Thomas gulped and said weakly, "Alright."
"Okay. If everything is in order, all you have to do is sign on the paper and we've got ourselves a deal," Vania said, passing him a pen.
Thomas' hand trembled badly as he signed his name on the paper. This was the first time he had felt such unbridled agony while signing a contract.
Vania could tell how reluctant and pained he was to go through this. "Whatever pain you're feeling now is the same one I felt when you and your family forced me to leave Hanson." Her voice grew icy as she added, "I think you've learned a hard lesson this time, and it would do you well to remember it."
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. The quote was tailor-made for someone like her, Thomas decided, and he was sure that there was more to her than just a scarily calculative mind.
"Right, you can go and pick up your sister now," she declared nonchalantly, keeping the paperwork and tossing the pen he used into the bin. It was as if she had settled her grudges all at once and wanted to make room for other thoughts.
"Vania," Thomas suddenly called out.
She stopped in her tracks, but she did not turn to look at him as she asked coolly, "What is it?"
Words evaded him at that moment, and all he could do was stare at the silhouette of her back as he said, "Nothing."
Without so much as a backward glance, she picked up her pace and left the cafe as she still had to meet Hanson.
Later that day, Thomas showed up at the police station and picked Yvonne up. As soon as she left her holding cell, he received a message from the secret base informing him that their assets and rights of ownership had all been signed over to Vania.
He sighed in exasperation and muttered to Yvonne, "Come on. Mom's been worrying about you."
Yvonne did not say anything as she fixed her gaze on the tips of her shoes and said, "Okay."
Meanwhile, after getting the contract signed, Vania rushed over to Luke Corporation's new company which had been set up at Studio City. There, she was led by one of the employees to Hanson's office.
Upon getting a call from the receptionist at the front desk, Larry immediately left the conference room and greeted Vania, "Did something happen for you to rush all the way here, Mrs. Luke?" He heard that she had come to a settlement with the Keplers, but he did not know the full details of it.
"Nothing happened," Vania responded nonchalantly, beaming. "I only came to give Hanson a surprise, but you can't tell him."
Ever since the new company was set up, Hanson had been chairing meetings here. He did not like making a loss when it came to business deals, and he would much prefer getting hands-on with company work during the early stages of operation.
Oh, man, she's rubbing her love life in my face, Larry thought begrudgingly and did not press Vania anymore for fear that her answers would only make him feel worse about his bachelorhood. "In that case, make yourself comfortable here. I have to get back to the meeting before President Luke gets suspicious." More importantly, he did not want to become the third wheel.
"I'll wait for him here, so go ahead," she said cheerily, not at all bored by the idea of staying in Hanson's office.
"Call the secretary if you need anything," Larry said after pouring her a cup of coffee, then brisk-walked out the door so he could head back to the meeting.
Presently, Vania clutched the agreement she made for the Keplers' secret base close to her chest and happily sat down in Hanson's chair behind the desk. Whatever deal she had struck with the Keplers, she had done out of love for Hanson. She wanted him to know that she appreciated him as well and that she loved him beyond words.
She initially believed that the meeting would be over soon after she arrived at the company, but that was her naivety at work because the meeting ended up lasting for at least three hours. Just as she was beginning to doze off, she heard the office door open.
"Darling?" she called out groggily in a soft, velvet voice.
Hanson, on the other hand, did not expect to see Vania lazily propping her chin up on his desk with one hand and calling out softly to him the moment he opened the door to his office. He thought his heart would melt, and he immediately walked up to the desk to pull her into his arms. "What are you doing here?" he murmured into her hair. Normally, she would be working on set at this hour.
Vania happily produced the contract and sang, "Ta-da! Guess what I brought?"
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