Echoes of Unrequited Love

Chapter 62

Chapter 62 Not long after we saw Hilary off, Cecilia ducked out early too, leaving me and Wallis in a real pickle.

“| doubt there’ll be any pulling of funding.” | mused, thinking about Hogan as mentioned by Hilary. “If nothing else, for Cecilia’s sake, he'd likely steady the ship.”

Wallis wasn’t quite on board with my take. “Even if things do steady, so what? Today Cecilia’s throwing us under the bus in front of everyone: tomorrow she could be hijacking our hard work. If you ask me, we better have a Plan B up our sleeves.”

What Wallis meant was we should start scouting for other investors.

But Frank seemed less than keen, so who else could we turn to?

“Simon’s got some connections. | was thinking of getting him to scope things out for us.”

| was a bit taken aback. “You're still in touch with him?”

Wallis looked a bit sheepish, “Well, you know, he’s got a certain knack for that sort of thing.” Thinking about the project’s prospects, | agreed, “Alright, let's give it a shot then.”

For two straight days. Wallis was busy hobnobbing with Simon. Simon was once a big shot in the Oakridge City scene, hada wide network, and even knew a bunch of international capitalists. He agreed to broker some deals for us.

Wallis and | were on tenterhooks, not daring to slack off for a second.

Just then, Zachary’s call came through. “Mrs. Zade, Mr. Zade’s asking for you and President Lott to hit up Rainbow Capital, pronto.”

That was out of the blue.

| probed indirectly. “Did he mention what it’s about?”

“He didn’t say, but judging by Mr. Zade’s expression.”

Wallis and | instantly felt a headache coming on.

It was a no-win situation; who knew what kind of game Hogan was playing.

Half an hour later, we showed up at the CEO's office.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

As we entered, Hogan was on the phone, rattling off at a clip and throwing around some jargon — | barely followed. But he didn’t sound too friendly.

Wallis and | exchanged a glance and patiently stood by.

Eventually, Hogan hung up and gave us a cursory glance before asking, “Do you two know why I've asked you here?” 1/2

“Cut to the

chase, Mr. Zade,” | said, without beating around the bush.

Hogan twirled his pen, gave a slight raise of his eyebrow, and said, “| hear you’ve been courting. new investors?” So the news had reached his ears.

“Heh, so you're already looking for a new cash cow while I’m still in the picture?” Hogan scoffed. “Ever consider that if Rainbow Capital drops a project, who else would pick it up?”

Wallis and | had a sinking feeling.

And then we heard Hogan say, “If you lack the commitment, then maybe it's best we call it quits.” Wallis and | were blindsided by Hogan’s outburst.

And he knew we had been looking for other investors, so why the sudden fury?

Hogan gave me a sidelong glance and quipped, “Times change.”

| was left speechless. Money talks, after all.

Wallis, trying to smooth things over, chimed in, “Mr. Zade, you know we're just a small studio: we can’t hold a candle to a big group like yours.”

“Speaking of your company’s ethos,” Hogan interrupted Wallis, ominously adding, “it seems to reflect the character of its manager quite well.”

He glanced at me before adding, “Specializing in backups, aren’t you?”

His sarcasm cut deep, insinuating without directly accusing.

Moments later, Zachary ushered us out of the CEO's office.

We were shown the door.

Wallis was baffled, “Hogan doesn’t seem like the type to lose perspective. Why the sudden cold shoulder?” | also felt Hogan was off his game today.

“Could it be someone’s been whispering in his ear?”

Wallis mentioned Cecilia had been to her office that morning and had taken a long look at the project file on her desk.