"Yes?"
"I wonder if you're free? I would like to invite you to go around with us." Wendy asked a little nervously. Although she didn't have faith that Jack would accept her invitation, she still came forward and invited him.
The closer he was to her, the better her chances. She wasn't ready to give up on him no matter how long it was going to take. But of course she had to hurry things up before her grandfather announced the issue about her engagement.
She didn't want her grandfather to force Jack to marry her. Since he valued his reputation and she said that she loved Jack, to add to the fact that they had already signed an agreement with Jack's father, it was obvious that Alton wouldn't let this slide.
Jack hadn't expected to be invited by her. All the same, he thought that they weren't enemies at all. So, it wasn't strange that she would invite him. In the end, the only thing that Jack didn't agree to was the fact that she was claiming to be his fiancée.
Jack thought for a moment. He still had a lot of things to do during this week. He had just acquired a few companies that had yet to be stabilized like the grocery department in Inchoate city.
What's more, he wanted to start the branches of the grocery department here in venture city. With the protection of the Amber and Safety Enforcers, he was sure the incident like the one that George had told him wouldn't be happening.
Seeing that Jack wasn't replying to her, Wendy decided to give a concession and invite him when he was free instead of him making time for their plans. She was just about to speak when Jack beat her to it.
"Not this week. I'm busy with something. And after that, I'm supposed to go back to inchoate city to deal with a few loose ends. After that, I believe that I'll be free for a while before getting busy in the capital." Jack had decided that it wouldn't be bad if he could tour his own country.
After all, he had only visited three cities now and this wasn't something to be proud of. He was a patriotic citizen and as such, he could promote his country by visiting different parts of the country to spend and earn money.
Wendy was surprised by Jack's busy schedule. But what surprised her the most was that Jack had agreed to her invitation. Although it wasn't this week, at least he had agreed and not refused. Now that she had a chance to get closer to him, she was going to grab it firmly.
"Okay then. I'll make the necessary arrangements. You'll have to tell me the specific day that you'll be free so that we can plan on where to go." Wendy smiled brightly as she said these words.
Although she wasn't as beautiful as Celine, her beauty rating was still in the nineties. As such, even Jack had to appreciate that she was indeed a beauty. Furthermore, her attitude wasn't bad. It was just that Jack wasn't ready to have a fiancée out of nowhere.
Additionally, if he hadn't had the strange feelings towards Celine since the first time that they had met, Jack wouldn't have minded entertaining the thought of having her as his girl.
Although he had to take a look at the envelope first, he didn't believe that there was anything that would prevent him from getting a certain girl as his girlfriend, right? After all, inside the envelope, there was a document. And although he wasn't sure about the contents of the document, he still was sure that it wouldn't be stopping him from falling in love.
"Okay then. I'll let you know two days in advance." Jack nodded.
Wendy happily left. Although she wanted to invite him to lunch, she decided against it. Jack had already stated that he was busy. As such, she didn't wish to make him regret accepting the invitation.
….
Inchoate city, Happy Residential Area.
Ruben looked at Kevin and said, "There was some kind of interference on our plan. Haman has made a move and suppressed all the gangsters that we sent."
Kevin's expression shifted greatly. He had been making plans but they kept on failing due to the interference of some unrelated people.
"Why would Haman make a move? He has always minded his own business, why would he try making a move at such a time?" Kevin asked with a frown.
"I'm not sure about that. But today, just about two hours ago, some of his men suddenly made a move and chased all the members of the gang that we sent. The Jerks brothers gang is not a match for Haman and the moment that his men made a move, they had to retreat." Ruben replied helplessly.
"Damn it! Just what's wrong with this Haman? Won't he just mind his own business and forget about others? Why is he meddling in one of our most important plans?" Kevin was frustrated. He walked towards his seat and sat down.
Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!
Picking up a ball pen, he began playing with it. He pressed it and as time passed, his speed shot upwards. And not long after, the pen was broken as he had applied too much strength.
Seeing this scene, although Ruben had something that he wanted to say, he decided to keep it to himself and wait till Kevin relaxed. He knew Kevin since he was young and had watched him grow.
And, pressing the ball pen was one of his characteristics that showed that he was in a foul mood. At that time, as long as something unpleasant was said to him, it was likely that he would end up making decisions without thinking them through.
After a long while, Kevin's anger had calmed down and he began thinking normally again.
"I think that the reason as to why Haman is interfering might be because he doesn't know that we're the ones behind the Jerk Brothers recent movements. Or maybe, that young girl Celine might have requested for his help." Ruben paused for a moment and observed Kevin's expression. Upon seeing that he was listening, he continued.
"And if that's so, I'm sure that Haman wouldn't mind giving a hand because Flyers bank is big. If the Gravy family owed him a favor, he might even be promoted to the regional director of the bank once they put in a good word form him"
Kevin considered how things were and thought that Ruben's deductions shouldn't be too far off if they weren't on spot. But, what he didn't want was to have other people knowing that they were the ones that were making the move.
Although they were the ones that had paid the Jerk Brothers gang to be ready to cause trouble for Celine when they gave them the green light, they had never met with the leader of the gang by themselves.
They had always interacted on the phone. As a gang in a small city, it was obvious that they needed much money. So, it was simple for them to pay them a few thousand dollars to make them do what they wanted.
These guys didn't know about Celine's real identity as they hadn't attended the banquet that she'd set up. That banquet was only for people with great power.
Kevin was just about to reply when Ruben said something that made him frown.
"Frank has been making moves towards Jack's grocery stores. If I'm not wrong, he should be able to reduce their sales by the end of next week." Ruben said.
"This idiot. I told him that we should first investigate everything about him but he still made a move this early in when we haven't confirmed the information that we received. If it happens that Jack is from Alfonso family, we will be in trouble before our current plan even succeeds." Kevin spoke as anger began surfacing on his face.
"I think we should help him. If it was true that Jack was from the Alfonso family, he would have surely reacted to the provocation by now. But all this while, other than his subordinates, he had never shown up in the stores." Ruben said.
"Do you have a plan?" Kevin asked. He too had to accept that it was true. Any member of the Alfonso family was arrogant and thus, if he was, he would have already reacted to this.
"It can be considered as one. If we make sure that we pressure him so much, I'm sure that we can force him to sell the Business Overlord Building to us. What's more, we can get it at a lower price. I'm sure that he'll have to accept that because he must have spent all of his fortune to buy that building. If we block his business, considering that most of the things that the groceries deal with are perishable, he would surely suffer great losses." Ruben explained.
Indeed, just like Ruben had said, Kevin found that this idea was indeed doable and it would be much easier than making a move on Celine. Although Celine's family didn't have that much influence in the city, if they really decided to make a move, he was sure that even their family couldn't stand it.
It was exactly this reason that made him move cautiously and hide in the dark while attacking. In this way, even if the plan failed, he was sure that Celine won't be able to know that they were the ones behind everything.
"Then let's do that as soon as possible. That grocery of his has only occupied one floor in the entire building. This is a waste." Kevin agreed.
*****
Author's Note;
Hello guys, thanks for the support. We're moving at a good pace. And to tell the truth, I'm getting motivated by your continuous support. So, I hope that we'll improve further.
And, I would like to thank both aaaninja, lests_have_fun and William_breno for their gifts. For the support that you've shown, there will be an extra chapter for you. Thanks again.