Chapter 26
After signing the lease, Astrid and Alan sent their new address to Gracle Just as Astrid was about to hit the sack, a video call invitation popped up: Magee wants to FaceTime.
Astrid pressed accept and saw Magee’s giant nostril on the screen. “Astrid, I’m your dad”
Astrid was already used to Magee’s weird angles during video calls, so she replied somewhat speechlessly, “Of course I know you’re my dad. What’s up? If there’s nothing, I’m hanging up. I’m bushed.”
Magee “Hold on, I heard you moved to a new place I’m sending someone from the cleaning service over tomorrow.”
Astrid groaned, “No need, I‘
Before she could finish her sentence, the video shifted to a bespectacled gentleman, ‘Astrid, are you sure you don’t want me to fly over and pick you up? It’s a jungle out there, I’m worried about you. If you don’t want to fly, I can sail over”
Astrid
They’re always trying to lure her back to take over the family fortune. She won’t fall for it!
“I don’t think we should send a cleaning service to Astrid. She’s so attractive, who knows what might happen?” The voice came from Astrid’s brother, Robb Brooke, who was not in the video.
Astrid rolled her eyes. It seemed Robb and Brandon Brooke had been taken fishing by Magee again and were all sunburnt.
Magee quickly agreed, “Exactly, we can’t send a cleaning service. But Astrid can’t clean herself, she’ll be knackered. Just wait, honey, I’m sending someone over tomorrow…”
Before she could finish, Astrid hung up the video call.
As she was about to tidy up her room, she received a message: “Astrid, I found out. The one who’s been messing with you is Fannie’s dad Wes Santos. What’s up with this big shot director? Why is he targeting you?‘ Astrid scoffed, “Don’t worry about it. Just look into Wes‘ tax issues.”
“I did, it’s really scary. He evaded taxes totaling 10 billion dollars!!!”
10 billion dollars? She knew a lot of big shot directors had tax issues, but she didn’t expect this guy to be so audacious. 10 billion dollars….
Astrid “Collect the evidence and leak it anonymously.”
“Leak it? Shouldn’t we report it to the tax office?”
Astrid “Are you nuts? People like Wes have protection. You can only make a difference by leaking It and letting it blow up. Got it?”
“Got it!!! arrange it right away!!!”
Trying to set her up? Ha.
The next afternoon, Astrid quit her job.
The news about Wes’s tax evasion had blown up on the Internet and the relevant departments started Investigating soon after. Fannie’s career was also affected.
“Oh my God, 10 billion dollars!!! I’m green with envy!” Gracle was sucking on a lollipop, her words muffled, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall. He’s screwed this time. Wonder who leaked it. Serves him right!”
“Just look at Fannie. When her dad was not in trouble, she couldn’t stop mentioning him. Now that her dad is in trouble, she immediately announced she has nothing to do with it.”
“Every man for himself in times of crisis, even between father and daughter!”
Ever since the news broke out, Gracle hadn’t stopped badmouthing. Astrid just stayed quiet and laughed..
As she stepped out of the elevator, Astrid saw an uninvited guest by her door, her third brother, Jon Brooke.
When she was first brought back to the Brooke family, she was shocked by her brother’s names. Their dad was a huge Game of Thrones fan and named his four sons Robb, Brandon, Jon, Rickon, Brooke. Ridiculous, right?
But she never expected her dad to send him over.
Gracie was drooling over the man in front of them. He was about 6 feet tall, very handsome, dressed in a white T–shirt and ripped jeans.
Seeing Gracie staring at him, he winked at her, “Astrid, who… who is he? Why is he at your door? Oh my God, you know such a hot guy and you didn’t introduce him to me!!!”
Gracie lost all reasoning, eyes fixed on the man at the door, drooling.
Astrid glanced at the hunk in the distance, raised an eyebrow, “He’s from the cleaning service.”
*Cleaning service?” Gracie took a look and Indeed saw cleaning tools next to him. She murmured, ‘Are cleaning services standards this high now? This guy is hotter than many celebs!”
Astrid didn’t bother to explain, just opened the door and let Jon in..
An hour later, Elio’s phone buzzed in the middle of a meeting, “Chief, there’s a man at Ms. Irvine’s place!”
Elio’s eyes narrowed, “Who? Did you confirm his identity?”
Carson: “Jon from Club IXG, a star e–sports player. He’s been in there for an hour hasn’t left.”
An hour?
“Meeting adjourned.” Elio stood up, his face dark. He left the meeting room without looking back, leaving a bunch of baffled execs behind.
