Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Aurelia, who had been missing for five days, returned to Navarre the day after Hayden and Jacob left.
Her complexion was still somewhat pale and appeared to have lost some weight, but she was still in good spirits. She drove her BMW into Navarre Downtown before turning on her phone which had been off for five days.
As soon as the phone was turned on, a call came in. Aurelia answered lazily while driving, “Hello!”
“Aurelia, where are you?”
It was Marcellus. His voice was a little furious and could be heard clearly through the phone.
“Mr. Francois, what can I do for you?”
Aurelia smiled sarcastically, but her voice was still lazy.
Marcellus said, “I want to let you know that an attorney at the Bureau of Civil Affairs has notarized our divorce agreement, and our marital relationship has completely ended. The divorce certificate, which has been processed and is ready for collection, is in my possession. When are you coming to get your copy of the divorce certificate?”
Aurelia replied. “That’s all? Thank you, Mr. Francois. I’m not in a hurry to remarry, so you can keep it with you for now if it’s not a problem. Or if it bothers you, you can throw it away. It doesn’t matter to me anyway! Anything else you want to say? If nothing else, I’ll hang up then!”
As Aurelia spoke, she didn’t want to say a word more to him. On the other end of the phone, Marcellus was so angry that he clenched and broke a rollerball pen in his hand.
Fortunately, he managed to restrain himself at the last moment and eased his tone a bit. Then he called out, “Wait a minute, Aurelia. I can’t think of anything I’ve done wrong to you. Although I had too much to drink that night and disrespectfully spoke to you, you initiated the divorce. You demanded alimony of 10 million dollars, and I wasn’t stingy. Must we become enemies just because our marriage didn’t work out?”
After Aurelia heard his soft tone, her smile became even wider. Unfortunately, Marcellus couldn’t see it on the other end of the phone.
‘You haven’t done anything wrong to me?
Humph! You have done so many hurtful things to me. Do you think I am still that fool in my previous life who doesn’t know anything?
Aurelia asked again, “Well then, what exactly is Mr. Francois calling to say?”
Marcellus continued, “Well, Aurelia, do you remember that Michael gave you five percent of the shares of Marcellus Corporation?”
“Shares?” Aurelia pretended to be confused and asked back. After a while, she said, “It’s true. Why? Do you want me to return
it?”
Marcellus answered, “Am I such a person? After all, we were a couple once. Michael gave you those shares back then, so they naturally belong to you. Although we are divorced now, I won’t be that shameless to snatch something that belongs to you. I just want to say that it is useless for you to hold those shares anyway. I will buy them from you according to the current market value. What do you think?”
Aurelia was silent for a while, making Marcellus feel she was considering it. But in fact, she was deliberately leaving him hanging.
Aurelia declined. “No, I’m not in a hurry to have money. I’ll keep it! Maybe these shares will bring me bigger profit in a bull
market.”
“Aurelia, have you forgotten? Back then, you and Michael agreed that once we divorce, the shares can only be sold to me
and
no one else. Marcellus stressed.
Oh, it seems so!” Aurelia acknowledged.
Marcellus proposed. “What about this? Will you let me acquire your shares at a price 30% higher than the current market value?”
Marcellus seemed to find his proposal viable, and his voice became softer.
Aurelia was silent again. “I’ll think about it first. I will call you in a few days!”
Marcellus seemed to have expected that she wouldn’t agree immediately, so he replied gently after hearing her.
“No problem. Think about it carefully and then call me, Um… If you face any difficulty in the future, you can still come to me for help. I will help you with what I can! Don’t take to heart what I said that night.”
He continued to say many words that sounded heartfelt. Unfortunately, Aurelia was not listening at all. She just put her phone aside and hung up after supposing he was almost done talking.
Marcellus‘ call didn’t affect Aurelia at all. She continued to drive while turning on the voicemail of her phone, listening to the messages through the phone’s speaker one after another with a smile.
It was only after the last message from Michael that she stopped smiling. She picked up her phone again and dialed his personal number directly.
As the chief deputy sheriff, Michael had three phones. One was for external use. Almost all the leaders knew the phone number of various departments in Navarre. It was also printed on business cards and distributed to some prominent investors.
The second one was relatively private. Most people with this number were Michael’s supervisors or reliable confidants.
Whether it was the public–facing one or this more personal phone, both were managed and answered by Felix, the secretary.
Only the third phone, the most personal phone, was the one Michael kept in his pocket and answered calls.
Naturally, there were fewer people who had this number.
His daughter, Aurelia, also had this number. But Michael had told her long ago to avoid contacting him using this number unless it was an emergency.
Anyway, Aurelia knew that she had never called Michael once in her previous life, even when he was arrested and imprisoned.
This was the first time.
“Auri, where have you been these days? Why is your phone number that of the secretariat?” Michael’s worried voice came. quickly. “Are you okay?”
Hearing the familiar voice of concern, Aurelia couldn’t help but smile warmly.
Her voice also became cheerful. “Dad, I’m fine! I went out for a few days and deliberately turned off my phone. Dad, I hope 1 didn’t disturb your work.”
Michael responded, “No, I just finished the meeting! Are you back from traveling? Are you coming home for dinner today?”
Aurelia answered, “No, Dad. I just returned, and I’m so tired that I’m ready to rest! By the way, Dad, the matter has been settled! You should keep a low profile as much as possible these days!”
Michael paused for a moment. Of course, he knew what Aurelia was talking about, but he didn’t expect his daughter to act so quickly that she had done everything just for a few days.