The Billionaire Who Saved Me

Elice did not answer right away. Instead, she quenched her thirst.

“My mom informed me that they’re moving today,” Elice replied and closed the bottle. She turned around with a surprised look on her face. “It happened so fast. I really didn’t think it would be that fast.””

Garrett chuckled once. “It wasn’t me. It was Nana. And it’s reasonable that it’s all done in a few days. Nana doesn’t like her wishes to go unfulfilled. Mr. Carolus knows that for sure.”

Listening to this, Elice could only nod once. Unwillingly, her mind wandered to the fact that Daphne had been visiting her often lately. It was clear evidence of Daphne’s displeasure when her wishes were not granted.

“Oh yes. Since your family is moving today, it might be a good idea for you to tell them that you no longer live in your old apartment.”

Elice blinked when Garrett looked at her again.

“I guess you haven’t told them yet, have you?”

The guess was correct. Of course.

“How am I supposed to remember when all this is so distracting?” Elice asked. “Honestly, I still think finding the way home is a good thing.”

Garrett laughed. He did not blame Elice for the busyness that had engulfed them lately. Surely there were some things that took priority over this.

“At least you have the chance to say it later. I just don’t want your mother to suddenly find out and think of something we don’t want.”

Armed with Ariel’s latest incident, Elice clearly had to agree with Garrett. Better that Wilda knew about the embarrassing thing Ariel had done to her, right? It would undoubtedly affect and sadden Wilda deeply.

And speaking of the actual facts behind Elice’s recent move, she couldn’t help but remember Ariel. About the assignment she had received from the office that morning.

“Garrett.”

At that very moment, the traffic light turned red, signaling all drivers to stop their vehicles for a moment. Garrett turned to find Elice looking at him with a hesitant look.

Something was wrong. As if that was what Garrett’s radar was picking up.

“What’s wrong?”

Elice didn’t hesitate at all. She did not want to take any risks. For herself, for Garrett, or for both of them.

“Today I got an assignment from the office. To interview a source on Friday night.”

“An interview?” Garrett repeated, immediately greeted by Elice’s nod. And she quickly continued with a questioning sentence. “Who?”

“Ariel.”

*

“So, what are you going to do? Mr. Garrett’s position is really strong. Aside from being the sole legitimate heir, his performance over the past three months has won the people’s sympathy, sir.”

Ariel took a deep breath. Both hands rested on his elbows on the table, his ten fingers intertwined. His forehead pressed against his fingers and his eyes closed. Then a growl came from him.

“I did not call you all the way here to praise Garrett, Ruben!”

The man named Ruben was startled. He swallowed hard when he realized how his words seemed to compliment Garrett, the current rival of his boss. Both materially and emotionally.

Having worked with Ariel for several years, Ruben was the right-hand man, Ariel’s personal assistant, who knew the history of the ongoing feud between the two families by heart. And now an additional complication had arisen. The introduction of a woman into the mix, further escalating the conflict.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

Ariel lifted his face. He took a deep breath, then looked at Ruben. His eyes narrowed.

“Okay, so, do you have any ideas? Anything we can do to get rid of Garrett?”Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Ruben remained silent. At first, he thought that Ariel had only called him to Ashford City to take care of Lostic, which was experiencing a decline in sales. But he was wrong. It was not about work; instead, Ariel needed him to win the ongoing rivalry.

“Sorry, sir,” Ruben said later. “There doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about it right now. Anyway, Mr. Garrett has met all the requirements to inherit everything from his father’s will. If we had acted sooner, we might have been able to do something. But now it’s too late. Besides the fact that Mr. Garrett already has Pacific with the public trust firmly on his side, he’s also ready to get married.”

When he said the last word, Ruben took care to keep his voice low. He did not want to take any chances.

“You’re right.”

Ruben felt relieved because Ariel did not object to his choice of words.

“And that reminds me of something.”

Ariel leaned back in his chair. He seemed to be rubbing his hands together, with wild eyes looking somewhere unknown.

“Do you remember what we did when Lameela refused our takeover?”

Without answering directly, Ruben’s face seemed to change. The question drew his attention back to a few years ago, when Lostic was still spreading its wings and venturing into household consumer products. And back then, Lameela had been one of their targets.

Ariel looked at Ruben. Not getting an answer to his question, he continued.

“We paid these people to supply us with sugar and flour. We monopolized the market. We made them suffer from lack of supplies. We made them suffer in other ways, and they couldn’t do anything about it.”

Clearly, this was a common tactic in the business world. Many companies fell victim to such cunning tactics. But as long as money held power, it seemed an acceptable course of action.

“It took some time, but at least it bore fruit. And it made me realize something.”

Ruben knew. Surely Ariel was not going to monopolize Garrett here. He did not have the power for that. But there was a common thread. That Ariel would do whatever it took.

“If it’s impossible to get Garrett out of Pacific, then let’s do something else. Let’s make him suffer,” Ariel said, looking at Ruben. He was so serious. “Let’s remove him from this world.”

*