Chapter 0168
"Because Rose sold her shares to me," Lucas replied with a self satisfied smirkThis content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
I drew back in shock, What? Why would she do that?
I remember vividly when Mark confidently told me that he had more shares and became the de-facto head of the Group because of his mother's five percent if added to his own forty six percent stake. So what does Rose selling her shares to Lucas mean now? No shareholder, especially the greedy ones here in this room, will allow a partially sick man to head them with below average of the total company's shares. Even if Mark hadn't lost his memory, he still would not be able to ensure absolute control amongst the board of directors.
I gazed around the room at the other shareholders as we waited for the host and Mark; some of them were having low conversations between themselves but I could literally see the greed in their eyes. This was the opportunity they've probably all been waiting for; the opportunity to overtake.
I just hoped all these wouldn't be too overwhelming for him as he is still struggling to grasp everything around him.
I turned back to Lucas who had his gaze affixed on my face. The corner of his lips tipped up in a small smile. "You look stunning.
"Huh?" I blurted out. I contemplated telling him about what had happened to me and that I was actually coming from the hospital after being unconscious for a whole night. But it wasn't the appropriate place. Besides, there was a more radical matter at hand.
"I said you look stunning," I slightly felt his breath on my face as he moved closer, his eyes shifting from my lips to my eyes. "I'm resisting the urge to pull you in my arms and ravish you right now." "What are you saying? Did you just say Rose sold her shares to you?"
"Yes," he answered, his brows drawing down in a small frown.
"Why will she sell her shares to you?" I whisper-yelled. I shook my head, trying to make sense of everything, "How did you even get her to sell them to you in the first place? Rose's shares are like her lifeline. She would never let go of it. Most importantly, she hates us owning shares in GT Group the most. His smile widened and looked more mischievous. I drew back. I didn't like that look at all. And I was sure I would like whatever he had to say even less. "Ofcourse, I know all that."
"So?" I frantically threw my hands in the air. "How did it happen?"
"Relax, babe," he drawled and moved closer to me. "So here's the thing," he flattened his palm on the long conference table, "I naturally knew Rise would not easily agree to sell shares so I used some tricks." I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously, "What tricks, Lucas. What did you do?" I did not like where this was going at all.
So I have been planning this for a while, yeah."
"You have?" I gaped at him, utterly surprised.
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He smirked, "Yes. You couldn't tell, right?"
What the hell! My insides were screaming but instead I said calmly, "Go on."
"Okay. Before I returned to the country, I pulled the connections I had in the gambling world and made them introduce Rose to it. As you well know, Rose is a sucker for winning, she hates to lose. So since she was still new in the game, she kept on losing and kept on thinking that she couldn't leave like a loser so she kept playing until she was addicted. Now it wasn't a case of losing it winning anymore, it was now a case of her feeding her addiction. After she used up all of her enormous savings and owed the casino a lot of money. To repay her debt, she had no choice but to fall back on the most valuable asset that she had," his grin widened and I swear, Lucas looked like a maniac. "And that was the GT Group shares."
His lips curled in a self indulgent smile and he proudly told me, "She had to repay her debts so slowly, she started to sell those shares to an anonymous buyer. She sold it to the anonymous buyer because his bid was the highest. Guess who the mysterious buyer is, babe."
My heart was practically thrumming in my chest, "You."
His hand reached under the table and he squeezed my thigh. "That's my girl."
I managed a laugh that Isounded like a strangled cry to my ears.
He continued, "When the shares remained about three percent, she started to hesitate. By the time it became one percent, she refused to sell anymore. I have been trying to get her to sell it but she remained unyielding so on the day of Mark's engagement, I sent someone to take her and tie her to the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. There I threatened and intimidated her for days..."
I suddenly felt extremely guilty and ashamed that I hadn't believed Rose when she said she was thrown in a remote place with no network. So she was telling the truth after all. She was stuck in that remote place because my own boyfriend abducted her. She must have been ridden with dismay that she missed her son's engagement and wedding only to come back and find out that her son had been involved in a ghastly motor accident which caused him to lose his memory.