After breakfast, Caprice and John arrived at the Stockton Corporation headquarters. John personally walked her into the department in charge of the project. He made sure to leave behind a message with the supervisor before leaving. Soon, a personal desk was assigned to Caprice. Seated to her left and right were two senior members of the team, and they were going to be her assistants going forward. They were both in their thirties, one was a man named Logan, and the other a lady named Brianne. They seemed very friendly. It was only right that they would be very cordial with her. They were dealing with the future successor of the corporation after all. Most of the preliminary details of the joint project with Carter Tech City had been worked out. Brianne handed Caprice a stack of documents with the relevant information. Then, she went through everything along with Logan and made sure to highlight certain key phrases as well as some industry lingo that Caprice may be unf
“Alright, see you!” Caprice smiled briskly before hanging up. She then turned to Brianne. “Hey, Brianne, could you give me a rundown of the general procedures of a joint project?” Although the joint project with Carter Tech City was in ways nothing more than a formality, she still wanted to make sure she took it seriously. … It turned out that things were more tedious than she expected, and many kinks needed to be worked out. Even before she got involved, the team had already gotten started on the preliminary stages in preparation for adopting Carter Tech City’s new gadget into the market. When Liam arrived tomorrow, she would have to meet him with Brianne and Logan and have him sign the letter of intent, then they had to perform a site survey. All in all, the preliminary process of the project would take at least a month. The day passed in the blink of an eye. By the time she finished sorting out the work for the day, it was already dark outside. The office
It was a dreamless night. Knowing that Liam would be coming, she woke up the next day before dawn even broke. After she washed, she stayed inside the dressing area for a while and debated on what to wear. She ended up opting for a formal shirt paired with a fitted skirt with a coat thrown on top. She combed her hair neatly behind her ears. With that, she walked out of the dressing area, ready for the day. Brianne and Logan had already supplied the required documents to her. All she needed to do was to hand them over to Liam and brief him about the details. At around ten, the receptionist informed her that Liam had arrived. She rose immediately and went to the VIP room with Logan and Brianne. The VIP room was on the second floor. They took the elevator, and it took five minutes for them to get there. Upon opening the door, the bright, brilliant ceiling lights flashed in their face. They saw a man in a leather jacket seated on the couch. Her eyes shone. Her fir
Liam turned to Caprice with a faint smile. "Miss Stockton, do you have anything you’d like to add?” "No, that’s all for now.” The proposal had been essentially rejected, and he had already laid out what to do next, thus there was nothing left for her to add. She sighed and got up, ready to leave. “One second.” Liam stopped her. She turned to him. "Is there anything else you need, President Carter?” "There is something else I need to speak to you about in private,” he remarked. Caprice did not think much of it and promptly turned to Brianne and Logan. “I’ll talk to you two later.” With a firm nod, the two went outside. Liam gave Mitch a look as well. Mitch escorted the other two assistants out and excused themselves. Now that they were all gone, Caprice turned to face Liam again. She wondered what it was that he needed to tell her. He was already standing by the time she turned to face him. He posed himself right in front of her, so he only needed to
Fortunately, his movements were very gentle. Caprice quickly moved past the shock. She hugged him tightly and craned her head up. She responded to his passionate kisses with her own inexperienced kisses. At one point, he suddenly removed his lips from hers and pressed her head into his chest. Caprice clung to him like she was going to melt into him. She could not pry herself free and asked softly, “What’s wrong?” Why did he suddenly stop kissing her? She was just getting in the mood. Liam took a few deep breaths. He took his time getting the tempo of his breathing back to normal before he answered, “Nothing, I’m fine.” After a pause, he suddenly proposed, "Caprice, let's get engaged." Caprice made a start, then she turned up to look at him. He had removed his palm from the back of her head at one point. The moment she looked up, she stared into the glow in his eyes. On the outside, he may look cool and imposing, but what was on the inside was a complete
Lunch went by peacefully. Caprice then headed to the construction site, where the location was set by her father. Caprice was not too familiar with the collaboration with Carter Tech District and the procedures, so she followed Liam throughout the entire visit and listened to his explanation. Brianne and Logan were responsible for taking notes. Several hours went by in the blink of an eye. After Liam’s subordinates had explained everything and brought them to visit every part of the site, Caprice and Liam left. Liam suddenly stopped and said to Mitch and the two of them, “You guys head back to the hotel first.” His assistant and subordinates nodded and left. Brianne and Logan exchanged a quick gaze and then said to Caprice, “Caprice, we should go back to the office to compile everything as well. See you soon.” Caprice nodded. “Okay. See you.” The two of them left as well. Caprice then looked at Liam. “Liam, are you going back to Westchester today?” Liam glanced
