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 would pick up if it was me who

most suited for this

door and saw Ashton standing there with an intense gaze in his

hear

“Mr.

will be going to M Country

did not even bother to postulate this as a query. His tone made it clear that he was in a towering temper, and was in no mood to be agreeable to

to avoid a confrontation in front of strangers, I turned to Wanda. “Ms. Tanner, could

and

still latched on me, he said, “There’s nothing that can’t be

air of three people each determined for things to

convincing Ashton on the matter. “Marcus had saved my life once before,” I blurted in a panic. “He isn’t irrelevant. “Did

to illustrate a point. If Ashton could look into his conscience and find it clear, so could

me to bring up Rebecca. He scowled at me. “So

never say never

was my last desperate attempt. I was pregnant. Of course, I wasn’t going to risk myself. “No, it’s just that if that step had to be taken, no one is more suitable to take it than

as though he was seriously considering the feasibility of

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

that Wanda and I were scheming to travel to M Country to locate Marcus. He must have lost his

a text to Wanda only to realize that her phone was in her purse that she had left here. She left in such a hurry,

to sleep to do a bit of revision while waiting

after a couple

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 a

Not long after I sat down, I

a movement in the corridor outside startled me awake. I got up to investigate and there

and seeing nothing, I put it

got up and went downstairs to an empty living room. Breakfast was

if it turns cold. It was written in

people to wait on me, so I didn’t mind. I heated up the

take 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

and started searching for my phone. The strangest thing was that despite looking

while before realizing that Ashton had me under house

pack up every item that could connect me to the outside world. He was thorough; even the internet was disconnected. Without it,

memory, but a testament to the decade we spent together. If it were someone else’s number, I wouldn’t

love, never say never

instantly. “You’re awake?” he said casually as though nothing was

Summer to?” I asked with much restraint, for I was still fuming at how he acted as he pleased. “I

will inspect the house every hour,” he said, in an attempt to divert the conversation. “If there’s anything you need, let them know. But do not for a moment imagine you can borrow their phones. If you do, I will make sure that they will not be able to speak again for as long as they live. I’d advise you to consider their wellbeing before

or reasoning. I gritted my teeth in resentment and tried again. “How about Summer? You could at least let her stay with me. She

I have fulfilled

down before I could react. It was just me and the solitude

but as it was my only mode

one thing to be on your 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

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

They were actually uncouth thugs clad in refined clothing. In a fit of mischief, I wanted to scare whoever

at the stairs and turned around after