JASON WAS BEHIND IT
Rory and Victor had been suspecting that Jason had a hand in the sudden financial crisis her company had experienced during the past few months and the wave from the competitor, Nexus Innovations, who has been trying to outdo them. The woman who came with the twin boys to claim Rory’s husband as the father of her kids also claimed that the one behind it had always reached her with a private number. The only thing is, when she had checked that number, it was no longer in existence.
While she thinks about this, she taps away on her computer silently and quickly, trying to hack into Jason's device and access his location.
“Not so fast, little Miss Hacker?”
Rory was stunned, she had been blocked. It is no surprise that Julian is in the tech industry, too, so Jason must have picked up a few skills. While she was still thinking about this, his voice rang out.
“I had built and protected the Blackwoods software for years, why do you think you can access my phone so easily?” He chuckled then continued. “Well, I must give it to you; you've got some skills there, the way you were able to pull up your schemes during my father's launch seven years ago; I mean, that was brilliant; even I couldn't stop it.” He let out a bitter laugh.
Her fingers tightened around the phone. “What do you want Jason?”
Jason chuckled. “That’s no way to greet an old friend.”
Rory’s jaw clenched. “Cut the games, Jason. What do you want? Why are you after my company?”
Jason let out a slow exhale, then with deliberate cruelty; he said, “Oh that, nothing much; I just thought you should hear it from me first; your industries are about to take a massive hit.”
Her stomach twisted. “What are you talking about?”
Jason’s voice dripped with amusement. “I can’t touch your empire, Rory. We both know that I don’t even have to. All I need to do is make one of your subsidiaries crumble, create enough chaos and get the right investors to panic. And then, well… you know how quickly an empire can fall when its foundation starts to crack.”
Rory’s grip tightened on the phone. “You’re targeting one of my companies.”
“Bingo,” Jason said smugly. “And judging by the news cycle, I would say it’s working.”
Rory’s heart pounded. She had built her company to withstand attacks, but Jason wasn’t going after the entire structure. He was attacking a single point of weakness, one of her subsidiaries. If he made it unstable enough, he could trigger a domino effect.
Victor was watching her closely. “What’s he saying?”
Rory ignored the question, her voice ice-cold as she spoke into the phone.
“You think you can shake me, Jason? You’re not the first to try.”
“Oh, I don’t need to shake you, sweetheart,” Jason murmured. “I just need to make everyone else believe you’re slipping.”
“What do you want?” She asked again with a sharper tone.
“Have lunch with me by the weekend, and I will tell you about it. I will email you the address on Saturday, by noon.” He responded lazily.
“What?”
The line went dead.
Rory lowered the phone, her pulse was hammering.
Victor’s voice was sharp. “What did he say?”
Rory exhaled slowly, her mind already spinning with strategy.
“He’s not trying to take over my company,” she said. “He is trying to destabilize it, and create fear within my circle of investors.”
Victor’s expression darkened. “Then we need to cut him off before he can do any damage.”
Rory nodded, her eyes steely with determination. “I need to think carefully about my next move, " he asked to meet up with me at noon on Saturday. I want to hear everything he has to say.”
Victor's breath hitched. “Meet up with him? For what? You're not going, or better still I'm coming with you.” He demanded.
“Relax, it's just Jason, I can handle him”
“What if he tries to harm you or do something stupid?”
“Don't worry, I can handle him. We have unfinished business; I need to see him alone.” She said coldly, her voice sounded somewhat dangerous.
Victor looked at her and wondered what she could be capable of. His wife may appear fragile and weak from the outside, but she had controlled an empire alone for years, fought and brought down rivals on her own. Was there more to this woman than he already knows?
Even at that, he wasn't comfortable with the idea of meeting Jason alone. As he was about to protest, a little voice interrupted them.
“Mummy, Daddy, can I sleep in your rook tonight?” Sweet Ami called out while running to their bed.
“Sure sweetheart.” They responded unanimously.
The little girl jumped on the bed and lay down between them. She has always loved the peace that existed between her parents and had been very concerned when they fought for the first time. Her mother even slept in the guest room for two days during the fight, and it broke her heart. Now they are back together. Ami was so happy as she lay in bed with them. With the thoughts in her heart, she fell asleep.
The couple watched in silence as she slept off. The events of the day still weigh heavily on their minds. Jason’s call had proved their suspicion; he was behind all the chaos they had experienced the past months, and he was ready for a war.
While Rory thought of strategies to fight back against Jason, Victor was secretly planning to get some of his secret bodyguards to follow after and protect her.
After Rory learnt the truth about years back, she regretted that she had made the Blackwoods go through so much trouble in her quest for revenge. She tried to make things up with Julian and helped him rebuild his empire. However, she still owed lots of apologies to Jason, he trusted and loved her, he even fought his father for her because he thought Rory genuinely loved him.
Finding out then that she was only using him to get back at his father, at them, must have really broken him. She thought back to what he had just said. “I built and have protected the Blackwood software for many years now.” To think that Jason had been a part of the Blackwoods industry since he was a child. The fall of the empire back them. Must have really hurt him.
She thought about it, it would not be fair to start up a fight with him. But would he accept to make peace with her?