Chapter 151: Chapter 151

Shelby had no time to think as panic flooded her brain cells. The scream came from the depths of her being. An involuntary and heart-wrenching scream that would have caused the most feint of hearts to run away instead of coming to her aid.

The rush through the uneven, dense, small forest floor of the park’s uncharted territory was terrifying. The forest floor was like the preserved parts with sediments, small crawling insects and whatnots, protruding and exposed roots, and all other things she did not even have the mind to think of, causing several bruises after barely a few seconds.

She stretched and flailed her hands trying to hold on to something. Anything, but she barely was able to so with the pace. She only ended up hurting her hands instead.

Fear continued to cloud her mind as she lost focus on everything around her. The speed of her being pulled towards whatever or wherever she was being sent was too much for her to handle, especially when the pain of the grip of whatever held her increased.

If she thought whatever had pulled her through the forest floor was the worst, then Shelby was sorely mistaken.

Suddenly, the floor underneath her gave away, and she fell towards the depths of a deep hole. There was minimal visibility but she could make out the confines of the hole she had been dumped in unceremoniously.

It didn’t take long before she hit the hard floor beneath, knocking the air out of her. It was so painful that her mouth remained open in pain, but no sound came out.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" She screamed out again, this time more weakly as she could barely manage her sound coming out.

She opened her eyes wide but could make nothing out of the place she was and scrambled back as soon as whatever had pulled her let go. What Shelby was sure of was that she had fallen into a hole, but she did not know what had dragged her there. She scanned around as best as she could, being cautious of whatever threat had brought her there. The last thing she wanted was to be dinner for an animal.

At that time, whatever had been holding her leg painfully had let go. She reached out and touched her leg, wincing and whimpering.

’It doesn’t look like it’s broken,’ She thought and tried to stand up, but her body was too battered, and she slumped back down onto the cold dirt floor.

Shelby looked up frantically and saw a faint stream of light above. It wasn’t much but it was enough for her to know and estimate how deep the hole she was inside was.

"H-ell-ooooo? Any-one there? Please! HELP!" Her voice came out a little weakly.

However, what she saw next had her heart run cold. She fought the rising panic and tried to will herself from the paralytic fear that was making her tremble.

The open space that had been up there looked to be slowly closing at a rate visible to her eye. It was as if the roots of a giant tree were weaving themselves into a tight knit over the wide hole she was in.

"OMG! What is that?!"

She shivered in fear, realizing that becoming dinner for an animal was the least on her list.

"Think! Shelby Think!" She raked her hands through her hair and then,

"Ph-one! Yes! M-y pho-ne."

She tapped the pockets of the dress she wore and realized that she did not have it with her. This made her already distressed heart sink even more.

"Yes! Albert! Maybe...."

She quashed the thought even before it manifested.

"Albert does not know exactly where I am!"

She regretted letting him stay back then, but what could she do at that time? She watched helplessly, silent tears streaming down her face as the covering had already covered half the hole she was in.

"Am I going to be buried alive?"

Her heart jumped with those thoughts, but a ray of hope shone when another idea popped up in her chaotic mind!

Gabriel and even Ian told her that this person was always with her.

Shelby looked up frantically and then,

"Murray? Murray! Plea-se, if you are here... please h-elp me!"

"What did I expect?" She sagged back down as fat desperate tears streamed down her cheeks. Shelby resigned herself to her fate. The root weave had covered more than two-thirds of the hole then. She was in a state of distress with no help in sight.

’I hate this park!’ These were her final thoughts as she kept her eye on the one-third space that was slowly being eaten up, a signal of how much time she may have in her life.

However, just then, two things happened almost simultaneously.

In the T-Vino Winery offices, the mix of older and young men and women who were considered agents and or Managers felt a slight fear. Fear for the fact that they might lose the wineries and vineyards that they controlled after the older man had been ’ushered’ out.

They all turned straight to the giant screen to look at the young man with the bushy beard as well as his cold grey eyes that booked a room for no nonsense.

