"Welcome!"
Grandpa Jerome entered the Grand mansion with his eyes alert, examining his surroundings.
He had opposed Nicholas when his grandson said he wanted to buy his own house and live separately from him.
Nicholas had lived with him after his mother passed away and because of the trouble Andy had caused, Nicholas had become very close to him.
Grandpa Jerome was worried that Nicholas would have difficulty living alone.
However, Nicholas insisted that he could take care of himself. Finally, Grandpa Jerome allowed him, on the condition that Madam Olla, Mr. Quentin, and Lyle must accompany him to the newly purchased mansion.
Those three people were the ones Grandpa Jerome trusted the most to accompany Nicholas. His worries lessened when he knew they were with his grandson.
At that time, there was a little problem because Leon had just been confirmed as the CEO of Grand Enterprise and Nicholas as the CEO of The Grand Care Hospital.
"Can't we put an extra bed in that room?" Nathalie asked hesitantly. "The room is very spacious."Nicholas raised an eyebrow. "No need. Grandpa will get suspicious. I'll just sleep on the couch, it's not a problem.""No!" Nathalie denied quickly. "I'll sleep on the couch. I'm a guest in this house and I should--""You must be kidding me," Nicholas interrupted, flicking Nathalie's forehead lightly."Ouch!" Nathalie complained, rubbing her forehead. It didn't hurt, but she was surprised. "Why did you flick my forehead?""Because you're being unreasonable," Nicholas said, rubbing Nathalie's forehead. "How could I let you sleep on the couch? Besides, you're not a guest! You're part of this house!"Nathalie smiled shyly and pinched the tip of Nicholas' nose. "You're so cute. But, we still can't sleep in the same room," she said with a serious expression."Why?" Nicholas asked with a frown. "We're getting married soon, according to th
"Nate, don't talk back to me!" Nicholas said angrily. "Get in bed now!"Nathalie pulled the covers higher up her chest and closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.Nicholas shook his head and sighed. He and Nathalie couldn't agree on sleeping and there was no way they were going to add a mattress to the room.Finally, after dinner, Nicholas went to take a shower and when he finished, Nathalie had already put the covers on the couch and was ready to go to bed."I'll sleep here," Nathalie said. "You'll be in bed.""No," Nicholas said. "That's not right. Get in bed, I'll be here.""No," Nathalie said stubbornly. "The couch is too small for you. You'll be hunched over here. But I'm smaller and this is enough for me."Really, Nicholas didn't understand how a woman as small as Nathalie could be so stubborn.He remembered when he was in college, Nathalie was not at all afraid of the fact that he refused to work in a group with her an
"Try them on!"Nicholas stared at the two shirts that were still intact in the box. Grandpa Jerome had bought them for him."Grandpa, why did you buy me these shirts?" Nicholas asked. "I have a lot of shirts that I've never worn.""Tsk! I've always bought you shirts since you were little," Grandpa Jerome said. He waved his hand. "Come on, try them on. I want to see if the color and size fit you. You're getting bigger now, so I might have gotten the wrong size."Nicholas almost choked on the emotion in his heart. The two shirts in his hands were small things, but they meant a lot to him, because his grandfather had bought them for him."Okay, I'll try them on and show them off to you," Nicholas said, getting up from the sofa to go to the bedroom."Nathalie?" Grandpa Jerome called.Nathalie, who had been silent and just smiled watching the two men in front of her, turned her head in surprise when she heard Grandpa Jerome's call.
Charles was upset. Several clients complained that the design they ordered did not match what they had conveyed to the design team.According to Charles, several of their complaints that came to the customer service team were too contrived and seemed far-fetched."I don't like sharp corners in all the rooms in my playground. There are many children here. But, the design you made uses a lot of iron frames as a base.""Can't you find a color pantone that matches the other rooms that have been completed first. My work space looks too bright.""I don't like the placement of the cupboard and sink too close together. It makes my room feel cramped."He was tired. This was getting worse. The new designers he recruited were useless. They were just loudmouths but none of their work was done properly.There was one designer who was quite good. He had won awards for best interior designer in several competitions several times, but the designs he made ha
"Did you do it on purpose?" Andy asked, without preamble at all, as Nicholas sat down on the sofa in his office."Did you do what on purpose?" Nicholas asked calmly."That defense ministry project," Andy said again, in a louder tone. He was annoyed to see Nicholas so calm."Hm? I don't understand," Nicholas said. "What does that project have to do with something I did on purpose?""You have a friend in the defense ministry who helped you get the project, right?" Andy asked, banging the table in front of him. "Why didn't you contact your friend to help, when Leon was still working on the project?"Nicholas laughed inwardly. He had guessed that Andy's purpose in asking him to meet was to talk about this.Nicholas knew that Leon had been working on this very difficult project for almost four months. He was almost desperate and had recently been considering resigning.As soon as Nicholas took over Leon's position as interim CEO, he immedi
