Sophia’s Point of View
“Is it legal for a corporate company to acquire a large amount of shares from another corporate company anonymously?” I asked tapping my pen on the hardwood table, the sound echoing through the mostly empty library.
Mr Prescott blinked at me slowly before responding.
“I thought I was supposed to be helping you with your assignment, Miss Evergreen.”
I shrugged as casually as I could.
“I figured it out before you got home.”
“Of course you did.” Mr Prescott said with something closer to a smile than a scowl on his lips, his shoulders relaxed.
In truth, it wasn’t just his posture that was relaxed. His entire personality was far more relaxed than in the past.
Mr Prescott had become much more friendly and approachable since I decided to give him and our contract marriage a chance.
I knew there was a high probability Mr Prescott was just doing all this in a bid to convince me that he was not like the Baxters, that he was a normal person and deserving of my help.
But there was something about the lightness in the air between us now that didn’t feel fake or forced. So if this was a tactic from Mr Prescott, it was working well.
We no longer had stilted scripted conversations at dinner but instead actual conversations. I nagged about my exacting college work and Mr Prescott always tried to ‘comfort me’ by telling me it only got harder in reality versus the ease of theory in class.
Yes, I said he had gotten better, not that he had become a completely different person so Mr Prescott was still a pain in the ass sometimes.
But he also helped me even when I didn’t ask for it. Like the time last week when I had fallen asleep in the library trying to get an assignment done only to wake up to see a comprehensive answer to the question in Mr Prescott’s neat handwriting.
And when he fast tracked Tina’s promotion when I mistakenly let it slip that she was working for him and had taken care of me after the Baxters had thrown me out.
“You are good, right?” Tina asked me the moment after sharing the news of her new promotion that still had me reeling.
“I’m great.” I said, my mind clouded with disbelief. Had Mr Prescott really given her a promotion because of our casual discussion just the day before?
Tina seemed hesitant before speaking.
“Just… be careful, okay, Sophia?”
Warning bells clanged in my head.
“What do you mean I should be careful?”
“It’s nothing,” Tina sighed but it was clearly something because she continued to speak barely moments later. “I guess I’m just wary, especially with everything that went down with Jerry. Rich people are always playing games and I don’t want to see you hurt, Sophia.”
Tina didn’t even know about the contract marriage or the plan of vengeance but she was already wary. What would my friend say once she learned that?
“Don’t worry, I’m being careful.” I responded and it wasn’t even completely a lie.
I was still keeping my pregnancy a secret although I had already been to the doctors for my first checkup.
I was almost three months along now and my belly now had a small curve that hadn’t been there before. Not that Mr Prescott would have noticed since we continued to live separately under the same roof.
I knew that there was only so long that I could hide this pregnancy and that I would soon start showing but I figured that by then, I would know for sure if his change in attitude was real or fake.
“Well? Tell me.” I urged Mr Prescott who was looking like he regretted turning up to help me.
He released a long suffering sigh before he began to respond to my question.
“Firstly, I bought those shares as an individual. Prescott Enterprise doesn’t own them. I do. So for the legality of it, it’s fine as long as the procurement was ethical.”
“I did some research.” I cleared my throat going straight to the question I had been dying to ask. “You have a nineteen per cent shareholding, not twenty three as the anchor said that day. Why stop at nineteen per cent? You could have acquired more.”
“You have been doing some research.” Mr Prescott echoed my words and I couldn’t tell if the glint in his eyes was from annoyance or if as I would personally like to believe, he was impressed with me.
I shrugged once more.
“You are paying for my tuition, learning is the least I can do.”
Mr Prescott leaned in across the table, his gray eyes looking darker in the lighting.
“Then tell me, Miss Evergreen, why you think there’s something special about the nineteen per cent shares.”
There was more than a hint of challenge in his deep rich voice.
I selected my words with care, my mind going inwards and re-examining all the deductions I had made earlier. Deductions I wanted Mr Prescott to confirm or deny.
“You wanted to remain anonymous,” I said finally. “If you acquired too much, you would have had to announce yourself.”
I could still recall the surprise on Jerry’s face when Mr Prescott had been called up as the new member of the board.
It meant Jerry hadn’t known his half brother had been acquiring shares. I wasn’t quite done with learning about this business but I did know there was only so much amount of shares a person could hold anonymously.
So Mr Prescott had probably planned it out to remain under the radar enough to be invisible until all of his plans were in place.
I wondered what else he had planned for the Baxters. His father was already dead. On top of a mistress if rumours served right. So what was the plan?
“You are right,” Mr Prescott nodded almost grudgingly. “I didn’t want to compromise my anonymity but I also didn’t want to push the takeover bid limit.”
My heart raced in my chest at the possibility that I was finally going to be privy to Mr Prescott’s plan so that I could work towards it with him.
“So you intend to take over at some point.” I said.
Mr Prescott smiled. A real smile, not a smirk or an almost smirk or a fake smile. It was the first time I had ever seen him smile and it felt like a kick to the gut as I realized Mr Prescott was really hot.
“If you have so much time, Miss Evergreen, care to shadow me today?” He teased avoiding my question.
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Shadow you?” I echoed.
He lifted a shoulder like it wasn’t a big deal.
“You can follow me to work. See the practical side to business before you come there eventually.”
My jaw almost dropped from the amount of shock that was rushing through my veins.
“You would really let me in there?” I asked Mr Prescott, searching his plain gray eyes for a hint that he was messing with me.
Mr Prescott didn’t even hesitate.
“Yes, of course, I would let you in.”
And Mr Prescott meant it. He would let me come to his office, his stronghold knowing that there was a possibility that I could steal information from him and take it back to Jerry since our contract marriage was still on a probation of sorts anyway.
“Do you trust me that much?” I asked Mr Prescott not sure if I wanted to know the answer to that question.
Because deep down I still wondered if he was doing all of this so that I could think of him as a good guy or if he was actually a good guy.
Mr Prescott didn’t respond to my question. Instead, he lifted a perfectly imperious eyebrow before giving me a side glance.
“Just get ready before I change my mind, Miss Evergreen.”