Their wariness stemmed from the fact that the man who had been thrown out, also, surprisingly, was about to be prosecuted as well. He was the most revered Manager Agent in their group and the only one who could talk back or challenge the Chairman; that was Ian’s father.

They did not understand how a man who looked as young as Ian did, could deal with that mature older man in a way where they had nothing to say in contention with that. Most importantly, what would happen to them if he, who seemed invincible, had been kicked out?

His angry and stressed voice still rang in their heads:

"W-hat – You can’t do That! Where’s your evidence! ..."

They started shaking a bit, wondering who was next on the list, if Ian had one. In fact, that was a little taste of the Ian they used to know but had seemingly forgotten. In just a couple of years, they had really forgotten what it felt like and the inherent fear that they had when Ian was around.

They wondered if they were going to lose their livelihood like that of the person who had just been dragged out of the room with no decorum.

Ian stretched out his hand, and another file landed on it. He flipped it open leisurely, and his eyes scanned the words quickly.

Those few seconds felt like ages to the people staring at the screen from the other room.

So, "What was the yield of your sector this harvest season?"

Ian asked the next person,

"C-hair-man... I -" The man took a deep breath.

"My yield is also about fifty per cent lower..."

He closed his eyes tightly, waiting for what was to come: the worst! However, Ian said nothing and waited for him.

"Errrmmm... chairman, we unfortunately had a bug infestation just before the start of the season and it took us a while to get things under control. Here are the documents supporting this."

The man got more confident as Ian remained quiet. The man tapped on a tablet in front of him and sent over a report he had already made before the meeting.

"So, what was done on your part? What were the remediation strategies?" Ian asked as he sifted through the brief one-page report.

"We reported it immediately to HQ, and then we tried to prune and, in some cases, get rid of...."

He went ahead to explain all he had done as his blood rushed through his ears. His nervousness was still high, but at least he was still there and had not been kicked out yet.

"Get me a more comprehensive report on this and also detail what you need from us to make sure that this does not occur in the future. Add what can be done to increase the yield even in the case of such a bug infestation, and lastly, list out the lessons learnt."

The man was stuck dumb.

"I-is that all? I mean, Chairman, Is that all?"

"Do you have something else to add?"

The man shook his head vigorously and almost shouted a big thank you as a rush of relief passed through him.

The next person said a silent prayer as he went through the issues and his yield.

Ian nodded. He was already aware of all these but wanted a verbal account from them, too.

"What of the plum plantations?"

"We have already started the harvesting of that, and everything is going as planned, Chairman."

Ian took in all the information from them and every report they had. He paid extra attention to detail in everything. His integration was so seamless that it did not seem like he had ever left the workforce at all.

"What of the wine preparation?"

A few of them exchanged looks as one man stood up.

"We have sampled a few-"

Ian listened attentively, asking questions here and there. A few hours had passed since the meeting started, but all the Manager Agents listened with rapt attention to everything that was going on. They did not want to be the next person to be ’dragged out.’

Despite their wariness, they felt that Ian was reasonable. He gave good advice but went through almost all accounts with them. It was stifling, but once each one of them was done, they felt as if they had been liberated.

As the last few people were talking, Ian started feeling a little apprehensive for no reason. He frowned unconsciously as he started palpitating, and a rush of perspiration covered him, making the man speaking tremble.

’Did I do something wrong with my report?’ The man thought.

Ian settled back in his chair, trying to relax, but the feeling just won’t go off. It got to the point that he could not sit still. He schooled his face to hide it from his audience but his frown got more pronounced. Currey saw through it, though.

Just then, the ring on his finger started pulsing. It was subtle at first, and then, the glow increased in intensity until visibility was almost near zero in the office. The bright light floored the room suddenly. When the light receded, Ian was nowhere to be found in the room nor on the screen.

"What happened?" It was silence, and then surprised gasps filled the room.

"W-here d-id the chairman go?" The one who had been presenting asked.

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