The Pretend Girlfriend (A Billionaire Love Story #1)(14)
She typed in his name and hit enter. The page redirected, landing her in an entry about a company called Carbide Solutions. Apparently they did everything from supplying building materials to factories all over the world, to creating designs for various machines, to consulting with various governments on industrial projects. They were a Fortune 500 company, with thousands of employees across the globe.
The link labeled Controversies caught her eye, and she moved to that section of the article. It appeared that Carbide Solutions didn't become the behemoth it was entirely honestly. They were currently involved in legal action over in various Asian countries as well as India for unscrupulous business practices.
Your stereotypical big bad corporation, it seemed, in it for the money and not really caring about the cost of doing business.
But what did all this have to do with Aiden Manning? She hit the Ctrl and F keys, bringing up the search box. She typed in his name. It got highlighted about midway through the article.
Aiden Manning, it read, the youngest executive ever at Carbide Solutions. He was a graduate of Harvard Business School, with a minor in Ethics.
He was also the only child of Henry Manning, the current CEO, founder, and primary shareholder of Carbide Solutions. The article mentioned some accusations of nepotism, but that in Aiden's two years on the board, he'd shown himself more than capable of navigating the murky, treacherous waters of a multinational corporation.
The article went on to note his push for more transparent business practices, and his spearheading charitable initiatives within the company.
For once, Gwen wished Wikipedia allowed more gossip and speculation. It gave her some hard background on him, but didn't really tell her anything about Aiden as a person. Other than an apparent guilt at the way his father chose to conduct his business.
Gwen spent hours agonizing over the decision, weighing it against the alternatives, questioning her own motivations.
It was her only real option, if she wanted to stay in this place and keep going to school.
Isn't my future worth bending my morals a bit? she asked herself. She came to a conclusion that both relieved and frightened her.
The article for Carbide Solutions still occupied her screen, and the parallels didn't escape her. She wondered if Mr. Henry Manning asked himself the same thing, when he allowed his business to operate as it did overseas.
It was a question she would have to put to his son.
If she could figure out how to find him again.
Chapter 7
Gwen paid the cabbie, passing a $20 through the divider. The man shot her a hard look beneath his bushy eyebrows when she pocketed all her change. All she could do was offer him an apologetic smile as she stepped out onto the sidewalk.
She couldn't afford to tip him. Especially if this didn't pan out. And if it didn't pan out, Gwen knew she'd be kicking herself for spending money on two pointless cab rides. But unfortunately, the subway didn't run out this way.
It was a cooler day. The grey clouds obscured the sky in their haze, and a chilly breeze wended its way down the street. Gwen stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets and hunched her shoulders. Yes, it was unseasonably cold. She tried not to take it as a bad sign as she started down the street, reading the addresses on the low buildings crowding the sidewalk.
That same breeze tugged at her hair, which she let loose against her shoulders. Her mouth kept going dry, and anxiety panged in her stomach. She'd barely been able to force a slice of toast down at breakfast; her nerves bothered her so much.
But this was it. Her last chance to solve this problem in a way that would let her stay in the city.
She walked another block before she found the right place. It was an old community center. Graffiti plastered its faded walls. Someone had tried halfheartedly to scrub the tags off, leaving them all smudged. A banner flapped in the wind over the main entrance, announcing the building as the home of the For the Children charity. Its logo was a stick man with his hands resting on the shoulders of two stick children, one slightly taller than the other.
According to her Google search, Aiden had ties with this charity, as well as two others in other districts in the metropolitan area. One really was close to her apartment, but she'd already checked there earlier that afternoon and hadn't found him.
This one she'd called ahead to. The nice woman on the other end of the line told her that Aiden was due for a visit, but didn't have an exact time.
Gwen took the concrete stairs up to the door two at a time. She didn't want to miss him again, and once more wished that he'd given her his phone number before that whole thing at Starbucks. Though, she suspected she would have deleted it in a fit of anger anyway.
"Yes, hi, is Aiden Manning in?" Gwen said, walking up to the front desk. It was flanked by a set of doors on either side. A women in her mid-fifties, her ponytail shot with grey, manned the desk. She peered over the rims of her glasses at an old computer monitor, her fingers picking at the keyboard methodically.
"Mr. Manning? I believe he was supposed to be here about an hour ago." The secretary pushed her glasses back up her nose and regarded Gwen.
"So he's not here?" Gwen said, leaning against the desk. A filing system of old milk crates and cardboard boxes took up much of the floor space.
"I'm afraid not. Is there something I can help you with?" the secretary asked, pausing in her typing.
"I don't suppose you could give me Mr. Manning's number? I need to get in touch with him," Gwen said, feeling like she already knew the answer. She could feel her resolve wavering.