Chapter 5: "Why did Elena and her father have a fallout?"

After Marcus escaped his boss's teasing, he went to the building's underground parking lot and entered a 2023 Mansory Rolls Royce Phantom car. He sat there for a few seconds before pulling out his phone and dialing a number, but he couldn't muster the courage to press the call button. His index finger hovered over the call, but for a while, he was still trying to calm his nerves.

"Just press the button already," a voice said at the window.

"Geehaaaaa," Marcus screamed as he hurled his phone at the imposter.

The individual dodged the flying phone and stood up, the lights now shining on his face. It was Victor.

"Marcus, you scaredy cat, are you trying to send me to Miss Evergreen?!" Victor screamed while pointing at Marcus.

Marcus clutched his chest and then exclaimed, "I should be asking you that question. You came out of nowhere, scared the living Jesus out of me, and made me throw my phone. Where is it?"

"(Sigh) Relax, I caught it," Victor said while holding out the phone to Marcus' face.

Still upset, Marcus grabbed the phone from Victor while giving him a weary glance. After he took it, Victor went and sat in the passenger seat, then looked at Marcus.

After a few more seconds of waiting, Victor lost patience and remarked, "So."

"So what?" Marcus asked while hugging his phone.

"Aren't you going to call her?" Victor responded.

Marcus hugged the phone tighter and then said, "Maybe late."

"Marcus! This isn't the time to act like a fangirl. Gimme the phone." Victor said as he snatched the phone from Marcus, then pressed the call button and put it on speaker mode.

"Victor!" Marcus screamed as he tried desperately to take back the phone from Victor.

After a few seconds of the phone ringing and the two men fighting over it, the receiver finally answered.

"Hello?" The answerer said.

Both men stopped fighting and looked at each other a bit confused. The number they called was Amber's, but the voice behind the phone was completely different from hers.

"Who is this?" Marcus asked.

"I'm Amber's cousin, Elena," Elena said.

"Is Amber there, Elena?" Victor asked

"Yes, she is. Hold on, I will give the phone to her," Elena replied

After she said this, fumbling noises could be heard on the phone before Amber answered.

"Hello, Marcus," Amber said.

"Since when were you two on a first-name basis," Victor asked, bewildered.

"Shush, Victor," Marcus muttered to him. "Am... Amber, there are some questions we would like to ask you about Elena..."

"Hold on for a second!" Amber said.

They both could hear a muffled noise and the sound of a door closing.

"Ok. Continue. What would you like to know about her?" she asked.

"Why did Elena and her father have a fallout?" Marcus asked.

There was a brief silence on the phone before they heard an exasperated sigh.

"Agggghhhhh! Every time I think about what those bastards want Elena to do, it makes me want to bury them in Aunt Evergreen's garden or throw them in her lake!" Amber scratched the phone.

Both Marcus and Victor shuddered when they heard her say that. Victor muttered the courage to ask her a question,

"What happened?" he asked.

"Her disgrace of a father is trying to force Elena into marrying my sperm donor!" Amber responded.

Both men looked at each other, confused and shocked, after hearing what she said.

"You're joking. Right?" Victor said

"That's messed up," Marcus said, then continued, "Knowing Mr. Nightshade's character, I'm surprised that Mr. Dawnfire would want his daughter to marry him."

"And if memory serves me right, your stepmother is his sister, and she commits suicide because of that moron. So why?" Victor added.

Amber sighed, then said, "For connections, of course. Mr. Dawnfire's company is only worth over twelve million dollars, while my dad's worth over 300 million."

"Make sense," Victor muttered.

Amber continued, "A few years ago, Pinnacle Builders was worth almost nine figures, but Mr. Dawnfire took on a construction project from the government to build a bridge. The idiot got the bright idea to cut costs on the materials to build it."

"Oh! I remember that incident. On the first day, the bridge was built, it collapsed, killing 3 people and injuring 7." Victor cut in, then continued, "The lawsuits and fines almost caused him to go to jail and made the company go bankrupt."

Amber: "Yeah. To escape going to jail, he sacrificed his sister to my dad, but to save the company, Miss Evergreen bought 10% of the company's shares. That is how Pinnacle Builders was able to survive all these years. But he isn't satisfied with how slowly the company is growing, and it might take probably 10 to 30 years for it to go back to its former glory."

Marcus: "So he plans to sacrifice his daughter this time."

Victor (chuckling): "He's trying to give way his golden hen to a big bad wolf."

Marcus: "Ah yes. She is the key to making his company's value skyrocket. Too bad he doesn't know that."

Amber: "Which is why I am giving you guys the opportunity to take this golden hen before it is given to a greedy wolf."

Victor (grumpily): "The last thing I want is that scumbag tainting the company's precious golden hen! Marcus, quickly contact HR to create a company ID for Elena. Use the profile picture Amber gave us."

Marcus remarked: "On it."

Marcus pulled out his work phone and began to talk to the HR department manager.

Victor: "Amber, tell Elena that she is hired and she can come to work next week."

Amber: "Eh! Isn't that a bit too hasty?"

Victor: "Hasty?! Hasty, my rear! I'm not taking any chances, especially when it's about your father. (pause). By the way, does Miss Evergreen know about this.?"

Amber: "Yes, I called her a few hours ago."

Marcus (baffled): "You really told that woman about this?"

Amber (confused): "Yeah. Why not?"

After a few moments of silence, Amber's expression went from confusion to realization to panic.

Amber: "Oh snap, I forgot! But what was I supposed to do? Elena was panicking and...."

Victor: "Alright, Amber, calm down. She now knows, there is nothing we can do about it now."