Liam had other matters to attend to at night, so after fooling around with Caprice for a while, he saw her off. Later that day, Caprice returned to the company and met up with Brianne and Logan to redo the proposal. Caprice was not a competitive or proud person in life, but when her proposal, which she did with all her heart, was rejected, she still felt defeated. Therefore, she was determined to come up with a better proposal. Even if it could not win praises, she did not want it to be as bad as the first one. She dedicated herself to the process. From the planning to the details, she was involved in every part of the proposal. The busy days went by in the blink of an eye. A week had passed since then. With Brianne and Logan’s help, Caprice managed to come up with a complete proposal without any template. After double-checking it, she emailed the softcopy to Liam at Westchester. Then, she added a little text of her own beneath the attachment. “Liam, I’ve finished t
Caprice saw him sipping on his cup of water and nothing else. Now that her proposal had been accepted, they could proceed with signing the contract. Since Liam was too busy to go to Glanchester, Caprice said, “Liam, are you free next Monday? I’ll go meet you and we can proceed with the contract signing.” Liam put his cup of water down and said, “Sure.” “Okay! I’ll be going offline now. You better rest earlier.” Liam loosened his collar and said, “Okay.” Just when Caprice wanted to end the call, she accidentally tapped on the little window that showed her side of the call. When the little window enlarged, she saw her loosened collar and her chest showing. Her eyes widened in shock. She bolted up immediately. She covered her collar with one hand and held the phone with the other. She looked at Liam on the screen with a blush-stained face. “Liam, did you…see it?” Liam awkwardly cleared his throat. “See what?” Caprice glared at him. He must have seen her chest! She
She was her usual self in every aspect. She put her heart into her job and never started trouble so long as nobody tried to start trouble with her. The crew cycled through their locations during their shoot. The constant travel made her skin break out slightly, but there were no other concerns otherwise. The shoot progressed very smoothly and within three months, they managed to wrap up everything at the mountainous region previously mentioned. It was nearly evening when they wrapped up the shoot. Holding a bouquet in hand, she took a group picture with the crew and celebrated with everyone. After that, she planned to hitch a ride with another crew member and leave for home. To their demise, some men in uniform who claimed to be the road maintenance technicians showed up to break the bad news to them. They mentioned that they had to repair some of the roads urgently and so the way home was temporarily obstructed. The director took his phone and called the city hotline fo
He remembered his first meeting with Isabel. She was sitting all by herself on the floor, in the middle of nowhere. Her vulnerable expression only made her more endearing. So, he managed to get her to go to his place and installed her in his home. He fell for her and paid careful attention to all her needs. It did not take long before Isabel caught feelings for him as well. The two of them got together in no time. Their days were plain and ordinary, but also very fulfilling, that was until he met Clarice. With the help of his father, his power struggle with Roland had reached a tipping point. It was at that opportune moment when Clarice’s father saw something in Roland and planned to wed his daughter Clarice to him to join up their families, which was a cause for alarm for Decker. He stressed over it for an entire night before approaching Clarice himself the very next day. Clarice quickly caught feelings for him as well. Furthermore, Roland had been foolish enough to reject
Decker was smiling quite earnestly at Isabel. Isabel threw a deeply suspicious look at him, then she glanced at the stack of documents laid out on top of the table in front of her. “Transferal of Shares.” She was dumbfounded. "I've gone through the contract, it’s safe to sign so go ahead.” Roland picked up a pen and handed it to her. "Roland, I..." "Sign it first, I’ll explain when we get home.” Isabel frowned and tried to protest. "I—" "Don't make me have to beg." Isabel did not know how to respond. Fine. She briefly scanned through the contract. The contract stated Decker’s agreement to transfer the remaining forty percent of his shares in Rockwell Corporation to her. Roland must have talked to the shareholders of Rockwell Corporation about this as well. They all regarded Isabel with polite smiles. Isabel had flipped through the final page of the document. She signed her name on one of the marked-out sections. She proceeded to sign all thr
