Loving DAD 1053

Silas looked at Lex. “When will Victoria’s injury be fully healed?” 

Lex replied, “According to my elder brother, two weeks.” 

Silas and Scott relaxed at once. 

But Victoria shook her head. “No.” 

Everyone turned to her. 

Her pale face was set with determination. “I start working at the Kalen Group next week. I don’t want to delay the job.” 

Jamie frowned. “It’s only a week. If you need time to prove yourself, I can give you a few more orders.” (1 

Lex wasn’t to be outdone. “Victoria, rest and recover. People and resources aren’t a problem.” 

Silas and Scott nodded in agreement. They could offer Victoria almost as much support as Lex and Jamie could. 

Victoria shook her head again. “No. I want to rely on myself.” 

They were about to press her further when she changed the subject. 

She turned to Jamie. “Jamie, I heard Johanna was kidnapped. Have they found her yet?” 

Jamie’s expression darkened; the memory of Johanna tugged at him. He answered in a hoarse voice, “They’re still looking.” 

“Jamie,” Victoria said, “I’m fine now. You don’t need to stay here with me. Johanna is more important.” 

Jamie hesitated, then nodded. “Alright. I’ll come back to see you later.” 

Victoria still needed rest, and it wasn’t appropriate for several men to camp at her bedside. After Samantha returned, everyone departed in turn. 

The accusations linking Sharon to Victoria’s kidnapping barely caused a ripple in her composure. Her relationship with the Kalen family existed in a state of superficial calm–a fragile truce where neither side had yet chosen to tear off the veneer. Sharon wanted control of the Kalen Group; the Kalens wanted the original shares she possessed. 

Back at the Kalen residence, Sharon immersed herself in the Kalen Group’s financial records and project histories. 

As a top–tier conglomerate, its foundations and power structures were complex, but Sharon quickly identified a critical period: the first year following Richard’s disappearance was the company’s darkest chapter. Its stock had plummeted, hitting the limit down and becoming a target for aggressive short sellers. The company had nearly been lost, teetering on the brink of collapse for a long time afterward. 

With external predators circling to seize the weakened company, internal factions had erupted into civil war. 

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Richard’s own brothers and distant cousins had all descended, fighting for a piece of the disintegrating empire. It was difficult to imagine how Shayla, Sharon’s mother, had managed to hold it all together. 

Sharon sat alone in her study, poring over the documents. 

Thomas had taken Theo to the estate’s shooting range for practice. 

Carter, meanwhile, was inexplicably entangled with Kelly in Zachemaine. News of Kelly’s pregnancy had exploded across Zachemaine’s social media, but Carter, stuck in Marcentine and unable to make a public appearance, was forced to negotiate with her from afar. 

Richard, who missed Theo terribly, had pressed Sharon to bring him home as soon as Victoria was safe. Sharon could see that Richard’s affection for the boy was genuine. So far, he hadn’t tried to use Theo as leverage, but Sharon remained vigilant. 1 

Theo adored Thomas, and Sharon trusted Thomas implicitly, so she felt at ease leaving him in his care. 

Lately, Sharon felt she had wasted too much time. She was already behind in both business acumen and her understanding of the Kalen Group’s inner workings, and she needed to catch up quickly. 

A natural academic with a sharp mind, she knew how to learn efficiently and absorbed the corporate history at a rapid pace. 

But she noticed something odd: the official company history was clearly written for public consumption. It mentioned the early struggles only to glorify Richard’s subsequent legendary comeback. 

The precise mechanics of that reversal–the critical turning points and strategic decisions–were glossed over, condensed into a single, vague paragraph without any substantive detail. 1