Nathalie chuckled as Nicholas bit her lower lip. She responded by sucking Nicholas' tongue hard until he groaned."I'm optimistic, you two will have a child soon if the atmosphere continues like this."Nathalie and Nicholas separated in surprise, hearing Grandpa Jerome's voice behind them.Like a pair of teenagers who had just started dating, their faces were bright red and they glanced at each other shyly.Nathalie wished the floor beneath her would split and she would be sucked in, while Nicholas felt more awkward because he usually didn't act silly in front of his family.Grandpa Jerome laughed at them. "Why are you embarrassed? You're not teenagers and you're also getting married. Just go ahead, pretend I'm not here."Nicholas grabbed Nathalie's hand and held it tightly. "Don't be nosy, grandpa. Do you expect to see us making love in front of you?"Nathalie elbowed Nicholas' waist while glancing fiercely. She released her hand fro
Gina PoVEver since the night I threw the party, Charles has been ignoring me. He refuses to talk to me and acts like I don't exist.I've apologized and he's bruised my arms because he held me so tight, but after that it just got worse.He moved to the guest room and slept there alone. I once tried to go into the room to coax him, wearing the lingerie I just bought, a very sexy and seductive piece of cloth, but he just looked at me like I was a contagious disease, then pushed me out of the room and locked the door.Damn it!It's been a week and my condition hasn't improved. I'm starting to get annoyed. What is he doing, like a little kid. If he's mad, he should just say so. I don't mind being yelled at for a while, then it's over.Instead of being like this, it just makes me feel awkward. What makes me even more confused about dealing with him is that he doesn't ask at all who the people I invited are, whether they are my friends or anything
"Bastard, what's the point of calling you while drunk like that," Nicholas grumbled as he stabbed his fork hard into the meat.Nathalie took a deep breath, put her spoon and fork on the plate, then stood up from her chair.Nicholas looked at Nathalie in surprise. "Where are you going?"Nathalie approached Nicholas, shifted his chair heavily to face him, then climbed up and sat on Nicholas's thigh."Nate?""Listen, mister jealous," Nathalie said firmly, lifting Nicholas' chin with her index finger. She brought her face closer. "That jerk will always be like that. Who cares? I don't! And you shouldn't think about him until you abuse your food."Nicholas looked into Nathalie's eyes and saw anger in those beautiful eyes."When will your divorce certificate be finished?" Nicholas asked."The day after tomorrow. They'll send it here," Nathalie said. "Can you ignore that person? Don't be jealous. He doesn't deserve to be jealous
"Yes! Are you sure these numbers are valid?" Leon asked happily, waving the paper in his hand."Of course, boss," Randall replied firmly. "Those are the numbers printed by Gino, directly from the project head's computer where he is stationed.""Who is Gino?" Leon asked in surprise."He is one of the workers, the spy we placed on the project that Mr. Nicholas' team is working on," Randall said."Oh, that's great," Leon said happily. "Was he the one who knocked over the support beam yesterday?""Yes, that was his job too," Randall said. "Although there were no fatalities, the team needs to build a new support beam and see how much extra money they have to spend on the replacement support beam.""Remind me to give Gino a big bonus," Leon said. "And what about the other projects?""Don't worry, boss, everything is under our control. I have arranged everything so that in every project there are small sabotages. Although it does not result in casualties, the team must also spend additional
"Let her rest and don't stress her out or make her sad, because that will stop her milk supply and your baby will be malnourished at first," Nelson said. "She fought hard and she made a sacrifice, not just for your baby, but for her womb too."Charles sighed. After the C-section and the successful birth of a healthy baby boy, Gina had continued bleeding and it turned out that it was from her injured womb and had to be removed, because if left untreated it could get worse and endanger her life.Charles called Marla, who was very shocked and immediately came to the hospital. She was told about Gina's condition and with tears in her eyes she agreed to have her daughter's hysterectomy.As Charles was watching Gina being placed on the hospital bed, Kelly came into the room and pulled Charles' hand with a beaming face."Come see your son! He is so handsome and adorable," Kelly said happily. "So healthy and cute!""Mom, I have to wait for Gina until she wakes up," Charles said."Tsk! Just le
"What happened?" Charles asked, confused. "Why are you with Gina?""Are you trying to harm my daughter-in-law?" Kelly snapped, her eyes glaring."Don't talk nonsense, Mrs. Kelly," Nicholas said calmly. "You'll be embarrassed if you know the truth."Nathalie ignored Kelly completely. She pointed to the closed door of the ICU."You better go in and see Gina there. Nelson is treating her and I think Gina is having complications," Nathalie said in a concerned tone. "Nelson asked you to come in and be with Gina when you arrives."Charles' face was pale. He turned to Kelly. "Mom, wait here. I'll go in and be with Gina.""No," Kelly said loudly. "I don't want to be near them. I'm going in. My grandchild might be born soon!"Charles sighed and walked into the ICU.Nathalie took Nicholas' hand. "Let's go," she said. "Charles is here, so we don't have to wait for Gina anymore.""Yes. Let's go home," Nicholas said. "You need to rest too."However, when they were only two steps away, the door to
