A Lawsuit,Coolest Girl in Town
In the VIP lounge of the bank, the bank president—Remus Sawyer—was seated on the couch with an
apologetic look as he tried to explain, “I wish I could approve the loan for the Olson Family, but right
now, the Anti-Corruption Commission is breathing down my neck; one wrong move is all it takes for
these people at the ACC to drag me in for an interrogation. I’m afraid my hands are tied.” A few days
ago, an anonymous letter had been addressed to the Anti-Corruption Commission, and after looking
into these matters, the Commission had called Remus over to their offices that morning for a brief chat
over a cup of coffee.
As things were, he knew that he had to draw the line with the Olson Family before the Commission
cracked down on the case. The Olson Family would go down alongside his career the moment the
Commission decided they had both been guilty. Johan was now pacing the lounge with a grim look. It
took a while before he stopped and sat down next to Remus to urge, “Find a way out of this, or search
for another bank willing to approve a loan in our favor. We’ve already told the public that we’d be
acquiring the Griffiths’ business! What will the people say if they find out our plans have been stymied?”
Remus sighed. “Vicious rumors spread much faster than you might think. There are no other banks
who would consider approving a loan for you, at least not without first putting their lives on the line.
How about if you push this acquisition back by a year, or maybe half a year?” “Don’t be ridiculous, Mr.
Sawyer. The stock market is as brutal as it is volatile, but it thrives on information and rumors. We can’t
afford to wait that long. Besides, you promised us that you’d approve the loan, that you’d take care of it.
And now here you are, leaving us high and dry!”
Amelia accused, her voice rising by several octaves. “I…” Remus couldn’t find the words to defend
himself because she was right. “I wish I could keep my promises, but I didn’t think the Commission
would take an interest in this all of a sudden!” The next morning, a Twitter thread began trending
around cyberspace. At the time the Olson Family was supposed to kick off their much-anticipated press
conference, Alexander had taken to his personal Twitter account to announce that he had invested
hundreds of billions of capital into Frazier Pharmaceuticals, thereby becoming the company’s second
largest shareholder. He also cleverly attached a photo of himself exchanging a friendly handshake with
Nathan.
Anyone who saw the thread guessed that Alexander had managed to secure capital from Nathan and
that the both of them were officially working together. When the news broke, the stocks for Frazier
Pharmaceuticals saw a steady rise in value on the market. As for the Olson Family, the fact that Nathan
had bailed on their press conference coupled with their inability to come up with the capital to acquire
the Griffiths’ family business only affirmed the rumors—the Olson Family had not a single backer for
their plans. The stock price for Olson Pharmaceuticals fell so rapidly that it tanked within the short span
of the morning.
Elise was in the passenger seat as she stared at Alexander’s photo with Nathan on Twitter. She clicked
her tongue in mock disapproval and pointed out snidely, “I can’t believe you guys bought Frazier
Pharmaceuticals behind my back!” Alexander gave a low chuckle. “With your brilliance, I highly doubt
the purchase would have escaped your notice. The thing is, the whole thing was pretty much up in the
air until last night, and by the way, I was the only one who invested in Frazier Pharmaceuticals. You told
me you didn’t want to see the company go down without a fight, so I looked into it and decided to buy
up the shares.
That’s all that happened.” Elise immediately sensed that there was something fishy underscoring this
incident. She turned to look at him inquisitively as she drawled, “Mr. Griffith, from what I recall, you left
behind your family fortune, so how in the world did you get your hands on hundreds of billions in
capital?” She gasped dramatically. “Oh! You have a secret bank account somewhere, don’t you? And
you didn’t tell me anything about it!” “Your insinuations hurt me. You only had to ask and I would have
told you everything. Alas, my dearest Elise, when was the last time you showed any interest in what I
was doing?”
he countered sadly. He knew her indifference toward life was carved into her bones, and even though
he was her boyfriend, he enjoyed no special treatment. In fact, it seemed as if the only people who
could stoke Elise’s sentiments were her grandparents. Admittedly, there were plenty of times when he
felt she had to be tethered to him by a thread. He had to draw her in bit by bit so that she would allow
her walls to collapse, but as soon as he released that thread, she would drift away and treat him with
the same indifference as she did the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, she parted her lips to say something, but words deserted her. At this moment, the piercing
sound of Alexander’s ringtone filled the car. He wore his Bluetooth earpiece and answered the call, but
he hung up several seconds after quickly muttering, “Got it.” “What happened?” Elise asked. He pulled
over by the curb and let out a frustrated sigh before he said slowly, “The Griffiths have decided to file a
lawsuit against me.” He paused at this, then glanced over at her as he elaborated, “To be precise, the
ones who are suing me are those relatives you saw the other day.
