Ace paused and since Elizabeth did not say anything to show that she minded Ace letting me in on what happened early in the evening, I decided to ask Ace for more details.

“Her marriage? Did something…happen?” I asked while feeling quite afraid that I would choose the wrong word.

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It indeed felt like a sensitive topic, and I wondered what her father had to say about their marriage now that they were already married. I was sure that Chairman Chase did not find Kyle an impressive man fitting for the role of his daughter’s husband, but they were already married. Kyle had not gotten in touch with me for a while now and I was glad to have peace and quiet at that end. I had thought that things must have been progressing smoothly for Kyle and Elizabeth but that didn’t seem to be the case, at least, as far as her father was concerned.

“As you’re already aware of, the chairman isn’t fond of Kyle as his son-in-law. Oh, and the two of them are not legally married on paper. Anyways, her father wants to find ways to force Elizabeth to divorce or to simply end her relationship with Kyle…” Ace said before trailing off with a shrug of his shoulders.

If I wasn’t mistaken, Elizabeth’s father wasn’t the only one in favor of the two of them breaking up. I could still recall Ace’s stern face when he told her to break up with Kyle as well because I was there when he said it to her. I wasn’t sure if the reasons behind his advice were the same ones that the chairman had. Regardless, Elizabeth’s distraught expression told me that she was fully against it now that this matter had gotten so serious.

“Well, yes. I guess he’s done some unimpressive things not too long ago as well…” I replied while referencing that time when he stole my idea and fed it to his wife.

If anyone thought that I would forget about that or let go of it, then they were wrong. Just the thought of it made my body itch with anger. I had completely lost my faith in Kyle when I found out that he was two-timing me, and things only got worse from there when I later found out that he had stolen my ideas and my work. I tried to calm myself down by reminding myself that it was all in the past now and that I should move on. In fact, I had already moved on quite some time ago.

I had Ace now…and things are very different. Everything is much better for me now.

“I have no idea what he’s thinking but he brought up her marriage as a condition for letting the merger go through,” Ace said.

I gasped in shock at his words and my head started spinning a little. The message didn’t quite register well with me, and I wondered if I understood correctly.

“You mean, he wants Elizabeth to break up with Kyle before he supports the merger?” I asked with widened eyes.

“That’s how things are now apparently which just complicates things for her…and for me and my plans as well…” Ace said before he showed me a regretful grin.

Elizabeth seemed well on board with the plan that Ace had regarding the merger before, and she seemed excited to take over as the new CEO. It was a big career advancement move for her and I was sure that she had been looking forward to it. Despite what I thought about her as a person, I had to say that Elizabeth was quite committed to her work and her career.

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“That’s a little…random and extreme…I guess…” I mumbled.

“He wasn’t like this at first when we broke the news to him. At first, he seemed very in support of it going through. We did work hard to convince him. I met with him so many times, I showed him a bunch of attractive figures to convince him of the synergies and all the benefits of the merger. I truly thought that he was on board. Well, I guess the unexpected can happen sometimes…” Ace said before letting out a sigh.

“Please don’t be discouraged…” I said before offering him a comforting smile.

“I’m not discouraged because I can’t afford to be at this point, but I am very frustrated. Anyways, one thing led to another and then everything just blew up into an argument and Elizabeth lost it for a while. So that’s why she’s here instead of back home…” Ace surmised.ƒ𝚛e𝘦𝙬𝗲𝒃𝓷𝒐𝘃𝘦𝑙. 𝒄o𝓂

I turned to Elizabeth to see that she was still staring at an empty spot in the air right in front of her face. Ace had given a pretty decent summary of what had transpired but I wasn’t sure if Elizabeth heard even a word of it. Then again, if she’s really in love with Kyle then what her father demanded must have put her in a very difficult position.

Choosing between your love life and your professional career goals must be such a tough choice.

What will she choose?

If it were me, what would I choose?

The room was silent for a short while as everyone seemed to retreat inwards into their own thoughts. With Ace working so hard on the merger, I had thought that everything would go smoothly although it would take more time than I had thought. Just like Ace, I probably underestimated how difficult it would be to convince the Chairman of Chase Creatives.

Ace probably did not expect the Chairman to plan this move either. I personally did not think that someone as senior as Chairman Chase would mix professional work with personal matters especially when it came to his daughter’s marriage. After thinking about it for a while, it didn’t seem so rare for companies that used to be completely family-owned to operate like this. I let out a soft sigh when I realized that Ace and my situation were kind of similar in a way.

“I have to say, I didn’t think that Chairman Chase would use the merger to force his daughter to make such a tough and unfair decision. It must be so hard to choose between love and your professional career,” I said softly.

--To be continued…

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