CEO's Contract Obsession-Chapter 42: Scaredy Cats
~Song Recommendation: Rolling in the Deep by Adele~
After lunch, Henry took off to work since he still is the CEO of Welsh Holdings and as the big man, he has many responsibilities that needed attending. He wanted to know as well what progress Anton’s team made about the loan that Amy’s dad took.
Same as the other days, Henry walked to his office happy and smiling, greeting back everyone who will greet him.
"I assume something eventful happened again this morning for you to be in such a mood," Rei couldn’t help but pry seeing how elated his best friend is.
"Mm-hmm," Henry nodded but did not say anything, just continued showing his delighted face with mirth. Rei could only shake his head in wonder and amusement. Ever since his best friend and also boss, Henry, saw Amy once again, their work seemed to become less stressful since their boss is always in a good mood every day.
Even if they have gotten additional work because of her, it is still not as daunting as before. Even they, are happy with how things are panning out for everyone.
"Tell my secretary to arrange my schedule today, I need to talk to Dr. Martin before I go home," Henry told Rei before going to his office.
Henry has not settled yet in his desk when Anton knocked on the open glass door. "Can I come in?"
Henry gestured for him to go in and close the door before he sat on the couch in the middle of the room. "What’s the update?"
"Well, good and bad, which one do you want to hear first?" Anton asked as he unbutton his jacket and sat opposite Henry.
"Just get on with it will you," Henry answered impatiently.
"OK... tsk, tsk... so snobbish," Anton remarked with wry.
Henry chuckled at his friend’s comment before ordering his secretary via the intercom to send some coffee into his office for him and Anton.
"Mr. Bell acquired the property from a man named Roland Harding two years before he took out the loan. A year after, he hired a geophysicist, and for what, we don’t know. There’s no record of it." Anton revealed while handling Henry some documents containing his report.
"So why not ask that person why was he hired then?" Henry asked while browsing the documents handed to him.
"That’s the bad news, he’s dead," Anton answered with a blank face.
Henry looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a frown, thinking just how inconvenient their position was right now. They are in a limited time, the loan will mature soon, and either they pay it off or give up the collateral and of course, the latter is not included in the options.
"Yup, you know what it means," Anton added.
Henry pinched the gap between his eyebrows feeling an incoming headache. The amount that Amy’s dad took was huge and after years of Amy missing the payments, it is now even bigger.
Even though he is now the CEO of his father’s company, he still has not taken hold of his full inheritance. He has not met his father and uncle’s conditions to fully inherit the company.
However, even if his uncle is still the current chairman of the company, he has Amy now and he is hopeful and positive that things will go well and he will be able to solve Amy’s problem in no time, as soon as he becomes the chairman.
"How about asking the previous owner? He might be aware why there was a need for a geophysicist," Henry inquired.
"How about you ask your girlfriend about it huh? Maybe she knows something," he scoffed.
"She might not know anything, I think someone is hiding something," Henry doesn’t want to involve Amy as much as possible for he thinks that this is not a simple case and doesn’t want to worry her, much more putting her in danger.
"Let’s just hire a geophysicist and see what will come up," Anton suggested feeling desperate after reaching so many dead ends on their investigation.
"I will ask Amy first and if she agrees, be discreet about it. I’ll come up with an excuse that she will believe why do we need to survey that land, I do not want interested parties to be alerted," they then both stood up with Henry carrying all the documents that Anton gave him.
"Understood boss, I’ll have our man ready and will wait for your go signal," he then went out of Henry’s office and gave a meaningful gaze at Rei who was sitting in his cubicle.
Henry sat on his desk still looking at the documents, checking each page, ’Just what are you hiding... I’ll make sure to unmask you in front of Amy... start running Asher,’ he mulled over.
********
Amy worked on her book as soon as Henry went to work. She finally decided on dividing her book into 4 volumes as per her editor’s suggestion. She had submitted the first one and is now in the middle of writing the second volume.
Her writing improved a lot after signing the contract with Henry for she can now describe and write in detail the steamy scenes in her character’s story.
Her mind wandered unconsciously to her own scene with Henry early this morning. Her face turned red remembering how she brazens herself in pleasuring him and he did the same to her and more.
"I think I have become a pervert because of this book. Should I tone it down a little?" she asked herself.
She was in deep thought when she heard someone knock. "Yes?"
"Ms. Bell, would you like to have some snacks? The chef made some creme brulee and I am sure you will like it," Charles induced.
Amy stood up and smiled at him as soon as she opens the door. "I’ll take your offer Charles, can you also add more for Ava and the team, tell them to join me in the library." Charles nodded and went his way.
Amy is bothered by the information she got from Henry about her land in the south, she wanted to know more but she knows she’ll get nowhere as she had tried before, so she will ask for some help.
As soon as she was alone with her team in the library, she started with her purpose. "I have a favor to ask, but you must not tell Rei or Henry though," she stated.
Dave who was in the middle of opening his mouth to gobble up the tasty-looking creme brulee stopped midway and put down the spoon again. "We are not going to lose our job by doing this are we?" he worriedly asked.
The last time Amy asked them to not inform Henry about Ash, Rei caught them, but good thing Ava was able to pacify and reasoned with him. Since they were in a public place at that time and it was an unplanned meeting between Amy and Ash, they were able to get away with it and Rei did not inform Henry anymore.
But oh boy their supervisor Rei was so mad and warned them that he will terminate them all if it happens again.
Amy sighs heavily knowing the plight of her team but she has no choice, they are the only ones she has right now to execute her plan.
She wanted to find out why was she not informed about the barren land being part of collateral with the bank, and there was no other person that can help her but Ash.
But Henry being a possessive boyfriend, she wanted to avoid meeting Ash intentionally to prevent any misunderstanding between her and Henry. She also doesn’t want to put Ash in that position.
"Is it a good secret or a bad secret?" Mitch inquired with a worried face.
"A bad secret," Amy tersely answered.
"Is it about Ash?" Ava asked expeditiously.
"Uhm yes," Amy tried to gauge the reaction and emotion of the three, as she is not sure if they will agree to her request since it is not even part of their work. It is a favor that might compromise their job.
"I’ll do it, you don’t have to involve these two scaredy cats," Ava volunteered as she do not find Ash threatening at all. She actually pitied the guy and kind of admired his persistence and devotion to Amy.
She is good at reading people’s emotions and she can say that whenever she sees him with Amy, she can tell he loves her truly and is deeply hurt. In spite of his circumstances, she can see that Ash is trying to give his brightest smile whenever he looks at her, even if the pain that he is bearing is very obvious in his eyes.
"We are not scared, we are just being cautious. Rei is a little intimidating and much more Henry," Dave retorted.
"Let me tell you my plan first, then you can decide if you will join or not, how about that?" Amy needed all three of them to be able to execute her plan smoothly, without Rei or Henry suspecting anything. Good thing her three bodyguards are easy to convince, so she divulges her plans to them.
After listening to Amy, Ava, Mitch, and Dave all agreed to help her. They thought that her intention was enough for them to agree with her. It is not like she is cheating on Henry with another man anyways, so they don’t see anything wrong with them helping her.
