Chapter 599 Strategem
Nathaniel had always been independent-minded since he was a child. Nobody could ever influence his decisions.
Thus, Charlie had already gotten used to Nathaniel’s aloof response to his advice.
Nathaniel caught the ball Lucas had accidentally kicked in his direction and stood up casually.
“I will protect my family.”
He strode toward the children following that haughty declaration.
Julia appeared beside Charlie with a platter of fruits. She watched as he took a sip of tea while staring fixedly at his cup, so she asked, “Penny for your thoughts?”
Charlie sighed. “He’s become more capable than me. My son, indeed.”
Julia fell silent for a split second as she could make neither head nor tail of her husband’s remark, which came out of nowhere. She then laughed. “Well, of course. I gave birth to him, after all. I think he takes
after me.”
Smiling wordlessly, Charlie wisely refrained from making a comment lest he was sentenced to spend the Tight in the study.
That night, the Hadley residence was filled with laughter and chatter while the Gibson residence was enveloped in an awful, tense gloom.
Azure had received a call from the kidnappers demanding twenty million in ransom, which was to be collected by daybreak and sent to a location of their choosing at a predetermined time.
Seized by panic, she sought Timothy and Yerek to discuss a strategy: the latter only found out about Anya’s kidnapping that night.
After Azure relayed the whole situation, Yerek raised several points of concern.
The kidnappers did not immediately demand a ransom after getting their hands on Anya. Instead, they waited almost a full day to call her family.
Yerek thought the behavior strange, as kidnappers had no other motives for committing such a risky crime aside from money.
Azure had gotten on in years, and Anya was the apple of her eye. As such, she lost her usual cool when she heard the kidnappers would kill the girl if the ransom was not delivered, causing the entire Gibson family to descend into complete chaos.
As she was in no shape to make sense of Yerek’s concerns, he was forced to appease her first.
“Don’t worry, Grandma. Under ordinary circumstances, the kidnappers would not do anything rash before getting the ransom. Anya will be safe.”
“A ransom of twenty million! It would’ve been easy for us to gather that sum of money in the past, but. with the current predicament that the Gibson family is in, there is no way we can ama*s this amount.”
“There will be a way. Don’t worry.”
“Your uncle remains locked up, and your father’s health precludes him from helping Anya can only count on you. Yerck. I have some jewelry. Sell them and get some
money in Turn”
After calming Azure down, Yerek calculated the liquid cash he had on hand which amounted to only at million, which was still a long way off from twenty million
If he could resell the shares of Gibson Corporation, he might be able to put together that sum over the next few hours.
As the shares he was supposed to inherit were transferred to Christina, only Nigel still had some on hand.
A plan appeared, fully formed, in Yerek’s mind. He dialed a number. “I need you to head to Jadeborough and do something for me at once.”
That night, a lawyer entered a detention center with a briefcase.
Nigel looked at the lawyer as though seeing his savior. “When can I leave this godforsaken place?”
“Mr. Yerek has sent me here to discuss something urgent with you,” the lawyer announced impa*sively.
He briefly relayed Yerek’s message. When Nigel heard that Yerek wanted to sell his shares in exchange for ransom, he exploded.
“No way! I will never have a say in the company again if I sell my shares.”
“Please reconsider, Mr. Gibson. Are your shares more important than your daughter’s life? Mr. Yerek will take over Gibson Corporation one day. He will not cast you aside.”
Nigel collapsed onto the icy cold stool, reeling from the devastating news.
No matter what Yerek promises me, it will never be as rea*suring as the power remaining in my hands.
Nigel was not going to give up without a fight. “What about my brother? He still has shares in Gibson Corporation’s subsidiary company. Besides, he’s always been useless. There’s no point in holding on to those shares if he can’t manage the company. Why don’t you ask Yerek to convince him to sell his? If that isn’t enough, have him sell the properties under his name. He’s relying on my child to support him until he dies, anyway. The money will be ours sooner or later.”
Nigel’s greed and selfishness took the lawyer by surprise.
If he were not Yerek’s right-hand man and if it had been somebody else who had a*signed him the case, he would have flung the documents at the despicable man’s face back in his youth.
The lawyer frowned. “Even if your brother agreed to sell the a*sets under his name, Mr. Gibson, there’s not enough time. There’s currently a buyer willing to pay handsomely for Gibson Corporation’s shares. If you would just say the word, the ransom can be put together just like that.”
The lawyer could tell Nigel was beginning to hesitate, so he employed every tactic of persuasion up his sleeve and in half an hour, managed to convince Nigel to sign the agreement detailing the transfer of his shares.
The lawyer put the documents away as he rose, regarding Nigel as he did so. “Mr. Yerek is doing all he can to get you out of here. Be patient for a few more days.”
Nigel nodded dejectedly. The lawyer turned to leave.
k sedan outside the detention center, he pa*sed the document to the man in the back seat.
“Everything has been done per your instructions, Mr. Gibson.”
“Excellent. There’s one more thing I need you to do: contact Mr. Stone.”
After the Gibson family fell from grace, those who used to do anything to curry favor with Yerek avoided. him. They either ridiculed him to his face or backstabbed him.
The only person who is willing to approach me is Sheridan.
Sheridan had put him in touch with potential partners and even worked with him on some projects. Thus, it took no time at all for the pair to become fast friends.
Sheridan had offered to lend Yerek some money to deal with the crisis Gibson Corporation was facing, but Yerek was too proud to accept his help. Opting instead to solve the problem on his own to make a name for himself among the Gibson family, he rejected the help.
However, the overwhelming deficit was not something Yerek could patch up, no matter how capable he
Sheridan once again offered to help, but he went about it a different way. He asked to buy Gibson Corporation’s shares and become a shareholder.
Yerek thought it was the most practical and effective method so far and lamented the absence of shares in his possession to make a decision.
Before he managed to discuss the matter with Nigel and Timothy, however. Anya’s kidnapping case arose
Improvising along the sudden turn of events, Yerek managed to obtain Nigel’s shares.
After making contact with Sheridan, both parties quickly came to an agreement and pulled an all-nighter to finalize the deal. Sheridan readily transferred twenty million to Yerek along with an additional five million.
He thought of it as a loan that Yerck would pay back after dealing with the crisis in Gibson Corporation.
Yerck accepted it gratefully. After taking care of that, he called Azure.
“I’m really sorry, Grandma. I only managed to put together five million.”
