A Replacement Bride

Chapter 342

Katherine's mouth twitched as she said drily, "I will hit you if you dare remove your clothes."

Joaquin couldn't help but laugh softly. "Alright, alright. I'll stop teasing you."

He tidied himself up and buttoned his shirt before throwing his towel aside and approaching her. She eyed him cautiously and moved closer to the headboard. He laughed at that.

"Why are you so scared of me? I must have spooked you earlier."

As if recalling the memory, he pursed his lips, and his eyes sparkled as he murmured gently, "I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself."

She was speechless. Just shut up!

Seeing her flustered expression, he tactfully stopped himself and coughed twice before beginning to talk business. "The Morans were behind this, right?"

Katherine snorted and hugged her knees as she lay against the headboard. "Who else?"

He pondered silently before murmuring, "You exposed yourself already. Now that they know you are controlling W Co., they will never let you off so easily. What are you going to do next?"

She snorted again, clearly not bothered by that. "What else can I do? If they are so eager to sacrifice themselves, then I'll satisfy their urges."

Her words were bold and assured, which didn't surprise Joaquin. Judging by her personality, she would never allow someone to walk all over her without a strategy to counter them. The Morans had already stirred up trouble one too many times and she wasn't going to let them continue their antics.

However, Joaquin was still slightly worried. "You shifted W Co. back to our home country to focus on developing the local market. It sounds easy but it isn't exactly simple."

Katherine understood his concern. "I know. The local market seems stable right now with several family-run businesses dominating different parts of the market, so it would be hard to shift their position. Besides, the other first- and second-tier enterprises are all intertwined. W Co. may be powerful and have a high standing overseas, but even that isn't comparable to the local strongholds. It will be hard to get a share of the market."

"So, you made this decision just to challenge the Morans?"

"Not entirely, obviously. They are just part of the reason. Besides, they aren't so important that they can manipulate my decisions." Katherine laughed and she looked slightly scornful as she muttered, "I've already come up with this earlier, but it was put on the back burner with the number of things I had to resolve. This is a perfect excuse for holding a press conference since I can kill two birds with one stone by proving my identity and carrying out my strategy. I want to develop the company locally from now on and am not planning to expand overseas. Moving our headquarters back to Hovington will make things easier to manage and monitor."

"Oh?" Joaquin raised his eyebrows as he suddenly remembered something. He became happier and lowered his gaze while smiling. "I see. That's good."

Katherine felt uncomfortable after seeing his reaction and her mouth twitched. Shifting her gaze away, she continued, "I know that the local businesses rooted within the market are strong and complicated, but it's not impossible for us to gain a foothold. We just need a good opportunity. I didn't announce it earlier partly because I didn't have one, and now the Morans have solved that problem for me."

It felt good to talk to someone at a similar level of intelligence.

Joaquin's eyes lowered as a hint of coldness flashed across them. "So, you are making them the sacrifice."

"That's right." She moved off the bed and approached the window to lift one edge of the curtain, which allowed the dim light of the moon to spill into the room. However, she wasn't in the mood to appreciate it. Instead, she looked down as coldness flashed in her eyes.

Several unremarkable people were meandering outside the hospital and they looked like visitors or family members of the patients. They looked up from time to time, though it wasn't clear which room they were studying. A mocking smile appeared on Katherine's face and she quickly lowered the curtain before they could look at her.

"Since the Morans handed us this golden chance on a silver platter, I can't ignore it. I will never attack anyone if they didn't start it but if they are trying to walk all over me, then they shouldn't blame me for taking drastic measures. If W Co. is to destroy the Morans, who already have a strong foundation in the Hovington market, on their first try, it would be easy to gain a foothold. Those connections will then fall into our hands. Two birds with one stone, hmm?"

Seeing that she already had plans of her own, Joaquin smiled. "Since you already made the decision, just do it."

He was going to support and protect her no matter what happened.

… NôvelDrama.Org: text © owner.

The following morning, the Morans were having breakfast in their home when Mason received a call from his assistant.

"What? You can't even keep an eye on them properly? What else can you do?" he shouted as he threw down his cutlery after hearing the report.

His assistant sounded reluctant on the other end of the line. "We were worried that we would make a mistake and specially arranged for more men to be situated around the hospital. But for some reason, they seemed to have disappeared into thin air and cannot be contacted."

"Useless pieces of sh*t!" Mason was utterly furious at that point. "What about W Co.? Any news?"

His assistant's shaky voice came through the line. "Nothing yet, but—"

His stuttering completely exhausted Mason's patience. "Just say what you need to! If you keep stuttering, pack up and get out!"

The assistant had no choice but to report, "It's our company, Mr. Mason! For some reason, issues have been detected in several projects we have taken up. The higher-ups have sent someone to do a complete investigation of our projects. They also gave the order to put everything on hold when it is being done!"

This struck Mason like a bolt of lightning and he jumped up with a shocked expression. "What did you say? What's happening?"

The assistant didn't know either. "I was planning on getting to the bottom of it, but I have been swamped with calls since earlier this morning, Mr. Mason. The phone has been ringing off the hook since the news has somehow spread out. Many companies we are working with have called to interrogate us about this, and they all wish to dissolve their contracts with us due to the delayed timelines. They also want us to pay the deposit for breaking the contracts! Mr. Mason, we are all over the place right now. Please come to the office!"

Mason was so taken aback that he turned pale and he swayed on his feet, nearly falling.