The people in the conference room were flabbergasted after hearing Lucas. Why in the world would he decline such an offer? Whereas, on the other hand Amanda wasn't surprised in the least, her cold gaze was still fixated at Lucas. In truth, she had already predicted the outcome beforehand. Reading her facial expressions Jennifer understood that Amanda was up to something therefore, she remained quiet for the time being.
Amanda leaned backwards and asked, "May I ask the reason that why Mr. Lucas has declined our offer?". While the onlookers from both sides were dying to know the reason behind his refusal to such an offer.
Lucas crossed his arms over his chest and began explaining. "I understand the custody issue because you want to raise my son. I think I'd have done the same if I were in your shoes but—I don't get the reason why do you want to claim the assets of my late wife when I am taking good care of them." His gaze rested on Amanda, "Care to explain?"
Amanda set her glasses with her hand and answered, "First of all, let me correct you on something Mr. Lucas—young master Leonardo Guryon is not your son and never will be after this meeting."
"Hmph!", Lucas snorted.
Amanda ignored the latter's snorting and continued, "Now—regarding the issue over custody—what do you want me to explain? We are claiming what is rightfully belongs to us."
Staring at Amanda and Jennifer, Lucas raised his eye brows and slightly nodded a few times. "I am sorry? What is it that rightfully belongs to you?" Witnessing his persistence over the current matter Amanda sighed, "Mr. Lucas, the assets you promised to Lady Jasmine Guryon before marriage, now belongs to her only son Leonardo Guryon."
Hearing Amanda, the people of the White family weren't that surprised, because there was no doubt that what they promised to Leonardo's mother then, now rightfully belonged to him by all legal means. Lucas tilted his head and stared at the ceiling for a moment; he rubbed his chin, "Why are you rushing then? The day when he'll reach the rightful age to inherit the assets, I will personally give it to him. So, lets drop this matter of inheritance for now."
The other board members around him nodded in affirmation and supported his decision. One of his people spoke from aside in Lucas's favor. "I agree with the President. What is the reason for rushing things like that? Just let Mr. President take care of it for now. When your grand-son becomes a responsible adult then he can claim them. And trust me that there would be no objection."
Another man said from aside, "Yeah, I'd like Ms. Amanda to shed some light on this matter so that we all could understand the reason."
Amanda noticed the playful smile on Lucas's face. She understood what his real objective was. Hearing all the comments of people around him, she slightly frowned for a moment and glanced at the people who asked the questions.
"I don't know how you people became the board of directors of such a big company. But if you ask me, I think you—all—who are demanding an answer from me should be working as clowns in a circus! Do you know why? Because clowns know how to appease the people who would pay them after the show. And the funny thing is—the guy who hires them can't find any happiness in his life—so the only thing he could do, is to mock people whose hands are tied together by fate."
With that said Lucas and the people beside him became speechless. They glared at Amanda with ill intent but Amanda remained unchanged and looked down at the lot with a smirk.
"How dare you!"
"Who do you think you are?"
After Amanda's reply to board of directors the environment became heated. They became restless and began to vent their anger on Amanda.
"Watch your tongue errand lady! Before pointing your finger at someone else you should take a look of your own shortcomings. We all know where you came from." A man retorted.
"Then I bet you also know what I am capable of!", Amanda sneered.
To her response that man could only grit his teeth.
Amanda slightly raised her left hand; a bulky, tall man dressed in black, holding a briefcase stepped forward, opened the briefcase and handed down Amanda an envelope.
Amanda slid forward the envelope towards Lucas. Lucas opened the envelope and found some documents in it. The header of the documents stated White Shark Industries. When he read the title, he glanced at Amanda with furrowed brows. Lucas took them out and began reading them. The more he read, the more his face indicated the signs of worry. Lucas put them down gently and didn't move his gaze from the papers on the table. The onlookers from the both sides were waiting for Lucas to say something.
Noticing his reaction, a satisfying smiled appeared on Amanda's face. "Our resources informed us that these are the shares of the White Shark Industries and their price was declining quite rapidly for the last three days. And if I am not wrong then I think these are the same shares that you gave to our beloved Lady Jasmine Guryon before marriage. Am I right?"
With that said, even Jennifer was shocked to see such development of the situation. She couldn't understand, how in the world Amanda came up with this plan in such a short span of time and when did she manage to dig such classified information. And on the top of that through what resources and what means.
