Chapter 88 - Eliott Vs Alan

The tension in the meeting room was so great that everyone present except Alan and Eliott felt as if they were suffocating. Clyde felt quite guilty, because by selling his shares to Eliott, he helped him become the major shareholder in his father's company!

Only Aria sat there with other things on her mind. Instead of thinking about her father and her family's business, she was only concerned with Eliott. She undressed him in her mind and fantasised about the two of them being together, regretting all the fuss she had made before, while Eliott had never once paid her any attention from the beginning.

Eliott didn't care about the other people in the room, they were insignificant to him anyway but focused on Alan.

"To tell you the truth, I don't really care about your company, so I'll cut you some slack!" Eliott looked at Alan with a slight smile as he crossed his leg and looked the old man straight in the eye. "I know how important this company is to you, so I have decided to be gentle. I can give you back all the shares I bought without you having to give me back a dime! What do you say?" Eliott looked into Alan's surprised, doubting face. He could guess what was going on in Alan's mind as he tried to figure out what he was up to, and it really made him happy to play with the old man in a way that felt really satisfying!

"I cannot believe you would give me these shares back for nothing! I am not a kid!" Alan looked at Eliott with uncertainty. His offer was tempting, of course, but he knew how shifty the Jensen could be! Besides, there was no reason for him to help him after what he had done! So he couldn't really figure out what Eliott wanted!

"I didn't say I'd give it to you for free, I said without you giving me a dime! If you are interested, all you have to do is give me back Alex's mother's house! If I am not mistaken, the house where you and your family live comfortably is not yours at all, Mr. Porter! Miss Michel is no longer with us, this house should belong to Alex! Secondly, I want you all out of my wife's life! There is no Alex for you for now! Third, I want you to publicly apologise to me, Ethan and Alex for all the crap you have said about us and of course answer all questions about the KANI thing truthfully! Simple!"

"Are you crazy? If I tell people that I really robbed KANI years ago, what integrity will I have left? How am I going to be able to recover PRICELESS?" Alan was speechless, he could give the house back or apologise, but no way would he admit and explain about KANI!

That would be like shooting himself in the foot, and there was no way he was going to be that stupid! But then again, he could not let Eliott destroy his company just like that! Even if it was the end of PRICELESS, he would rather it end in his hands than watch Eliott destroy it piece by piece!

"Integrity? Don't make me laugh! What becomes of you and your business has nothing to do with me! I am offering you a simple deal! It's up to you whether you say yes or no! It's simple!" Eliott smiled softly but his eyes piercing, looking like a viper devouring its prey.

Alan was indeed in a deep dilemma. Eliott presented him with a choice, but neither of the two options suggested to him was to his liking. If he were thinking logically, the best thing to do would be to close the business and file for bankruptcy, as Eliott had suggested, but for Alan, losing his business that way was simply out of the question! He had worked too hard for it to just let it go! At that moment, he could not help but be even more upset with Alex and regret his late actions. If he had not been so greedy and contacted Alex, none of this would have happened! Now she was the one who made the best of his predicament and got back all the things he had stolen from her mother and grandfather back then.

Eliott was enjoying the moment, it was a pleasure to play this manipulation game with a man like Alan Porter. It was really amusing for him to watch him get stuck in a dilemma when his problems could have been solved efficiently. Filing for bankruptcy was the only good option left PRICELESS. This would help the company get rid of all its debts after it sold its assets to pay its debts. Debts that are not paid in full to creditors would have been forgiven, which means that all collection efforts from all creditors should stop immediately.

If Alan had done what Eliott suggested, he could have quietly gotten rid of all the debt he now had. But Eliott knew that the old man was a greedy man.

He knew for a fact that Alan was an overly self-centred man, which is the first identifying sign of greedy people.

Believing himself to be the centre of his world, he had little regard for the needs and feelings of others. In addition, he lacked empathy. Caring about the feelings of others was never part of his repertoire. Therefore, he had no qualms about inflicting pain on others. That's why he had no problems about using Alex's mother to further his career or using Alex to get the money he wanted from the Jensen family.

His inability to empathise with others, his lack of genuine interest in the ideas and feelings of others, and his unwillingness to take personal responsibility for his behaviour and actions made it difficult for people to be with him, which is why he had a hard time accepting Eliott's deal to admit to the public that he had stolen KANI.

His strong desire for more and more possessions, like wealth and power, had put him in the situation he was in. Starting with taking over Alex's grandfather's company and Alex's mother's house, Alan's only desire was to get richer and richer, but when he actually had enough money, he was still not satisfied. 

And exactly the same thing happened in the office where the meeting took place. Alan was still not satisfied with Eliott's first suggestion to save himself by declaring bankruptcy, because: Instead of thinking that everyone could benefit from this solution, he wanted the biggest part, because he really believes that he deserves more, even if it is at the expense of others.

Alan had always been a greedy man, concerned only with satisfying his immediate needs and leaving others to deal with the consequences. So it was that he wrote this post that got him into this situation, and Eliott knew that very well, because he already knew that in the state Alan had left the Jensen house that day, the old greedy man would do something crazy just to satisfy his anger and humiliate Alex.

As the head of a company, Alan's greed could also be seen in the way PRICELESS was run, as he was more interested in collecting bonus money than making investments for future innovations or sharing the benefits created with employees. For this reason, besides the directors, the ordinary employees of PRICELESS had a very poor opinion of their company.

In addition, Alan didn't have many friends or all the people close to him were greedy as well, even his children were like that. In fact, Alan knew no limits in the pursuit of his material needs. To achieve his goals, he constantly compromised moral and ethical values, looking for loopholes or clever ways to get around the rules and regulations that were put in place to curb this kind of behaviour. That's why he couldn't get any help when facing a situation like that because people in the economic circle didn't want to have anything to do with him...

But this time, his greed had gotten the better of him and was now his weakness, which Eliott gleefully exploited to manipulate him! Truth be told, he only had to buy those stocks to push Alan to his limits. He had lost some money, but to him, it was all worth it because he wanted to make his wife happy.

Eliott's plan was working. No matter what Alan decided now, he would lose the thing he cared about most: his company.

Eliott had also made provisions for the employees of PRICELESS. Since it was a company that specialised in managing artists, Eliott had offered most of the employees other jobs at RoyalStar's subsidiary, which specialised in managing trainees in acting, music... As for the artists, most of them had already left PRICELESS. Only the top management remained without an offer because Eliott felt that their way of working was not ethical just like their boss.

That day Eliott left the meeting room without Alan's answer, but deep down he knew what the old man would choose.. He knew Alan would rather watch his company be destroyed in his own hands than in Eliott's.