Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion >>
Marigold’s case was finally closed, and Danika reaped huge rewards from the incident that gave her a good scare.
When she looked into the operations of the garment factory, she was surprised to find that Paul had been raking in a few hundred million annually through this asset. Even if she sat back and did nothing, she would earn a considerable amount yearly.
She felt rather uncomfortable at the discovery as she finally realized that Paul had given up the cash cow purely for the sake of his friendship with Eustace. Had it not been for Eustace, he would have gotten into a huge fight with her and refused to cave in, given his personality.
She hesitantly knocked on the door to Eustace’s hospital room. When she entered the room, she found him. working instead of resting.
“What’s wrong?” Eustace thought something had happened when he saw her.
She walked up and handed him the agreement she had signed with Paul. “I looked into this factory and found out that it makes a huge profit annually. Paul wouldn’t have agreed to give it up if it were not for you.”
“Don’t worry about that. Marigold is the daughter of the Wagner Family-she’s worth more than you thought,” he comforted her.
“You own 40% of the shares in this factory,” she mumbled. Eustace’s share ownership was higher than she had anticipated-she initially thought he owned only 5%.
He shut his laptop and said with a smile, “No worries. Paul will compensate me for the loss.”
“Stop hiding the truth from me. You’d be lucky if he doesn’t ask you for compensation.” Danika was not naive; she knew full well that she had taken advantage of Paul in the transaction. There was no way Paul would compensate Eustace, his shareholder.
He was surprised by her meticulous consideration but added, “Paul doesn’t need that money.”
“That’s his problem, and I don’t care about him anyway.” She had planned to have Paul suffer losses, and things went her way. However, she was greatly indebted to Eustace in the process. After some deliberation, she announced, “How about this? I’ll let you keep your 40% shares in the factory.”
“It’s fine.” He shook his head. “I never put in any effort to run the factory anyway. Paul was the one managing it.”
“That’s your business with him. We’re now talking about this business between us. It’s different.” Danika refused to be indebted to Eustace. Whether or not she liked him, she would rather keep their relationship free of such entanglements.
Eustace held a different opinion. The more Danika wanted to set boundaries, the more upset he became.” Danika, do you really need to draw clear boundaries with me?”
“No, I didn’t…”
“You make me feel like my efforts are useless.” He leaned against the headboard and flashed a bitter smile, looking miserable. Somehow, his actions seemed meaningless to Danika, and she never displayed any hint of enthusiasm at his efforts.
Danika felt bad and quickly explained, “I didn’t mean that. I just don’t want to be too indebted to you.”
“Why? Is it because you don’t have feelings for me?” He was perplexed.
“Yeah.” She nodded but shook her head again. “I need to set clear boundaries if I’m not interested in you. But I need to do it more when I’m interested in you.”
He frowned, forming a guess in his heart, but he couldn’t be sure of the meaning behind her words. “What does that mean?”
“Eustace Quincey, everyone in Parrington knows you’re remarkable. People might think I’m not good enough for you if I date you, and I don’t want to be perceived as such. Even if I’m with you, I want to stand by your side as an equal rather than behind you. Got it?”
She acknowledged that Eustace was a great man, but she wanted everyone to know she was also an exceptional woman.
At that moment, Danika shone brightly in Eustace’s eyes. He stared at her admiringly for some time. “Danika.” Feeling touched and excited, he asked, “Does that mean you’re willing to be my girlfriend?” “No.” To his disappointment, she shook her head. She added, “I need more time for observation.”
His eyes lit up, and he grinned. “Sure. I can wait.” As long as she was working toward accepting his feelings, he could afford to wait.
Danika changed the topic and brought up the factory, “I will have someone draft a new agreement and get it delivered to you. You’ll own 40% of the shares, just like before.”
“I don’t need that many shares. 10% is enough for me,” he replied. He no longer turned down her offer, but he refused to accept all the shares. Seeing her frown, he explained, “You deserve the factory. It was Marigold who wanted to take your life. You’re worth more than the factory.”
If Paul were not a friend, Eustace would have gotten everyone in the Wagner Family to make it up to Danika. and even that would not have sufficed.
“But…I owe my life to you.” She flashed a bitter smile. It seemed that she was more indebted to Eustace than she had thought.
“That’s a different matter. Don’t use the shares to make it up to me.”He chuckled. “You’ll have to marry me if you want to repay me for saving your life.”
Danika rolled her eyes at his unserious attitude despite being injured. “You’d better rest well. I’m waiting. for you to make dinner for me.” She walked to the door and waved at him before leaving.
He was euphoric after Danika left. Finally, he could see the fruits of his labor-Danika had started to open her heart to him. With time, he would eventually get her to accept his love.
When Vincent arrived at the room, he was shocked by the stupid grin on Eustace’s face.
“Mr. Quincey, are you alright?” Vincent secretly worried about the future of the Quincey Group for a second as Eustace looked like he was wrong in the head. He started thinking hard, even when he was ignored by Eustace. Soon, he seemed to figure it out. “Has Miss Zellweger agreed to be your girlfriend?”
That was the only thing that could evoke such joy in Eustace.
“Not yet,” Eustace answered. Vincent looked puzzled. “If so, why are you…”
“Soon.” After some thinking, Eustace decided to share the details of Danika’s response with Vincent because he lacked confidence in reading her reaction. “Do you think she’s going to say yes to me soon?”
“Yeah.” Vincent nodded. “I think Miss Zellweger is hinting that your confession is not formal enough. It’s too casual.”
“What do you mean?” Eustace sat up straight and put on a serious face. Vincent almost burst out laughing. Even since Eustace fell in love with Danika, he seemed to have changed in a good way. He was more approachable compared to his icy personality from before.
“Girls love a romantic confession. I think Miss Zellweger expects the same too.” Despite being single for his entire life, Vincent expressed his opinion freely. Eustace fell silent and gave it some thought. Indeed, he had always asked Danika to be his girlfriend in a casual manner. Perhaps, that was the real reason she refused to accept his confession!
He perked up after making sense of the situation. “What do you think I should do?”
“Um…” Vincent looked embarrassed. “I’ve never confessed to any girl in my life.” He had never had a crush on anyone his entire life, so he lacked the experience to offer any advice.
“Draft ten proposals for me within today,” Eustace instructed, overlooking the fact that Vincent was inexperienced in relationships. Vincent was about to tell him so, but he shut his mouth after hearing what Eustace said next.
“111 double your year-end bonus.”
Vincent instantly became invigorated upon hearing the reward. He declared with a righteous air, complete the mission.”
He thought, “Sure, I might have lacked the experience, but so what? I can run some searches on the Internet. If I run out of ideas, I can ask for the advice of those in Quincey Group with relationship experiences. There has to be something I can come up with.”