Temptation

Chapter 77

« Les jours sont comptés »

« The days are counted »
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The day couldn't go any slower than it did. The weather was already disagreeable and couldn't help but hear buzzes around me. My social media management team posted a statement regarding Mark's death. Frankly, I wasn't aware of a word they wrote. Having a separate phone for business and social media was a substantial investment. At least I could turn it off because of all the notifications. It was better if I just turned deaf to the world.

Our first stop, just like Maddie said, was to the clerk's office. For most of the time, I remained quiet and let Maddie handle things. She was far more acknowledgeable than me, and my mind was wandering around since this morning.

I must admit my dispute with Julian took a toll on me. I felt like a hypocrite. When he was suffering, I forced him to talk, and it frustrated me when he wouldn't. That was the biggest shock our relationship endured, but we worked it out. And now, I set us back by shutting down. I needed time to process and open up, but our communication still needed a bit of work. A few minutes after our departure, he texted me he was leaving for work with his father and might not come back tonight. Great... that was just great. Was I also wondering why he won't come back tonight? Was it something else or he couldn't stand me? What was I thinking? I didn't even know anymore.

Back to why we were at the clerk's office. That inheritance process would be a pain in the ass. I wasn't paying attention to the explanation, but I trust to handle things. Oh, poor girl. These days, I left a lot of things for her to take care of. I was slacking off. I knew that, but I couldn't bring myself to think about anything related to business. I focused my mind on school and my side hustle career.

A long time ago, thinking about working at Royale's Inc., following my father's genius steps, and living the life of a businesswoman felt like a sweet dream. But now, all I felt was sadness, anxiety, and anger. They deprived me of my spark. But it was fine. I was sure as soon as everything ended, I would get it back, no matter what.

As we headed to our second meeting, we drove by the Royal's Inc., a sea of flowers was in front of the majestic white tower. I remembered those flowers four years ago... we could have known.

After a few minutes, we were in front of another smaller building. We were here to meet Henry Wendell himself. He had a charming smile. He was very jovial and valued my input. Unlike Mark, who always cast me aside. He was excited to hear about my skills. He explained his first goal was to work on the acquisition. As a company that contributes to the circular flow of the economy, with as much food and services as it offers, we were sinking faster than the Titanic. We were in deep shit without investment, so we needed support. If we had to bring out the best in the game, it had to be De Elvero Corp.

That meeting left a brief grin on my face. I had high hopes for Henry. He hadn't gained my trust yet, but so far, it was promising. Let us pray he is actually a good guy.

We headed back to the apartment, one of Julian's residences in New York, which he brought himself. I believed that was where he stayed whenever he left Toronto. After leaving the corner office last night, we crashed there. A heavy force of security covered the area around the building. The detectives couldn't lend us to his men, since he needed them for his investigation. So Julian's father took charge of it. I couldn't comprehend how this man had so much power. While leaving this morning, I counted three men, heavily armed, in front of our front door. Down in the lobby, there were five more. I counted three suspicious black vans parking in the street. Now, thinking back about it, the guy who was supposed to be walking his dog across the street was staring at me. I understood where Julian inherited his dramatic trait.