Chapter 322 - Team of six (11)

JoAnna and Sarah found Edward in his study.

"Hey, girls! What brings you home?", Edward is happy whenever his daughters visit, but he knows that this is not a normal visit.

"We wanted to see you. Mom is not home, so we are worried that you might be lonely." JoAnna said cheerfully.

Sarah rolled her eyes and nudged JoAnna with her elbow.

Edward observed two of them, and faced JoAnna, "It seems that you have something to say?" He saw that JoAnna is reluctant, so decided to keep it light, to loosen her up. "Let me guess... Do you need a loan?" He paused for few seconds and frowned. "Or did you decide to move to Los Angeles?"

Sarah looked at JoAnna and struggled to keep a straight face. 'You didn't tell him about moving to LA?'

JoAnna put her face in her palms. With everything going on, she forgot to tell him that she moved her residenship and that she is moving to Los Angeles... actually, she already moved to LA.

Seeing JoAnna's expression, Edward continued guessing. "I know that you took a break from work, and are in the Los Angeles because your mentor gave you hard time... did you find a good place, and decide to stay there?" JoAnna could see that Edward is not very happy with that idea... but he was right. He missed few important parts, but what he said was basically correct.

JoAnna awkwardly smiled, "Something like that." JoAnna took a deep breath and told herself. 'Now or never.'

"Dad, I found a great facility in LA. It's LA Medical Center, and I will resume my residenship there. I already filled paperwork... and I found a great place to stay. It's much better than my current place." JoAnna observed Edward's reaction.

Sarah was on the side doing her best to control her expression. 'Well, she said the truth... some important parts are missing (like Jeff, the fiancé!), but it's still the truth.' She praised JoAnna.

"And one more thing..." JoAnna continued when she saw that she can't read Edward's reaction based on his expression. "I found a man who I like... and we are dating... and it's getting quite serious."

Edward's hands clenched into fists, and he gritted his teeth for a split second before he forced a smile. "Serious?... When can I meet him?"

"Well, you met him before." JoAnna blinked few times.

Edward raised his eyebrows, expecting for her to continue.

"It's Jeffrey White."

"White?" Edward looked at Sarah for a second and then back to JoAnna. "Jeffrey White? CEO? From White corp.?"

"Yes." JoAnna confirmed.

Edward silently contemplated for few minutes. The only thing moving are his eyes which shifted lightly as he processed information he just got. He met Jeffrey White few times. Besides being from THAT White family, he is cold, low communication skills, those few words that come out of his mouth are orders to his underlings. How can that icy man match his sweet daughter who is like a summer breeze, brightening up the mood of anyone who lays their eyes on her? "Are you sure you two are... compatible?"

JoAnna was surprised to hear her dad say that. "What do you mean?"

Edward took a deep breath. "If I need to describe each of you, he is winter, and you are summer. Total opposites."

Sarah perked up. She is enjoying this.

"No dad..." JoAnna shook her head. "He is very nice, gentle, funny, caring... he can make me laugh."

Edward listened to JoAnna and his eyebrows scrunched. "I'm not sure we are talking about the same Jeffrey White."

Sarah burst into laugh and decided that it's time for her to support her sister. "Dad, I can assure you it's the same man. I was surprised also. He is a different person when he is with Anna. Her summer melted his snow and revealed a human."

Edward frowned. "So, am I the last person to find out, again?"

"I didn't tell mom yet." JoAnna said weakly.

Edward smiled. He was happy that this time he is not the last one to find out.

He didn't like the idea that one more of his daughters is involved with a boy from White family, but he is aware that he can't prevent it. The best thing to do now is to observe the situation.

There was a knock on the door. It was Mr. Joe, the butler. He informed Edward that Sam is here to see him.

JoAnna and Sarah looked at each other and then at Edward.

"Dad... " Both girls said in unison.

Edward smiled. "Come, give me some privacy... we can talk more later." He ushered them toward the door.

"Dad, can we just say something?" JoAnna pleaded.

Before Edward could answer, Sam was at the door. "Hi, my friend, sorry to barge in like this..." Sam gave a glance to JoAnna and Sarah, his gaze lingered on Sarah longer than necessary and he headed to Edward for a handshake.

Edward shook Sam's hand and looked at his daughters. "We will continue later."

Sarah and JoAnna walked outside and looked at the closed door of the study with regret. They both regretted that they didn't give some kind of warning to Edward that Sam will come, probably looking for money... and that he should not give him any.

Sarah and JoAnna went to family room and took turns pacing around, waiting for Sam to leave. They know that if they go inside and warn Edward in front of Sam, they will expose themselves. The fact that they are the ones sabotaging Sam's company in order to destroy it, needs to stay secret. Their methods are not exactly legal.

JoAnna cursed herself internally. If Edward lends money to Sam, why did she come back home? She felt useless.

"Hey…", Sarah called JoAnna. "Even if dad decides to give him money, it is not something that can be finalized right away. We will have time to talk to dad once Sam leaves. Even if he initiated transaction, there will be a window where he can stop it."

JoAnna responded with a nod.

"Come and see this... it's a good distraction while we wait for Sam to leave." Sarah gestured to JoAnna to join her in looking at the news on her laptop.

"Wow! They are crashing hard!" Sarah exclaimed. "This graph shows value of stocks for Sam's company. They are less than half what they were worth on Friday." Sarah said with glee, trying to keep her voice down.

"What does that mean?" JoAnna asked.

"It means that your hubby should start buying, if he is not buying already. For every dollar worth on Friday, now he needs to pay 45 cents."

JoAnna was confused. "But it's still 45 cents, he can't make a dollar out of it when he takes over the company."

"No, but that is not the plan..." Sarah frowned at JoAnna before knocking her head slightly with a finger. "Instead of staring at his handsome face, you should pay more attention to his words when he talks." Sarah teased JoAnna before explaining in a quiet voice. "The plan is that after getting control of the company, it will be sold out in pieces. In that way, he will get much more than a dollar for every 45 cents he spends now."

"What makes you think that someone else will not think this way and buy the stocks?"

Sarah thought, 'How is it possible that JoAnna didn't pay attention at all during our online meetings?' She still decided to explain. "In order to sell company in pieces, you need to have control of it. That means, that Jeff needs to own more than half. As of Friday, he already owns about a quarter. Today he needs to buy enough so that he crosses 51% of total shares. If he can't get that much, then all effort and money will be wasted, and he will be stuck with lots of shares which are not worth a squat."

"You are saying that if anyone wants to try the same thing, they need to make sure they own more than half?"

"Correct" Sarah confirmed.

JoAnna thought for some time before finding another point she needs clarified. "When he sells the company in pieces... What about the people who work there? Will they be out of job?"

"Jeff and Sophia talked about this..." Sarah was not in the mood to repeat the whole plan just because JoAnna is mesmerized with Jeff and can't pay attention. "They have a plan. No one will be left on the street. Ask Jeff for details when you get a chance."

At that time, they heard steps in the hallway and saw Sam leaving. Sarah and JoAnna observed that he was in a good mood. Two girls looked at each other with concern in their eyes, and then headed to Edward's study.