Desperate Measures
“That’s the spirit, honey. You can’t just let anyone take the company away from you! You have to pull
through this no matter what,” said Naomi as she encouraged him with renewed fervor.
Anastasia interjected, “Dad, do you know who the acquiring party is?”
Francis was seething with rage, and his eyes were bloodshot red as he snapped angrily, “He’s an old
rival of mine. He’s despicable and disgustingly ruthless, and I can’t believe he’d resort to such
underhanded ways to whittle me down!”
Upon hearing this, Anastasia’s heart dropped to her stomach. If the acquiring party was Francis’ old
rival, she couldn’t possibly expect her father to go through with the acquisition without putting up a fight.
Even if he did, he would resent and grow angry over this for the rest of his life.
Naomi was beside herself with panic as well. Her continued life of luxury depended on her husband’s
company, and if he were to call it a day and let the acquisition go through, it would be the end of her
privileged lifestyle. A look of horror colored her face as she turned to Francis and urged, “In that case,
what should we do? Honey, you have to think of a way to save the company, and you must be quick!
We can’t just let someone snatch the company away!”
“That’s right, Dad! You have to do something!” Erica chimed nervously.
“My hands are tied,” Francis admitted a little tiredly. “The acquiring party now holds thirty percent of the
shares in the company, giving them enough leverage. More to the point, the business hasn’t been
doing great for the last two years, and I’ve had to sell ten percent of my own shares to another
company to help tide things over. Now, that company has decided to join forces with the acquiring
party. As things are, I’m left with a forty-percent share in the company, and if they were to persuade the
other shareholders to jump on their bandwagon, my words will not carry any more weight.”
Francis was devastated. Never did he think that his company would fall victim to such a hostile
takeover.
“Dad, why don’t you just buy those shares back?” Erica suggested.
Alex, who had been standing to the side all this while, knew the company’s financial troubles well
enough. He pointed out emotionlessly, “Buying back those shares isn’t as easy as it sounds. Our
company hasn’t been profiting for the last two years, and we’re making just enough to keep the
business afloat.”
“If you’d known that this would happen, maybe you wouldn’t buy that house,” Naomi said begrudgingly
as she implicitly blamed her husband for buying Anastasia the apartment.
Francis was already annoyed to begin with, so he glared at Naomi and snapped, “Keep quiet, will you?”
“I’m right, aren’t I? You should’ve tightened your belt and stopped spending money so frivolously if you
knew the company was struggling,” Naomi argued, rubbing salt in his wound.
Anastasia knew that she was accusing her of being a liability to Francis, and she wished she could
shove Naomi and Erica out of the room. All they were doing was aggravating Francis instead of helping
him come up with feasible solutions.
“Is there no one who can save Dad’s company?” Erica whined.
Just then, a lightbulb went off in Naomi’s head when she heard this. “Wait, there is! I can’t believe we
didn’t think about this before. Anastasia, you know Elliot, don’t you? Why don’t you get him to save our
company since he’s such a bigshot?”
Anastasia had been trying to avoid bringing up Elliot’s name, and she was flustered to hear Naomi
even suggest this. She maintained her indifference as she retorted, “Why should he help us?”
“Why not? Your mother died protecting him! This is the least he can do for our family,” Naomi argued
like she was only stating a matter of fact.
Our family? When were we ever a family? Anastasia didn’t bother entertaining the woman’s crazy idea
and fell silent instead.
Erica was supportive of her mother as well. “Mom’s right. Elliot is a mogul and a billionaire. If he
intervenes, I’m sure Dad’s old rival would be so intimidated that he’d back out of the acquisition
altogether!”
There was an unreadable look in Francis’ eyes. He had stayed quiet throughout this, but he did sneak
a glance at Anastasia, and she did not miss the pleading look on his face. Desperate times called for
desperate measures, and he was very much desperate.
Suddenly, he said, “Naomi, go home and take Erica with you. Alex, could you drop them off at the
house?”
Alex was stunned at first, but he quickly nodded and replied, “Very well. Mrs. Tillman, Miss Erica, I’ll be
dropping the both of you home now.”
“I have to stay and take care of you, Francis!” Naomi insisted, refusing to leave.
“I’ll be fine, and I have Anastasia here to take care of me. Besides, having all of you here is
aggravating. Go home,” he said firmly, his patience for both Naomi and Erica wearing thin.
Upon seeing that her husband was determined to have her leave the room, Naomi said to Erica, “Come
on, let’s go back.”
Meanwhile, Erica was filled with bitter jealousy as she glowered at Anastasia. Why does she get to
stay? Is it because Dad likes her more?
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