Chapter 132: Powerful and influential

"We need a reliable sponsor," Max answered taking a glance at all the curious people around him. For any news agency to be opened, it had to go through a lot of procedures one of them is getting a good sponsorship. This was necessary for the workers to get adequate funds to do their work as well as to maintain the authority and decorum in the organization.

Usually, the people who owned the news agencies were powerful men who could suppress or publish any news as they desired. This was the case in most of the press organizations. Even if they were not the owners, some of the powerful people like businessmen, government officials and celebrities had shares in them and thus indirectly controlling them. Most of the time, the person who owned the agency could do nothing but follow the shareholders' decisions even if it meant going against their own principles.

Max and his team needed someone who was powerful and influential and who would not be manipulated by others' thoughts. But the problem was neither Ivy nor anybody in her team knew neither a person who fit these criteria nor anybody who was right now interested in venturing in this area right now. So, this was a huge problem for them.

"Does anybody have any ideas what could be done right now? Who might be capable of sponsoring us, our team?" Kira questioned, her eyes darting between Ivy and Max. Amongst the five people, Max was the most experienced one, he had made connections with many people. So, the other four looked up to him to see if he had any suggestions.

"There are many people who might give us a helping hand. But, I don't want them as our boss. They are nothing but greedy and selfish criminals. Eventually, they will do the same as what News4U did to us. So, I am in a dilemma too. I have money, the problem is not in financing. We need someone who will be a backbone to us, who will not budge even after getting threatened by other high-powered people." Max answered sighing in defeat.

The four people who were staring at Max expectantly groaned inwardly in frustration. Max's words deflated their spirits, he was right though. It was impossible to find someone who would be genuinely supportive of them in their work. 

"I do have one person in mind who might be interested, but I am not sure if he will agree," Max said slowly, still thinking if his friend would help him or not. His words gained his audience's attention once again. 

"Who?" Ivy leaned towards him, listening to him intently.

"Joshua Martin. I think you know him, Ivy." Max lifted his head, fixing his eye on Ivy to get a nod in return. "I am not sure if he will be interested in this deal, but there is nothing wrong in trying. He is the only one I can think of who is powerful as well as strong. Nobody can threaten him or his status."

"You are right. He is quite formidable." Ivy replied absent-mindedly. She remembered the time he had fought with the goons in the bar to save themselves. He sure had money and skills, and he knew how to fight too. 

"I'll give it a try. Who knows luck might be in our favor?" Max added, his eyes brimming in hope. Without wasting any time, he dialed Joshua's number. It rang a few times before it was hung up. However, within a few seconds, his phone dinged. 'In a meeting right now, call you later. Jo.'

"He will call us later," Max mumbled, showing the message he received to others. Ivy pulled back, resting her head on the sofa headrest. She was a little tired from all the work she had done yesterday. Unlike Aria who had gone to sleep right after the two men had departed, Ivy had stayed up to do a little more research on her father's previous projects. 

When she could no longer fight the sleep, she had gone to bed. By then it was past 3 a.m. Now the sleep she had missed was attacking her by making her head throb and drowsy. They had a lot of time at hand and nobody knew when Joshua would call back. So, she could as well take a nap. She closed her eyes only to open them the next second when Kira patted her hand.

"Are you alright?"

"Just a little sleepy," Ivy replied, stifling a yawn.

"You could sleep in the guest room if you want." Max pointed towards the room which was right in front of them, across the hall. Ivy thanked him and went to get some much-needed sleep. Her body was worn out and her mind hazy. Though she had visited Max's house a lot of times, she had had never wandered anywhere else other than the kitchen and the living room. So, this was the first time, she was entering the guest room.

It was cold, maybe due to not being used by anybody else as Max lived alone. She took a look at the room, it was all in white. Nevertheless, it looked comfortable. Without giving much thought, she jumped on the bed, her head resting on the pillow. Within a few seconds, she was out. She was pulled into a sleep so deep that she did not hear Max's phone ring nor Kira's voice when she had come to call her.

Time passed and Ivy slowly opened her eyes. The headache she had felt previously was now gone. Feeling refreshed and energetic. She went to the hall to see that only Max and Kira were present in the living room. Sasha and Cedric were nowhere in sight.

"Here comes the sleeping beauty. Had a good sleep?" Kira asked, her eyes not moving from the TV. She was watching the news that was reporting the accident between the school bus and the truck.

Ivy nodded. "Where did the other two go?"

"They went to fetch some camera equipments from Ced's house. Max needed it for something. They will be here shortly."

"Did Mr. Martin call?"

"Long ago. I came to call you, but you were in deep sleep. You did not even budge."

"How long was I asleep?"

"For three hours or so," Max answered her question this time. He was reading a document which he secretly brought from his office room yesterday before leaving. It was something he was working on and he was not ready to hand it over back to his company. This piece of news was important to him.

"What? I slept for three hours." Ivy asked in shock, her eyes widened in disbelief. 'How was it possible? Was I so tired that I did not even hear Kira call out for me?'

"Yep. Go have something, you must be hungry." Max spoke, pulling Ivy out of her stupor.

"Before that, what did Joshua say? Did he agree to work with us?"

"I am not sure. There was a lot of disturbance and I couldn't hear him clearly. I tried calling him again, but his phone is switched off." Max had just finished speaking when his phone rang.

"It's Joshua. Hello." He picked the call immediately.

"Hey, Max. Sorry, I couldn't speak before. I was in a meeting and the reception there was poor. So, tell me. Did you need anything of me?" Max had kept the call on speaker mode. Ivy too heard his voice and she immediately recollected what he had told her in the kitchen the previous night. His deep, mesmerizing voice sending tremors down her body. 

"Yes, I had something important to speak to you about. Are you free right now?" 

"I am free, but I am not in the city." Joshua was actually in the Underground Base when he had received Max's call. He had something urgent to deal with and it was taking a lot of time than he had expected. So, he had taken a break and had returned Max's call to see what he was up to. "You can tell me on the phone."

"Okay. It's like this.' Max spent the next ten minutes explaining to Joshua about his intentions to open a news agency of his own and also about his search for a reliable sponsor. "So, I was hoping if you would like to be the sponsor."

"Oh. Are you leaving your old agency?"

"Yes. They have started playing dirty games right now."

"What happened?" Joshua asked in concern. He wanted to know what might have happened for Max to leave his old agency.

"They sacked me and my team."

"That's bad." Joshua sympathized. He knew that Ivy was in his team. So, this meant even she was going to leave her job. "Are you alone in this or are your colleagues there with you?"

"My entire team who were asked to quit are with me," Max answered honestly. If he needed Joshua to finance his agency, he had to tell him the truth.

'As expected.' Joshua thought and an idea struck him. "Max, let me think about it. I'll tell you by the end of the day."

"Sure. Thank you anyway."

"Not a problem," Joshua responded and the call ended. He immediately made another call. "I have something which might be of interest to you, Noah."