In Love, Never Say Never

“I understand,” I interrupted Wanda. “Business is business. You can call me Ms. Stovall. You’re here today as a witness to the fact that Ashton and I aren’t colluding. Most of the time we are working separately on our own tasks. I will have Mrs. Eriksen clear a desk for you to work here.”

Wanda was very accommodating. She sat herself down on a chair in my study. “There’s no need for all of that trouble,” she said generously as she cracked her knuckles. “I have a computer with me; I just need a chair and I’ll get right to work.”

I smiled at how quickly she settled in and left her to it. Marcus had been managing his company remotely for more than a month. Though the sales had declined, core businesses such as automobile and electrical appliances were still top in the industry, so they weren’t affected much. I was unable to foresee when GW Group would back off, therefore we had to halt the expansion of electronic gadgets and put our resources into the industry mentioned earlier to buy him more time. Lose a limb to save a life, as the saying went.

It was a good thing that Marcus had a good eye for talent. After I had finalized our business plan, the respective departments had begun working intensively toward our objectives. All I had to do every night was to provide final authorization for the documents prepared by them. After a week of doing that, White Corporation was deemed stable enough. I relaxed as well and planned to give Marcus a call that afternoon to brief him on the latest progress.

My call went through quickly but hung up on its own after a long period of silence. Perhaps there was news on Camelia and the child, I thought. That was why Marcus was not picking up at the moment. I tried again a while later and it went straight to voicemail.

“Is Mr. White unreachable?” Wanda asked. She remained close by this entire time and occasionally chatted with me. There were some legal documents that I had no authority to sign for even as acting chairman. Wanda too was anxious for Marcus’s return.

I nodded and turned to head indoors. “Yes, looks like he had turned off his phone.”

On second thought, perhaps Marcus’s personal secretary had an alternate way to contact him. I placed another call only to be informed by her that everybody in the company, including herself, was unsuccessful in their attempts to contact Marcus for the whole month. That was another dead end we ran into.

I stared gloomily at the text exchange between me and Marcus’s assistant as I stewed in my own panic. GW Group would have backed off after my previous encounter with Sean. But at the news of Marcus’s disappearance, all hell seemed to break loose at this point. We had no solid ground to work from.

Wanda surveyed the scene in thoughtful silence. Then, she got up and retrieved a document tightly wrapped in an envelope. “Have a look at this.”

I felt a sense of foreboding at her secrecy as I carefully unwrapped the parcel.

I had some experience in dealing with legal documents of various sorts; it didn’t take much for me to understand them.

Benjamin White and his wife passed away not long ago. Marcus inherited White Corporation only to realize that some shareholders had taken advantage of the power shift to embezzle public funds. Acting under this suspicion, Marcus was able to secure the evidence to prove that the company’s assets had been transferred outwards.

As it turned out that the guilty shareholders were led by an old friend of Benjamin’s. Marcus chose to resolve the matter quietly and reached out to him.

Before he disappeared, Marcus had Wanda draft up some documents. They had been notarized by a law firm since then and only awaited his signature. Upon completion, he would then have the power to expel the troublemakers.

However, his absence had been an inconvenience. To make amendments to shareholder rights, his position as the rightful owner of the corporation deemed his consent mandatory. In other words, for every day that Marcus remained at large, it was another day that the thief held on to his shareholding rights. The worst part was that he possibly already had an escape plan in place.

In love, never say never chapter 1157

I had a vague impression of the man in question. I met him once when I entered White Corporation for the first time. He had an unctuous smile and an air of deception about him. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he was the one who had orchestrated Marcus’s absence.

“Can’t we pursue this matter through legal means?” I asked with a frown.

Wanda sighed helplessly. “I’ve told Mr. White this before, but he had insisted on settling the matter in private. He mentioned that Mr. Yondel had once helped the White family. Mr. White’s father had given orders before when he was still alive: if the Whites and the Yondels were to ever have a disagreement, it must be settled diplomatically as opposed to an all-out war.”

