"Not really, but I'd be grateful if you'd do that. Please?" "Well, I'd be happy to help, but not without sexplanation." Leonica knew that was bound to happen and she was ready to give an answer. "Well, let's just say I'm working on something that's gonna make the current state of Romero Empire look like a joke once it's out of my hands." "Out of your hands?" "Don't worry, I'll explain the rest of the details later, once I'm certain of it all." Arvan was silent for a few seconds. Leonica was certain he was weighing his options, and by the this next question came, she had been correct.
"What are the chances of this plan of your turning on you?" Leonica didn't even hesitate. "I don't think it'd ever be that way." "But it could." Arvan pressed.
"Arvan, have I ever led you wrong? Have I ever been anything but reliable to you?" "You have always been a trustworthy ally and...a friend." "Then trustthis once, I can handle this." She could hear his heavy sigh. "Alright, consider it done. And as a favor from me, please be careful. I'm not sure if I can help you in the future if this blows up." "Thanks, Arvan. You're a lifesaver." "I know." When the call ended, Leonica's grin expanded. Everything was going smoothly in the first few hours after her planning, and she was certain that once she put the final phase into action, there'd be nothing that could stop her.
One thing Leonica hadn't put into consideration in her mind, was that once she had signed those papers, she'd automatically be jobless, thus, freeing up schedule on her once packed calendar.
And so, with a whole afternoon free, she decided to take Ashley out shopping after picking him from school.
As expected, Ashley was ecstatic about his mother's sudden appearance. And when Leonica announced their outing, he could barely contain his excitement.
"How about we get you a few things for your sleep over at daddy's next tomorrow?" Ashley nodded at his mother's words, grinning from ear to ear as they stepped into the shopping district. "Mom, can we go get ice cream too?" He asked, tugging at his mother's hand, causing her to halt and turn around.
"Of course, sweetheart." She ruffled his hair and continued walking.
For the better part of the next hour, Leonica found herself shopping for toys, clothes and the likes for her son. By the tshe was done, the bag carrier was filled to the brim, and she had to hire another carrier to carry the rest.
But Ashley still seemed energetic, rushing towards the next shop, however, falling down when he bumped into someone.
"Argh, you insolent pest!" The lady he had bumped into cursed as she picked herself up.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Ashley!" Leonica was quick to rush to his side and pick him up. "Are you okay?" Ashley, who had a few bruises here and there, nodded. "I'm fine mommy." Leonica wasn't so sure about that. But before she could even start her examination, she felt a gaze hard enough to penetrate her skull being directed at her.
Only when she looked up and identified the lady Ashley had bumped into as someone rather unpleasant, Irene Rosewood, did she realize the gaze was meant for her.
"You, you, you, it's always you. Re you stalking me?" Leonica measured her from head to to and shook her head. She would've laughed if not for her son present. stalking you? Are you someone worthy of my time?" She said with a hint of mockery. "So if you could kindly take your delusional accusations somewhere else, then that'd be appreciated." "You always have one thing or another to say towhen we meet, don't you." Irene sneered. "Just because you have all these big men flocking around you, doesn't make you special. And the fact that you're trying to make it seem that way, is laughable." "Hey, don't talk to my mommy that way!" Ashley who was watching, suddenly protested, catching the both of them off guard.
"Oh look, the minx has a little version of herself." Irene sneered.
Leonica frowned. "Don't talk to my son." Your Insolent Pest 3/3.
"I'll do whatever the hell I want to do, and you can't do shit about it. So just shut up and watch your place." Irene snapped.
Leonica was unfazed, instead, a smirk coated her lips. "I would advise you watch the way you address me." She stood up. "And the way you speak to my son. I've warned you of this before, haven't I?" "Oh please, you're all talk and action." "All talk and no action, huh?" She was now standing. "We'll see how long you can say that." "Mommy?" Leonica was no longer focused on Irene, who she had already lost interest in, instead, she was focused on her son, who was gazing up at her with a curious gaze.
"Yes, dear?" "My feet hurt, can we leave?" Hearing his question, Leonica smiled. "Sure." "What, are you just gonna leavelike that, with no word of apology." Leonica had to refrain from rolling her eyes. "Oh grow up Rosewood, picking on people because of jealousy is so insecure. It would do you good to face facts, you aren't good enough for Arvan." As she walked away, Ashley pointed out. "That strange woman looks a lot like you, mommy." "Yeah, but we both know there can only be one original." And she was sure it was her.
Exhausted from school and the shopping trip, Ashley had immediately fallen asleep when they returned home, giving Leonica more than enough room to begin the next phase of her plan. Standing in her room, she scrolled through her contact list, fishing out Rodrigo's phone number before typing it into another phone. As she watched the line ring, she smiled at her plan.
If there was one thing she knew more than anyone in this word, then that would be the fact that Rodrigo was a greedy bastard and would jump at any offer to have both power and money. And that was the exact off she was going to give him.
At last, the line was answered. She made her voice octave lower and added the Romanian dialect she had picked up years ago during one of her visit to Rome.
"Hello, am I onto to Mr. Rodrigo?" "Yes. And you are?" "This is Mrs. Tyche Smith speaking, I heard all about you from a close friend. He says you are a very capable man who knows how to work around obstacles and reach his goal, and I cto the conclusion that you are just the type of man I've been looking for. I'd like to make a business proposal to you, Mr. Rodrigo, would you be interested to listen?" An Alliance.
