Is this destiny?

~ Chicago, EY Design studio ~

Friday afternoon…

Ellie is happily reading text message from Jasper: he got the invitation and the outfit.

[Ellie]: "You can come any time after five. If you are later than seven, you will miss seeing my work."

[Jasper]: "I will see you there." (heart emoji)

Ellie was still staring at latest message from Jasper with a goofy smile on her face, when she got a call from Ethan.

"Yes?" Her mood dropped when she remembered that JoAnna found out about his actions.

"Young Miss, I\'m here to inform you about the status."

"Is it done?"

"I believe that we are done with stocks, but hear me out." Ethan made a dramatic pause before continuing: "As of now, you own 16.7% of K Industries. So, you have your desired 15% or more. As you instructed, I didn\'t reach out to any member of the Kiani family. Out of three people you called out, Dickinson and Bally sold you all their stocks and that totals to 12%. However, Stocker is not willing to sell his 6%. That man is extremely arrogant, and I\'ve got a feeling that he does not believe we will use what we have against him. We have few options. Let me know what you want to do. We can release the information to the media and get him involved in a scandal to ruin his reputation, or we can tip authorities about his illegal activities and he will end up in jail, or we can go back to him and get physical. That usually works and it\'s the fastest method. But we are not limited to one of those. Let me tell you, that man is obnoxious. We should hurt him a bit just to teach him a lesson in humility and then release information to the media and then…"

Ellie pinched roof of her nose. Why do men get violent so easily?

"None of those.", Ellie interrupted Ethan\'s tirade.

"Young Miss?"

Ellie thought for some time before responding: "I have enough stocks to achieve what I wanted. Let me think about it and if he is a problem, we will deal with him later. Send me what you have on Stocker. I want to see."

"Understood. I will send you everything after this call. Related to the second thing, I\'m still waiting to hear back from my source."

"About that… who is your source?" Ellie waited for some time and when Ethan didn\'t respond, she spoke again. "I want to know how you are getting this information."

"Are you sure you want to know?"

How much Ethan understands, Ellie is doing everything legally, and he had no intention to tell her that he hired a hacker to get the information in shady ways. She told him to make it happen and to find a way other than using her father\'s resources. And he followed those instructions.

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Of course, I do! That is why I\'m asking."

Ethan took a deep breath and said in one breath: "I hired a hacker. Very reliable. I used him several times, results are always fast and reliable."

"Who is it?"

Ethan was surprised that Ellie took this calmly. He wondered why did he worry about this. After all, she is Boss\' daughter.

"It goes by alias Sigma and all his business is done online, and I don\'t know anything about his real identity."

Ellie was not happy with his explanation. "But you know it\'s a man."

"No. I always assumed it\'s a man. But now that you brought it up, it could be a woman also. We communicate via email, so I didn\'t get a chance to meet the person or to hear his voice."

"Is it someone related to White family?" Ellie had to ask.

Ethan was confused by that question. "White family? Which White family? ... Nevermind. I really don\'t know. Hackers take pride in their anonymity. If their identity is exposed they are out of business. Is there a problem?"

Ellie decided not to give hard time to Ethan about this. And if he tells him that JoAnna found out about what he is doing, he will probably look into it, and that might cause some problems for JoAnna.

"No. I was just curious. Thank you for telling me. Good job, Ethan."

Ethan was happy to get the praise. "Oh, before we end the call… in case you want to attend board meeting at K Industries, it\'s every other Monday at 11 in the morning. And next meeting is this coming Monday."

"Got it. Thanks.", Ellie ended the call.

After some thought, Ellie\'s eyes lit up. She looked at her nearest assistant. "Paulette, I have a task for you."

"Yes?", Paulette immediately took her notebook and came next to Ellie, ready to take on whatever is coming.

"I want you to find the number for K Industries and get me an appointment with their CEO on Monday at 10 in the morning."

Paulette took notes on that. "What if he is not available at that time?"

Ellie\'s smile widened as she spoke: "Tell them that their newest board member is requesting a meeting. I\'m confident that CEO will clear up his calendar for this. Try not to mention my name, but if they insist… use Miss Y and tell them that on Monday their CEO will find out more details."

"I will get on it right now."

"Thank you, Paulette."

Ellie turned her gaze to the Chicago city-scape and enjoyed the view.

Ah, how she looks forward to Monday! She can\'t imagine Jasper\'s expression when he sees her. Jasper will be something like: "I\'m happy you are here, but I have an appointment with a board member.", and she will say: "I know…"

When she finished with those happy thoughts, Ellie analyzed her talk with Ethan.

So, he used a hacker. And they value privacy… Ellie assumed that it\'s someone from White family because she clearly remembers JoAnna saying that it will stay within family. But what if it\'s not White family? ... Family? With JoAnna speaking about Sophia, Sarah is missing. And isn\'t Sarah known as a computer prodigy or something like that? What are the chances that Sarah is that Sigma? Ellie smiled and shook her head. It does not matter. If it\'s Sarah, it\'s even better because it will really stay within the family.

The important thing is that JoAnna offered her help and said that they can get back what was taken away from Jasper.

The only thing Ellie needs to think about is how she will tell Jasper that she is aware of this, and how did Sophia find out... without making herself sound like a bad guy. Ah! Ellie was getting a headache from this.

Ellie reminded herself to snap out of it. A show is coming up, and there is still a lot to do… and she spent most of her afternoon daydreaming. And Jasper will come and join today! Ellie is excited.

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