Jaxon's Doubts

While waiting for Scottie in her car, Ashley took this chance to open the file Allen had sent.

First, Allen Jewelry would become Rosemary Jewelry. Second, she viewed the designs created by Allen's team for the jewelry they would launch on their opening date. Third, Ashley set the date of their opening on the date after her filming which was set two months later.

This would give Allen enough time to renovate the entire jewelry store. Since Ashley bought Allen Jewelry, Allen would be changed from the owner to a manager. He would still maintain his previous work, but he would only receive a salary plus commission.

Ashley planned to give Allen a share of the profit after Allen could prove to her that he could be trusted. But now, Ashley needed him to supervise the renovation of Rosemary Jewelry Store in YN City. From mid-class to high-class, Ashley was now aiming for the market share of the higher echelons of the Jewelry Industry.

The bustling across the street woke Ashley from her deep thought. Looking up, she saw a cute baby boy bouncing with his little backpack. When he saw her come out of her car, his eyes visibly lit up.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

Ashley crouched down, opened her arms wide, and engulfed her son in her warm embrace. Laughing all the way to the parking lot, she carried her giggling son.

The mother and son did not go to the apartment this time. Ashley drove to the mansion which made the little man frown.

"Mommy, are we not going home?"

Ashley felt both happy and sad when her son regarded her apartment as his home but she was also sad that her son did not feel the belongingness of a home in his father's mansion. She reached for her son and pinched his chubby cheek.

"Scottie, do you remember Mom's request?"

Scottie nodded.

"Mommy is going out to make money. When Mommy is strong enough to fight for Scottie, Mommy will take you away from this place. I promise you that."

Scottie was tearful, but he was too sensible to quibble. He knew how powerful his father was. Though his Mom was an actress, the power of the Elijah Consortium was instilled in him ever since he was determined to be the heir.

"Mommy, come back quickly, okay?"

With a heavy heart, Ashley watched as her son entered the huge gates of the Elijah mansion. She did not leave until she could not see the shadow of her son.

Before she returned to her apartment to pack her things for tomorrow's flight, Ashley turned the wheels to the place she had never set foot in—the Stock Exchange Building.

At this point of her life in her previous life, Ashley did not know this place even existed. But after years of being Madam Elijah, Ashley knew what this building represented—wealth, fate, and shortcut.

These three words represent this place. A pheasant could become a dragon in the shortest time when fate leaned with it in this place. But it could also turn a glorious man into a homeless one in one moment when fate was elusive. Loss and opportunity intertwined in this place like a vine.

What was Ashley here for?

Of course, it was to earn a bulk of money for more capital.

Ashley knew the industries that would boom for the next twenty years. What she lacked was enough capital chain to sustain a business empire. And she would get what she lacked in this place.

As soon as Ashley entered, she was bombarded by a large screen with ever-changing figures colored either green or red. The names listed on the big screen were the enterprises she both knew before and the ones she knew from her past life.

The people with neat business suits carrying their briefcases walked past Ashley. They either looked up, exclaimed in horror or elation, or strode to the row of desks where customer service of the stock exchange was waiting.

Ashley made sure to pull her cap down. Her identity in this initial stage should not be exposed!

So, Ashley walked to a fairly hidden corner. Her eyes locked to the screen. She observed the rows of green numbers and red numbers. Green meant that the stock price of that certain enterprise was rising. Red meant the opposite.

Despite knowing that red meant rapid downward fluctuation of the stock price of that certain company, Ashley did not ignore them. Instead, she checked them out first before the green ones. It was because the low stock price meant she could buy the shares at the lowest price possible!

Of course, Ashley did not forget to draw a deep breath and exhale to calm her mind and body before activating her unique skill—the lucky physique.

The moment Ashley opened her eyes, what she saw when she looked up at the screen had a slight change. If before she could only see numbers colored in red or green, this time, Ashley could see a tinge of gold for some of those numbers whether they were red or green.

The brighter the golden color around the number, Ashley knew the luckier that company was. With millions of dollars in her mind, she chose to use half of it to buy the shares of the top ten companies with the heaviest golden color around them.

Ironically, eight out of the ten companies had their stock plummeting as time passed by. Because of this, Ashley was able to buy the shares of these company's stocks at the lowest possible price. It was a double win for her!

