Vernon tapped his finger while staring at the rows of buildings from the car window. He was still on his way to his Big brother's office. He wasn't all that worried about Vincent being an ass, as always.
After all, Vincent had grown to be increasingly erratic each day, and Vernon had gotten a lot of complaints from many businessmen from Vincent's circle that the Big Boss acted very strangely these days.
—
'Could it be because of his wife?'
'Oh, it could be! Don't you remember how he tried to pit us against each other because he wanted to know which one of us dared to hide his wife?'
'As if I'd hide his wife. I still have a brain! I still want to live!'
'At this rate, we will all lose our business because Big Boss keeps making reckless decisions and mistakes.'
Vernon listened to the chatters of those businessmen while he sipped his wine calmly. It was all according to his plan. Soon, those businessmen would come to him to save their businesses because Vincent would destroy everything, including his business partners, with a series of bad decisions.
'It's good if things continue to go this way,' Vernon thought. 'As expected, no matter how many times Vincent wants to say that Chloe's disappearance has no impact on him or whatsoever, it's obvious that his mental stability relies on Chloe's presence.'
'Maybe we're not so different as a pair of brothers. We both need Chloe to survive in this world, or else we will go crazy.'
—
The car took a sharp turn and entered the driveway until it reached the front of the lobby.
The driver exited the car and opened the door for his boss, "We've arrived, Sir."
"Hm," Vernon grabbed his briefcase and left the car. "Don't forget to stay in the car," he instructed before entering the lobby.
"Understood, Sir."
It had been a week since Vernon hired two military-trained drivers for his small family. It was obvious that Chloe needed a personal driver to get her around, but for him, he hired one because he wanted someone to always be on the watch for his car. After all, Vincent or Maria might grow too suspicious of him as his businesses continued growing and plant a tracking device or recording device inside his car.
So he needed someone trusty and strong to protect his small family's privacy.
Vernon entered Vincent's office and walked through the lobby with confidence wafting from him. Everyone in the lobby had their eyes on him, both with admiration and fear.
Of course, everyone knew his identity. He was Vernon Phoenix Gray, the CEO of Golden Star Inc. He was young, handsome, and a well-known playboy. He was also the younger brother of Vincent Gray, the billionaire and Master of the Gray family businesses.
Together, they were like a pair of ultra-powerful brothers with nothing to stop them, especially since the brothers' relationship looked very harmonious.
Vernon ignored all of those admiring gazes. He was someone with tunnel vision. He didn't care what the others said about him, especially when he had someone precious to protect from his big bro.
Vernon went up with the VIP elevator and was greeted with the sight of Maria who looked as cold as always. Sometimes Vernon wondered if Maria actually had a heart or not because most often Maria did something illegal or dangerous just for the sake of Gray company stability, even though it didn't really benefit her of some sort.
'I feel like there's something that meets my eyes. Nobody will dedicate her entire life to do so many crooked things for no reason,' Vernon suspected. 'Maria doesn't even gain as much monetary gain as I expected, especially after all the things she did.'
Naturally, Vernon had already investigated Maria and her current matters. But she seemed to be just a regular old woman outside of work. She was divorced and lived alone in a fairly luxurious apartment as her sons were already adults and had their own lives.
She earned a lot of money from being the Senior Secretary for the Gray company for the past few decades, but it wasn't enough to justify all of the crooked shit she did just to defend Vincent and save the company because of Vincent's reckless decision.
Vernon walked out of the elevator and approached Maria, who stood still in front of the door to Vincent's office.
He briefly stared at the old secretary and decided, 'I will have to investigate further. This old woman is much more dangerous than Vincent simply because she is more aware of her surroundings than Vincent does. Maybe I can find her weakness and take her down later.'
"Good morning, Mr. Vernon Phoenix Gray, I know that you have a scheduled meeting with Mr. Vincent Gray, but he is currently busy dealing with someone else in the office," Maria said politely as always, but her tone was cold, so it didn't sound friendly at all. "Please wait patiently, I will tell someone to make you tea."
Vernon's eyes peered at the old woman, then asked unscrupulously, "Who is it?"
"Pardon me?"
"Who is the person meeting my big bro right now? I believe that person must be someone more than just a businessman. Vincent will never delay our meeting unless it's an extremely important matter— which is never."
"It is not my responsibility to tell you about my Boss' matter, Sir. Please back off and sit, I will call you once Mr. Vincent Gray is done dealing with her," Maria replied.
"Her? Hehe…" Vernon more or less already guessed who was the oh-so-important woman inside that room with Vincent. It must be his mother, that crooked old bitch who should've been dead by alcohol and drugs at this point!
Vernon couldn't wait to catch that bitch red-handed and then told Chloe that Dorothea betrayed them, so Chloe would never think about befriending that crooked old bitch anymore!
Thus, Vernon stepped forward, and Maria quickly blocked his entry, "Where are you going, Sir?"
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l