxwell thought, Well, I need to grab some clothes anyway, so why not. So he agreed.
At the Delaney residence.
The two brothers were chatting over dinner.
Maxwell once again brought up how Nicole had asked him for help.
Collin looked at his brother with a helpless smile. “Maxwell, why are you still such a sweet, clueless kid?”
He’d been protected since he was little, never really having to deal with any real hardships.
Then he got into esports, where the social circle was pretty simple and drama-free.
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Plus, as the Delaney family’s young master, nobody dared to scheme against him, so he barely saw the darker side of things. No wonder he’s still so straightforward and trusting.
Maxwell looked up, a bit lost. “What do you mean?”
Collin said, “Did it ever cross your mind why she’d ask you for help? Before, whenever something like this happened, she’d always go to the Hammond brothers first.”
Maxwell asked, “Is it just because I’m your brother, part of the Delaney family?”
Collin rubbed his forehead, exasperated. “No, it’s because the Hammond brothers all said no, and I didn’t pick up her calls or reply to her texts.
“That’s why she finally came to you.”
Maxwell blinked, a little confused. “Weren’t the Hammond brothers always spoiling her? How come they all said no to her this time?”
Honestly, compared to Maxwell, the Hammond brothers totally indulged Nicole way more
Collin filled him in on everything that had happened over the past few days.
He mentioned Alicia selling her shares, and the falling out between the Hammond brothers and their dad.
“Nicole isn’t as simple as you think. She’s got a lot more going on under the surface-even knows how to play the game, Collin said.
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He looked at Maxwell, his only brother. “You’re being used by her.”
Maxwell hadn’t realized so much had happened in just a few days.
He blurted out, “Wait, used me for what?”
Collin laid it out. “Nicole’s determined to snag that Delaney Group perfume endorsement-not just to secure her spot and climb the ranks, but also because Celia was the one who created it.
“Honestly, it was only after I started looking into what Nicole’s been up to these past couple of days that I realized why she wants this endorsement so badly.
“She’s trying to mess with Alicia, make her feel uncomfortable, and stir things up between us and her.
“And sure enough, Ally’s been blaming me for the whole perfume endorsement thing.
“Honestly, I barely even interact with Nicole.
“Last time I went to her event, it was only because you insisted I go,” Collin said.
He was over eight years older than Nicole, so they didn’t really have much in common or hang out together.
Whenever they did cross paths, it was mostly because Maxwell and the Hammond brothers organized some get-together.
Seeing how Leo spoiled his stepdaughter, Collin started doing the same-whenever he went on a business trip, he’d bring back little gifts for Nicole.
Of course, Alicia always got something too.
The main reason Alicia started to resent him was that endorsement.
At first, he hadn’t thought much of it, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized Nicole’s motives weren’t exactly pure.
After all, the Delaney Group had plenty of products, but Nicole had her sights set on that perfume line.
She first tried to get the Hammond brothers to help, and when that didn’t work, she came to him for the endorsement.
Alicia’s words that day really woke him up.
Isn’t this exactly what Nicole’s trying to do-make Alicia feel uncomfortable, and even get under Celia’s skin? Collin thought.
And then he heard from Kevin that Leo was thinking about giving shares to Nicole and her mom.
The more he thought about it, the more something just didn’t add up.
He started to suspect that Nicole and her mom were a lot more scheming behind closed doors than they seemed in public- not nearly as sweet and harmless as they pretended to be.
Especially since Maxwell always thought he was the reason Nicole almost took her own life when they were younger, so he’d been trying to make it up to her ever since, always feeling guilty.
He just couldn’t say no to anything Nicole asked for, or even hinted at
Collin didn’t want to see his only brother spend his whole life weighed down by guilt, getting used over and over again by
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Nicole
So he had someone look into it.
Collin laid it all out for Maxwell, explaining why Nicole was so obsessed with landing that perfume endorsement.
Now that he’d refused to give her the endorsement, she was desperately seeking help from everyone, trying to turn things around.
Maxwell was left speechless after hearing all that. “Seriously? There’s actually so much drama and twists behind this?
“I honestly never gave it much thought. I just figured Nicole wanted a Delaney Group endorsement-seemed like just a simple thing.
“I thought I’d just hand it over to her, no problem.”
Over the years, he’d gotten used to giving Nicole whatever she asked for.
But he really never imagined there was all this stuff going on underneath.
Guilt flashed across Maxwell’s face. “I swear, I never wanted to make Ally feel bad, or hurt Celia.”
After his parents died in that car accident, his older brother got swamped with work at the company, so Celia would othe have Maxwell stay over at her place.
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Chapter 175
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Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.