Echoes of Unrequited Love

Chapter 62

Not long after we saw Hilary off, Cecilia ducked out early too, leaving me and Wallis in a real

pickle.

“I doubt there’ll be any pulling of funding.” I mused, thinking about Hogan as mentioned by Hilary. “If nothing else, for Cecilia’s sake, he’d likely steady the ship.”

Wallis wasn’t quite on board with my take. “Even if things do steady, so what? Today Cecilia’s throwing us under the bus in front of everyone: tomorrow she could be hijacking our hard work. If you ask me, we better have a Plan B up our sleeves.”

What Wallis meant was we should start scouting for other investors.

But Frank seemed less than keen, so who else could we turn to?

“Simon’s got some connections. I was thinking of getting him to scope things out for us.”

I was a bit taken aback. “You’re still in touch with him?”

Wallis looked a bit sheepish, “Well, you know, he’s got a certain knack for that sort of thing.”

Thinking about the project’s prospects, I agreed, “Alright, let’s give it a shot then.”

For two straight days. Wallis was busy hobnobbing with Simon. Simon was once a big shot in the Oakridge City scene, had a wide network, and even knew a bunch of international capitalists. He agreed to broker some deals for us.

Wallis and I were on tenterhooks, not daring to slack off for a second.

Mr. Zade’s asking for

out of

“Did he

didn’t say, but judging by Mr.

instantly felt a headache coming on.

a no–win situation; who knew what kind of game Hogan was playing.

we showed up

on the phone, rattling off at a

he didn’t sound

exchanged a glance

a cursory glance before asking, “Do you two know why I’ve asked you here?”

1/2

10.04

“Cut to the

Zade,” I said, without beating

gave a slight raise of his eyebrow, and said, “I hear you’ve been

had reached his ears.

Hogan scoffed. “Ever consider that

I had a sinking feeling.

the commitment, then maybe it’s best

blindsided

knew we had been looking for other investors, so why

sidelong glance