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.
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?
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