She paused with a look of disgust on her face. “Actually, Leonard Yondel still cared about his friendship with Mr. White’s father and was unwilling to embezzle from the company. Mr. White had approached Mr. Yondel once regarding this matter. If he was smart he would have given up his rights voluntarily. But until today he still has not done that. The amount of scheming he had done makes one ponder as to what else he’s up to…”

Marcus did not expect to be backstabbed for his compassion. The opportunity for Leonard to steal was too good to pass, and it had gotten to the point where Marcus himself was needed to resolve this.

“It all comes down to locating him and bringing him back,” I thought out loud.

“Since nobody is able to contact Mr. White, it will be easier to find a needle in a haystack,” Wanda said.

I lapsed into silence for a while. “Actually, no. There is someone.”

“Who?” Wanda asked at once.

“Me.” I gathered up the documents and looked at her. “Even if the call goes through, he may ignore it if it’s someone from the company. But he wouldn’t ignore a call from me.”

me. I was confident that he

the person most suited for this task was

As if by instinct, I turned toward the door and saw Ashton standing there with an intense gaze in his dark eyes.

hear everything we

“Mr. Fuller,” she greeted

her and stared right at me. “You will be going to M Country

a query. His tone made it clear that he was in a towering temper, and was in no

Tanner, could you please give us a moment? I have something to discuss with Mr.

and promptly exited the

still latched on me, he said, “There’s nothing that can’t be said in front of outsiders. Now, Scarlett, repeat what you said for me. Our two children are gone. Are you sure you want

tense with the air of three people each determined

prepared myself for the task of convincing Ashton on the matter. “Marcus had saved my life once before,” I

If Ashton could look into his conscience and find it clear, so could I with

me to bring up Rebecca. He scowled

say never

I was pregnant. Of course, I wasn’t going to risk myself. “No, it’s just that

the feasibility of my plan. At last, he suddenly relaxed and turned around. As he walked out he called out to Wanda. “You, come with

I nodded, she stood and followed him out. I did not know what Ashton said to Wanda, but she left without returning to the study. Even her

a vague idea that Ashton suspected that Wanda and I were scheming to travel to M Country to locate Marcus. He must have lost

in her purse that she had left here. She left in

after coaxing Summer to sleep to do a bit of revision while waiting

figured that after a couple of hours, we would both calm down

locating Marcus. Although, Professor Zidd had reminded us that my pregnancy was not stable yet and I shouldn’t undertake long journeys. I held on to the hope that Ashton would come up with

ladies fell asleep very easily. Not long after I sat down, I fell into a

awake. I

and seeing nothing, I put it

Frowning at the quilt over my body, I got up and

has been prepared for you. Please heat it up if it turns cold. It was written in Mrs. Eriksen’s hand. It seemed like she

to wait on me, so I didn’t mind. I heated up the mushroom soup and had

long for me to realize that there was something wrong. Usually, Summer would be aware that I had woken up and would be chattering around me at this time. But she wasn’t here. I searched the back of the house to no avail as well. It wasn’t just her; all the servants were missing. I stood

of her, I broke down and started searching for my phone. The strangest thing

before realizing that Ashton had me

Ashton must have had people in here to pack up every item that could connect me to the outside world. He was thorough; even the internet was

dial Ashton’s number from heart. It wasn’t a demonstration of my memory, but a testament to the decade we spent together. If

love, never say never

picked up almost instantly. “You’re awake?” he said casually as though nothing was out of

I was still fuming at how he acted as

every hour,” he said, in an attempt to divert the conversation. “If there’s anything you need, let them know. But do not

he was in an aggressive mood, it was one that would not allow any room for compromise or reasoning. I gritted my teeth in resentment and tried again. “How about

is fond of the boy and wouldn’t miss you and I have fulfilled her wish too. This time

could react. It was just me and the solitude of a large

fling the phone against the wall, but as it was my only mode of communication with the outside world. Having no choice, I was forced

own but another to be forced into it. I was the latter. I spent the entire morning reading, but with the high anxiety level over my situation, not a sentence entered my

rounds every hour. They peered down at me through the length of the corridor and left promptly. It was at this moment that I felt rather sick of studying. When I heard his footsteps coming upstairs, I gazed in its direction

uncouth thugs clad in refined clothing. In a fit of mischief, I wanted to scare whoever was on his rounds

stop at the stairs and turned around after his examination. He walked along the corridor and