They’re alleging that the ten-billion capital I invested in Frazier Pharmaceuticals belonged to the family
company and that I stole it. Basically, I’m being accused of embezzlement.” “How despicable of them,”
Elise pointed out in disgust. “They were the ones who wanted you to leave the family without taking any
part of the fortune and now that you have capital, they’re leeching off you again! You might call them
relatives, but they’re nothing but bloodsuckers!” The twinge of exasperation that Alexander felt seemed
to dissipate as soon as he heard her words. She made him feel as if he was protected and that
reassured him to no end.
“You don’t seem the least bit concerned about where I obtained the capital,” he noted with self-
deprecating humor. She frowned in thought before looking at him innocently as she asked in all
seriousness, “Why would I be concerned over such a small sum of money?” He felt his brows rise to
his hairline as he was rendered speechless by her remark. As it turned out, he had underestimated her,
for ten billion was, to her understanding, a ‘small sum of money’. Over on college grounds, Addison
had seen Alexander’s car from a distance and by the time he pulled up at the dormitories, she barreled
down the stairs to greet him and Elise. Elise had only just stepped out of the car when she saw
Addison hurtling toward her.
“We pulled through! We really did! You’re incredible, Elise!” the girl cried happily as she wound her
arms around Elise’s neck. “We recovered every cent to cover our debts, and now all the red has been
cleared off our ledger! You’re practically an oracle, Elise!” At the sight of this, Alexander let out a dry
cough. “Miss Whitlock, I’d appreciate it if you could keep a polite distance from my fiancée.” He was
secretly envious of how these girls could just hug things out, regardless of whether it was a joyous or a
grave occasion.
Unfortunately, Elise was so used to putting up a strong front that the only times he could give her
comforting embraces were when she was extremely vulnerable or devastated, which didn’t happen
often enough. Addison chuckled and untangled her arms from Elise’s neck, but the next second, she
drew Elise in by the waist and glued herself onto the latter. “I will do no such thing! I’m going to stick to
Elise for as long as I can. I might even marry her!” Alexander frowned. Great, now I have to watch out
for both guys and girls who pine after my woman. Could you just stop being so attractive, Elise?
For my sake? While this was happening, Elise merely raised her hands, feigning innocence as she shot
him a look that said, Well, what am I supposed to do about this? You can’t keep a diamond from
shining. After a quick round of jesting, Addison finally stood to the side like a loyal and faithful disciple.
She followed Elise as she pressed, “So, what should we do next, Elise? What other stocks should my
dad invest in?” As soon as Elise heard this, she stopped in her tracks and turned to regard Addison
somberly. “Addison, you have to remember that stock investment isn’t something you can depend on
forever.
It can be addictive to gamble on such things and win, but you have to draw the line somewhere or you
could spiral into self-destruction.” “Self-destruction?” Addison repeated in shock before she patted her
chest to soothe the fear that budded in her. “My goodness, that sounds terrifying! In that case, I’ll get
my dad to stop dabbling in stocks. All I want is for him to live like the honest man that he is.” Elise
hummed in response, then clapped Addison’s shoulder consolingly as she added, “Maybe self-
destruction might have been an exaggeration on my part. What I really meant to say was that you can’t
blindly invest in something without first assessing the probabilities.
You’re a Mathematics major, and it shouldn’t be hard for you to understand how stocks work if you put
some effort into it. That way, you won’t be easily misled or tricked into making poor investments. Do
you understand?” Addison nodded, seemingly in a daze. She would like to think that Elise’s words
made sense, but at the same time, she was baffled by them.
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