"I can't tell that much. At least from what it looks like today, she'd not going to go mad and retaliate. Let's see if Eliana's going to be escorted out of the country anytime soon. No matter what, I'll put people on her from now on. If she really acts up, I'll know whenever."
"Let's go to the hospital now, then."
Georgia turned to Robert and spoke. The two were planning on heading to the hospital to see Elsie today.
After all, Elsie still had to live in the hospital these two days. Jasper was happened to be discharged today, and they could probably meet up too.
Of course, there was another important bit of business in that Robert was supposed to take Maisie back today.
Georgia wasn't going to show up, of course. She didn't want Maisie to get provoked looking at her again.
Either way, all that took a trip to the hospital, so the pair decided to head straight there from the Warner household.
They just so happened to miss Jasper when they got to the hospital, who'd already left with his family.
Georgia and Robert came in front of Elsie's room.
"Have you rested well these last two days?"
Georgia sat on the sofa and smiled as she asked. She knew that Elsie didn't like the smell of disinfectant in hospitals, which caused her not to sleep so well. But she couldn't very well leave early what with getting shot. She had to heal up in the hospital first.
"So so. Can't rest as well as sleeping at home, after all.
"When Vanessa called me a few times ago, I had to sneakily get dressed, then pretend like everything was fine while we video called just in case she found out."
Hearing Elsie mention Vanessa, Georgia thought of Alfred, and raised the topic with Elsie.
"Did Vanessa ever talk to you about Alfred? She was talking with me before and said that she felt like something was up with the Chow family, but Alfred said it was fine all along. Vanessa's a bit worried. She's seemed burdened all the time recently. I'm having Robert look into it, but we still don't know what's going on."
"Vanessa did talk about Alfred. She felt like Alfred was always tired recently, and only coming home but rarely, much like what you said. But Vanessa chatted with me over a video call this morning, and she says that today seems better. Seems like Alfred's pretty energetic, and the business is resolved. I don't know if it's true, though. I'm not sure if Alfred can take care of Vanessa properly throughout their lives."
Elsie's tone was heavy.
"I thought that if Vanessa could just forget about the past and be with her husband and child, it'd count as a peaceful life. But this time, clearly something's up with Alfred. What if this happens some more and Vanessa gets hurt? What do we do then?"
Georgia was worried about that too, and she and Elsie both grew heavy-hearted.
"How about you go over to G City to stay with her for a while after you're discharged and see what's up over there. I have to go overseas anyway, so take that time to be with Vanessa. Even if nothing happens, she'll be happy to see you."
"All right. I've wanted to see Vanessa too. She doesn't have too much in the way of friends over there and always wanted us over to visit her. You're busy with too much on this side, and planning a get-together with you will probably take a while longer. I'm not busy with anything else, so I might as well go over to live with Vanessa a while a few days after I get out of hospital, cheer her up a bit."
The two settled on that, and Wilson came inside the room, while Robert got up and said goodbye to Georgia.
They'd already decided on their afternoon itinerary.
Robert was going to take his mother home, while Georgia and Wilson were going to see Gina Williams.
After talking a while longer with Elsie, Georgia and Wilson left the hospital and got in a car bound for the headquarters of the SY Group at D City,
It was already three or so in the afternoon, but the trip to the SY Group took only forty minutes, while they got off work there at six. They could make it.
As the CEO of the SY Group, when Georgia arrived at HQ with Wilson, there were already plenty of high-level staff waiting outside.
Georgia had only wanted to see Gina, and wasn't planning on making such a grand entrance.
Still, Wilson had said that she hadn't inspected the SY headquarters in a long while. This time, having the other managers see her and think that she was here to check on them would also reinforce her presence.
Georgia didn't have anything to say against that. She went to a meeting arranged by Wilson, then sat with the managers to see their leadership's speech. She looked on as they summarized recent sales figures and the direction of the company's development.
Georgia had a basic grasp of those things when she did her paperwork, so she listened to them patiently.
After finishing the meeting, it was already five p. m. Georgia went to her office.
After waiting patiently like that for a few minutes, Wilson brought Gina Williams to her office.
Right now, of course, Gina didn't know why the new CEO wanted to see her.
But as prime assistant for the CEO, Wilson usually managed plenty of business at HQ, so having him ask her over, Gina was on guard.
After entering the office, Georgia smiled and had Gina sit.
Seeing Georgia's friendly attitude, Gina was even more befuddled. She sat down hesitantly.
"Did you call me over for something, ma'am?"
"Wilson told me that you're an excellent worker who's done well in the company, working hard to rise to the occasion. So I want you to answer a question with full honestly. If you can give me the real reason, we can let this go."
Georgia had looked at Gina's profile beforehand and she really did excel at business.
Whether Gina had rejected the Duran Group's contract for objective reasons, or a private grudge, she was willing to give her a chance. She appreciated a capable woman like this, and didn't want to go straight to cutting off an old employee of the company.
Gina frowned. She didn't quite take Georgia's meaning.
"If you have anything to say, ma'am, you can just give it to me straight."
"A while ago, the current head of the Duran family, Sarah Duran, came to meet me, and said you denied the Duran family's proposed cooperation directly. So she came to me personally and wanted to get our companies to work together. I had people check it, and the contract they offered counts as a partnership that has potential for profit. Our SY Group has the technology, they have the oil field. We wouldn't be worse off stock-wise in the partnership, and a rough estimate even gives significant returns. Why did you shoot it down? I want to know the real reason."
At that, Gina's face changed.
Her gaze was somewhat complicated and she didn't answer Georgia's question straight away. She seemed to be thinking of something.
Georgia waited in patience.
"You can speak freely. Miss Duran feels like it's because you have a personal issue with her, which is why you denied it straight away without letting other employees run a risk assessment, but I want to hear your explanation."
As Georgia said that, Gina spoke sternly.
"I confess that I have a personal issue with Miss Duran and that I would not like to see her project succeed, but that was a grudge from several years ago, and not enough for me to bring it to work. I denied the partnership for another reason."
Gina was silent for a while, then continued.
"Our SY Group does have the technology, and their Duran family does have an oil field in the southeast. If we partnered up to refine the oil, no matter how you cut it, the contract does seem to give significant returns, and it doesn't seem like I should have refused. But I know something else.
"Back then, the person who bought up the island was indeed Sarah Duran's father, but it wasn't he alone who provided the capital. He had bought the island and the surrounding region up along with his friend simultaneously. Logically speaking, profits should be shared with those two parties.
"But then that friend suddenly died, and the stock shares belonging to him weren't even seen. I suspect that the property rights to this island aren't out in the open. If we really entered into that partnership, it could present problems later on. If a relative of that other party comes up and demands his property, it could get troublesome."
"How do you know about this? Do you have concrete evidence?"
Georgia had seen the contract too. Other than the Duran family, there were no other original shareholders.
Which was to say that if SY entered into the investment, the shareholders would just to them and the Duran family.
As for that so called friend of Sarah's father, it wasn't visible that they had anything to do with the island at all.
If even Wilson hadn't found this out, Georgia was curious as to why Gina knew.
"If I said that I was the daughter of that friend of Sarah's father, ma'am, would you believe me?"
Georgia was a bit shocked and hadn't thought of a reply when Gina chuckled bitterly.
"Well, it might be a bit much to call myself his daughter. When I knew, he was already dead."