They ended the call shortly after that. Isabel glanced at Martha and was hesitating if she should break the news right away. Martha seemed to have sensed her staring and suddenly turned to her with a flash of concern. "Isabel, what's wrong?" Isabel took a deep breath and broke the news. "Auntie, Master Rockwell just passed away." Martha's eyes widened. After a lengthy silence that lasted more than ten seconds, she started to break out in tears. She covered her face with her hands and expressed amid bouts of tears mixed with laughter, “Wonderful! About time! I hope he enjoys life in the underworld. God knows that someone like him will never deserve a spot in heaven!” Isabel did not know whether she should celebrate with Martha or console her. Soon, Martha began to collect herself. She briefly wiped away her tears and joyfully took Isabel's hand. "Isabel, let’s go shopping! I’m in such a good mood today, I’m going to go on a shopping spree!” "Okay. But Roland w
Isabel held onto Roland's hand firmly during the entire drive home after leaving the hospital. It was because Roland’s hands were cold and rigid. Isabel sat with him and tirelessly rubbed his hand to keep them warm. After one hand was warm, she would shift her attention to the other. By the time she managed to warm the other hand, the original hand would turn cold again. She decided it was easier to take both of his hands and caress them with the warmth of her palms. Roland looked at her with a gentle glow deep within his eyes. “Thank you, Isabel,” he said softly. Thank you for loving him, and for sticking by his side all this time despite circumstances. Isabel smiled. “I’m just warming your hands, it's no big deal. Still, you’re welcome." Roland smiled faintly and left it at that. Soon, his hands began to warm up off of the heat of Isabel’s palms. When Isabel felt that his hands were no longer freezing, she prepared to pull her hand away. That was when
Decker looked nothing like his usual self. The pompous, arrogant man who held himself far above others and who expected everyone around him to kiss up to him because he was superior to them all. It was as if he had been plunged not only to Earth but a pile of swamp. He had completely lost his usual grace. Isabel said crossly, "Decker, have you gone mental? Is everything going on too much for you?” “Yeah, could you help me?” he said with a coy smile, “Just one hug should be enough to take care of it all.” Isabel rolled her eyes. Without warning, he suddenly braced himself and lunged right at Isabel, stepping past Brandon who was caught off guard by this sudden attack. Isabel barely had time to react. Just when it seemed like his hand was about to graze Isabel, a long pair of arms seized Isabel from behind and jerked her backward. It was swiftly followed by a long, muscular leg shooting outward right next to Isabel. Thump! Decker was kicked to the ground.
"How did you and Roland meet?" Decker suddenly asked. Isabel turned away, fully intent on ignoring him. "Did you meet each other at Carter Corporation? Or did you meet him outside of work and gradually fell in love with him, then you decided to set him up with a position at Carter Corporation?” What did he mean by that? Was he insinuating that Roland was relying on her to snake his way into Carter Corporation? She threw a sideways, belittling look at him. "Do you think Roland is anything like you? He wouldn’t latch on another woman to further his goals.” Decker was not upset by this as he continued with a smug smile. "Oh? Then how did he get into Carter Corporation?" “He proved his worth.” Isabel realized that she had been roped in by Decker again. Nevertheless, she continued, “He passed the interviews himself. I was one of the interviewers and initially planned to dismiss him, but he managed to leave a very good impression on my father and the rest was history.” "
"I never meant to kill him! Roland, you have to believe me. Why would I still try to deceive you when I’m in this state?” “In that case, you can go ahead and explain things to him in the afterlife.” Master Rockwell was taken aback by this, his demeanor tightened. "You...you..." Roland looked at him calmly. "Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. It was Grandma and my parents who raised me. They instilled morals and virtue into me and made sure I’d grow into a decent man.” Master Rockwell was briefly relieved to hear this, but before he could rid himself of his trepidation, Roland continued in a dark voice, "But I won’t forget about you and Decker bribing all those media outlets to defame Isabel. I know you manipulated the stock prices to try to kick me out of the corporation. I’ll make sure to settle our score through the legal system.” If convicted guilty, they would have to rot in prison. “Roland… listen to me, Roland. Decker is your uncle. If you want revenge, you can come
Master Rockwell must have heard their shifting movements and opened his eyes. When he recognized the faces of Roland and Isabel, there was a brief glow in his murky eyes. He motioned to the nurse to have her help him sit up from the bed. After he managed to position himself seated up against the head of the bed, he asked the nurse to leave. Then he cast a loving, tender smile on Roland and Isabel. “Roland, Isabel, please have a seat.” Roland said disinterestedly, "We have things to get to, just hurry up and tell us what you have to say." Isabel stayed silent. A look flashed in Master Rockwell's eyes. Then, he turned to Isabel and expressed regretfully, "Isabel, I’m a foolish old man, it was me who told Decker to leak pictures of you two. He had no choice because I forced him to do so. If you have to blame someone, blame me!” Isabel frowned. She was somewhat impressed by how smoothly the old man switched his mask from one to another. From a forlorn and sad state t