BXBX NOVEL Chapter 990 - The Cost Of Freedom (5)
~ Los Angeles, Mediterranean villa ~
6:28 PM
"Why are you making a pregnant woman come all the way here?", Sophia complained to JoAnna.
"All the way here? Weren\'t you in the office?", JoAnna was not sure why is Sophia making a big deal. Office space for Orion Enterprise is close to White corp. HQ. It can\'t be more than a 15-minute drive.
"She works from home all the time recently, unless it\'s an emergency.", Sarah responded instead of Sophia. "And how much I know… there were no emergencies since they are staying at the Cliffside villa."
"It\'s more comfortable!", Sophia defended herself while rubbing her belly.
Now JoAnna understands, from Sarah\'s house it can easily take more than a one-hour drive considering that it\'s easy to get stuck in the late afternoon traffic.
"You are becoming a couch potato!", JoAnna scolded Sophia. "You need to move around, or you will gain weight and it will take forever to get it off."
Sophia narrowed her eyes at JoAnna. "Are you saying that I\'m fat?"
Felix and Jeff retreated few steps. If this escalates, neither of them want to be caught up in it.
"Can you two focus?", Sarah interrupted her sisters. "Let\'s finish this. I want to go home."
JoAnna and Sophia understood that Sarah wants to go home to Aiden, and they stopped bickering.
JoAnna told Felix and Sophia about Harriet and that she came to them asking for help while running away from her parents.
Jeff added that Harriet brought with her number of documents from her father who supports Marcus, but they can\'t think of what those will be used for.
"We know that Marcus is preparing to take me down, and we believe these have something to do with it…", Jeff gestured to the pile of papers on the table while looking at Sophia. "I hope that you can figure out what he is scheming."
Sophia got comfortable on the sofa and got busy with reading. It didn\'t take long for Sophia to start sorting papers into different stacks.
Jeff, Felix, JoAnna and Sarah sat at the table.
"Can we find different options for Harriet and Benjamin?", JoAnna asked.
Sarah looked at JoAnna, not understanding why she is bringing this up. They talked about this in Jeff\'s office. "What options? She gets a new life. With a new name and a makeover, her parents will not find her."
"What about Benjamin?", JoAnna asked.
"He is a more challenging case.", Jeff remembered information from Benjamin\'s file. "He is local… and he is paying alimony to his ex-wife."
"LA is a big city. If they settle in a different neighborhood, no one will recognize him.", JoAnna made a point that being local is not a problem.
Jeff agreed with JoAnna, but the alimony is a problem. "Alimony is regulated by the law and if his ex raises a fuss about the missing payments, there will be an investigation. He can\'t just disappear, we will need to stage a death."
JoAnna frowned. "He has a teen daughter."
They all understood that staging Benjamin\'s death will be traumatic for the child. But that is something that Benjamin should decide on.
Sarah realized what JoAnna is going for, but…"We don\'t know if Harriet\'s father is aware that Harriet made copies of those documents and brought them to us. If he finds out, Marcus\' men will be looking for Harriet also, if they are not involved already. If Benjamin is with Harriet and stays in touch with his daughter, he can lead them to Harriet. He can\'t have both. If we are doing this, we need to do it right otherwise it will fall apart."
"I agree.", Jeff said. "She wants her freedom, and he will need to pick one over the other."
"Why are you making it all sound so dramatic?", Felix asked them and then turned to Jeff. "We concluded previously that Marcus will strike shortly after you officially take your role as the Master, which will happen sometimes in March. If he delays after that, you will establish yourself more and it will be difficult to topple you. And Harriet is in danger because of her parents who are connected to Marcus. Once they are down, Harriet has no need to hide… so we are talking about hiding them for four, maybe five months? And that is the time limit if we don\'t take Marcus down before that. If Benjamin wants to stay with Harriet, he needs to tell his daughter not to worry and that they will see each other in five months or less. He can come up with an awesome story that he is a secret spy who is going on a mission. And if he wants to keep his current identity, he can reunite with Harriet once things are settled with Marcus on our end."
Sarah approved. "Makes sense. And no matter what he chooses, until it\'s safe, I will arrange so that his paychecks are not tied up to White corp. In his bank account, it will look like it came from online freelancing."
JoAnna looked at Jeff who also nodded in approval and she sighed. She wanted to say that staying five months away from your loved one feels like forever, and she could see that Harriet and Benjamin love each other. But it seems that there is no way where they can all be happy, and safe. "OK. I will tell her that."
…
While four of them chatted, Sophia finished sorting out the documents.
"You figured out something?", Jeff asked Sophia.
Sophia pursed her lips. "I have a theory…"
"We will take it.", JoAnna said. "At this point we have nothing."
"OK… These here are lawsuits that were dropped due to lack of evidence or witnesses.", Sophia pointed to one stack. "And these were with outcome not guilty… These here are reports of badly handled equipment… these here are records of cases which are settled by paying off the other party… Each of them does not mean anything. But together… I believe that Marcus will strike with lawsuits. And lots of them. If he has few people who will sue White corp. even if they don\'t have a strong case, these failed ones can bring a bad light onto you."
"Can he win?", Jeff asked.
Sophia waved her index finger in the air decisively. "No. And if he has any type of legal counseling, he will know that. Marcus does not want to destroy White corp. or anything that belongs to the White family because he wants it for himself. Even devaluing the company will work against his interests. However, with enough negative press and suspicions, he might be able to show you as a bad leader, and people who currently support you will switch sides. After all, most of them are in it for the money and their own interests."
"What makes you think that Marcus wants to tarnish Jeff\'s image as a leader?", JoAnna asked.
Sophia gestured to the papers on the table. "All these are with dates after Jeff took over as the CEO."
Jeff praised Sophia\'s attention to details. He didn\'t notice the dates. "Is there a way to stop him?"
Sophia grimaced slightly indicating that she does not see a clean way out. "For his every lawsuit, we can counter it. But that is a slow process and by the time we win, the damage will be done. To find an efficient solution, I need more data."
"I will keep an eye on Mr. Morgan and check any electronic storage he might have.", Sarah told everyone.
"Check him and Marcus.", Jeff instructed. "See if they are in contact with any lawyers or judges. Marcus has an assistant, she does most of his dirty work. I will send you her details."
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