Vivian returned to the magazine company.
For some reason, Benedict’s words niggled at her mind and she was determined to find out what he meant.
Since Jenny had been working at the magazine company the longest, Vivian decided to ask her about what happened all those years ago.
Jenny pondered the question for several moments before flipping through her notebook of that year.
At last, she answered, “Ten years ago, the Morrison family had an unprecedented business crisis. Several large companies banded together to threaten their business. Things got so bad that Morrison Group came close to getting bought over by that consortium. This incident shook everyone to the core since the top three families in Sunshine City were interconnected. If one of them prosper, so would the others; and vice versa. Needless to say, the Jackson and Norton families were alarmed at how things were going. However, they did not actually help the Morrison family. Instead, they stood by the sidelines.”
Unable to stop herself, Vivian interjected, “Why didn’t they help the Morrisons? I thought their families have always been rather good friends?”
“Yeah. Under normal circumstances, they would have aided the Morrisons. Of course they wouldn’t want the Morrisons to crumble. Unfortunately, that year was a bad year for everyone. They were suffering from the world economic crisis too. That was why they could only watch helplessly from the sidelines.”
Vivian listened carefully as Jenny explained everything.
“That’s not even the end of it.”
“There’s more?”
“Well, what I’m about to tell you might not be directly related to the forceful takeover of Morrison Group, but Evelyn Morrison was kidnapped around this time as well. The poor Morrisons, they just couldn’t catch a break.”
So, these are the factors that might have affected the kidnapping all those years ago.
“At the time, Finnick and Evelyn were…” Jenny trailed off, not sure if she should tell Vivian more about the kidnapping.
Vivian urged her, “It’s okay, Jenny. Please continue. Finnick’s already told me about their kidnapping.”
Relaxing, Jenny continued her story, “Luckily, the Norton family finally decided to step in. Although Evelyn Morrison died in that fire, Morrison Group received the Norton family’s help and managed to get through that tough time. Otherwise, the Morrison family would have been destroyed.”
That’s right. Even with the Nortons’ help, the Morrisons have fallen from grace. Everybody looks at them with disdain now, treating them as yesterday’s news.
However, Vivian had a feeling that the Morrison family would rise to glory again if Benedict were to manage the company properly.
She questioned, “It must have been Samuel Norton who helped them, right?”
She thought Finnick’s grandfather must have been quite an important figure back in the day.
To her surprise, Jenny shook her head. “You’re wrong, Vivian. At the time, he was so anxious over Finnick’s kidnapping that he had fallen ill. There was no way he would have the energy to aid the Morrisons.”
“Then who?”
“Mark Norton, Finnick’s older brother.”
Vivian was at once stunned and puzzled. Mark? It was Mark who helped the Morrisons?
She was not that familiar with Mark. However, from what she knew of him, he was quite a sinister man. He would not do anything that did not benefit him.
She asked Jenny, “Are Benedict and Mark on good terms?”
Snapping her notebook shut, Jenny answered, “I have no idea. I guess they’ve probably known each other since young?”
Before Vivian could think on this more, her stomach suddenly spasmed and nausea rose in her.
Jenny panicked upon noticing the green look on Vivian’s face. She cried out, “Vivian, what’s wrong? Why do you look so terrible?”
Clamping a hand over her mouth, Vivian waved her other hand at Jenny before she rushed toward the toilets. She instantly started retching the moment she entered one of the stalls.
Sarah hurried over, frantically asking Jenny what was wrong.
The latter replied, “I don’t know. She looked like she wanted to vomit.”
“She wanted to vomit?” The wheels turned in Sarah’s head before it clicked. She shouted, “Do you think she’s pregnant?”
At the word “pregnant,” the entire office exploded into mutters.
Anyone working for a magazine company was usually quite sensitive when it came to sniffing out something. Naturally, they were also quite nosy and loved to gossip. Vivian’s current status as Mrs. Norton only served to make the news even more exciting.