"What happened?" Nathalie asked with a worried face. "Did Leon really do it?""His men," Nicholas answered calmly. "But, it's nothing. The workers there had anticipated the incident so when the support beam fell, no one was under it and there were no casualties. We just have to rebuild a new support beam to replace the one that fell.""Leon is so evil," Nathalie said angrily. "If only you and the rest of the team hadn't known that he had infiltrated your team with spies to carry out sabotage, maybe the fallen beam would have cost lives."Nicholas cupped Nathalie's hand on the table. "Don't worry, baby, I'll handle all of this well. Everything will be fine, trust me."Nathalie nodded and squeezed Nicholas' hand. "You have to always be careful, honey."They ate dinner while talking about their respective busy days. Nicholas made sure Nathalie ate well. She even got extra ice cream for dessert.After dinner, Nicholas invited Nathalie to go to the mall. He wanted to buy new dresses for Na
"Brad Murphy."Jerome stared at the man in front of him with a questioning gaze, which he made no attempt to hide.The man who claimed to be Brad Murphy was probably not much older than him, but he looked much older, though he was bigger."And you said you were Lilian's father?" Jerome asked calmly.After Imelda called him, telling him about the mysterious man who insisted on talking to her, two days later Trevor said that he had met the mysterious man and that he should meet Jerome because he claimed to be Lilian's biological father."Yes. I am Lilian's biological father," Brad said firmly. "You may not believe me, because I know that Lilian has been claiming to be an orphan all this time.""Yes, I think that's what she's been saying all this time," Jerome said. "If you are her biological father, where have you been all this time? You didn't even show up when she married my son and that was dozens of years ago.""I... was in prison," Brad said, his voice heavy, but his chin held high
"How are they doing?" Jerome asked, sitting on the sofa and placing his cane under his feet."I think, so far everything is fine, sir," said Trevor, his personal assistant, who had worked for him for the past 16 years and had become more like his friend than his employee. "However, as you said before, the project that Nicholas worked on, did not produce results as big as Leon's.""That's if we only look at the results for a period of three months, right?" said Jerome. "But, what will be produced after that, will also be a consideration for the shareholders. I'm sure, they are smarter in making judgments, when it comes to money."Trevor laughed and agreed with Jerome's words. "So, you don't intend to go home yet?"Jerome shook his head. "No. Not yet. I don't want my presence there to make the situation awkward and full of suspicion. Most people, including my son's family, must suspect that I am siding with Nicholas and being unfair to Leon.""Yes, you are right," nodded Trevor. "And o
Leon was restless. He had gathered all the best staff in the company and made sure they would all be included in his team, but why did he still feel uneasy?He got a leak of information about the team formed by Nicholas. George was the team leader and under him were names that were not too familiar to his ears. Most of them were field workers and operational staff."Why did he pull so many field people into his team?" Leon asked, after seeing the list of names of the people who joined the team formed by Nicholas."I think he ran out of expert resources, sir," said Randall, Leon's personal assistant. "We've swept them all into our team.""And what about the project, has it started yet?" Leon asked again."About that," Randall was a little nervous. He had a feeling that Leon would not like the information. "It seems they have already gotten some projects underway in several government agencies that are their targets."Leon banged the table. "Fuck! How could we be behind them! You have t
"How many agencies have received and approved our proposal?" Nicholas asked George, who was checking his laptop.George smiled broadly. "Out of the 82 proposals we distributed, 56 have passed and 148 blueprints are ready to be launched."Nicholas clapped his hands in satisfaction. He was confident that his project would succeed. Even if he failed to achieve a minimum profit of 30% in three months for the company, he was not worried.After all, that was not the only parameter that would determine whether he would succeed in becoming Grand's heir or not. There was still the calculation of the size of the shares and also the opinions of other shareholders.Nicholas knew that during the three months he replaced Leon as CEO, many members of the board of shareholders were satisfied with his performance and they will definitely choose him as heir if their voice count.This time, Leon would not be able to cheat again like he did before, engineering the situation as if Nicholas was trying to l
"Damn it!" Gina yelled into the empty living room.She had just come home from dinner with Bryan. Charles was out of town surveying a project and as soon as he left, she called Bryan.The restaurant Bryan had chosen was a fancy one a little out of town. It served delicious food and a nice atmosphere.Gina was ecstatic. She hadn't had a fancy dinner out in a long time. Charles had been busy lately and would come home tired, so he usually went straight to bed after taking a shower.Bryan pounced on Gina in the car as soon as she got in. They spent over 30 minutes having s*x in the car before Bryan finally let her go.As usual, after satisfying Bryan's ever-increasing desires, Gina would be pampered to the hilt by Bryan and he would give her anything she asked for."I'm hungry," Gina said coyly. "Take me to dinner somewhere nice."However, who would have thought that in that restaurant, Gina would meet Nicholas Grand. And Gina was sure, the man must have come with Nathalie.Nicholas smil