The nTyche - goddess of wealth- Smith was a nwell known in the business industry. As far as Rodrigo had heard, she was a self made billionaire who had single handedly risen her fortunate to the top, yet till this day, she remained anonymous, only contacting those that she dimmed fit to be business partners.
Which was why when Rodrigo got a call from a person claiming to be her, he was beyond excited, not caring that the twas a little bit too late for a business call.
"A business proposal you say?" He repeated her words, discarding the gof chess he had been playing with himself-making strategies for his latest plan- and walking to stand by the vast window that took up one third of the wall space in his study.
"Yes," Cthe answer from the other end. "You see, as of late, I've been wanting to expand into certain territory. Grow my fortune far more than I have built it up to be." There was a pause as his caller allowed her words sink in. "By that, I mean, I wish to buy certain companies which have potential of being very profitable under the right hand." And at that, she totally lost him. "By buying, do perhaps mean you wish to acquire Romero Empire?" He asked for confirmation sake.
"Correct and that is exactly why I contacted you. As per my last investment with Romero Empire, I've gathered enough data showing that the company had potential to grown and for that, i'm willing to offer you hundred of millions for the ownership of Romero Empire." Rodrigo suddenly chuckled at her words. "I'm afraid to tell you this, but at Romero Empire's current stand, throwing it away for petty millions will be a waste." "Current stand?" Rodrigo could already imagine the mysterious woman tilting her head to the side. "Yes, currently, Romero Empire is backed by the two biggest houses in Norway. Bryce Empire and the Senator of Norway himself." He boasted. "My lovely niece, the previous CEO, had worked hard to get those connections, it'd be a shto just throw it all away." He feigned remorse.
Leonica almost laughed at his acting skills. It was so good that if she had been anyone else, she'd have fallen hard for it.
But that didn't matter now, she had gotten the information she wanted.
"Ah, I see. That's a shame." She mused. "I really thought we could get somewhere good with this." "Oh, but we still can." Rodrigo quickly interjected, wanting to keep her cooperation as much as he wanted to keep the company. "You contract with Romero Empire, you know, the one my niece signed with you-" "It reached its maturity date last month." Her reply had him deflating. "Did your niece not inform you of this?" "No, no she did. I must have forgotten, old age and all." "Indeed. Well, in case you change your mind, don't hesitate to call me, you have my number." "Yes, Mrs. Smith, have a nice evening." And with that, the call ended and Leonica was left with a subtle smirk on her lips.
""Old fool," She had known full well that Rodrigo would reject her offer of buying the company. In fact, he was quite right. With the company's current standing, hundred of millions was too little to buy it.
But, all that could be changed if the company suffered a 'sudden' and devastating blow.
As if in line with her thoughts, she received a message from Arvan. When she clicked it open, she recognized it to be a picture of the termination contract she had asked him to do, earlier. Below it, the words read: Do you really wantto do this? More than ever so, she thought with a smile on her lips before typing a reply, giving him the go ahead to send the contract as soon as tomorrow morning.
Now, with that handled, she just needed to take care of one last thing; the contract with Gabriel's company.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmDang, she knew all that stalling and constant diversion before signing that termination contract would cback to bite her in the ass one day.
Placing her hand on her chin, she pondered. What could she possibly do to remedy this? And then it hit her, she didn't need a remedy solution, what she needed - painfully admitted- was an alliance. An alliance with the very sperson she wanted nothing to do with. Just the thought of that had her brows creasing in displeasure, but right now, she really couldn't afford losing the company in an unjust way. "Looks like I have to do just that." She groaned, still not hundred percent on board with this plan. But what could she do? She needed the standing of Romero Empire to drop and Rodrigo's greed take over, acquire the company that had once rightfully been hers.
before she could be able to And what better way to make all that plan unravel if not this? She sighed. Well, there was no avoiding it. With Ashley being their son, there was no way she could go without having involvement with him.
Even if the idea didn't please her, she still had to do it.
"Well, guess like I now have a purpose to visit Gabriel." Being less occupied, Leonica learnt the hard way that days didn't fly by as fast as it did when she had piles of work files to look through.
To put it in a simple way, she found it excruciating to wait a whole two days before taking the next step of hem plan. When Saturday caround, Ashley was the first one to bounce into her room, literally, he had been bouncing with the excitement of finally having to see his father for more than a few hours. "Can we go now?" Leonica looked back at him from where she say in front of her vanity mirror. She smiled at his excitement before applying the final touches to her simple make up and nodding.
"Yeah, let's go." In a matter of seconds, she had finished the rest of her getting ready process and had joined her son do stairs.
"Ashley would be gone for the whole weekend." She said to Grace who nodded in understanding.
"Have a good day, ma'am." "Thank you." "Goodbye, Gracie." Grace waved at Ashley and then turned back to her chore.
When the pair got to the car, Leonica handed Ashley his seatbelt, while she went to the driver's seat and got ready to pull off.
As usual, they drove in silence, with Leonica's mind occupied by the hervisit upcoming events - her plans, her visit to Gabriel's place and the talk she would begrudgingly have with him and most importantly, the visit she had to pay to Owen's family estate the next day - while Ashley hummed along to the song on the radio. -
It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination. As soon as the car e.
stopped, Ashley had jumped off the car and was running towards the main door, leaving Leonica to sigh and lock the car before chasing after him. She had just stepped foot on the front porch when her son's voice filled her ears.
"Daddy!"