Chapter 365 - 349: Mom Is Angry, How Should Dad Coax Her? (3)

He carefully placed Georgia Thorne on the bed, then lay down beside her.

"Are you going to sleep too?" Georgia turned over to face Elliot.

"I’ll lie with you for a bit." Elliot hummed in agreement, pulling the blanket over Georgia.

Georgia was very sleepy, and she fell asleep not long after closing her eyes.

When she woke up, it was already afternoon. The sun was still high in the sky.

She yawned and glanced at the time. She had slept for a solid four or five hours.

She washed her face, forced herself to wake up, and went downstairs.

Downstairs, Sharon Ennis was in the living room watching TV. "You’re awake. Are you hungry?"

"I’m okay, not too hungry. Mom, where’s Elliot?" She glanced around but didn’t see him.

"Elliot was called into the study by his father!" Sharon Ennis suddenly remembered. "Oh, that’s right! I specially made some fish soup today. Let me get you a bowl."

Georgia started to say she didn’t need any, but Sharon Ennis was already rushing into the kitchen.

A moment later, she came out with the fish soup. "Come on, have a few sips."

Ever since Sharon Ennis found out she was pregnant, she had been making all sorts of nourishing foods for Georgia—fish soup one day, chicken soup the next.

In that time, Georgia had gained a full fifteen pounds.

Just as Georgia took a sip of soup, Elliot and James Sheridan came out of the study.

Neither the father nor the son looked happy. They had clearly been arguing in the study.

As for the reason, it could only have been about the company.

She held her breath, downed the rest of the soup, and set the bowl on the table before walking over to Elliot.

"You’re up?"

Georgia hummed in acknowledgment. "You and Dad in the study... you didn’t...?"

"It’s fine. It’s almost over."

Georgia saw the serious look in his eyes and trusted that he could handle things.

Elliot had said things would happen quickly, and they did—that Friday.

Georgia saw the news: drugs had been found hidden in Erin Irving and his new wife’s apartment, and the person using them was Joanne Donovan.

In the video footage, Joanne Donovan was clearly disoriented and couldn’t even recognize anyone. She randomly grabbed a reporter, demanding drugs.

Her face was haggard, and she showed the typical symptoms of a drug user. She was immediately taken to the hospital.

The police not only apprehended the incoherent Joanne Donovan but also found a large quantity of drugs in the apartment—enough to warrant a long prison sentence.

As Joanne Donovan’s husband, Erin Irving immediately became the prime suspect.

The construction project alone was enough to have Erin Irving at his wits’ end, and now this was added to his plate.

When Erin Irving saw the news, he furiously smashed the remote against the TV screen and began pacing back and forth in his office.

He pressed the intercom and summoned his secretary.

The secretary entered, holding the files Erin Irving had requested, and stood trembling in the office.

"President Irving, I’ve brought the documents you requested."

Erin Irving crossed his arms. "What’s the Sheridan Group’s stock price down to now?"

"It opened at 30 this morning, and now it’s down to 28. President Irving, if you keep holding on, I’m afraid..." The secretary trailed off, not daring to say the rest.

Erin Irving had initially bought in at 47. After it started to plummet, he kept hedging, bringing his average cost to 44. And it was still falling.

"Calculate our remaining capital."

"I’m afraid there’s none left," the secretary said. "The government has issued an official notice forcing us to halt the construction project. We’ve already lost a lot of money on that, and we have debts to pay off. We don’t have a single penny left. President Irving, should you consider selling the Sheridan Group shares?"

Erin Irving clenched his fists. ’Someone has to be pulling the strings behind all this.’

He refused to accept losing like this—especially losing everything.

"Get me a meeting with Cedric Lynch."

"Yes, sir!"

The secretary went out to make the call and quickly returned. "Uh, President Irving... his office said that Mr. Lynch left for an out-of-town inspection two days ago. They’re afraid it’ll be a month before he’s back."

Cedric Lynch was a crucial piece of the puzzle. Without him, it would be difficult to succeed.

’It seems this Cedric Lynch is a shrewd one,’ Erin thought. ’He knew something was about to happen, so he vanished before it all went down.’

By the market’s close that afternoon, Sheridan Group’s stock had dropped to 26. Erin Irving held his nerve and still didn’t sell off his shares.

He needed the money, but he couldn’t stomach the thought of handing that bastard Elliot an easy victory.

After thinking it over the entire day, he wracked his brain for who in Portmire would orchestrate all this against him. The only person he could come up with was Elliot.

It couldn’t be anyone else.

Erin Irving refused to sell the shares he’d worked so hard to acquire, but he could only watch helplessly as the price fell, bit by bit.

His seven percent stake, dropping from 47 to 26, amounted to a loss of over twenty million in just a few days.

