Chapter 171 – Second Chance Love of the Missing Groom Novel

lan nodded.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be helping you too,” she assured him, adding to lan’s confidence, his frustration from reading those damning reports now waning.

“Once we win this, bring Robin Lynd along when we host a banquet to celebrate,” Quincy then said.

lan was actually surprised. “Wait, you’re accepting her now?”

Quincy sighed. “She’s not my choice for a daughter-in-law. I wish you’d chosen someone from another dynasty so that they could back you up. However, I saw how loyal she was to you when the mess with the casino ship happened, and knowing that she’s genuinely in love with you is reason enough for me to accept her.”

In the end, strategic marriages were a must for dynasties to strengthen alliances. That was the reason Quincy herself had pushed so hard to get Abigail married to Diarmuid in the first place.

After all, be it in career or family background, Abigail would be more trouble than she was worth to Diarmuid, which was why Quincy helped Lionel in getting Diarmuid to marry her.

“Thanks, Mom… though it’s still too soon to celebrate. I need to get a handle on the situation as soon as possible,” lan pointed out.

Quincy agreed. “Call for a meeting with all heads of departments. That should make things quicker.”

She was naturally a little buoyed now that they controlled Light Group, and eager to flex her authority soon.

“Yeah. Let’s go with that.”

With that, lan had his assistant send word for everyone to convene… only to find out that the financial losses were just the tip of the iceberg!

Any new leader tends to flex his newfound authority, and lan was certainly doing that during his first. meeting with his key personnel!

Every head of department was sitting with clenched buttocks, afraid to make a sound.

However, they were just wary of lan since they were not familiar with him-with Diarmuid, they were earnestly reverent instead.

Still, lan was confident after his recent promotion.

“Starting with Finance, everyone will report any noteworthy events as well as department objectives over the last six months,” he said proudly and formally from the chairing seat.

However, his confidence proved a little excessive, as the Head of Finance rose to his feet and gave a lengthy account of everything the department saw through over the last six months.

The long and short of it was that there was no income, only investments.

“Here’s everything on the projects and investments we oversaw in that timeframe,” he said as he handed a thick document folder to lan, who was scowling now.

The thick folder itself was a sign that the financial department had been overseeing many projects and investments, but none of them were worthwhile. Since only billion dollar projects or investments required the board’s approval, anything in that folder was below that threshold, meaning that it would escape the board’s notice.

After all, when Diarmuid brought the company to new heights and raked in billions, they decided to hold blind faith in most of Diarmuid’s decisions. That was why they never inspected anything, and never found out about the financial outflow and other projects!

And now…

lan was working very hard to stop himself from flipping out at the crowd..

The rest of the reports from the other heads of department were largely the same: losses, halted projects, projects that require more capital…

There was no good news at all.

Naturally, lan called off the meeting ahead of schedule, and waited until everyone left and closed the doors behind them before bursting out, “Diarmuid fucked us over!”

Meanwhile, Quincy had been remaining in her seat, quiet for a while now.

She knew that things would be bumpy, but never expected an apocalypse.

“Look, lan-the board doesn’t know about this, just as we should not let them find out under any circumstances. They’d just point their finger at us, and we won’t even have a chance to arque… Ive thought about it, and right now, we need to secure a few convincing megaprojects in the meantime to keep their mouths shut.”

Ian understood that too, but he had gotten weary after learning how bad things were currently.

Nonetheless, Quincy encouraged him. “Look-we’re still managing many projects and businesses, so some of it has to be profitable. You’re still young, and we have all the time we need. Don’t give up just yet.”

lan did not want to admit he was no match for Diarmuid either, and so dived headfirst with Quincy into solving the mess, attempting to rescue and restore Light Group to its former glory!

Since they were both busy, their dinner with Robin had to wait.

However, Robin herself was starting to get distracted because lan was not calling her or seeing her. When she tried to ask him out, he would turn her down-which planted the idea in her that lan was dumping him after taking over Light Group.

