Harriet and Nathalie faced each other.
Harriet lowered her hand from Nicholas' chest and moved her chair away from Nicholas, but did not move.
Nathalie sat back in her chair, acting calm and reaching for Nicholas' hand on the table, holding it tightly as if to show ownership.
Harriet's eyebrows rose slightly at that and she felt her heart upset.
"Honey, aren't you going to introduce me to YOUR FRIEND?" Nathalie said with a sweet smile to Nicholas, emphasizing the word your friend as she glanced at Harriet.
Nicholas knew Nathalie's upset mood because of seeing Harriet. It must have been the same as when he received the call from Charles.
To Nicholas now, this felt funny. He smiled and leaned toward Nathalie.
"This is Harriet Abby, babe," Nicholas said. "The woman my father arranged for me. I told you about it."
"Ah," Nathalie said, looking at Harriet. "Harriet Abby. Hi, nice to meet you."
Harriet didn't know how to
Charles was really panicking.He had been feeling frustrated lately, because so many problems had occurred in his company.There was no staff he could rely on and reports of clients complaining were getting more frequent.Why did everything become this chaotic?At first Charles was very confident that his company would be fine without Nathalie. He never thought that Nathalie's ability was that good, until the clients became so fanatical about using Nathalie's designs."Boss, I think it's a good idea to ask Ms. Darren to come back to work for us," Darwin said carefully. "It's okay even if she becomes a freelancer.""She will definitely refuse," Charles said. "She already has her own company and I can't even sue her for stealing our clients because everyone said that they were the ones who looked for her."Honestly, with all the problems in the company, he began to feel a great loss. Not only losing Nathalie as a work partner, but also as a discussion partner on the same level.Charles
Nathalie PoV"Nicholas," I called, before he entered the bathroom. "Are you serious?""Hm? About what?" Nicholas asked, turning around again, not opening the bathroom door."About the dowry," I said with embarrassment.Nicholas smiled and nodded. "Of course. I never play around when it comes to people I consider important."I think I blushed, hearing him emphasize the word important."But that's too much," I said. "Our marriage contract is only one year and you give me a Porsche as a dowry?""No," Nicholas replied. "It's worth it. For you, it's worth it."I stared at him, not sure how to deny or answer him anymore.It seemed like Nicholas saw my confusion. He walked closer to me again and lifted my body, surprising me.In order not to fall, I was forced to wrap both of my legs around his waist. He smirked and held my body by hugging my butt.If I look in the mirror right now, I must look like a koala hugging a large eucalyptus tree.He leaned over and landed his lips on mine. I was su
"I forgot about this," Charles muttered as he stared at the white envelope in his hand.Suddenly something felt like it was pressing on his chest, making him feel short of breath.Cynthia stared at her boss with annoyance that she didn't try to hide at all.Ever since she found out that Charles was having an affair with a woman who was completely unmatched by Nathalie, then they even got divorced, she lost all respect for Charles.She had even written her resignation letter and would submit it at any time, if the company's condition remained the same as it was now.She wanted to apply for a job at Nathalie's company. In fact, she actually wanted to be Nathalie's personal assistant."I'm sure Ms. Nathalie's reaction when she received the letter was very different from your reaction now," Cynthia said.Charles stared at his secretary with a frown. "What do you mean, Cynthia?""Yesterday, I saw Ms. Nathalie, getting out of a shiny Porsche, getting off at Beautiful Bride," Cynthia said, i
Gina PoVMy mom said, I should try to persuade Charles again to make up and if he still acts annoying, then I should pretend to leave and leave him."But, what if he doesn't care?" I asked worriedly. "I don't know what happened, but I'm worried he'll go back to his ex-wife.""That's impossible. Do you think his ex-wife is stupid? When I attacked her and her father in the hospital, there was a very handsome and dashing man who defended her," my mom said with a sour face."I'm very sure, that man is also very rich, much richer than Charles. I heard, he is the owner of the hospital.""That man, Charles' ex-wife's boyfriend?" I asked a little jealously. Why is that woman so lucky? She and Charles divorced, she ended up with a man who is more handsome and rich than Charles."I guess so. He is very protective and he was even the one who sent me to prison," my mom said. "That woman is smart and Charles is just a stupid narcissistic man.""Mom, he's going to be my husband," I said, protesting
"No, George, it doesn't have to be that many," Nicholas said. "Just limit it to the people who are important."George sighed. "The thing is, sir, for the sake of you and the business, we also have to invite business partners, clients, suppliers, investors," George read his notes. "Not to mention grandfather Jerome's guess, Mr. Andy and Mrs. Lilian's side, and Ms. Nathalie's side, that also needs to be counted, right?""Gosh," Nicholas massaged his forehead. "Can't Nathalie and I just get married together? Just count five or six people, with Nathalie's grandfather and father, you, and a priest to bless it.""Oh, you'll invite me too if the wedding is that small?" George asked happily."Of course," Nicholas snorted. "Otherwise, who's going to prepare everything there?"George sighed again, this time longer than before. "Five or six people, that's not possible, sir. Let's just go back to the original plan.""Uh, this is so troublesome," Nicholas mumbled. "I think you should also discuss
