Filed to story: The Regretful Billionaire: An Unpredicted Reunion
Marigold didn’t know what the assistant was thinking. If she did, she might have blushed again. Her relationship with Gilbert wasn’t exactly evolving.
After their kiss, things grew a little warmer between them. Although no one had pointed it out yet, Marigold felt that Gilbert might have some feelings for her. At least, things were different from before. However, she was too afraid to confront him about it.
She could wait it out. As Danika said, Marigold would be nice to him and let him get used to having her around. She cheered herself on inwardly. Then, when the elevator sounded, she grew anxious again.
As long as she was in front of Gilbert, she would grow nervous.
“Miss Wagner, Mr. Hawthorn is in the office. You can open the door and go in.” Greg brought her to the door, not intending to go in. He didn’t want to get in their way.
Marigold nodded and smiled at him. “Alright. Thank you.”
Greg was dazed by her smile. He hadn’t recovered even after Marigold had gone in.
How could his president not fall for such a beautiful woman?
Greg was deep in thought. He obviously couldn’t understand it.
Marigold pushed the door open and saw the busy man behind the desk.
Gilbert didn’t raise his head. When the door opened, he thought it was Greg. “Get me the financial reports from March.”
After giving out his order, he busied himself again.
There were sounds of someone sifting through the desk. Unfortunately, Marigold didn’t know where the March report was. Hence, the sound of her shuffling was disruptive.
Gilbert raised his head, about to chide his assistant. He saw that it was Marigold who was shuffling through the documents. “It’s you.”
“I’m sorry. I just wanted to help.” What a pity it was that she just didn’t know where the report was.
Gilbert wasn’t mad, either. He shut the documents in his hands and asked,” It’s fine. What are you here for?”
“I…” Marigold was nervous being looked at by him. “Have you eaten?”
Gilbert frowned. He wasn’t expecting this from her. “No,” he answered.
For some reason, Marigold smiled. “I brought you dinner. Have some before you work again.”
Then, she took out the lunchbox she had brought. The food was exquisite, and they were all Gilbert’s favorites. It was obvious she had put a lot of thought into it. Seeing her take the food out, Gilbert felt satisfied for some reason.
“Eat.” Marigold handed him a fork and stood next to him.
They held their gazes for a moment before Gilbert said, “Did you come here just to bring me dinner?”
“Yes. It’s not good for you to skip dinner every day.” It was terrible, in fact.
Gilbert didn’t think much of it. When he got busy, he would not feel hungry. And when he got home, it was already late at night. He would sleep after washing up, and once he slept, he wouldn’t feel hungry either.
However, he was moved when he saw the food before him.
“Thank you,” he said after a moment.
No matter what, he was happy.
When Marigold heard him thank her, she was stunned and pleased. She was worried that Gilbert would refuse her kindness. Now it seemed that things weren’t as bad as she thought.
As he was deep in thought, the door to the meeting room opened. He looked over instinctively.
Gilbert, who was in a navy suit, walked into the meeting room. His gaze was calm, and he looked at Octavius emotionlessly. He sat on the couch, then finally glared at him. “What are you here for?” he said in an unpleasant tone. That was to be expected. He didn’t feel very warmly toward the Bradshaws.
Octavius snapped back to reality. He looked at the total stranger of a son before him, suddenly at a loss for words. He no longer saw that child on Gilbert’s face. He was a stranger, an intimidating one at that.
He took a deep breath and said, “I…You know that I am your father, don’t you?”
If he could investigate Gilbert, Gilbert could investigate him, too.
Gilbert didn’t answer. He asked, “I don’t care who you are. Why are you here?”
Octavius paled, not expecting Gilbert to be this rude. “Son, you truly wandered off and got lost back then. Your mother and I have tried to find you all these years. You can’t blame us for that!”
Gilbert sneered, saying nothing.
“On top of that, you were already six or seven years old when you got lost. You should have remembered us. Why didn’t you try to find us?” According to Octavius’ logic, even if Gilbert was kidnapped and had no way of escape, he should have had the power to find them when he grew older. But he didn’t. If Esther hadn’t found him, they might never have known that their son was in Bardoff City and had grown to be so brilliant.
Gilbert was nonchalant at first. But when he heard Octavius’ words, he grew bewildered. “You’re saying I was six or seven when I got lost?”
“That’s right. I even got you to memorize our phone numbers. Logically speaking, you would have contacted us the moment you could.” Octavius just couldn’t understand why Gilbert had never reached out to them all these years.
Gilbert frowned. He sensed that something was amiss.
He had no memories before the age of seven. His memories only began with Danika’s grandfather picking him up.
He desperately searched for his memories, but he remembered nothing at all. In fact, a sting of pain shot through his brain, and he paled instantly.
Octavius held him up quickly. He was worried. “Are you trying to remember? It’s okay if you don’t. As long as you know that both your parents love you very much, and we were very upset when we lost you. We’re very happy to have found you and want you to come home to us. That’s your real home!”
