Chapter 6

At night, Summer had just taken a shower. With her hair still damp, she drew apart the curtains and slid the doors open to admire the view of Charter Estate.

She recalled the emergency shareholder meeting she had attended just now as she held three percent of the Charter Corporation shares. Throughout the meeting, she clenched her pen tightly as she struggled to contain her emotions.

Nearly half of the shares had been forcefully sold off. After the meeting had concluded, the finance report that was produced only served to support Fred's theories.

Charter Corporation had been set up. Summer wondered if the horrors were only just beginning to start …

When Summer came home, the thought of facing her mother made her nervous. Her mother, Amelia Lovelace, would've undoubtedly heard the news from Fred already.

Amelia did not share Fred's optimism and resilience. She was unsurprisingly devastated by the news. However, she had managed to pull herself together enough to heed Fred's advice from that morning to calculate their total savings.

After that, she had pawned off any assets that their family owned, including two cars, Charter Estate, and the house they had bought in the city center for Summer.

In fact, Amelia was also selling off the restaurant she ran.

"Is it not enough to just sell all the businesses under Charter Corporation? Do we have to sell our personal assets?" Summer had asked Fred.

"When dealing with a crisis, the most important thing is to keep a rational mind. Even though the company is hiding the fact that we've stopped the real estate development project, how long can we continue hiding it?" Fred explained.

"The truth will come out eventually. You learned about bank loans in business school, right? You know that banks can use any excuse to halt the loans. And if things get serious, they can also demand that we repay our debt with interest within a few months as well," Fred continued.

Summer, who had studied finance, knew this better than anyone. She had been raised to take over Charter Corporation in the future, so she was no stranger to the concept of bank loans and finances.

Right now, Charter Corporation was in a tough position, and it was not just because of the bank loans. The companies partnered with Charter Corporation could take advantage of this situation by demanding that Charter Corporation invest more money and resources into ongoing development projects. That would make things even worse for the company.

The situation was grimmer than Summer could have ever imagined. Her face fell as she stared out at the city and considered the family's next course of action.

At the same time, in a suite at the Imperial Hotel in the city center, James strummed his fingers on the table as he read the news articles on his computer. Then, he lit up a cigarette.

His assistant, Seth Evergreen, came in with a cup of coffee. When he saw James, he knew that something was bothering James.

Seth had worked with James for a couple of years now and knew that he only smoked when he was deep in thought.

"Investigate how exactly Charter Corporation suddenly fell into ruin," James calmly instructed Seth, but his gaze was dark.

Charter Corporations falling to ruin was not a small matter at all. What could an innocent woman like Summer do? As James recalled her sweet and gentle smile, he could not help but feel his heart ache for her.

That night, Summer habitually picked up her phone to check the time before she went to sleep, but the image on the screen made her feel a tinge of pain.

It was an old picture of her and Hank. He had an arm around her waist, and his face had been pushed in close to hers.

His smile in the picture was one of pure happiness, and yet, it was like a slap to the face for Summer.

She recalled what happened earlier today when she had confronted him.

"Hank, I'll set aside the fact that we've been together for so many years. I just have one question for you. Were you the one who tampered with the project bid for G Project?" Summer had questioned with blazing eyes.

"Don't throw false accusations at me, Summie. I really admire how vivid your imagination can be. Do you actually think that I can cause the downfall of Charter Corporation all by myself?

"Charter Corporation is not a small company. This situation is clearly the result of years of meticulous planning. Do you truly think Charter Corporation wouldn't be in this situation right now if I hadn't leaked the project bid?" Hank mocked.