As she was having an unhappy cup of coffee at a cafe, Mrs. Watson and Abigail arrived as well.

They were just done shopping at the nearby mall and came for a drink, running into Robin by sheer coincidence.

Abigail saw that she appeared downtrodden and lethargic, even starting to lose weight.

Abigail was holding Tommy, and pretended not to see Robin as she went to sit with Mrs. Watson at a quiet spot near the window.

Robin, however, remembered how she failed to humiliate Abigail last time, and ended up being punished. with having to wipe the floor of the sports complex over two days.

It made her the laughing stock of her department, and even her colleagues constantly reminded her of it.

She very much wanted to resign, but she had also lost her dependency since lan was not seeing her. As such, she had to keep her job and bear with the contempt.

On the other hand, Abigail had lost everything, but it somehow still felt like she was mocking Robin. Before Abigail knew it, Robin was already standing beside her table, growling, “Don’t get so smug, Abigail Bernstein. You were only lucky once-it won’t happen again.”

Abigail was playing with Tommy, and slowly looked up when she heard Robin.

Even so, she was exceedingly calm in contrast to Robin’s clear irritation. “I don’t know if things will get bad for me, but I do know that you’re having a terrible time-you wouldn’t be sulking otherwise.”

“What…” Robin’s face darkened right then. “What are you getting so smug about? Your lover was basically kicked out of Light Group. Not that glamorous now are you, Mrs. Althoff?”

“Even if he was, he didn’t dump me. I don’t have to go hungry, bodyguards escort me everywhere I go, and I still have chauffeurs and servants. Even if Diarmuid is not CEO of Light Group, he’s still able to see to my needs and afford me a life of luxury. On the other hand, it’s obvious that life is hard for you, seeing how much weight you’ve lost.”

Abigail never liked to brag or be nasty, but she knew that her words would have a devastating effect on Robin.

She had been listening to Stan and Diarmuid’s conversations, and was made aware that lan was busy working on Light Group. As a recently appointed CEO, he needed results to gain everyone’s loyalty.

Add that to the terrible look on Robin’s face, Abigail could naturally tell that she was at odds with lan, and so retorted against Robin in a way that Abigail knew would sting her.

And that was exactly what happened. Unable to retort or do anything to Abigail at all, Robin snarled, “Don’t get so full of yourself!”

Abigail smiled, unaffected. “I’m not, though you should be more self-aware, Ms. Lynd.”

“This isn’t over!” Robin snapped, and stormed off.

Mrs. Watson was pursing her lips disapprovingly. “Who is she? How could she be so rude? She acts just like a fishwife even with that pretty face.”

“That’s Robin Lynd. She’s lan Althoff’s girlfriend,” Abigail replied. “Who knows? One day they might marry, and we would become cousins.”

Naturally, ‘cousin’ was a jibe-after everything that had happened, the Althoffs were no longer family to her or Diarmuid.

Mrs. Watson understood, and did not ask more.

She always knew her place, and was privy to much information. As such, she never spoke or asked out of turn, or exposed the private affairs of others.

“Alright, I think we should go now.” Abigail rose to her feet then.

Mrs. Watson followed. “I can carry Tommy, ma’am. You must be tired after carrying him for so long.”

“It’s fine.” Abigail smiled-she had gone through so much to finally carry her baby in her arms, and would not ask for more.

Once they returned to the mansion, Mrs. Watson and Jimmy unloaded everything they bought and carried. it inside the house, and Mrs. Watson would put everything in the right place after.

Meanwhile, Abigail carried Tommy and was going back to their room when he heard Diarmuid’s voice from his study.

“What?!” He sounded surprised.

Stan was hanging his head and saying, “It should be Kathy York.”

Diarmuid asked, “Why her?”

“She’s stupid and easy to manipulate,” Stan replied. “She’s not chaste anyway, and it spares us from having to choose a new person.”

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