Gilbert felt disgusted by Octavius’ touch. He pushed him away. “I will not go back with you.”
“Son…”
“I am not your son,” Gilbert interrupted. He was extremely cold. “No matter whose fault it was, I’ve already been away from the Bradshaws for so long.
I don’t need parents anymore.”
So what if Octavius was telling the truth? Gilbert didn’t care.
“Gilbert, the Bradshaws are stronger than you think. Even if you don’t want to claim us, are you really going to let go of all that property?” Octavius had surveyed Gilbert before, and he knew that he was strong. It wasn’t easy developing his company to this extent alone.
But even then, Hawthorn Inc could not compare to Bradshaw Operations.
He felt that as long as Gilbert was smart, he would not forfeit the chance to inherit Bradshaw Operations.
Bradshaw Operations?
Gilbert seemed to be considering Octavius’ words. Octavius’ eyes lit up, feeling that he had piqued Gilbert’s interest.
“Besides the property that everyone thinks we have, we have a lot of property hidden under the radar. If we were to compare, the Bradshaws would not be worse off than the Quinceys,” Octavius said.
Gilbert smiled lightly. He looked at Octavius in amusement. “You seem very interested in Bradshaw’s property.”
Octavius went quiet. Frankly speaking, why would he willingly marry into that family if it weren’t for their property? Despite his courteousness to Esther all these years, he was still not respected in the Bradshaw family. Their inheritance had nothing to do with him.
Outsiders thought he was living the good life, but Octavius knew he was no more than a rug to the Bradshaws.
He knew he had no hope, but he didn’t want to give up. He would be happy to see Bradshaw Operations falling into Gilbert’s hands in the end. No matter what, Gilbert was his son. Biologically speaking, that meant that he was part of Octavius, too.
As for Eli, even if Gilbert weren’t found, it would be difficult for Eli to inherit Bradshaw Operations with his bastardly character. There were no fools in the Bradshaw family.
Gilbert’s smile held a note of intrigue. “Since you want the Bradshaws’ property so much, why don’t I lend you a helping hand?”
“What do you mean?” Octavius frowned, feeling unhappy. Even after saying so much, Gilbert didn’t seem very interested in the Bradshaws’ property. Gilbert leaned against the sofa and looked at
Octavius in contempt. ‘You can help me spy on the inner workings of Bradshaw Operations, and I’ll devour them whole. When that time comes, I’ll cut you a percentage of the shares. You will not worry for the rest of your life, and you’ll have tons of cash in your hands.”
Octavius couldn’t believe that these words were coming from Gilbert’s lips. He widened his eyes, stunned. “Why would you do that?”
As long as Gilbert so much as nodded, he would be able to inherit the Bradshaws. Wouldn’t it belong to him he have to make things so difficult? On top of that, did he even have the power to devour the Bradshaws?
“I don’t like being called a Bradshaw. I like being a Hawthorn.” He wanted to change the Bradshaws’ name to that of his.
Octavius was in a daze.
“You can consider it slowly. There’s no rush. I have plenty of time.” Devouring the Bradshaws was easier said than done. Gilbert had to put a lot of time and effort into preparing for it.
Octavius looked at the person before him. He could see that Gilbert was not joking. He truly wanted to devour the Bradshaws.
Octavius retracted his gaze. He looked solemn and a little angry. “What makes you think that I’ll help you? I’m living quite well already in the
Bradshaw family.”
“Really? Do you honestly think relying on your wife for everything is great?” Gilbert could read him like a book. Octavius’ eyes had lit up when he spoke of the property. Gilbert was sure that Octavius had been after the properties when he married into the family but was not expecting Esther to be so capable. She hadn’t given him the slightest chance to infiltrate the inner workings of Bradshaw Operations.
And after so many years, Octavius was stuck where he was. He was getting a little panicky.
Octavius said nothing. He knew Gilbert thoroughly researched his standing in the Bradshaw family. He didn’t have to worry about anything in that family, but he had not married into their family to simply not be worried.
‘ Are you sure that you can take control of the Bradshaws?” Octavius was moved, but he doubted Gilbert’s abilities.
Gilbert smiled. Things seemed to be going smoother than he expected. He hadn’t expected Octavius to go against the Bradshaws so easily. He thought he would have to work to convince him.
The corners of his lips curled upward. “I can’t do it alone, but I have the Zellwegers and the Quinceys backing me up. With their combined forces, don’t you think I’d be able to do it?”
“If you count them in, you’d be able to. But are you sure they wouldn’t plunder the Bradshaws for themselves once everything is settled?” Octavius had heard that Gilbert was close with Danika, but no one could be trusted in the face of profit.
Gilbert sneered, not taking him to heart. “This is my business. You don’t have to think about it. You only need to be sure you obtain a large amount of money.”
Octavius was stunned. That made sense.
‘ Alright. I’ll work with you.” After so many years of being a househusband, he had enough. Once he had the money, he wanted to live a luxurious life.