Chapter 38 Rachel’s Mother’s Shares
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Henry’s frown deepened. “Do you want people thinking I don’t care about my own daughter? That would make me a joke.”
Phoebe quickly jumped in. “Rachel, you’re not a little girl anymore. Why not let your father arrange a job for you at the company? You’re a woman–no need to overdo it. The Freeman family can support you. Just pick an easy role to keep yourself occupied.”
“Exactly,” Henry agreed. “What do you say?”
Rachel raised an eyebrow, her smile cool and distant. “An easy role to pass the time?” she echoed. “If I’m not mistaken, doesn’t my mother own shares in the company too?”
At those words, Henry’s expression shifted.
Rachel went on calmly, “Mrs. Freeman is absolutely right–the Freeman family can afford to support me. But if my mother’s shares were transferred to me, that would make me a shareholder, wouldn’t it? Even if I chose not to work and just enjoyed life every day, I’d still have more than enough to live on.”
Her words completely threw Henry off.
Neither Ella nor Phoebe had expected Rachel to bring that up so directly.
Henry made a snap decision. “Why are you in such a rush? Do you think you can just sit back and collect money as a shareholder? Have you considered what the other shareholders would think?”
“Then give me my mother’s shares first, and I’ll join the company. I can work and learn at the same time.”
“You-!”
Phoebe quickly reached for Henry’s hand, giving him a subtle but pointed look. “Let’s not ruin the meal–we just sat down. Can’t this wait until after dinner?”
Picking up on her cue, Henry took a breath and forced himself to settle down.
“We’ll talk about it later,” he said, his voice more measured. “Let’s eat first.”
Rachel’s eyes narrowed slightly. She wasn’t in a rush to demand the shares–now that the subject was out, she could afford to wait. But she hadn’t missed Phoebe’s quiet signal to Henry… and she didn’t like what it implied.
There was something off about this meal.
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Chapter 38 Rachel’s Mother’s Shares
+10 Free Coins
Elsewhere in the same villa complex, Zane sat on the couch in the living room, his eyelids twitching slightly as he worked to keep his emotions in check while listening to Freddy Collin.
“So, based on everything we’ve found, the reason Jordan was able to get close to Rachel so easily comes down to two things–that night he swooped in like a hero and ‘saved‘ her, and the fact that he happens to know a few of her friends from overseas.”
“That’s why things between them progressed so fast. Zane, if this keeps going, Rachel might actually fall for Jordan–and that’s not going to end well for you.”
On the other end of the couch, Shawn Naver, adjusting his gold–rimmed glasses, coughed lightly into his fist and kept shooting Freddy warning looks.
But Freddy, completely unaware, missed every single cue.
Shawn frowned and glanced at Zane, whose expression had remained dark throughout the conversation. “Even if the investigation shows Rachel and Jordan are getting close quickly, I don’t believe she’d do anything to compromise the project.”
Freddy raised an eyebrow. “And why’s that?”
Shawn let out a small sigh and rolled his eyes. “Because Rachel didn’t come back entirely by choice–this was Davis‘ call. In other words, she’s working with Zane because her mentor asked her to. She wouldn’t go against him.”
Freddy’s eyes lit up. “So Rachel didn’t deliberately choose to work with Zane to get his attention?”
Shawn found the question odd, but nodded. “That’s what it looks like for now. Besides, didn’t Zane say Rachel told Mr. Jenkins Senior she’d leave the country once the project was over?”
As the two of them kept chattering, Zane suddenly asked, “When did you buy a villa here?”
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