Chapter 206 Victor’s Justice
Bill still had matters to deal with in Eldham Town. Therefore, he promised Courtney that he would finish everything he needed to do and head to Melrose City within a week. After that, Courtney and Alexander left Eldham Town.
Inside the car, Courtney suddenly asked, “You mentioned before that a part of the control rights of Sunhill Enterprise was held by another person five years ago. Is that true?”
Alexander had both hands on the steering wheel as he looked to the front attentively. When he heard her question, he didn’t get distracted and casually responded to her question. “James is one year younger than me. At the time, he was already working in the company after finishing his undergraduate degree at a local university.
It was based on the premise that he gave up the chance to continue his master’s degree at Yale University. Therefore, he was already the vice president of Sunhill Enterprise before I even came back to the country. Grandpa cherished him very much at the time.”
Speaking of James… James left a deep impression on her when she met him at the Duncan Residence the other day. The man was in his thirties. He looked rather similar to Alexander and was quite effeminate. Moreover, he was always smiling at everybody. However, it was hard to read his true intentions clearly despite how friendly he seemed.
“So, your return made James feel threatened.” Courtney looked at Alexander unflinchingly.
“Yes.” Alexander nodded. His gaze was quite cold as he continued, “In the beginning, I only participated in the board of directors’ meetings as a shareholder of the company after my return. I later raised some questions about the company’s financial affairs. After Grandpa investigated the matter, he arranged for me to participate in the management of the company. At the time, my authority was not as great as that of James.”
Regardless of whether Alexander had participated in managing the company, his return, in and of itself, presented the greatest threat to James. After all, the entirety of Sunhill Enterprise belonged to Scott. As the largest shareholder in the company, Scott held absolute authority over the company. Furthermore, Alexander was Scott’s one and only grandson. As such, the company would be handed over to Alexander, sooner or later, so long as nothing major occurred.
“What did he do?” Courtney continued asking.
Alexander sneered, “You’ve got the right idea. What did he do? If he had not done anything, he would still be managing the company up until today. He is part of the Duncan family after all. Besides, the company fared pretty well under his management during those years he was working there. Unfortunately, he is too suspicious for his own good.”
After Alexander joined Sunhill Enterprise, James orchestrated many things as part of a smear campaign against Alexander. He wanted to make Alexander look bad in front of Scott, even going so far as to spread the rumor about Alexander’s sexual orientation. It was due to that ridiculous rumor that Scott later forced Alexander to marry by threatening him with the inheritance rights to the company.
Listening to the story made Courtney gasp in disbelief. “Then, is Jordan’s inability to speak related to him?”
James was so vigilant against Alexander. Furthermore, his position in the line of succession would be pushed back even more if there was another heir in the line. Therefore, Jordan’s existence was disadvantageous for him.
The question came out of nowhere, and Alexander frowned upon hearing it. “Are you really looking into Jordan’s affairs?”
“Did you think I was joking?” She became unhappy, her eyebrows furrowing together slightly.
“That wasn’t my intention. I won’t stop you if you want to investigate the matter. Please speak up if you need help. Don’t try to solve it on your own.”
“I know.” Her expression softened. “From what I can tell, your cousin has a plausible motive. I will look into it from this direction. In any case, you should be wary of him too. I met him at the Duncan Residence the other day. It seems like he has not gotten over what happened back then.”
When she said that, she carefully observed his expression. She didn’t want to let any minor changes in his expression go unnoticed.
He frowned slightly as if recalling something. A trace of guilt flitted across his dark eyes, but he soon relaxed again. “Don’t worry about it. Winner takes all.”
There were many ways to interpret the saying ‘winner takes all’. The simplest explanation was common knowledge: as long as one won the battle, the end justified the means. It did not matter what nasty means one used to achieve victory. Upon hearing that, she felt her hands go cold.
She couldn’t help thinking about the possibility Oliver had mentioned to her previously. It was about the possibility that Jordan’s high fever the other day had been manipulated. Thus, she tried to probe him by asking, “He must be quite a complex man. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need to compete with him for so many years.”
“That’s right. Even so, he shouldn’t have done those wicked deeds.” Alexander’s expression was cold. “No matter how fierce the business rivalry, we should only stick to business approaches. Besides, Grandpa values family harmony above all else. He should never have touched family.”
“What did he do?”
Alexander did not reply and fell silent for several seconds. “Grandpa suppressed the incident back then. I can’t say much about it.
She squeezed his hand and smiled reluctantly. “I understand.”
She had always thought of James as nothing more than a despicable good-for-nothing. However, now that things had progressed this far, she couldn’t help feeling suspicious about the incident at the Duncan Residence the other day. She had a feeling that James had known about Alexander’s return in advance and angered Alexander on purpose. Then, he later manipulated her into leaving Sunhill Enterprise and orchestrated the falling out between her and Alexander. At the time, the company’s PR team was in a chaotic mess dealing with the aftermath of the fire at the hotel. Thus, the share prices fluctuated significantly.
This entire series of events all started from that incident that occurred at the backyard of the Duncans’ ancestral home the other day. Just thinking about it filled her with horror.
Even such a shrewd man had been defeated by Alexander. Moreover, he suffered utter defeat from only one blow. Ever since James had been dismissed from the position of the vice president of Sunhill Enterprise, he failed to get involved in any matters involving the company ever again.
James’ conniving nature was detectable, but Alexander’s shrewdness was not. Therefore, it was doubtful as to whether or not Jordan’s high fever had been a decoy in one of their power struggles.
Just as the sun was about to set, Alexander’s car got off the highway. Furthermore, the phone messages indicated that they had entered Melrose City. A soft female voice rang out from the navigator, directing them to their destination.
“Where are we going?” Courtney asked, looking at the road puzzledly.
“I’m taking you to the hospital,” Alexander casually replied from beside her.
She snapped back to the present and said, “Oh, yes… We should go and check on Cameron.”
Inside the car, he wondered out loud in amusement. “Courtney, do you think that I am omnipotent while you are invulnerable?”
“Huh?” What nonsensical question is this?
“How would I know which hospital Cameron is staying at?” He glared at her. “Did you forget about the injury on your leg?”
Stunned, she finally remembered the burn wound on her leg. The doctor had advised her to change the dressing frequently for the next two days to avoid any infection due to the hot weather.
“Can you please take care of yourself first before you worry about others?” Alexander sighed helplessly. “How am I supposed to not worry about you?”
Courtney felt a sense of warmth filling her heart. She couldn’t help smiling as she teased him, “It won’t be easy. Didn’t you apologize to me? An apology isn’t just about lip service. Let’s see if you dare to put work aside during this period, stay by my side, and take care of me 24/7.”
“Do you think I won’t dare to do that?”
“You—”
lexander said nothing in response.
