Chasing The Vengeful Villainous Heiress-Chapter 123: The idea of Merging Ross and Stewart

Valerie sat on her bed with her thoughts drifting, and then she heard the door open. She looked up and saw Max walking in.

"Hey." She said with a little solemn voice. "Is the old man gone yet?" She asked.

Max was still talking with Grampa Leo even after she ended her talk with Tiana and now it was almost past dinner time.

Max nodded and lay on the bed, dropping his head on her thigh and covering his face with one of his arms in exhaustion.

"I heard everything." He said, and Valerie gently stroked his head, brushing his hair softly with the tip of her fingers. "Things are far more complicated than I thought."

"Hm, yeah."

Valerie was calm. So calm that Max wondered if she was okay with what she heard from his mother.

When talking with Grampa Leo, he discovered that Romaine was a very powerful family and enterprise. They were literally running their own business empire and were on top of the entire world.

They listened to a bit of what Tiana had to say about Romaine and got a little grasp of how Romaine was.

And to rival such a company, the only best way right now would be to combine Ross and Stewart. That was the only way to rival them on equal footing.

He just had to bring it up with Valerie. Since she already decided to let go of Ross, she would agree to merge it with Stewart, right?

"Max," Valerie called, and as if reading his thoughts, she said the words right out of his mouth, "I want to merge Ross with Stewart."

Max’s eyes widened and he took his arm out of his face. He stared at the solemn expression on his wife’s face.

"Is it that surprising?" Valerie asked, still stroking his hair "I thought you were thinking the same, but guess not."

"That’s not..."

"But hey, I can’t even call it merging since Stewart will be doing Ross a favor. Should I just refer to it as me selling Ross?" She gave it a thought. "Well, that could work. I don’t plan on working in an office any time soon, so..." She stretched her arms and Max caught one.

"Valerie, listen to me." Max said, finally sitting up.

"Hm?"

"That was exactly what I was thinking."

"Selling Ross off?"

"No, not that. I’m talking about the merging. Don’t look down on Ross because of this little obstacle. It’s very powerful and you know it. It’s more than enough." He said, clasping her hands in his.

Valerie looked at their hands and sighed.

"Guess once it’s finally merged into one, I can finally inherit your last name." She said with a little smile.

"Wait, you were thinking of that this whole time?"

"Yeah, I can’t have two different last names, you know." She said and chuckled. But her chuckle died down and she said, "In actuality, I’m giving Ross to you."

Her eyes looked like she was scheming something and Max got a hint of what that was.

"If you have Ross under your name, you won’t lose out on the fight of inheritance." She explained. "Though Grampa Leo seems to favor you, there’s no telling what sort of scheme your cousin is planning."

"Yes, that’s a bit concerning." Max nodded. "He’s been very silent even after his warning. It was as if he just gave out empty threats but he isn’t one to do so. So it concerns me greatly what he plans to do in the future."

"So, you must secure Ross under your name. Mariam is already stabilizing the company. With it, you will definitely have enough forces to contend with whatever he throws at you." Her eyes glowed. "You must be the one to inherit Stewart’s name as head and chairman if we want to be able to go against my father’s family in the future. Stewart needs to be under your control."

Max felt her hand tremble. He felt she was angry but it didn’t look like that anymore. It was more like she was scared.

He hugged her, placed her head on his chest, and patted her back.

"It’s going to be okay." He whispered softly to her. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

He didn’t know the exact reason why she was scared but he could assume that she was just worried for the happiness they had now found.

The happiness that both had longed for for quite some time.

If only the threat had stopped at her uncle, then all would be fine. But there was an even bigger sword drawn. It wasn’t going to be easy.

"We’ll scale through, okay?"

"Yeah."

The next day, everyone got ready to leave. Grampa Leo was the only one who couldn’t attend the prom or take a vacation.

Not that he had anything in the country, he just couldn’t leave for certain reasons.

"You young ones, go have fun." He said, bidding them farewell at the airport.

"Gramps, are you sure you don’t want to come with us?" Mariam asked, holding on to her hat to avoid it from flying off.

"Yeah, you kids go. This old man will stay back and tend to own or two things. I don’t mind." Though he said this, there was a trace of sadness on his face.

He would love for nothing more than to take a break and enjoy a peaceful vacation with his family.

That was the only peace he ever got.

Now that they were all leaving, he would be stuck in that house that seemed to close in on his heart from time to time, suffocating him and exhausting him of his life force.

It was disappointing, honestly.

"Last chance to change your mind, old man." Max said, with a cunning grin. "Seriously, I don’t know what you’re worried about. Just get on the plane and enjoy the weekend. It’s not like someone’s going to stage a coup while you’re gone."

"What youngster has the power to contend against me?" The old man gloated.

"See, even you know it."

Grampa Leo gave it a thought.

The reason he didn’t plan to go with them wasn’t because he was scared of a coup or his position being taken from him. It was nearly impossible since he carried the family seal with him at all times but... It was because of that foreboding in his chest.

His hunch was telling him to stay back and look after the household. He didn’t know why but that was just the warning.

And it would’ve even been better if he deceived everyone that he got on the plane to leave the country. Hmm, that could work.

"My boy, come here." He said and Max, surprised that he called him like that all of a sudden, drew near. "Crouch down. Some things should not be said openly for ears to hear."

’Odd. What is it?’

He crouched down, bending his back to allow his grandfather to whisper in his ear.

Valerie watched them, wondering what they were saying, and then glanced over at Tiana.

"You’re beautifully dressed." She snickered at her.

"Oh, stop it. We all know you’re the shunning star here." Mariam corrected her and they all laughed. "But Mom, why did you need to dress so flashy? You look like you’re going on the runway."

"Well, I just wanted to grab a bit of attention." She said and spun around. "Some of us are not lucky enough to grab the eyes of passersby by just standing still with long legs, flawless skin, and unmatched beauty."

The description was definitely directed at Valerie. She dressed moderately but she still looked like a walking piece of art.

"Hm?" Valerie tilted her head, "Who’s that?"

Both looked at her dumbstruck that she was so clueless and then laughed.

"Gosh, it hits differently when you’re the one being admired." Tiana exclaimed but Valerie still wasn’t getting it.

Then, she shifted her gaze to Max who was standing tall, his shades resting on his head, and was giving him a swagger look, and that face...

"Oh my," She exclaimed with a soft smile planted on her lip. "He really was born privileged. You did a good job creating such a flawless piece of art, Mother."

Both ladies looked at her and shook their heads. How could she be so clueless?

Of course, Valerie knew they were talking about her. How could she not know? She was a flawless beauty but hearing them praise her like that made her a bit uncomfortable so she threw the praises at her handsome husband.

Max rubbed the back of his neck and nodded.

He turned around and signaled Jeremy over.

They talked a bit and all four of them, including Oscar, proceeded to another compartment in the plane.

It was a private plane so they had the whole space to themselves.

"I thought Gramps wasn’t coming along." Mariam said, seeing them climb up the stairs on the other side of the plane.

"Well, it’s a good thing." Valerie said. Then, she spotted Jeremy and Oscar coming down while carrying a big four-corner suitcase.

Oscar bade them goodbye, asking them to take care of Grampa Leo while they were away.

Max gave his word and got back into the plane with Jeremy.

It looked strange but there was nothing suspicious about it. They probably just dropped that suitcase because it was too much packing.

"Come on, let’s get on." She said, and they all claimed the stairs.

Valerie eyed the suitcase but didn’t say anything and got on nevertheless. Her sharp intuition already told her that something was up with her husband and grandfather but since they didn’t want to speak about it yet, she’d keep it to herself.

No use being a busybody anyway