“You’re really eager to meet your in-laws, aren’t you?” Bryan teased Benne.
“They’re my family too, so they are also your in-laws.” Sonia pointed out, and this time Benne chuckled as Bryan smiled sheepishly at Sonia.
“Then I guess we should meet our in-laws after doing this. What do you say to that sister-in-law?” Bryan asked as they all turned to Celsie who had a slight frown on her face.
“I don’t have a large dining table or enough chairs to accommodate everyone.”
“Should we order a dining set? Or better still, how about I invite your family over to my house instead? You could even pass the night. I have enough bedrooms, that way your father and Lucas don’t have to stay at the hotel,” Benne suggested, and Celsie looked at Sonia who was grinning.
“I would like to see his place. Besides, won’t it be good to fuck with Anita? I don’t mind sending her pictures of us having dinner at Benne’s home. She should know that the foolish stunt she pulled made both families come together faster instead of separating us as she wanted,” Sonia said with a touch of humor and they all laughed.
“My family wants to meet you too, so I guess they won’t mind,” Celsie said, and Benne smiled at her.
“Benne you can inform your nosy neighbor that we are ready,” Bryan said, and Benne picked up his phone from the table to dial Alicia’s line.
Harry’s call came in before he could dial Alicia’s number and he excused himself from the others and went into his bedroom before receiving the call, “Hey! What’s up?”
“We are fine over here. What’s going on over there?” Harry asked curiously.
“Harry, I already told you that you don’t need to worry about…”
“I’m already worried. What’s happening? And how can I be of help?” Harry asked, and Benne sighed.
“We already have things handled at this end. If you have nothing else to do over there, sleep or go on a date with the lady you were out with two nights ago,” he said, not wanting to involve Harry any more than was necessary. He hadn’t realized just how much he had been overworking Harry until he snapped for those few seconds the previous day.
“Jade told you about the stunt she pulled?” Harry asked with disapproval.
He remembered how he had been dying to tell Benne how he had gotten a lady’s attention without altering his appearance, but then this issue had come up before he could do so, and he had even forgotten all about Aurora until Benne mentioned her. He remembered the reminder she had set on his phone going off the previous day while he was busy receiving different phone calls from the shareholders, and he had canceled the reminder.
“Why? Were you hoping that I wouldn’t know that you’re dating?” Benne asked in amusement.
“Nice try at changing the subject. Now fill me in on what you have done and what you’re doing. By the way, I already sent a mail to the shareholders letting them know that we are not going to let Celsie go and that I also stand by your decision to fire the staff who spoke without knowing the facts,” Harry said, making Benne’s brows shoot up.
“Why? What changed your mind?”
“It wasn’t like I wasn’t in support of you. I just didn’t want you making rash decisions that I wouldn’t be able to explain, but then after I saw the articles online that showed what really happened to Celsie, I got really mad. It’s my duty to protect your woman too. So I want to help. Now tell me, have you found the real culprits behind it?” Harry asked curiously.
“It’s Anita.”
“What? Anita?” Harry asked in disbelief. He couldn’t wrap his head around why Anita would do something as hateful as this.
“Yes. Apparently, she wants to get Celsie out of the way so that she can have me,” Benne said with disgust. He could tell that Anita probably thought he wasn’t aware of Celsie’s past.
“And she had to do something as inhumane as this? We should teach her a lesson!”
“Let’s talk about her later. What did the shareholders say? Did they respond to your email?” Benne asked, changing the subject, since the more he talked about Anita the more he wanted to do something harmful to her. He had more important things to handle at the moment, so he would have to take care of Anita later.
“Yes. Most of them are waiting for more evidence to surface. Until then they agreed to keep their calm and let us do what we think is best as long as it doesn’t affect the company.”
“Good. I should probably let you know that I’ve finally decided to reveal my identity today,” Benne said, and Harry sat up.
“You mean you want everyone to know what you look like now?” Harry asked curiously.
“Yes. I also plan on revealing the nature of my relationship with Celsie today. You do not have any objections, do you?” Benne asked since Harry’s opinion also mattered to him. In all the years he had chosen to stay away from public view, Harry had stood by him, and acted in his stead whenever his presence was needed.
“Well, at least now I don’t have to worry about being the face of the company anymore,” Harry said good-naturedly.
“You do. You should start thinking about becoming my Co-CEO…”
“Benne…”
“I know I put in a lot of money and work into this company. I also know that I’m the brain behind it, but you’ve put in even more work. It’s only right that we make it official.”
“Let’s not think about this now. We can talk about it after we’ve taken care of this issue,” Harry suggested instead.
“I already thought about it. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time now, so you can think about it.”
Harry sighed, “So back to what we were saying. How can I help?”
“Since you’re so bent on helping can you find out all you can on Anita? Preferably her financial record in Ocean Airlines, and her bank record too. If she is bent on doing this, then she must have enough money to pay the people doing her dirty job. The guy I put on her tail informed me that she visited the bank twice yesterday. The guy who handled Celsie’s scandal also said that Anita paid him in cash. I’d like to know how much cash left her account or if she made any transfers and to who.”
“Alright. Go on and do what you have to do. I will get back to you on this tomorrow,” Harry said and Benne hung up the call.
Benne dialed Alicia’s line immediately, “You can come over.. We are ready.”
“Are you both ready?” Alicia asked Sonia and Bryan who she was about to interview first. They had all agreed that they begin with Bryan’s and Sonia’s interview to draw attention to the channel so that lots of people would get to see Celsie’s interview.
Following that, all of them had posted on their social media handles that whoever was interested in hearing their side of the story and knowing the truth should click on the YouTube link and subscribe to Alicia’s channel so they would be notified once the interview started.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.