Ashley went to the counter and decided to open an account. The customer service gave her a look of 'are-you-stupid' when the customer service saw the names of the companies she listed after stating the number of shares she wanted to buy.

"Are you sure, Ma'am?"

Ashley gave the customer service a silly grin under her disguise—a cap and big sunglasses. She shrugged. "I just like these companies. I have a very good feeling with them, you know."

Ashley did not care if the customer service regarded her as a retarded person. The moment she got out of the Stock Exchange Building, her wealth shrunk by a half but her soul seemed to be more refreshed than ever.

x-x-x-x-x

At the other side of the Capital City, Harold respectfully reported to Jaxon Elijah who was still reading the information about the tender of a land from YN City.

"Boss, I have already bought the shares of those companies' stocks. And just like you guessed, Boss, their stocks are still spiraling downward!" Harold could not hide the excitement in his voice.

At first, Harold was skeptical when his boss told him to stare at those two small companies' stocks. When he asked his boss if he wanted to buy their stocks to speculate in the stock market, his boss told him three weeks ago to wait until the stock prices of those two companies were lower. Harold, who still obeyed his boss, was not very optimistic at first. After all, these new companies were considered pioneers in their respective industries so he thought that there was no way for their stocks to plummet.

But look at it now! These two companies were red!

"Is there anything else?"

Harold, who was about to excuse himself, stopped midway when he remembered something.

"Boss, I learned a piece of inside news that a prodigal person also bought shares in the stock market today! What caught my attention is the fact that the prodigal person also bought the shares of these two companies, Boss!"

Jaxon paused for a moment before he continued signing the documents. He finally looked at Harold.

Suddenly, Harold felt shivers running down her spine.

Adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses, Jaxon gave Harold a cold stare. "Are you so free?"

Before Harold could shake his head in denial, Jaxon continued: "Check what that woman is doing. I don't believe she has changed for the better."

Harold also remembered Ashley Connor—the uncrowned Madam of the Elijah Consortium. It was indeed strange that she was not doing her best to make his boss notice her presence! Before, Ashley Connor would often come unannounced in the company but she would only ended up being ditched by the boss. Then she would be hysterical and she would change her tactics by acting a caring yet jealous wife against the women who wanted to be Madam Elijah.

But now, Harold did not see a single shadow of Ashley Consortium!

Strange indeed…

"On it, Boss!"

Watching Harold leave, Jaxon was once again left alone in his vast and luxurious top-floor office. He took of his glasses and pinched the junction of his nose as he leaned onto his chair. He stared at the ceiling—his eyes deep and mysterious.

Remembering the sudden changes in that woman and comparing her past radical behavior, Jaxon doubted if she was really shifting to a new strategy. Suddenly, the scene when she agreed readily when he mentioned the divorce. He remembered that there was no fluctuation in her eyes at that time when she nodded at him.

No reluctance. No hint of embarrassment. And not even a hint of nostalgia.

Just nothing…

'Is she really finally willing to let go of this fraudulent marriage?'

x-x-x-x-x-x

"We have a problem."

"Say it," said Ashley. Her right hand held her phone while her left hand was busy zipping her suitcase.

Dylan answered from the other side: "Sabrina Taylor injured her legs. There is a chance that the script you signed up for and the shooting for Unmasked will clash. The other side wants to start the shoot with the other roles first and let Sabrina's parts be shot later for her to heal first."

This was indeed a problem. Ashley recalled the happenings of her past when she entered the set of "Youth 1990". She could not help but sneer when she remembered how she suffered from Sabrina Taylor's hands. That female lead role was supposed to be hers, but because of her black materials, Jaxon punished her by not supporting this TV series.

"How much is the liquidated damage if I drop this TV series?"

Dylan's side became silent for a moment before it was replaced by his bombarding high-pitched voice.

"Are you crazy again?! There is a 10 Million dollar liquidated damage if you breach the contract! May I remind you that you have no representative work yet and you also have zero number of brand endorsements! If you breach a contract without proper reason, you will be cold in the industry! Do you hear me?! Please, please, don't go crazy again, okay?!"

Ashley sighed. In fact, she momentarily forgot about those black materials. With only the thoughts of rising to power, she forgot how her reputation stunk in this period of her life.

She really needed to clean up her mess before the movie and the tv series aired or she would be blacker than she was already!