Chapter 368

William Langley quickly reached out to stop him.

"Don't trouble yourself. I can handle it."

Adrian Klein continued clearing the table without pause. "You didn't hesitate to invite me for dinner. Don't start being formal now."

"Well..."

William was still hesitating when Adrian efficiently gathered the dishes and headed toward the kitchen.

Victoria Langley stared at his retreating figure in surprise.

"Impressed, aren't you?" William whispered proudly. "You don't see many diligent young men like him these days. Reminds me of myself at his age. No wonder we get along so well."

Victoria shot him an exasperated look.

Even when complimenting others, he couldn't resist praising himself.

At one in the afternoon, Adrian prepared to leave.

William, tending to his plants on the balcony, called out immediately. "Evelyn, see your Uncle Adrian out!"

Adrian froze mid-step, his back visibly stiffening.

Evelyn Langley sprang up from the couch. "Dad! Stop with the 'uncle' nonsense! Professor, let me walk you—"

"Alright."

After they left, William muttered under his breath, "But last time we agreed he'd be an uncle..."

......

Two weeks passed in a blink.

Evelyn felt the timing was right to arrange a meeting between Victoria and Simon Croix.

"Mom, there's actually another reason I invited you and Dad to the capital."

"What is it?"

Evelyn slid a document folder across the table. "This is the contract you signed with Penelope Ashcroft. I had professional publishers and intellectual property lawyers review it..."

Victoria's heart clenched.

Evelyn gestured for her to open it. "The clauses marked in red are problematic. For instance, this so-called publishing house is actually a studio controlled by Penelope..."

It didn't even have proper publishing credentials.

They could only produce merchandise and e-books, not legitimate publications.

No wonder Victoria hadn't released a new book in ten years.

It wasn't writer's block—Penelope simply couldn't publish her work!

Every creative idea had been rejected for this reason.

"If she couldn't publish, why sign you in the first place? And for a full decade?" William asked gravely.

Penelope had paid a one-time signing bonus of $200,000 back then.

A substantial sum ten years ago.

What was her motive if there were no profits to be made?

Evelyn pointed to the third page. "The second trap is here. She holds full copyright agency rights to all your published works... but where's the royalty percentage?"

William flipped through the pages. "Where are the appendices?"

"There aren't any."

This meant Penelope could arbitrarily decide the profit splits.

Victoria's voice trembled. "In these ten years, I've only received royalties five times..."

Evelyn took a deep breath. "Both The Weapon and The Deserted School have remained in the top twenty bestsellers for a decade."

Victoria was stunned. "Penelope said the publishing industry was struggling..."

"The domestic market did face a downturn, but did she ever mention overseas sales?"