Chapter 0008
MARK'S POV
A knock came on my door.
"Come in," I called out without tearing my eyes away from the files before me.
I heard the smooth creak of the door, as it was opened My assistant's voice drifted to me, "Luxe Vogue has replied, sir."
"Hmm," I hummed, and nodded. "When will the necklaces be ready?"
"It's not about the necklace, sir, It's about the acquisition offer we sent them."
I looked up and pushed my chair back. "Oh, really. When are we meeting to finalize the handover of the website?" I asked.
It had been a coincidence that Atelier is partnered with the website I've had my eyes on for the past months. Their response hadn't come for months, but I had been relentless. I kept instructing my assistant to keep sending them emails.
After Bella had left, I had searched about Atelier myself and damn! Bella was right. They made stunning jewelry. The quality of their stones was top-notch. It had filled me with pride and reassured me that acquiring the website was a good decision. It would improve GT Group's goodwill if one of the companies in our grasp is partnered with a studio like Atelier.
"There's no fixed time for that, sir." I frowned, a 'why' on the tip of my tongue, but he beat me to it. "The founder had directly turned down our offer, sir."
I sighed. It was more money they wanted. Nothing more. "Increase the acquisition price to a hundred million dollars," I couldn't help the smirk that accompanied my instruction. No one would refuse such an amount, no matter how much they loved the company
I pushed my chair forward to dive back into work, but my assistant was still lingering there. When I arched a brow at him, he spoke up. "They left no room for negotiation, sir. They aren't interested in any acquisition proposals, so they asked us not to contact them again."
"Hmm," I hummed and nodded at his words. "And who could this owner be? Bring me the information of the founder of Luxe Vogue."
"Founders, sir, there are two founders. I'll bring the files now." He turned and left the room.
"Two founders? Interesting."
He was back in a jiffy. He placed his laptop before me, and waves of information rolled down about the founders of Luxe Vogue on the screen. "Initially, there had been a response that our offer would be given a thought. Suddenly, yesterday the email turning down the offer came in."
One of the founders must have been tempted then.
I read about the first image that popped up. Grace.
There was detailed information about Grace. Her parents, jobs she had done, her schooling history, and many more. The other founder, on the other hand, barely had anything to her name.
There was no picture, and there was little to no information about her. The only worthy information there was - 'Co-founder of Luxe Vogue with a blurry picture.
I had to squint at the screen to read the name, and it was still not making sense.
"What's this?" I asked, irritated.
My assistant's head hung low, unable to meet my eyes. "I'm sorry, sir, but I've dug for the info of other founders, but that was all I could come up with. Grace's partner seemed to treasure an extremely private life."
I hissed and turned back to the laptop. I scrolled back to Grace's info to see if I would be able to get anything about her partner.
The more I stared at the picture and read the name, the louder a bell rang in my head. I tapped on Grace's picture. She looked quite familiar...distinctly so.
Suddenly it clicked. Grace was the girl Joel had clung to some years back. They had been dating, would always go on and on about her.
and he
If I could get a way to reach Grace or know more about her personal life, perhaps it would be easier to discover her mysterious partner. If I was going to push the offer to them again, I needed a one-on-one meeting with both of them.
I reclined in my chair. "Take this," I pointed to the laptop, "I'll let you know if I need you again."ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
He took his laptop and walked out.
I picked up my phone, scrolled through my contact lists until I found the name I was looking for. I tapped on it, and the line went through.
He picked up instantly. "Yo, man. What's up? Been a while."
"Nothing much. What are you up to tonight?"
He hummed for a while, "Nothing really. Just work."
"Let's meet up at the usual place tonight. I need to unwind, and I have something to talk to you about."
"Sounds important. What's this talk about, Mark?"
"You'll know when we meet," I said and ended the call.
I got back to work. Went through all of the files I had stacked up for some time now.
It wasn't until late tonight that I and my assistant rounded up.
I first thought of going back home, but the thought of going back to find the house devoid of Sydney's presence had me driving directly to the bar,
Each time I remembered that she still was bent on Each time I remembered that she still was bent on the issue of divorce, I was filled with an unexplainable rage. I had been able to block away any thoughts of it with work, but now it was all I could think about. This was a crucial time for the company; all eyes were on
us, and she wanted to ruin the whole thing with a divorce? Over my dead body.