’Damn it!’

At Ethan Fletcher’s restaurant, Georgia followed Elliot into a private room. His usual friends, Dylan Heston and Ethan Fletcher, were already there.

Dylan Heston and Ethan Fletcher exchanged a look and called out, "Sister-in-law!"

Georgia, quite embarrassed, ducked behind Elliot. At the sound of "sister-in-law," the tips of her ears, hidden by her hair, turned red.

Tonight’s get-together wasn’t just for fun; they had originally planned to discuss their next moves.

But Elliot had brought Georgia along without any warning, so the other two men tacitly kept their mouths shut.

With raised eyebrows, they spent the whole time watching Elliot and Georgia’s public display of affection.

They were really putting on a show. Ethan Fletcher couldn’t help but click his tongue in amusement.

He couldn’t resist tapping his chopsticks against his bowl. "Hey, can you two lovebirds take your show somewhere else? Don’t just torture us two single men!"

’The single life sure is tough.’

Georgia’s face flushed red. She lowered her head and subtly tried to scoot away from Elliot, deliberately putting some distance between them.

The moment she moved, Elliot’s arm wrapped around her shoulder. He frowned and snapped at Ethan, "You’re the one who talks too much!"

Ethan Fletcher rolled his eyes in exasperation. He was lodging a protest, not just spouting nonsense.

Because Georgia was pregnant, none of the three men in the room smoked or drank; they just chatted cleanly.

When the conversation eventually turned to business, Ethan Fletcher glanced at Georgia. Elliot said, "It’s fine. Georgia already knows all about it."

"You told her everything?" Ethan Fletcher asked, surprised.

"Georgia’s not an outsider."

What surprised Ethan wasn’t whether Georgia was an outsider, but that Elliot would actually confide everything in someone else.

He never used to involve anyone else in his plans.

Ethan had to marvel. Georgia was truly a special case, constantly making Elliot break his own principles and completely upending his worldview.

He was sure that he would witness many, many more changes in Elliot in his lifetime.

Since Georgia was in the know, Ethan Fletcher and Dylan Heston no longer held back.

They laid out their upcoming plans in detail.

"Are you sure this newcomer, Cedric Lynch, has no connection to him?"

"Cedric Lynch was just transferred up from a lower-level post. He’s very different from the old guard. I heard Erin Irving tried to meet with him several times but never succeeded," Dylan Heston said. "By the way, the Joanne Donovan situation has been handled."

Although Georgia knew some of what was going on, she only understood the general outline.

Dylan skipped over the specific details; it was enough that Elliot and Ethan understood.

Some of the dirtier details weren’t suitable for Georgia to hear.

After they finished discussing business, Georgia suddenly remembered something and asked Dylan, "By the way, how come Nancy Hughes didn’t come with you today?"

An unnatural expression flickered across Dylan’s face. "She didn’t tell you?"

"Huh?" Georgia looked at him, confused. ’What would Nancy have told me?’

Dylan shook his head and didn’t say anything else.

’Did I just step on a landmine with him?’ she wondered.

’Did he and Nancy have a fight?’

Dylan didn’t stay much longer before leaving.

Georgia glanced at his departing figure and moved closer to Elliot. "What’s wrong with Dylan?"

"I’m not sure either." Elliot placed a chicken drumstick in her bowl. "Eat more."

Georgia trailed off. "Uh..."

The longer Erin Irving’s project was delayed, the more money he lost.

At this point, the company had no money left to maintain operations.

When the market opened in the morning, Sheridan Group’s stock was in a continuous state of decline.

The stock price kept falling. It wasn’t just Erin Irving losing money; Elliot was taking losses, too.

Moreover, Elliot held more shares, so he was losing money too. His actions were a textbook case of damaging the enemy by eight hundred while losing three thousand yourself.

Elliot was challenging him to a war of attrition. It was a contest of patience, and the last one standing would be the winner.

If this were the only problem, Erin Irving would naturally have the patience to wait. But he was also being dragged down by the construction project.

"President Irving, the stock price has been plummeting since this morning! We should sell it all before it’s a total loss!"

"Wait a little longer!" Erin Irving gritted his teeth. He refused to believe that Elliot truly didn’t care about his own company.

Erin Irving stared at the stock prices all day long, watching the Sheridan Group’s stock fall bit by bit.

A knock sounded at the door, and the secretary rushed in. "President Irving, those former residents and the construction site foreman are all making a scene at the front door! They say you have to give them an answer. President Irving, what do we do?"

Erin Irving’s eyes were glued to the screen, watching the red numbers tick down, bit by bit. A vein throbbed violently in his temple.

The secretary thought President Irving hadn’t heard and was about to repeat himself when Irving commanded, "Keep your eyes on the stock price. Report any changes to me immediately."