Lucas and the board of directors beside him were staring at Amanda who had a mocking look on her face. "Now, the way I see it. Before our young master reaches the age of sixteen, there wouldn't be anything left for him to inherit. That is why we came here to claim what you owe us. But if you think that we would just walk away like you and all of your clowns here planned, then it's not going to happen. I would suggest you to reconsider this very carefully. Because this time the stakes are too high Mr. Lucas."
...….
The same day, far away in the black car Simon and Jake were waiting for the signal to turn green. While Simon was tapping his index finger on the steering. Jake noticed Simon's movement and asked, "Sir, what are you so anxious about?"
Simon's head jerked when he heard Jake. He glanced at Jake and said, "Nothing, it's just that—I have business somewhere, so I have to go there after dropping you at the office. Make sure to complete all your tasks I gave you yesterday."
Jake raised one of his brows, "You are going alone? Is it safe? Will you be okay by yourself?" Because, Simon rarely travelled alone since Jake was assigned as his junior. So, it was a bit surprising for him to learn that Simon was going somewhere alone.
Jake looked ahead and noticed that signal had already turned green. "Sir, It's the green." Jake reminded but no response came from Simon's side, instead he didn't accelerate the car either.
Honk! Honk!
Cars behind them began honking their horn. Jake realized that car wasn't accelerating. He looked at Simon and noticed that the latter was lost in thoughts. Taking advantage of the situation he smirked and yelled at Simon, "SIR!"
Simon's whole body jerked; he looked at Jake with bewilderment and cursed loudly, "FUCK! You punk! I'll get you one day for sure!"
To Simon's curse Jake just sneered. But Jake was surprised by Simon's daydreaming at the start of the day. Meanwhile, they arrived at the front gate of the Police station. Jake opened the door and was about to leave the car but then he stopped for a moment and looked at Simon with concern, "Are you sure that you really don't need my help wherever you're going? Cuz' you're spacing out too much at the start of the day."
Simon who was staring at the front suddenly frowned and turned his lips down and said, "No mom." Jake rolled eyes and said while getting out of the car, "Anyways, drive safe detective."
"Sure mom!", Simon replied quickly and then he drove out of the police station. "What a dick!", Jake snorted in response.
Jake entered the office; he reached his desk and sat down on the chair. He leaned forward and put his head on the table. A few seconds later Jake closed his eyes. "Sigh! Man, why do I feel tired all of a sudden." While he was reminiscing about yesterday, he was interrupted.
Thud!
"What the hell! Can't you see that I am—", before Jake could finish what he was saying he saw a pretty lady. She was blond and in her mid-twenties, but she looked younger than her age. For a moment Jake felt like his heart stopped beating. Jake recovered from the shock he received by her sudden arrival and thought for second, 'Why in the world is she here?' He got up and said with a surprise, "Sarah! What a surprise seeing you—at my office, hehe!"
To his response Sarah smiled forcefully and said aggressively, "I am feeling so happy to see you right now that I can't describe it in words!" Anyone could tell that the way she said those words out loud meant that she was really mad at him for some reason. She gained attention of all people in the office.
The people in the office who were busy with their work they looked at the couple with interest. An awkward silence reigned the big hall. Jake noticed that everybody was staring at them instead of working. He got up from his seat and grabbed Sarah's hand, "Sarah! come with me!", and left the office with the lady in a hurry.
"Looks like our young newbie is done for! I think she's going to dump him", a chubby middle-aged man said. "Dude don't judge a book by its cover. Can't you see they are both into each other. It's not like that our little Jake's going to let that happen. No matter what, he will make it up to her!", a skinny man who was sitting across chubby man cheered up for Jake.
"Well, how can you say that for sure that she won't dump him?", the chubby man asked. "Because, to her Jake is a hidden gem", the skinny man replied. The chubby man was confused by his answer and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
The skinny man leaned forward and explained "Because, for what I've seen. Jake is a man of good character and same could be said for that girl. These days women seek an honest man regardless of the cast and language. If they found one, they would never let that man go no matter what the cost. And that is our little Jake is one of them. An honest and a loyal man."
Hearing his answer, the chubby man understood he meaning behind the reply of his colleague and grinned, "That's what youth is all about. Loyalty over your carnal desires."