Chasing the Unexpected

Chapter 704

Seeing Jonathan’s troubled expression, Phoebe set down her teacup and asked, “What’s wrong? Why the long face?”

Jonathan sank onto the sofa, his voice weak. “The company lost another big partnership today. If this keeps up, we’ll be in serious financial trouble.”

Phoebe frowned. “What can we do? Is there any way to hold on a bit longer? Valarie’s blind date hasn’t settled yet!”

They were pushing Valarie into blind dates primarily because the Weir Group was declining and desperately needed a strong partner to help them through this crisis.

At first, Valarie had refused. However, after learning about the company’s situation, she reluctantly agreed to go on dates.

Jonathan remained silent for a moment before speaking seriously. “How about we stop forcing Valarie into blind dates? I’ve thought a lot about this, and compared to the company, her happiness for the rest of her life is more important. We can’t ruin her life just for the sake of the company.”

“Ruin her life? I’m only introducing her to suitable matches! Her life won’t be too hard, and if you don’t push her into blind dates, what if she decides never to marry?” Phoebe countered.

“If she really doesn’t want to get married, then don’t force her. If the Weir Group collapses, that’s just fate,” Jonathan replied.

Phoebe’s eyes filled with tears as she turned her head away, refusing to speak.

The Weir Group was their brainchild from their youth, a company they had built from scratch. She couldn’t bear to watch it fall apart.

However, Jonathan was also right. They couldn’t force Valarie to marry someone she didn’t love. That would be unfair to her and simply selfish.

“I know,” Phoebe relented.

Jonathan sighed and stood up to head to his study when suddenly his phone rang.

As he answered, he heard something from the other end that made him immediately say, “I’ll be there

right away.”

Hanging up, he told Phoebe, “There’s been an issue at the company. I need to go over now, so don’t wait up for me tonight. I might not be back.”

Before Phoebe could reply, he hurriedly left.

Worry flashed in Phoebe’s eyes.

After sitting on the sofa for a long time, she looked down and began sorting through the profiles of Valarie’s blind date matches.

She hesitated but ultimately decided not to throw the profiles away. Who knew? They might come in handy someday.

Chapter 704

+25 BONUS

At dinner, Valarie came downstairs and noticed her father was missing, which surprised her.

“Dad isn’t home for dinner tonight?” she asked.

Phoebe nodded. “Yeah, he has some things going on at the company.”

Valarie pursed her lips at this. She knew that whenever her father faced issues at work, it usually meant bad news. As she contemplated this, her mood grew heavier.

In fact, Zayn had been trying to reach her over the past few days to set up another meeting and invite her to dinner to apologize.

Valarie wasn’t foolish–she understood his intentions.

However, since he was friends with Brandon, she had no plans for anything further with him. Besides, their first meeting hadn’t gone particularly well.

It was just that… if she could get together with Zayn now, the Updikes would undoubtedly help the Weir Group.

With that thought in mind, Valarie made a decision.

After dinner, she searched for the contact card her friend had sent her and clicked to add the contact.

Once Zayn arranged to meet with Valarie for lunch the next day to apologize, he immediately had his secretary book a restaurant.

Then, he set down his phone and squinted.

The prey had taken the bait.