"So it's true, that Nathalie is going to marry Nicholas Grand?" Kelly asked angrily, pacing back and forth in the living room of her house.Charles sighed. Kelly called him in a panicked tone, when he had just finished feeding Gina her lunch.Finally Gina was allowed to go home, with many conditions and advice from Nelson.Marla also finally gave in and allowed Gina to be brought back to Charles' house, with the threat that she would take Gina back if Charles hurt her again, physically or mentally.Charles decided to work from home while Gina still needed treatment, in addition to hiring a professional nurse to monitor her and her baby's health.Charles was very sorry because according to Nelson, the stress experienced by Gina made her baby's condition rather weak and to restore her condition, the mother had to be happy, stress-free and rest fully in bed.Charles also felt guilty because he was the one who made Gina and her baby go through all that, even though he really wanted the ba
"Why did you just come now?" Andy asked, annoyed."I'm busy," Nicholas said lightly. "I also have work at the hospital, in case you forgot.""Tsk!" Andy said in a mocking tone. "You shouldn't act so casually, while holding this position. If your performance is bad, Leon will suffer the consequences. He will be the one to take back his position and there's no way he'll be asked to clean up all the problems you left behind!"Nicholas had prepared himself for this, but still, everything could not get used to it, because every time he always felt his anger overflowing and he had to hold it back very hard."If you consider the defense ministry project a problem, then I'd better cancel it and let Leon pay the penalty. How about that?" Nicholas asked calmly.Andy was surprised by Nicholas' words and deep down he also felt wrong for being unnecessarily harsh on Nicholas"Don't be too proud of that one project," Andy snapped coldly. "There are still many other abandoned projects that need to b
Nicholas, that's crazy," Lilian said in annoyance. "What kind of wedding are you going to have, spending four billion?""Why? Did I ask you for money?" Nicholas asked calmly. "This is my wedding, with the woman I love, using my own money. Where's the problem?"Lilian's face turned red hearing Nicholas' words. She felt like she had been slapped. The problem was, how could Nicholas have that much money. If he could spend that much money to get married, that meant he had a much larger fortune, right?Harriet clenched her fists tightly until her knuckles turned white. How could Nicholas prepare a wedding for a woman like Nathalie with such an expensive cost?"You need to know, Mr. Abby, Mrs. Abby, and Harriet," Nicholas continued with a smile still on his lips. "Four billion is not the total cost. There are still some things that have not been paid by my assistant, and I don't think the total amount can be calculated yet. Isn't that right, George?"George smiled and nodded. "Yes, that's r
"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
"No, no, baby, you're eating too little," Nicholas protested, looking at what was on Nathalie's plate. "Come on, eat whatever you want, not just for yourself, my love, but for our child too."Nathalie pouted, though she was happy. "I can't eat much, honey, my stomach is so full."Nicholas sighed and leaned toward Nathalie to whisper, "Next time you're not allowed to swallow it, if you do it before eating. It contains a lot of protein, that's why you feel full!""Huh?" Nathalie's eyebrows rose. "What am I not allowed to swallow?"Nicholas took Nathalie's hand and brought it under the table, placing it on the bulge in the middle of his body.Instantly Nathalie's face turned bright red and pulled her hand away, then pinched Nicholas' thigh lightly.Nicholas laughed at Nathalie's awkward behavior. "Come on, eat this too. Just a little at a time."Nathalie obeyed and ate the lasagna on her plate bit by bit."Baby, if you feel tired, how about taking a leave until you give birth? I think so
"I promise to bring the company not only 30% profit, but I dare to promise more than 40%," Leon said confidently. "I just got a big project from a warehouse procurement company for electronics that just got off the ship, and they said they will build a warehouse area in every port in America and Canada."Everyone applauded hearing Leon's words. Leon nodded proudly. He threw a sarcastic look at Nicholas, which Nicholas only responded with a thumbs up."Alright, we have heard everything that the candidate has explained," Jerome Grand said. "The next meeting will be held in three months and for the leaders of other branch companies, use these three months to do more useful things for the companies you lead. I will not give any tolerance in any form to branch companies that can only be parasites of profit to other branch companies and to The Grand Enterprise."Nicholas went to Big Construction after the meeting was over. His duties as the interim CEO at The Grand Enterprise were over and