Cade was stunned by Hayden and Lucas’ laughter. After he looked at how hard they were laughing, he stumbled over to William to hug his legs. He continued to call out, “William! William! Hug!”
When Valeria heard their laughter from upstairs, she couldn’t help bursting out in laughter as well when she saw Cade chasing after William for a hug.
While the room was full of laughter, William reached out to pick Cade up and said, “Don’t call me William, call me Dad! It’s rude of you to call me by my name!”
At this moment, Santhos waddled over as well and hugged William’s legs while he mumbled, “William! Hug!”
William had no choice but to pick Santhos up with his other arm and lectured, “You can’t call me that, it’s impolite!”
Cade then pointed at Hayden. “Grandpa… William!”
He was insinuating that he could call William by his name because he heard it from his grandfather. William then touched his forehead and said, “Grandpa is my father, so he can call me by my nickname. You are my son, so you can’t call me like that! Only I can call you by your name.”
Cade stared at William and said, “Son!”
William was speechless. “You’re unbelievable! I shouldn’t have loved you so much!”
Valeria was bent over in laughter. “Don’t say that, or he’ll say something even more ridiculous!”
Meanwhile, Francis was holding a family video conference in his study.
He told his whole family about his investments with Michael during this period of time.
In the end, he concluded, “I think Michael has caught a rare opportunity and he managed to earn a considerable amount of profits. I’m planning to invest more money with him, but I’ll sell it in a short period of time. What do you think?”
“I think it’s viable since you said that this is just a short-term investment. We have a lack of funds right now, so maybe we’ll be lucky enough to make enough profits to make up for it.” Casper expressed his support.
Casper’s father did not speak because he was thinking deeply about the lack of financial resources in their family right now. It would be good if Michael’s investment could really earn huge profits, but they were all businessmen and they knew that it wasn’t guaranteed. They were all still worried about the risk.
Camila looked at her family and shook her head in disagreement. “This has such a high risk, so what if it fails?”
Francis knew about his wife’s worries. “I know there are risks, but aren’t we having a difficult time because of the lack of funds? I’ll buy and sell it quickly, so it won’t take more than a month.”
“That’s not the point. What if the market crashes once you invest the funds?” Camila reminded.
“How could it be so coincidental? Grandma, you’re worrying too much. Grandpa used to be very bold and he has a good eye for these things. Besides, we really need the money, so maybe investing with Michael will be a turning point for us. Let’s have a try!” Casper said.
Camila also knew the predicament that the Gurney family was facing. For a moment, she stopped talking and looked at her son and daughter-in-law. Casper’s father was silent for a long time as well before he said, “Let’s give it a try since you think that it’s feasible. I’ll prepare funds, but we’ll only trade the money within a short time frame.”
After the Gurney family agreed, Francis no longer hesitated and began to transfer the funds.
They couldn’t do it secretly since it involved a huge sum of money, so news about it was leaked out soon after that.
When William heard the report, he knew that Francis had taken the bait because of his greediness.
Just as he was in a good mood, Hayden came to him and said, “I’ve asked someone to choose an auspicious day, which falls in three days. I’ve invited Mont to be a witness, and we can go to the Rivera family to discuss Andrews’ marriage.”
“No problem!” William agreed.
“They’re very satisfied with Andrew. They said that we don’t need to have an engagement and we can hold the wedding directly. I will hand over the entire Howard Group after Andrew gets married, so we should discuss the company’s problems when the time comes.”
Although they were all a family, they still had to organize their assets in the future. Hayden was still the biggest shareholder of the Howard Group, but he was ready to distribute his shares.
William nodded and said, “When the time comes, you can have a meeting to discuss this problem.”
Hayden was a little disappointed because William was not enthusiastic at all. He liked William the most, so he naturally wanted to give more of his shares to the latter. However, judging from William’s behaviour, it was obvious that he didn’t care about the shares at all. “William, please help me to figure out how I should distribute the shares.”
William thought for a moment and said, “Dad, you can retire and leave the company completely. You don’t have to hold so many shares as well. Since Andrew is now in charge of the company, you can give him more shares. You can’t forget about your brothers, so why don’t you distribute the shares evenly between them as well? Everyone will be satisfied this way.”
“What about you?”
“I have quite a lot of shares, so you don’t have to give any more to me.”
“If I don’t give it to you, what about Cade and Santhos? I can’t possibly leave out my two grandchildren, right?”
“They are still young, so you don’t need to think about them. I think the most important thing is their own capability, not their inheritance. If we give them too much, they won’t try to improve themselves at all. I don’t intend to give them the shares of my company, and I want them to gain their own experience as they grow up.”
“That’s true, but not everyone is as capable as you are. You suffered so much because I made a huge mistake in the past.”
“Dad, let’s not talk about the past. Let’s settle Andrew’s matter first.”
Hayden didn’t mention the shares again when he saw how generous William was. He had already made up his mind about the shares, so he changed the topic and brought up the twins. “Cade and Santhos are so big now, so shouldn’t you and Valeria consider having another child?”
William smiled and said, “Dad, they’re still so young! Why don’t we wait until they are older? Besides, having another child is not my decision alone.”
“I know. I just want to remind you that although your two sons are lovely, I still want a granddaughter. I won’t care about both of you once Valeria gives birth to a girl and you can do whatever you want.”
Hayden wanted a granddaughter, and so did William. However, their baby’s gender wasn’t up to him and Valeria to decide. They still had to leave it up to fate to decide.
Three days later during an auspicious time of the day, William, Hayden, and Andrew invited Gavin as a witness to discuss the marriage with the Rivera family.
The Riveras welcomed the Howard family and their witness into their home with a smile on their faces.
Both parties agreed to it, so the proposal quickly reached a consensus.
The Rivera family enthusiastically asked William and the others to have lunch together. It was a very sumptuous meal and they even served the wine that had been kept in the cellar for many years.
They kept toasting and cheering each other up until Hayden and Gavin were slightly drunk. William drank a lot as well and he didn’t leave until two o’clock in the afternoon.
On the way back, Michael sent him a message. “Francis transferred the funds!”