Chapter 19
Shane paused to create suspense, then continued, “You won’t be able to make me believe you without a logical reason.”
No one would be able to place their faith in a woman who claimed to want to work with them when they’d only seen each other once. To make matters worse, said woman was a competitor’s wife.
Sage understood this. She chuckled and said, “What if I were to tell you that.” we have the same goal?”
“Oh? Is your goal to take Ian down?” Shane was interested again.
“I can’t guarantee I can do anything to Ian’s other businesses, but I have to raze Bolton Investment to the ground!”
Bolton Investment was managed by Ivy. The torture Sage had gone through at the mental institution in her previous life made it clear that even if she didn’t want to fight with Ivy, Ivy wouldn’t let her off the hook.
If that were the case, Sage would settle the score with Ivy. She wanted to get even for everything she’d suffered in her previous life!
“I heard that you love Mr. Holcomb with your life, Mrs. Holcomb. You only managed to marry him after chasing him for years. Why are you suddenly trying to take him down? Have you turned on him?” Shane asked.
Sage’s smile faded a little. Before this, she’d hesitated over making an enemy out of Ian. But last night, when she’d asked him whether he would get together with Ivy after their divorce, he hadn’t denied it. This had immediately wiped her doubts away.
In her previous life, Ian had allowed Ivy to interfere with the mental institution’s operations. He’d aided and abetted her!
“I came here with utmost sincerity, Mr. Morrison,” Sage said. “100 million.
dollars isn’t considered much, but it’s still a considerable sum–and it’ll al be in your hands. If I can join your company, I’ll only be involved in the investment side of things.
“I won’t stick my nose into your confidential matters. No matter how you think about it, you’re not losing out. Or are you so afraid of Ian setting a trap for you that you don’t even have the courage to work with me?”
“Ooh, a challenge. I like it.” Shane was thoroughly interested now. “I’m very interested in working with you, Mrs. Holcomb. I’ll need to see how you perform, though–let’s start with you scoring the deal with Mimosa.”
“Sure,” Sage agreed readily. “I need to catch up with Bolton Investment, so send me everything you have on this project. I’ll give you a workable proposal in return before we decide on the details.
“Alright.” Shane held out a hand, looking like he was in a good mood. ” Here’s to hoping that we work well together, Mrs. Holcomb.”
Sage held out a hand as well. “Thanks for giving me a chance, Mr. Morrison. But please, don’t call me Mrs. Holcomb from now on. Either my name or Ms. Joyner is fine.”
Sage went to another hospital to pick up her medical report after leaving Shane’s hospital room. Aside from being a little anemic due to her frequent dieting, she was fine.
Sage sighed in relief. Her health was her most important asset. Even if it was just anemia, she couldn’t ignore it. She followed the doctor’s instructions and bought some supplements before returning to Solaris
Estate.
Meanwhile, at Holcomb Corporation’s president’s office, Terry was
reporting the results of his investigation to Ian. It was pretty much the same as what Ian already knew.
2/5
sage had been completely normal before stepping into the apartment with the fruits she’d bought. She’d been stunned by something after knocking on the door. Then, she’d charged into the apartment.
“I looked into the woman who was in Ms. Shekdotter’s apartment last night she’s Ms. Shekdotter’s distant relative. Her son got into a spot of trouble a couple of days ago; she was probably there to ask Ms. Shekdotter for some money,” Terry said.
Jan asked, “Is there any bad blood between Sage and the woman’s son?”
“I’ve looked into that, but no. The woman and her son only came to Haldon City this year. They were living in the countryside before this. Mrs. Holcomb barely leaves the house; she can’t possibly have bumped into them anywhere.”
So, why had Sage suddenly gone mad? Was it really like Ivy had said? Had Sage been taking out her anger on Ivy because he’d reprimanded her? If that were the case, Sage was a wonderful actress. She’d fooled him when getting
out of the car.
“There’s something else about Mrs. Holcomb, sir, but I’m not sure whether I should tell you about it…” Terry piped up.
“What is it?”
Terry pulled out his phone and handed it to Ian. Ian took it and saw some surveillance footage of the company’s lobby.
In the video, Sage was stopped by the receptionist and told that she couldn’t see Ian without an appointment. Sage had then handed the receptionist an envelope and asked her to pass it to Ian. Yet the receptionist had thrown the envelope into the trash can and mocked Sage.
Sage had been arguing with the receptionist when Ian and Terry showed up.
“A member of the board of directors lost his tie clip when he came to the company a few days ago. I happened to see this when I was checking the
3/5
surveillance footage for him,” Terry explained.
Tan didn’t say anything. The footage was enough to prove that Sage hadn’t been lying that day. The receptionist had framed her.
Hadn’t Sage always been obnoxious and willful? Why would she allow a receptionist to step all over her?
Just then, the video played to the part where Ian said, “You’re the one in the wrong, yet you keep trying to shift the blame. You’re beyond rescue, Sage!”
The video clearly showed how Sage’s face had fallen. Then, she’d laughed self–deprecatingly before pulling out the divorce agreement.
Suddenly, Ian felt vexed. He frowned.
At his silence, Terry said tentatively, “Mr. Holcomb
“Get out.
Π
Terry didn’t budge.
“Didn’t you hear me?”
Terry said,
My phone, sir.”
Ian threw the phone at him and ordered coldly, “Fire that receptionist and send out word that no one is to hire her. Also, have HR intensify its pre- placement training.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll make sure to tell everyone that Mrs. Holcomb is to be allowed straight up to your office whenever she drops by,” Terry said.
Ian looked up at him. He wanted to say that Terry was being impudent, but a sudden annoyance took over him when the words were on the tip of his tongue. “Get out!”
Terry backed out of the office respectfully.
Shane was efficient. When Sage arrived home, all the information on
Mimosa had already been sent to her e–mail.
