As things were, he knew that he had to draw the line with the Olson Family before the Commission cracked down on the case. The Olson Family would go down alongside his career the moment the Commission decided they had both been guilty. Johan was now pacing the lounge with a grim look. It took a while before he stopped and sat down next to Remus to urge, “Find a way out of this, or search for another bank willing to approve a loan in our favor. We’ve already told the public that we’d be acquiring the Griffiths’ business! What will the people say if they find out our plans have been stymied?”
Remus sighed. “Vicious rumors spread much faster than you might think. There are no other banks who would consider approving a loan for you, at least not without first putting their lives on the line. How about if you push this acquisition back by a year, or maybe half a year?” “Don’t be ridiculous, Mr. Sawyer. The stock market is as brutal as it is volatile, but it thrives on information and rumors. We can’t afford to wait that long. Besides, you promised us that you’d approve the loan, that you’d take care of it. And now here you are, leaving us high and dry!”
Amelia accused, her voice rising by several octaves. “I…” Remus couldn’t find the words to defend himself because she was right. “I wish I could keep my promises, but I didn’t think the Commission would take an interest in this all of a sudden!” The next morning, a Twitter thread began trending around cyberspace. At the time the Olson Family was supposed to kick off their much-anticipated press conference, Alexander had taken to his personal Twitter account to announce that he had invested hundreds of billions of capital into Frazier Pharmaceuticals, thereby becoming the company’s second largest shareholder. He also cleverly attached a photo of himself exchanging a friendly handshake with Nathan.
Anyone who saw the thread guessed that Alexander had managed to secure capital from Nathan and that the both of them were officially working together. When the news broke, the stocks for Frazier Pharmaceuticals saw a steady rise in value on the market. As for the Olson Family, the fact that Nathan had bailed on their press conference coupled with their inability to come up with the capital to acquire the Griffiths’ family business only affirmed the rumors—the Olson Family had not a single backer for their plans. The stock price for Olson Pharmaceuticals fell so rapidly that it tanked within the short span of the morning.
Elise was in the passenger seat as she stared at Alexander’s photo with Nathan on Twitter. She clicked her tongue in mock disapproval and pointed out snidely, “I can’t believe you guys bought Frazier Pharmaceuticals behind my back!” Alexander gave a low chuckle. “With your brilliance, I highly doubt the purchase would have escaped your notice. The thing is, the whole thing was pretty much up in the air until last night, and by the way, I was the only one who invested in Frazier Pharmaceuticals. You told me you didn’t want to see the company go down without a fight, so I looked into it and decided to buy up the shares.
That’s all that happened.” Elise immediately sensed that there was something fishy underscoring this incident. She turned to look at him inquisitively as she drawled, “Mr. Griffith, from what I recall, you left behind your family fortune, so how in the world did you get your hands on hundreds of billions in capital?” She gasped dramatically. “Oh! You have a secret bank account somewhere, don’t you? And you didn’t tell me anything about it!” “Your insinuations hurt me. You only had to ask and I would have told you everything. Alas, my dearest Elise, when was the last time you showed any interest in what I was doing?”
he countered sadly. He knew her indifference toward life was carved into her bones, and even though he was her boyfriend, he enjoyed no special treatment. In fact, it seemed as if the only people who could stoke Elise’s sentiments were her grandparents. Admittedly, there were plenty of times when he felt she had to be tethered to him by a thread. He had to draw her in bit by bit so that she would allow her walls to collapse, but as soon as he released that thread, she would drift away and treat him with the same indifference as she did the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, she parted her lips to say something, but words deserted her. At this moment, the piercing sound of Alexander’s ringtone filled the car. He wore his Bluetooth earpiece and answered the call, but he hung up several seconds after quickly muttering, “Got it.” “What happened?” Elise asked. He pulled over by the curb and let out a frustrated sigh before he said slowly, “The Griffiths have decided to file a lawsuit against me.” He paused at this, then glanced over at her as he elaborated, “To be precise, the ones who are suing me are those relatives you saw the other day.
They’re alleging that the ten-billion capital I invested in Frazier Pharmaceuticals belonged to the family company and that I stole it. Basically, I’m being accused of embezzlement.” “How despicable of them,” Elise pointed out in disgust. “They were the ones who wanted you to leave the family without taking any part of the fortune and now that you have capital, they’re leeching off you again! You might call them relatives, but they’re nothing but bloodsuckers!” The twinge of exasperation that Alexander felt seemed to dissipate as soon as he heard her words. She made him feel as if he was protected and that reassured him to no end.
“You don’t seem the least bit concerned about where I obtained the capital,” he noted with self-deprecating humor. She frowned in thought before looking at him innocently as she asked in all seriousness, “Why would I be concerned over such a small sum of money?” He felt his brows rise to his hairline as he was rendered speechless by her remark. As it turned out, he had underestimated her, for ten billion was, to her understanding, a ‘small sum of money’. Over on college grounds, Addison had seen Alexander’s car from a distance and by the time he pulled up at the dormitories, she barreled down the stairs to greet him and Elise. Elise had only just stepped out of the car when she saw Addison hurtling toward her.
“We pulled through! We really did! You’re incredible, Elise!” the girl cried happily as she wound her arms around Elise’s neck. “We recovered every cent to cover our debts, and now all the red has been cleared off our ledger! You’re practically an oracle, Elise!” At the sight of this, Alexander let out a dry cough. “Miss Whitlock, I’d appreciate it if you could keep a polite distance from my fiancée.” He was secretly envious of how these girls could just hug things out, regardless of whether it was a joyous or a grave occasion.
Unfortunately, Elise was so used to putting up a strong front that the only times he could give her comforting embraces were when she was extremely vulnerable or devastated, which didn’t happen often enough. Addison chuckled and untangled her arms from Elise’s neck, but the next second, she drew Elise in by the waist and glued herself onto the latter. “I will do no such thing! I’m going to stick to Elise for as long as I can. I might even marry her!” Alexander frowned. Great, now I have to watch out for both guys and girls who pine after my woman. Could you just stop being so attractive, Elise?
For my sake? While this was happening, Elise merely raised her hands, feigning innocence as she shot him a look that said, Well, what am I supposed to do about this? You can’t keep a diamond from shining. After a quick round of jesting, Addison finally stood to the side like a loyal and faithful disciple. She followed Elise as she pressed, “So, what should we do next, Elise? What other stocks should my dad invest in?” As soon as Elise heard this, she stopped in her tracks and turned to regard Addison somberly. “Addison, you have to remember that stock investment isn’t something you can depend on forever.
It can be addictive to gamble on such things and win, but you have to draw the line somewhere or you could spiral into self-destruction.” “Self-destruction?” Addison repeated in shock before she patted her chest to soothe the fear that budded in her. “My goodness, that sounds terrifying! In that case, I’ll get my dad to stop dabbling in stocks. All I want is for him to live like the honest man that he is.” Elise hummed in response, then clapped Addison’s shoulder consolingly as she added, “Maybe self-destruction might have been an exaggeration on my part. What I really meant to say was that you can’t blindly invest in something without first assessing the probabilities.
You’re a Mathematics major, and it shouldn’t be hard for you to understand how stocks work if you put some effort into it. That way, you won’t be easily misled or tricked into making poor investments. Do you understand?” Addison nodded, seemingly in a daze. She would like to think that Elise’s words made sense, but at the same time, she was baffled by them.
