Chapter 250: Is Heart of the Ocean Finished?
"Something troubling you?"
Alaric Blackwood stopped what he was doing, leaning over to wrap his arms around Sophie Shaw. He rested his chin on her shoulder and said softly, "Tell me about it."
Sophie told him about Damian Morgan still holding shares in Heart of the Ocean. Alaric laughed, looking completely relaxed. "I thought it was something serious. Is that all?"
"I wanted to buy his shares, but he said he won’t sell no matter the price."
"Why take the initiative to buy? Make him sell them himself."
Sophie turned her head in confusion, looking at Alaric quizzically. "You have a way?"
"Darling wants to hear my advice?"
"Mhm."
"Kiss me first."
...
That night, Sophie was drifting in and out of sleep when she heard a phone ring.
It was Alaric Blackwood’s phone.
She opened her eyes and saw him turn on the lamp on the nightstand, pick up his phone, and lean against the headboard to take the call.
The room was exceptionally quiet, so the voice on the other end of the line carried clearly to her ears.
It was a call from Bianca Kane. "Vianne is missing, and there’s still no news."
Alaric didn’t respond to that, instead asking, "Have you considered my previous terms?"
"As long as you help me find Vianne, I’ll do whatever you say."
Alaric threw back the covers and got out of bed. He walked out to the balcony and lit a cigarette, leaning against the railing as he exhaled smoke. After a moment of silence, he said coolly, "Then you’ll have to help me with one thing."
Sophie couldn’t hear what Alaric said on the balcony, only that a long time passed before he came back inside.
He went into the bathroom to wash his face, getting rid of the smell of tobacco, then returned to bed.
He smoothly pulled Sophie into his arms and gently patted her back. "Darling, did I wake you?"
"No."
"Go to sleep. I’ll take you back to the hospital in a few days."
Sophie paused, slightly stunned. "You reached an agreement with Bianca Kane?"
"Mhm."
Sophie didn’t ask any more questions. The only thing echoing in her mind was Bianca’s words—’As long as you help me find Vianne, I’ll do whatever you say.’
She nestled in Alaric’s arms, her mind racing for a while before she gradually drifted off to sleep.
For the next few days, Sophie was at the company, primarily handling recruitment. She hired a new head of human resources and personally interviewed several designers and legal consultants, hiring the ones she felt were a good fit.
With Anne as the executive vice president, Sophie wasn’t worried about the company. Once her body had mostly recovered from the miscarriage procedure, she returned to the hospital to begin chemotherapy in preparation for her hematopoietic stem cell transplant.
While she was hospitalized, news that Heart of the Ocean’s Nine Stone Series had plagiarized a new Kane Group product exploded online again, dominating the trending topics list for days on end.
Because the company’s leadership never stepped forward to issue a clarification, the rumors were allowed to fester. Unsubstantiated gossip began to circulate, and it soon reached Damian Morgan’s ears.
Hearing that Heart of the Ocean’s few investors were pulling their funding, Damian grew anxious.
He remembered Heart of the Ocean was supposed to be suing the Kane Group. ’Why did they suddenly drop the lawsuit?’
’Are they giving up the fight against the Kane Group?’
He suspected the Kane Group was behind the online smear campaign, all to attack Heart of the Ocean.
To find out what was really going on, he went to the Heart of the Ocean offices himself. Just as he arrived, he ran right into the former head of human resources, who was holding a box and had just completed his resignation paperwork.
Seeing the middle-aged man carrying his box into the elevator, Damian followed him in and asked, "Is the company laying people off?"
"I was fired."
The man was seething just talking about it. "I did everything for this company, and that woman didn’t appreciate any of it. She actually made me write my own resignation letter! And look what’s happened. This plagiarism scandal is all over the internet, and the few investors we had are all pulling out."
Damian’s heart sank. He pressed on, "What’s Sophie Shaw busy with? Why hasn’t she come forward to clear this up when it’s gotten so big?"
"I heard she’s in the hospital. She’s got a very serious illness."
"She’s sick?"
"I don’t know the details, but she can’t even take care of herself right now. The company is being run by one of her friends, and that friend has zero experience. I heard she didn’t even go to college."
The man pursed his lips. "This company’s going under."
Damian: "..."
The elevator reached the first floor. The man walked out, said goodbye to Damian, and left with his box.
Damian took the elevator back up and found the departments lifeless. It was the middle of the workday, yet many employees were packing up their belongings, looking as if they were about to leave.
He went over to ask. A female employee lowered her voice and told him, "The boss hasn’t been here in days. There are rumors she’s skipped town. Others say she’s sick and focused on her treatment, so she can’t manage the company at all."
Damian’s brows furrowed. ’Is this some kind of trap Sophie set for me?’ he wondered.
He asked another employee and found them typing up a resignation letter. That employee revealed that Sophie Shaw had leukemia and would be in the hospital for a long time. Panic was spreading throughout the company. Hearing that the investors were pulling out, everyone was worried about not getting paid and debating whether to jump ship.
"Who’s in charge of the company now?"
The employee pointed toward an office. "Vice President Austin. I think she’s a friend of President Shaw’s."
"Vice President Austin?"
Damian immediately thought of Anne.
Among Sophie’s friends, the only ones with the surname Austin were the siblings, Anne and Ethan. Ethan Austin was with Nina Halloway, serving as a bodyguard for the great star, Halloway. That meant the Vice President Austin at Heart of the Ocean had to be Anne.
To confirm his suspicion, he marched straight to the vice president’s office and threw open the door. He found Anne sitting on the sofa, sipping a milk tea while staring at her phone.
Seeing him, Anne froze for a second before jumping up from the sofa. She snapped, "You damn scumbag, what are you doing here? You think you can just waltz in here?"
"I’m a shareholder in Heart of the Ocean. Of course I can be here."
"Shareholder? Since when are you a shareholder? Didn’t Sophie get your shares back a long time ago?"
Damian couldn’t be bothered to explain. He asked with a grim face, "Why haven’t you had the PR team handle the trending topics online?"
"We tried. We can’t keep up. The Kane Group has deep pockets. They’re too much to handle."
"What the hell is Sophie playing at? She fought me tooth and nail for control of Heart of the Ocean, and now that the company’s in trouble, she’s just going to wash her hands of it?"
Anne put down her milk tea and said helplessly, "Sophie is sick. Her treatment has to come first. But I’m here. I can hold down the fort. I’ll protect her company and I won’t let her down."
"Just you?"
’A makeup artist who waits on celebrities and didn’t even go to college has brazenly taken the vice president’s seat?’
Damian thought Sophie must have lost her mind. "Are you two in this together, trying to screw me over?"
"Screw you over how?"
"You’re after my shares. You’re deliberately pulling this stunt to get me to sell them off, aren’t you?"
Anne shook her head and grabbed his arm. "Don’t you dare sell your shares! You and Sophie founded Heart of the Ocean together. You can’t give up on it—at least wait until the day she’s recovered and out of the hospital."
At this, she tightened her grip on Damian’s arm, her eyes pleading. "You and Sophie were together for three years. Even though you broke up, you must still have some feelings for her, right? Can you please come with me to the hospital to get your blood drawn and see if you’re a match? If you match with Sophie, she can be saved."