Marcus: "Let's all have a moment of silence for ElectroNova and Pinnacle Builders. They're both done for."

Victor (grinning): Too bad Mr. Nightshade won't be able to cure that erectile dysfunction of his."

Amber (surprised): "Wait, what? He has erectile dysfunction? Is that why he asked you to make that medication?"

Victor: "Yeah. Oh, by the way, even though we used 'that' ingredient, it still didn't cure his ailment. And he was the only one who didn't get cured by the medicine. Do you have any idea as to why?"

Amber (contemplating): "Maybe it's a very high-level curse."

Marcus: "That's what we thought, but the secret ingredient we use should be able to eliminate all ailments and negative status effects."

Amber (thinking): "Hmmm... Did you find out when he got the 'ailment'?"

Marcus: "The report stated that he was diagnosed with it 4 years ago."

Silence

After a few moments of silence, Marcus and Victor became confused when they couldn't hear anything from the phone.

Victor (perplexed): "Huh... Did the phone call disconnect?"

Marcus: "Amber? You there? Hello?"

While they were sitting there confused, they heard laughter from the phone.

Amber: "Phaaa haaaa haaaaaa!!"

Marcus (on edge): "AMBER, what's wrong!"

Marcus screamed at his phone, worried that something was happening to Amber.

Victor: "Marcus, calm the hell down! Amber, why are you laughing?"

Amber (muffling her laughter): "Sorry, giggle, I just remembered something."

Marcus (now calmed down): "What?"

Amber: "Four, giggle. Four years ago, when it came out that I had over 8 half siblings and my stepmom died, we were at her funeral."

**Flashback begins**

In the living room of Mr. Nightshade's mansion, a group of people wearing black and white clothes stood in front of a portrait of Jennifer Nightshade, to 'pay their last respect to her'. Among them were Amber, Elena, Sophia, Gregory, Veronica, and an unknown woman dressed very elegantly.

Meanwhile, some of the attendees were gossiping about the situation.

Unknown woman #1: "Poor thing. Forced by her family to marry that scumbag, then indirectly being killed by him."

Unknown man: "Ah yes. If I remember clearly, it was the bridge incident that caused this girl's demise."

Unknown woman #1: "Wasn't it Mr. Dawnfire's fault? He should have been punished. Why was she sacrificed to save him?"

Unknown woman #2: "I heard women born in the two families are tried like assets. If their business starts to fail or any of the matriarchs make a mistake, they will sacrifice females for investments or sponsors."

Everyone started to look at the three young girls when unknown woman #2 said that.

Unknown man: "I feel so sorry for those three. Young and beautiful, but with a bleak future."

Unknown woman #2: "Living in that family must be hell for them with fathers like that."

Unknown woman #1: "I'm not worried about Sophia. I'm more worried about Elena and Amber."

Unknown woman #3: "Why?"

Unknown woman #1: "Don't you guys know? Mr. Dawnfire favors Sophia more than Elena. I heard that if Sophia hurts or does something bad to Elena, she's let off with a light scolding, but if the roles were reversed, Elena would be severely punished. That's why I don't look down on her for having a boyfriend at such a young age. If she hadn't, she would have probably been in a similar situation to her aunt."

Meanwhile, Amber, the Dawnfire family, and the unknown woman can hear the people around them gossiping about them.

Just then, Mr. Nightshade steps inside the room, his hand wrapped around a flustered girl around the same age as the three young women. When Amber saw this, she got angry and walked over to him, Elena following behind her.

Amber: "You have some nerves doing this at your wife's funeral! Don't you have any shame?! If not, couldn't you at least give her some respect at her funeral? Even if it's just a small amount."

Mr. Nightshade: "Some nerves, talking to your father like that. She's dead, so what? Do you want me to sit and cry like a weakling over a delusional woman? She should have gotten in that head of hers that I won't only have her, so if she wants to die over the fact that she can have me all to herself, then too bad for her."

Elena, who was standing beside Amber to calm her down, snapped when she heard this.

Elena: "So what? SO WHAT?! She... Is... Your... Wife. How dare you talk about my aunt that way, you waste of space! You menace to society! You... You walking dildo! I hope you don't have any more children in the future! I hope you get into an accident and forever lose all function of your third leg! I hope you children and ones pretending to be, bleed you dry of all your money! I hope ... mhmmm!"

The unknown, elegant woman rushed over and covered Elena's mouth before she could continue.

Unknown woman: "Now, now Elena, that's enough. Calm down now. Uhm Amber, please take her outside to cool down."

Amber (shocked): "Ehh ok?"

While Amber was pulling a fuming Elena out of the room, the unknown woman turned to Mr. Nightshade with a menacing glare. When he saw this, he let go of the young escort and looked down at the ground.

The unknown woman giggled and then said: "From now on, your life will be very miserable."

The woman gave Mr. Nightshade a creepy smile and then followed behind the two young women.

**Flashback end**

Marcus looked at the phone with a dumbfounded expression, while Victor made a face like he had seen someone poop the pants.

Amber: "When I heard her say he would be very miserable, I thought she was going to do 'it', but now that I think about it, it might be because Elena placed some unpleasant hex on him."

Marcus: "Poor bastard."

Victor nods in agreement.

Just then, Elena screamed from the living room.

Elena: "AMBER!!! Come quick!"

Amber: "Anyways. Gotta go. Elena is starting to get antsy again. Bye."

Marcus: "Bye, Amber."

Call ended

Marcus: "Well, I wasn't expecting that."

Victor: "At least it answered our question. let's get going now."

Both men buckled their seat belts and then drove out of the parking lot.