Is this destiny?

~ Dallas, W Publishing ~

Marcus White is in his office, of W Publishing company.

Marcus is the CEO of W Publishing, one of numerous companies under White corp. umbrella.

When his father, crowned Oscar at the Master of the White family, he gave to Marcus this position with a promise that he can work independently from White corp. But Marcus knows that Donald did this only to pacify him. Because position of the Master belongs to him, as the oldest son!

Back to present...

Marcus is looking at the recent report he received from Jasmine, his assistant who is patiently standing next to his work desk.

Jasmine is a good looking lady in her mid-thirties. Her black hair is neatly braided, and it reaches half of her back. She is wearing a dark brown pencil skirt which matches her well-tailored blazer.

Jasmine is Marcus\' assistant for more than ten years. She has his trust and helps him brainstorm ideas often.

Jasmine is aware of the bitterness Marcus feels toward his father (Donald) and younger brother (Oscar) because he believes that Oscar took the position that belongs to Marcus as the Master of the White family. 

Other than being his assistant and a confidante, Jasmine takes care of other Marcus\' needs as well. Whatever those needs are. She does not mind that he has a wife on the side. They keep their relationship private and she is aware that wives are something what Marcus finds… replaceable. More like a decoration.

Jasmine knows that she is not replaceable. She is by his side for so many years, and as the time goes by, he is more and more depending on her. She likes that. Jasmine is confident that what two of them have is unbreakable. One day, he will get tired of the endless stream of women and devote himself to her. She wholeheartedly believes that to be the case and she is patiently waiting for her time to come.

"Jeffrey White attended a fashion show…", Marcus mumbled while reading the latest information in front of him. He didn\'t finish his thought.

"Is that something we can use against him?", Jasmine asked after some time, breaking the silence in a large office.

Marcus frowned. "Not really. It only confirms what we know so far: that he changed his behavior because of the wife. But let us thank Mr. Morgan for this information. I believe that he is one more pawn who is showing signs that he is ready to move his support from Oscar to me."

"Yes.", Jasmine confirmed with a big smile on her face. "Rumors that Jeffrey is not ready to take over position of a Master are making an impact. People are doubting his capabilities and shifting loyalty to you." She pushed in front of him paper which contains the list with names.

Marcus looked at the list and smirked. More than a dozen names from powerful families. "We should test some of them and see how loyal they are. I don\'t want to risk accepting spies."

Marcus circled few names on the list and pushed it back to Jasmine. "These have young daughters. Let\'s see if they are willing to set them up with Lukas. It\'s time for Lukas to experience what it means to be the next in line as a Master of White family."

Marcus is aware that some of these men might be loyal to Oscar and are only pretending to support him in taking over as the new Master in order to infiltrate as spies. Before he includes them in his plans, he needs to confirm their intentions. And is there a better way to prove sincerity, than allowing to those precious daughters to end up in his son\'s arms?

Marcus leaned back in his chair and smiled at his unexpected fortune. For years, he is sitting and trying to come up with a plan, with anything, that will shake Oscar out of his seat. He tried so many schemes, but nothing worked. People trust Oscar and with Elanor\'s assistance, those two made White family like an impregnable fortress.

However, Oscar made a mistake. Finally, he made a mistake! By handing over his position to Jeffrey too soon, he made a mistake! People don\'t believe that Jeffrey is ready, even some of their loyal soldiers have doubts in this newly appointed leader. Marcus will take full advantage of this. He will sway their hearts, he will make everyone see that Jeffrey is not ready and that Oscar made a rash decision to hand over the reins. And his plan is coming together perfectly. First he will gather enough support from these rich families, then he will shake the core of the White family forces. He knows that without three men, Jeff\'s hands will be tied up.

Three men: Mason who controls intelligence and information flow; Shawn who is in charge of people and all the fighting power; and Ryder, a man who manages money and resources.

Mason is loyal to Oscar, and inherently to Jeffrey as well. It will be difficult to sway him. Marcus already has plans to replace Mason as soon as he takes over.

Shawn was unable to hide his displeasure with sudden appointment of Jeffrey as the new Master. Marcus knows that Shawn is the best person to start with. If he can take control of the forces behind White family, it will be an easy thing to take over the family.

Ryder follows the money. If Marcus can show him that he can contribute more money to the organization than Jeffrey, Marcus is confident that Ryder will shift his allegiance. That is why Marcus started collecting all these rich supporters. With their backing, Ryder will see that Marcus is a better choice for the organization than Jeffrey.

Jeffrey. The man who always focused on the business and growing the White corp. empire. Now Jeffrey has a life. A wife. A weakness. Marcus is confident that JoAnna is Jeffrey\'s weakness because he is changing his lifestyle for her. And he wants to find out as much as possible about their interaction so that he can take advantage of that woman.

"Did we hear back from Gavin about the data retrieved from the phone of Jeffrey\'s wife?"

Jasmine frowned slightly. She does not like to give bad news to Marcus. "Last thing I heard was that he is working on it. I will check again."

"Good. I am pleased to hear that after so many failures Jules delivered something. It seems that he is not just a useless peacock. Remind Gavin to send me whatever he finds. After that you are free for the night."

"Are you sure?", Jasmine looked at Marcus suggestively while biting her lower lip.

Marcus looked at her for few seconds before reluctantly nodding. "Yes. I need to tend to my wife tonight." He reached and ran his hand up Jasmine\'s thigh under her skirt and stopped just as his fingers touched her buttocks. Marcus retreated his hand. "Maybe tomorrow."

Jasmine smiled faintly. "Yes. I understand."

She left the office.

Marcus looked after Jasmine and nodded in approval. Jasmine understands. She was always very considerate. That is why he kept her by his side for such a long time.

Marcus checked his emails, frustrated that there is nothing from Gavin and looked at the time. It\'s late. He should go and tend to the needs of his wife.

~ Undisclosed location ~

Gavin is in a dark room. Narrow windows high on the wall show that he is in the basement.

He is using his computer to check files on a device which copied data from JoAnna\'s phone.

There are several files which he does not dare to touch. What if it\'s a virus?

Gavin looked at the calendar. Why is that woman having so many appointments for a hairstylist and manicures? It seems that other than for the spa, she is not leaving the house.

And there is a number of photos. Those photos are… ridiculous. He can only guess that those are body parts. Noses and knees and fingers… mostly out of focus. Can this woman take a single normal photo? He does not dare send those to Marcus.

He glanced at his phone which vibrated. It\'s an incoming call from Jasmine. He can\'t ignore it… they are paying him good money for his services.

Two minutes later, Gavin dejectedly looked at his phone. Seriously… why are these people pressuring him? If there is anything useful, he would send it long time ago!

It seems that he has no other choice than to check those suspicious files. If that is useless as well, it\'s not his fault. He will make sure to write a report how it\'s all Jules\' fault. He is marked as useless anyway.

Gavin was about to access one of the files, when he remembered to unplug the network cable. Yes. In that way, even if it\'s a virus, it will stay trapped on his computer. Better safe than sorry.

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