Chapter 1153 - You Are Not Alone

Everyone left home for the day, leaving only Jeff and JoAnna in Jeff's office.

Eve will continue monitoring and alert them if Marcus and his people start making his moves.

Before Sarah, Aiden, Sophia and Felix left, they reiterated their plan, which will start once Jeff gives his signal.

First, they will fend off the attacks. Whatever Marcus throws at them, thanks to Eve and all the gadgets that come from Felix's workshop, they are ready.

Sarah and Aiden will take care of anything online. The two of them will take down sites and servers which will post damaging information about Jeff.

Sophia will handle lawsuits and any legal issues.

Jeff will keep the finances stable.

During this phase, they will flush out any moles.

Other than Bradley, they flagged three more people who are currently working in White corp. and four from the White Foundation. Sarah and Aiden are responsible to collect past and current information related flagged people in order to understand their role in this coup.

JoAnna and Sophia will analyze all data related to moles and see if they can use those people against Marcus.

After this, they will commence their counter-attack, starting by destroying people who dared to go against Jeff and then they will move on whatever is next until no enemies are left with capability to retaliate. And how far they will go, it will depend on each party involved. If things go physical, Aiden will mobilize people from the White foundation and Sarah is ready with the army of Chaos.

Back to present…

JoAnna is on the sofa, next to Jeff who is looking at the screen which shows information that Bradley and Marcus are having phone conversations for several months. They don't have recordings of those conversations other than the one from today, and Eve isolated one audio file from the Golden Ocean Resort, with a timestamp of March 21 2:21 PM, and a note that Bradley is talking about Jeff in a non-friendly manner. That is the date of Jeff's birthday party.

Since Jeff's and JoAnna's wedding, Eve is recording whenever someone talks about any of them with bad intentions.

Jeff remembers that during his party, Bradley was mostly in the suite with Paige. They joined them on the superyacht, but other than that Bradley kept his distance. Jeff assumed that Bradley was happy to be with Paige, and later in the evening that Bradley gave him space because he just found out that he will be a father… but now Jeff believes that Bradley had other motives.

"Are you going to listen to these?", JoAnna sked Jeff. "I am hungry."

Jeff remembered that it's close to dinner time. "Let's go and eat."

"No. You need to do this. Don't delay.", JoAnna said sternly and scooted closer to him. "I am here."

Jeff can see that JoAnna has no intention to let him postpone this.

"Eve, play the phone call from today.", Jeff told Eve. Now that it's just him and JoAnna, they can use voice commands.

…

"Why are you calling me?", Bradley said grumblingly as soon as he picked up the phone.

"I'm starting to move.", Marcus responded.

"I know. Jeff told me to be on a standby if he needs something."

"He knows…", Marcus mumbled. This confirmed that someone close to him is working for Jeff! "You know what to do. Don't disappoint me."

"Yes, yes.", Bradley said impatiently. "There is no need for you to remind me. I am doing this for myself, not for you."

"If you want me to fulfil my part, you should be more… pleasant.", Marcus squeezed through his teeth.

"Smiling and pleasantries are not part of the deal."

Marcus snorted. "Make sure you deliver."

"I will. But I can't be too obvious about it or Jeff will get suspicious. Ideally, you can put enough pressure on him so that he reaches out to me for help. Anything else?"

"No.", Marcus responded.

Bradley ended the call.

…

Jeff took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He already knows that Bradley works with Marcus, but hearing this conversation was more mentally taxing than he thought it will be.

"It seems that none of them are happy about their… cooperation.", JoAnna said.

Jeff nodded in agreement.

"Do you know what Bradley needs to deliver to Marcus?", JoAnna asked.

Jeff shrugged, indicating that he does not know.

"Honey…", JoAnna spoke softly. "Don't shut down. No matter what it is, you are not alone. Sarah and Sophia will support you with all they have, and Felix as well. And I know that Aiden is NOT like Marcus, he will walk through fire for you."

Jeff knows that her words are true, and he is grateful for the reminder. Sometimes, he needs to be reminded that he is not alone. "Let's listen to the audio from the resort."

It's not that he does not want to talk to JoAnna, but he does not know what to say.

"Eve, play the audio file from March 21…", Jeff told Eve.

…

There was some shuffling sound. Bedsheets, maybe?

"Don't you want us to join the party for the boat ride?", Paige asked.

Bradley snorted. "What for? Just to see him gloat?"

"No matter how you feel, it is his birthday, and you accepted to come."

"It is hard to watch him… have it all…", Bradley's voice trailed away.

"I thought that you are working on it. And staying on friendly terms with Jeff is part of that.", Paige reminded Bradley.

"Yes. But it's taking too long, and I am impatient. I want to be able to go everywhere with you, just how Jeff can go with his wife…"

"You will, soon. Let's go and shower first. I want to see that boat…"

Audio file ended.

…

JoAnna craned her neck to see Jeff's face and she sighed at the sight of his dejected expression. She knows that it's hard on Jeff, but they need to talk about this.

"Paige knows that Bradley is up to something, and it seems that she is his motive for…"

"I don't care why he is doing it!", Jeff snapped at JoAnna.

He wanted to know Bradley's motive, to understand why he is working with Marcus, but now Jeff is angry, and he does not care.

By going against Jeff, Bradley is putting JoAnna and his (unborn) children in danger! Jeff will NOT tolerate that!

JoAnna saw that Jeff's sadness is morphing into fury and her heart cracked a little. She knows that Jeff always kept to himself and since the two of them are together, he started opening up more to others. She likes that Jeff lets more people into his life, but now she fears that Jeff will retract into his shell and push others away because they might betray him as well.

Jeff embraced JoAnna and reminded himself that he should not lash out on her, it's not her fault. She is the light in his life, his soulmate, his wife, a woman who loves him unconditionally, and is currently pregnant with his babies! And it's not just JoAnna. It's Aiden and Sarah and Felix and Sophia and all the other people who are not working against him. JoAnna's words rang in his head: 'You are not alone…'

Jeff took a mental note to punish Bradley additionally because he is the reason Jeff's temper flared and he ended up being unpleasant to JoAnna.

Jeff inhaled deeply and adjusted his mood before talking to JoAnna in a calmer tone: "The fact is that Bradley is working against me with Marcus. I don't know what Marcus can give him that I can't, but it is obvious that Bradley believes that such a thing exists." Jeff heard JoAnna sigh and he continued before she could say anything: "Friendship works two ways. I thought that he is my friend, but this proves that he doesn't see me as such. Honestly, I need time to process this…"

Jeff inched away and touched JoAnna's chin so that he can look into her eyes. "No matter if people I face are my friends or my enemies or anything in-between, if they are going against me, they are going against my family. And I will not let that go unpunished."

JoAnna smiled. She is happy that Jeff opened up and spoke to her. For a brief moment, she felt that his ice façade was back on, but now everything is how it should be. Her husband is looking at her with his dark eyes full of love and that is all she needs.

"Just say the word, and I will knock them all out. After that, my punishing services range from pulling nails to removing organs."

Jeff chuckled. JoAnna can always improve his mood. If he does not know her, he would think that she is joking. "I will keep that in mind… Let's go and have dinner. Tomorrow we can think of something."

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